Learning Letter

Overall, I feel really proud of the work I have completed in this class. The book talks were my favorite part of this class because I learned about various different books that I have made note to read in the future, and to have available in my class for my future students. The book talks also helped me further understand how I can incorporate young adult books into my curriculum.  I was also really proud of myself for keeping up with the reading. There was a lot to read in a short amount of time, but I'm very glad I prioritized my time to make sure I accomplished reading the assigned young adult book because I really enjoyed the books we read, especially The Round House. The work that I am most proud of for completing was the unit plan. At the beginning of the quarter I was STRESSING on how I was going to complete this, especially because I've only ever completed on lesson plan ever!! I would have liked to put more effort and time towards it so I could really perfect it, but I'm very proud of myself for fully completing it to the best of my ability. It also has been such a huge help for me to better understand what works well in a classroom.

Each discussion we did helped me better understand theories and concepts that are useful to me as a future teacher. I really liked doing the discussion posts because it helped me reflect on what I learned from my reading, and it also helped open new ideas by reading an discussing about what my peers learned about. To me, the most beneficial reading was the short book we read, I Read it but I Don't Get it. I thoroughly enjoyed this short read because it provided me with so many different techniques I can use in the future to help my students understand their reading. I also found the EDTPA articles really helpful, especially when creating my lesson plans because it helped cleared up some confusion or parts of my lesson plan, and provided new ideas that I could incorporate into my lesson plans as well.

My participation in class has taught me the value and importance of discussion! We had some form of discussion every class period, and I was influenced and I learned so much from my peers. For instance, when we would have discussions about our lesson plans in class, I was able to incorporate new ideas into my own lesson plans, while providing feedback or new ideas for my peers as well. This makes me want to keep incorporating discussion in the future whether it's with other teachers or even just in my own classroom. This class has taught me how importance it is to discuss with others because it helps reflect on your own learning, but opens our mind to new ideas as well.

The Oval Portrait & The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe

              I am an overall big fan of Edgar Allen Poe's work, but it's challenging to read and comprehend. Most of the time while reading Poe's work, I'll read it a few times myself and try to come to an understanding, but sometimes I have to search for someone else’s analysis or interpretation to help me come to a greater understanding. I chose “The Oval Portrait” and “The Masque of the Red Death” both by Edgar Allen Poe because I have heard of both these stories, but I have not read them myself. However, I loved both these stories because they allow for readers to come to terms with their own interpretation. Both these stories give the plot of the summary, but there are context ideas and clues that lead to the reader’s own assumption about what is truly happening. For instance, in “The Masque of the Red Death”, I came to the conclusion that the person who killed everyone was actually time himself.

              I would use Poe’s work in my classroom because it’s unusual, intriguing, and captivates readers when it is comprehended, but it can be a challenge for not as advanced readers. So, in order to incorporate this into my classroom, I would have students read independently at first. There are also various YouTube videos illustrations/narrations of most of the short stories, so showing this to students can help connect the words to images of the story, so my next step would be this. I think the use of graphic novels can be incredibly helpful for Poe also because it has the same effects as the YouTube videos would be. Finally, I would have students engage in discussion on any of Poe’s stories because it can help every student gain a new perspective they might not have thought of.   

Night by Elie Wiesel

              Night by Elie Wiesel has been probably my favorite book this quarter, and what I think I liked about it the most is that the main character, Eliezer, is based off the author himself. I did some research about Wiesel, and he had his 3 sister and his parents, but his youngest sister, mom, and dad did not survive the Holocaust. However, in an interview with Opera Winfrey, his primary motivation for trying to survive Auschwitz was knowing that his father was still alive, and he said, “I knew that if I died, he would die.” This book gives readers basically a first-hand glance what it was like to live under Nazi control. I also really liked this book because WWII was one of my favorite wars to learn about in high school, and this book has great connection to this war. With that being said, I think this book is very appropriate for high school readers, especially those learning about WWII and the Nazi Regime, however I think this book is filled with a lot of sensitive material as well, such as the hanging of fellow prisoners including children in the court yard, and the abuse and harsh treatment of the Jewish prisoners. It may be hard for some readers to comprehend the horrible conditions that Jewish suffered through, but that’s why it’s important to not shelter our readers from material like this, so they understand and see why Hitler and the Nazi Regime were so terrible. What’s also incredibly about this book is the author himself. Wiesel is can be looked at as such an inspirational figure. It’s amazing how he suffered through loosing most of his family and his identity, but was able to survive the holocaust, and become a successful writer and professor.

Book Talk #2

The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison is about a group of girls, all under the age of 21, who have been kidnapped to live in a secret garden, which is tended by the Gardner. The book starts off with a girl named “Maya” being interregated by two FBI agents, agent Victor Hanoverian and agent Brandon Eddison, to get as much information about life in this secret garden. Readers learn that the garden can only be accessed by the Gardner, and eventually his two sons Desmond and Avery. In this garden, lived over 15 girls between the ages of 15 and 21. Each girl received a new name given to them from the Gardner, and also a distinct tattoo of enormous butterfly wings on their back each representing a different species of butterfly, and each girl was raped by the Gardner and Avery. Avery specifically abused Maya because of her strong will and courage. Also, any girl who turned 21, misbehaved, or tried to escape was murdered, but their bodies were preserved in glass cases filled with resin, and their wings were put on display in the hallways where the girls lived. Maya is looked up to by all the other girls because she is a type of motherly figure to them, and also she is treated the best by the Gardner. Maya also becomes close with the Gardner’s son Desmond, who eventually helps Maya and the others escape.

