Words, words, words.

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. ...

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. ...

Kelly Gallagher’s Readicide hit home for me. I can definitely identify with the students who are currently facing readicide because I was one of those students while I was in high school. To be honest, I had a terrible case of readicide while I was in high school, especially my senior year; don’t get me wrong, I love reading and English has always been my favorite subject, but I would absolutely dread academic reading. Readicide also hit home for me because I can identify with Gallagher; I can see readicide impacting my students. As a student teacher/future teacher it’s tough to watch because I don’t want any of my students to dread or hate having to read in an academic setting, or any setting for that matter; I want to be able to provide my students with positive reading experiences that help them prepare for college and the world beyond high school. One thing that Gallagher discussed in the book was the reading flow and how we are preventing our students from reaching it. I have ...

Reading through I Read It, But I Don’t Get It, by Cris Tovani, reminded me a lot of my dad and my journey as a young reader. My dad has always had trouble reading; he has always been good at reading texts like instruction manuals or magazines about something he is interested in, but I’ve never seen him sit down with a book and read it for pleasure (until just the other day when he asked to borrow my copy of Ready Player One ). When I was young, I wasn’t as much of a reader compared to my classmates, and my parents were worried that I might end up not liking reading like my dad. Something clicked though, and I became a voracious reader; I’m still a voracious reader (when I have the time). I think that the reading/thinking strategies that Tovani goes over in this book really stood out to me because they make me think of how my dad could have used this when he was growing up, or could use them now, to become a better reader; they also make me think of many of the students in my prac...

Reading through the edTPA guidelines, I recognized things from each section and understood what each section was about because I’ve been writing lesson plans for a quarter and a half now. I think going through the guidelines also helped me recognize sections that I could use a bit more work in, like in the assessment section I tend to forget to mention what/how the assessment will measure student performance. I also noticed some new things or different wording of ideas that may help me write better content for the different sections within the edTPA; I think that having this resource and being able to think of the different sections of the edTPA through different questions/statements will help me create better lesson plans and prevent me from getting stuck in a “this is the only way I can do this” kind of mentality. Reading through the edTPA “Making Good Choices” document was a little terrifying; looking at all of the requirements was intimidating and it definitely made me question ...

For this week's reading, I found an article on the Teaching Tolerance website written by Christina Torres, a seventh- and ninth-grade teacher in Honolulu, Hawaii. I believe that it may be important to note that I went into this reading with the understanding that social justice is essentially fairness in the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society, and applied this understanding to the article. In the article Torres starts out by stating that anyone and everyone has asked her, “Why do you make everything about ‘social justice’? Can’t you just let it go?” and even admits that she has asked herself the same questions. In response, Torres poses the question: “If she doesn’t teach her students about social justice, who will?” I believe that this question is an incredibly important one that we as future teachers must wrestle with. Torres notes that “cultural and societal knowledge can (and should) be taught at home” but that we also must validate and empow...

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline Summary: Ready Player One is a science fiction novel set in dystopian America in the year 2044. Humans are facing an ugly reality and the only way they’re coping with it is through the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation), a completely immersive virtual reality utopia created by James Halliday. The story follows Wade Watts, known as Parzival in the OASIS, as he works to solve the puzzles hidden within the OASIS’s programming and hunt for the ultimate prize, Halliday’s Easter Egg. Whoever finds the three clues and the Easter Egg first will be given control of the OASIS and Halliday’s fortune. Once Wade stumbles upon the first clue, the race to find the Easter Egg is on. Wade finds himself fighting for his life and for the fate of the OASIS against millions of other OASIS users, as well as the evil tech corporation Innovative Online Industries (IOI). In order to survive and save the OASIS, Wade will have to be...

I really enjoyed reading through the different units that the authors developed for their urban classroom in this weeks reading. I especially enjoyed the sections where they went over their 7-Week Poetry unit and their Race and Justice in Society unit. I think that the 7-Week Poetry unit really appeals to me because it works to utilize the interests of the students in the unit in order to engage them with the curriculum. An effective teacher needs to know how to engage their students with classical texts and I think that one of the best ways to do that is to relate classical texts with more contemporary ones. I also enjoyed the fact that they used music as a way to engage students in the poetry unit. I actually got to do this in a poetry unit in middle school, and I think that it definitely allowed me to engage with the content I was learning in a way that was interesting and relevant to my own life. I think that it is also important to note that we need to know our students well ...