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Learning Letter

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Throughout my time in this course I have completed weekly blog posts on various texts, a three week unit plan, and two book talks. I think that my favorite assignments I completed during this course were the book talks. I loved looking at different texts that I love, developing a rationale for using them in the classroom, and finding ways to teach them; I also loved getting to listen to everybody else share their texts because I now have an extensive list of diverse texts that I could use in my classroom someday. Going into this course, I knew that I had to write a unit plan and it seemed like an incredibly daunting task. After completing my three week unit plan on Dystopian Literature/ Unwind by Neal Shusterman, I can say that it was one of the most challenging things I had to do this quarter. Although I have had some experience in writing lesson plans, I had never written a comprehensive unit. Through the process of creating the unit plan, I believe that I have figured out more a...
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Night

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Elie Wiesel’s Night is an extremely sobering book. In my book there is a preface by Wiesel and he begins it by saying, “If in my lifetime I was to write only one book, this would be the one” (Wiesel, vii ). I think that one sentence shows how much weight this book carries, and how important it is that we read texts like this one. I think one of the most important things about Night is that it shows our history in an incredibly raw and real way; it makes you stop and think about humanity in so many ways. This book is heavy, it’s terrifying, and it’s powerful. As teachers we need to understand how to best equip ourselves and our students with the tools to deal with heavy topics, and I think one of the best ways to do that is through literature. Teaching students books, like Night, will help them gain a better understanding of our human history, a better understanding of harsh topics like genocide or persecution, will help them better understand how to brave the world, and hopefully help...
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Book Talk: The Importance of Being Earnest

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The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Summary: “Oscar Wilde’s madcap farce about mistaken identities, secret engagements, and lovers’ entanglements still delights readers more than a century after its 1895 publication and premiere performance. The rapid-fire wit and eccentric characters of The Importance of Being Earnest have made it a mainstay of the high school curriculum for decades. Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax are both in love with the same mythical suitor. Jack Worthing has wooed Gwendolen as Ernest, while Algernon has also posed as Ernest to win the heat of Jack’s ward, Cecily. When all four arrive at Jack’s country home on the same weekend--the “rivals” to fight for Ernest’s undivided attention and the “Ernests” to claim their beloveds--pandemonium breaks loose. Only a senile nursemaid and an old, discarded hand-bag can save the day!” -from the Prestwick House edition Biography: Oscar Wilde was born October 16, 1854 in Dublin. Wilde was an author,...
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Graphic novels

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For this weeks blog post I read “Teaching With Graphic Novels,” an article I found through Edudemic. The article discusses different reasons why utilizing graphic novels in the classroom can be beneficial for students as well as insight into how teachers can begin to incorporate graphic novels in their classrooms. One reason for the use of graphic novels in the classroom that the article touched on was that graphic novels are essentially the same as any other assigned novel in a classroom, the only difference is that they utilize panels and images to further the story. With that in mind, I think that it is important to note that because graphic novels are essentially the same as traditional novels, in terms of content rather than format, they can and should be utilized in classrooms in order to give our students more variety in reading materials and in order to help meet the needs and interests of our students. The article also notes that graphic novels may be a good way to reach stu...
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Edgar Allan Poe

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I was first introduced to Edgar Allan Poe in the sixth grade with “The Raven”, “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, and their respective renditions by The Alan Parsons Project. Since then I have come across Poe and his texts in some capacity in my secondary English classes as well as my college level literature classes. Poe is just one of those classic authors in the literary canon who will always find his way into secondary English classrooms. Poe is exciting, suspenseful, dark, gloomy, [insert any other Gothic or dark adjective you can think of here]. Poe is one of the first author’s who comes to mind when I think of Gothic literature, and he serves as a wonderful resource for poems and short stories that are incredibly written, are full of literary devices or themes that can be discussed in the classroom, and are interesting and engaging to students. One of my favorite short stories by Poe is “The Tell-Tale Heart.” I love how this story in particular takes a subjec...
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian

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This was my first time reading anything of Sherman Alexie’s, and I have to say that I really enjoyed reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian . I found the book to be an engaging, humorous, incredibly well written coming of age story that could really work in a secondary classroom. The stream of consciousness style of writing that Alexie takes on is really intriguing and makes the read fun and easy, which I think can be a big advantage for teaching the book in a secondary classroom because it could potentially be a new and engaging style of writing for students. I also found the cartoons and comics to be great tools to help draw readers in and engage them with the text, as well as great tools to add to the story. Overall, I think that Alexie has created and incredible novel that covers issues that our secondary students will be dealing with all of the time, as well as a novel that gives perspective into the lives of young Native American students and their culture. ...
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The Education of Margot Sanchez

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I liked this book more than I thought I would. After hearing the first chapter read aloud in class, I was not sure how I was going to feel about this book; it definitely seemed like an interesting read and I was intrigued to see how the book would turn out, but I was not sure if I would be able to connect with Margot’s character very well because of the differences in our cultural backgrounds (Margot being from the Bronx and of Latinx descent, while I am a white girl from the suburbs/fringe rural area around Greenbluff and am of primarily European descent) and because she seemed like a bit of a spoiled brat. However, I found that it wasn’t all that hard to relate to the character in the sense that I understand what it’s like trying to fit in and putting on a mask to get people to accept you. Despite Margot’s attitude and her actions, I still felt a connection to her, and felt like I needed to be rooting for her; I think that was a really interesting dynamic while reading the book. ...
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