I chose this text because originally I was supposed to read it for a book club, but the book club ended up not working out. I read this text on my own, and I absolutely loved it. Growing up, my favorite genres of books were the horror and psycho thriller type books, and this book falls perfectly in those categories. I think this text would be appropriate for older high school students, especially those who I thought were mature enough for this book just because the characters in this book are young girls who are trying to overcome this huge challenging obstacle, but also personal challenges as well, such as loosing family members, overcoming depression and anxiety, etcetera.

I don’t think I would use this book as a book for the whole class to read, but I can see using this book for any type or reading circle or book club, as a book to use for a book report, or even on a personal project (ex: my lesson plan unit on conflict, this book would be perfect for various types of conflict.)

Challenges I think I would face using this text would because of the mention of really heavy topics such as rape, molestation, suicide, and domestic abuse, and I think parents and administration would have a problem with really dark topics like that. That is why I would only recommend it to those I know who could handle this book in a maturely manner, and I would let administration and parents know that in no way this book nor I are condoning the acts committed in this book, but they are topics that shouldn’t be sheltered from readers. I would always make sure to clear it was parents and administration first before I recommend this book to students.

Important things to note about this book:

-          It’s apart of a 4 part series – each are different to each other

-          It’s 288 pages

-          It MAY be made into a movie, but nothing confirmed

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

 The Roundhouse was such a great and fun read. I really enjoyed this book because it was an easy read and I can actually relate what I knew about Native Americans and their history to this book, especially because of the Pacific Northwest History class I’m currently in right now. This book was a great read for me because it covers such a heavy topic of rape, but Louise Erdrich keeps it light hearted with jokes and awkward moments of these 13-year-old boys growing up and experiencing changes of their emotions and of their bodies. I think Louise Erdrich really shows the true side affects of rape, not only to the victim, but family and friends and the community as well. I think Louise Erdrich also does a really great job of showing how life is still extremely hard for a modern Native American is, especially those living on a reservation close enough to the other white people.

I also think Joe is such a relatable character as well because Joe is a goofy, awkward, 13-year-old boy who has genuine feelings and is attracted to pretty women, but he also likes to goof around and get into mischief with his friends. He also shows how true empathy towards his mom and dad, his friends and family, and especially toward Sonja. Since I think Joe is such a relatable character, I think this would be a really good read for certain high school students. I don’t think I would use this book for teaching, but I would recommend it to those who I think who are mature enough to handle the heavy content of this book. As a future teacher, I could definitely see myself recommending this book for a book club, or maybe for a personal project or book report.

I read it, but I don't get it!

I really enjoyed I Read it, But I Don’t Get it because it was really insightful for a, a future teacher who is going to encounter students who struggle with reading comprehension.  As I was reading this book, I thought of my own high school experience, and I was trying to remember if I even struggled with reading comprehension or if I noticed any of my peers struggling as well, and what I did to overcome those obstacles. The one thing I really liked in this book was the constant dialogue between Cris Tovani and her students. I think it helped make the story more realistic, and, as a future teacher, it was cool to see the students have these “ah ha!” moments of reaching comprehension of what they were reading and makes it more realistic that I can also help students reach these goals as well. As I was reading, I bookmarked parts of Tovani’s teaching that I felt were important to me, or I could incorporate into my own teaching as well. For instance, in the section titled “Purpose is Everything”, Tovani does an exercise with her students where they have to read a small article called The House. Tovani first has the students read the piece, and circle what they feel like is important. Next, the students read the piece again and highlight in pink what would be important for a robber. Next, students will read the piece again and highlight in another color what’s important for a house buyer. Tovani then has students compare the three different readings, and students should recognize that it was much easier to find what was important when they were given a purpose. Lastly, Tovani has students compare what they found was important for the robber and for the buyer.

I found myself relating to Tovani’s students because everyone goes through some type of a struggle with reading comprehension, but I also did find myself practicing many of the steps Tovani teaches to her students on how to over come the struggle. I am hoping that I can influence some of the strategies onto my future students as well.

EWU's TPA guidelines and edTPA Making Good Choices

For me, the hardest part of learning how to be a teacher is the tedious lesson plans (especially having to do 15 for this class!!). I struggle the most with how to organize all these ideas I have in my head into either one or multiple lesson plans, and because I don’t have the experience of being in a classroom, I’m unsure of what works in a classroom or how to manage time effectively. I found the article “edTPA Making Good Choices” to be extremely helpful as I am making my lesson plans for this class. What I liked the most about this article is the section on “Knowledge of Students”. In this section, I learned that the lessons we create should be student focused. This article also pointed out that when catering to students with certain needs its important that the our reasoning for the actions we take are “based on your knowledge of your students and not based on assumptions or stereotypes associated with their age or ethnic, cultural, or socio-economic backgrounds.”

As for the edTPA Lesson Plan Guidelines, this is the first quarter that I’ve seen a shorter format of the lesson plan, and I actually really like this one because of the questions being asked in each section. In the long version of the lesson plan it doesn’t have these questions, so I constantly had to reference my first lesson plan to see what I needed to each category. I also like the shorter format because it combines some of the sections from the longer format into more cohesive sections.