Learning Letter

During this course there was a lot that contributed what I learned during the quarter. All of the assignments that I had to do made me learn a lot about teaching and about how I want to teach my future classes. Obviously, completing the unit plan is the main factor in how I feel after this course. Completing this assignment was very challenging and made me realize a lot as a future teacher. Before I did this assignment I did not realize how much time and effort went into planning each lesson. I never really thought about how difficult it would be connecting each lesson to each other; I thought it would be much easier than what it was. Completing this assignment was hard but it was the most beneficial assignment I have done so far to help me as a teacher. Besides the unit plan, the other assignments were also helpful in my development. The mini lesson helped me actually experience teaching while being able to get feedback of how everything went. I liked how it was a "mini" lesson because it was helpful but not as stressful as the unit plan. This assignment helped me with the actual concept of teaching than the planning part, which is majority of what I do in my classes. The book talk was good, but not as helpful towards my actual teaching. I enjoyed listening to the books that everyone chose and liked sharing my choice. The books that we read in class, especially the Kelly Gallagher text were helpful as well as the assignments in showing me how little students are expected to read now in school. Gallagher talked about different statistics and talked about how teachers are more focused on standardized test, which I completely agree with. When reading this it made me think more about how I want to teach books in my classroom. I know the importance of incorporating reading and  will make sure to have students read frequently. The articles that we read in class, honestly I did not find to be that thought provoking. Most I actually found kind of boring and not super helpful. I know that it is important to read about the state standards and grading, but I feel like some of the advice the articles gave is not something I would think about and do. I am not saying I won't include some of what was said but if I were to include them it wouldn't be because I referred back to the article but found something similar said during my time of teaching. The articles had good things to say but nothing too thought provoking to be memorable enough to to remember them. My participation in this course influenced my thoughts about myself as a teacher by how I realized even though the work can be time consuming, requires much energy, and sometimes can be annoying I am absolutely positive I want to be a teacher. My participation reassured me that I am sure that this is what I want to do with my life. I know I have much that I need to work on but I know it will be worth it. I feel that if I would not have participated in this course then I still would be a little skeptical of my want to teach others and my ability. I am now aware that I am capable of teaching students and even though I have much to work on I am able to at least develop an idea of what I need to do. This course helped me come to the realization that teaching is really what I want to do and no matter how much work is required I can do it. There are some parts of teaching I am not fond of like the numerous TPAs to write and the connects every lesson must have, but I do realize the importance of it even if I do not like doing it. I know that eventually it will get easier and I will become much better at all of it.

Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare, a man who has written many plays that at some point everyone had to read, and most commonly read Romeo and Juliet. I have always enjoyed this play and would say it is my favorite out of all of the works by Shakespeare. I like the theme of forbidden love and the obstacles Romeo and Juliet take just to be together. To me this play is proof that love really does has no limits and if you truly are in love then nothing can stop you. Even though this play does not end well, which is heartbreaking, but the story line leading up to that scene gives readers the feelings of all emotions. This play truly does have everything that anyone would want to read about, whether that be love, fighting, or death there is nothing that is not covered. Although this play may not be able to relate to many people, everyone can relate to the struggles of what comes with falling in love. I feel though that this plot could relate to people more than they think because of the age of Romeo and Juliet. Both of them are young teenagers who are experiencing their first love and all of the issues that are being presented with that I feel like people experience more than they think. Everyone who remembers their first love could probably say that looking back it was more difficult than it had to be because first loves are always very immature. People are so fascinated with the thought of love that they do not actually realize what love is. Hopefully, the difficulties Romeo and Juliet were facing with their families is not something most people have to deal with because that always seems to end in a tragedy. This play I can read over and over again as it tells such a beautiful story of two people wanting to be together so badly that they will risk anything. Today, people do not know what true love is anymore and how to express their love. I am not saying love should be this difficult and people need to die for each other but the thought of doing anything for the one you love is such a romantic good feeling.

In the Name of God

This book was a little difficult for me to read. The book as a whole was good, along with the writing and plot line but the theme of the Muslim religion and how America was viewed was somewhat hard to read. Besides that aspect of the book I enjoyed how real the book was about the struggles that Nadia faces. The struggles she faces of not wanting to just become some young wife who has many children, but a woman who wants to be educated and wants to study medicine. Reading how she is conflicted to do these things that are not accepted in her culture but her wanting to live the life of her culture and faith was definitely something I found relates to myself, but obviously not to that extreme effect. I feel like everyone has those internal struggles of wanting to do something but it may not be the norm in your culture. What I did like about this book was that Nadia was not afraid to be different and hold true to what she believed was right or wrong. No matter what others felt or what their opinion was she had her own ideals in which she stayed true to. Even though this book was something I had never read before and the book as a whole was good, I did not particularly like it. It is not that I am this person that is all about America and that this country can do no wrong, but I just feel that this book addressed such a sensitive topic that many people are not comfortable discussing or reading about especially through the eyes of a Muslim and how they view everything. Although I did not like this book, it is a good thing that I read it because it is definitely not something I would choose on my own to read but also because it gives a different perspective, which is always a good thing to have many different views on a subject.

Mous

In high school I was assigned to read this book my sophomore year. This is one of about three books in high school that I actually read, as I was not much of a reader then. I loved the fact that Spiegleman made it into the form of a comic than just a regular book. The comic still had the same effects, even a little more, than just a regular book. Having the Nazis be cats, Jews be mice, and Americans be dogs I thought was such a good idea because it really does show you the level of power each group had. It was definitely very creative and I do not know many other books like this one. Having animals depict Jews and Nazis made it much easier to understand the power that the Nazis had over the Jews. I feel that having students read this in a classroom will show them just how much authority the Nazis had over the Jews and how defenseless the Jews were against the Nazis. Besides the reasons of how good this book is, I feel it is also good to teach in the classroom because I feel like students will actually read this book. As I said before I never read in high school besides three books including this one. I know how little students read and how they feel about it, but introducing them to something like this book is probably something they have never seen before and they will probably be surprised that this book is assigned. I know that my initial reaction when I was assigned this book I was a little curious as to why we were being assigned something that was like a comic, so of course I had to read it. Once I began reading it I remember being very intrigued with the initial concept of the book and how the author depicts all of the races. This book is definitely an easy read for students, as the writing is fairly easy but there are also pictures to help readers follow along, however I still feel like students will gain a lot from reading this book. Students will be able to see the variations of how a book can be written and that having something like a comic be good writing  just like any other book.

Poe

I am a big fan of all of Poe's stories, but my favorite of all time is The Tell Tale Heart. I have read this story a few times and recently was able to teach it in my placement classroom. The eighth grade class that I am assigned to was doing a short story unit and when I was asked to choose a story I chose The Tell Tale Heart because it seems to be very entertaining for people of all age levels. The students loved it because it was like watching a really scary movie in school but reading it. Having a story like this one that can keep students attention while showing them what good writing looks like was very beneficial to them. His writing is somewhat difficult but the way Poe gives details in his stories makes it easy for readers to understand what he is saying and what is happening in the story without actually understanding every word.
I was happy when I saw that this group decided to do The Tell Tale Heart as I feel like it is one of his best written stories. I enjoy the way that Poe gives so much suspense in the story and keeps readers hooked. The way that Poe uses short sentences really adds to the suspense in the story like readers do not know what is going to happen next. I  must say that my main reason as to why I love this story so much is the perspective it is told in. I love being in the mind of the psychotic killer because obviously I do not know how killers think. I liked how Poe just did not tell it from another person's perspective but let readers actually know what was going on before anything happened and how readers slowly get to see his breakdown take place.

The Road

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

            The Road by Cormac McCarthy takes place in a post- apocalyptic world where a father and son fight to survive. The world that surrounds them is filled with dark landscape with dead trees and fire. The father and boy have a goal to travel south and reach the blue ocean, which the boy has never seen. Color is a main theme in this book as the only color that surrounds them is dark depressing colors so the father has hopes to show the boy the color blue. During their journey the face many difficulties as in this world there is very little food and cannibalism is people’s main source of food. This is the main issue that the father and son need to watch out for as people are driving around searching for other people to eat. Humanity no longer exists, people only have one goal to survive and they will do anything to achieve that. Throughout the entire book the father has dreams about the past during the beginning of the apocalypse when his wife was pregnant with their son. These dreams show what happened to his wife and the reason of why he is going to see the ocean. There are many obstacles in this book that the father and son face like encounters with cannibals, sickness, hunger, and many more. Throughout all of these difficulties and lack of humanity the boy still is a caring thoughtful person. It could be implied that the boy is going to be the reason for change.

            This book is an excellent book for high school juniors or seniors to read because there are many themes that take place and other literary techniques. McCarthy’s writing in the book is simplistic to show the dull world, which contributes to the effectiveness of the book but also makes it easy for students to read. Teaching this book, students will have to identify all of the symbolism that takes place, including fire, the boy, and many more. Students have a lot to identify in this book because the themes of love, hope, and faith take place and students will have to find how they contribute to the effectiveness of the book. Discussions will be effective in the classroom because each student will have different interpretations about the events that take place and will want to share the different ideas that they have. Having these different ideas about what is happening it can be a good idea for teachers to assign an argumentative essay, an essay about what students think happened at the end, or an essay about the symbolism that takes place; whether the boy is actually carrying the fire of change or not. This book can create many different ideas of lessons teachers can give their students, but there could be some possible issues. Parents may not feel like they want their child reading about the apocalypse because there is some very dark events that take place. A specific event that could be an issue is when the father and son are in the house and they find the basement full of people about to be eaten and the people come home causing the father and boy trying to escape. This book may have some dark themes and events, but if parents read the book they will realize the benefits of teaching it is. The many literary techniques McCarthy uses and the use of hope in such a tragic world. I read this book in high school and it has been one of my favorites ever since. Unlike most books a teacher does not have to constantly ask students about the themes or symbols because they are easily identified. Students will enjoy reading this because it is very intriguing and keeps readers wanting to find out what happens at the end. 

Readicide

Reading this text, what I found to be interesting was all of the statistics that it gave about students in other states and other countries. The most important part I thought that really stuck with me is when it talked about how schools are taking less time for reading and more time for test preparation. I thought the point Gallagher  made where how administration does not understand the importance of some novels, that they think teachers are only teaching stories. That administration does not all of the important aspects of reading different books to discover theme and to develop stronger reading skills. The other part that I found to be very true because I can relate to this, but that the over teaching of academic text is ruining students from wanting to be lifelong readers. I liked how it pointed out where having students constantly be reading academic text takes the relaxation out of reading. Reading a text and having multiple questions at the end of each chapter that they have to answer to help them with a test just makes everything stressful for students. Lastly, a part that I thought was true was at the end of the book when it discussed how students get confused when reading and do not always comprehend the text. I feel like this is one of the main reasons why students do not like to read. Reading can be difficult for most students and they do not like the struggle that they have to go through just to understand the main idea of the text. The book gave a long list of ideas that teachers can use to help these students, and while reading the list I realized all of the things that I do and not even realize it. I know how helpful these ideas of slowing down to reread, annotating, and making other connections help me so if teachers teach these skills to students then they can become more confident in their reading and develop higher reading skills.