Learning Letter

1. Reflect on the work you’ve completed in the course (book talks, mini-lessons, unit plans): the book talk was an enjoyable experience because I was able to share with my peers a book that I really enjoyed reading myself in high school. It was fun to learn about different books as well that my peers introduced. The mini lessons were helpful because I got to practice teaching a lesson for the first time. It was also helpful to be able to create my own lesson and put my own work into it.
The unit plan was very difficult but it was worthwhile. There are a list of things that I wish I had done differently that I talk about in my reflection. I will continue to work on those things and make sure I get it down. The unit plan was also very enjoyable especially when we got to share a little bit with the class what our unit plans were about and the kinds of things we included in them.

2) The theories and concepts that we explored in readings and discussions were very helpful and interesting. We talked about theories that had to do with critical thinking, pre-writing, pre-reading, etc. The most helpful was the Cal State reading we had. There was also Readicide and Pedagogy. It was my first experience learning about Pedagogy. I think all of the readings and discussions we had about the different techniques of teaching were very helpful. It will be worthwhile and valuable to use these skills in future classrooms.

3) My participation in this course will help me as a teacher because of the discussions we had. I think being able to talk in extent about specific subjects or topics is a good skill to learn and have. Being able to stay engaged and involved in the discussions will help me help my future students. Showing the students how to participate in discussions will also help them with their learning.

Sherman Alexie Blog Post

What I really like about this book, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie, is the message that it sends to readers. It may have some difficult subjects like alcohol abuse, poverty, racial injustice and death but the inspiring aspect of this story is the themes hopes and dreams. These themes are shown through the main character himself, Junior. He has a dream to become a cartoonist and he holds onto that dream. Junior's struggles to find himself and live above the hardships that he encounters through his life. To live above the poverty and try to become the person he wants to be.

The other aspect of this book that I enjoyed is the humor that the author adds in. Specifically, the pictures that the author added in. I enjoy his illustration of his grandmother on page 69. I also liked the drawing on page 168 after his grandmother passed away from being hit by a car. He drew a door to heaven with balloons that say "Welcome, Grandmother Spirit" and "Heaven".

I also enjoyed reading about friendships in this book. Junior depended so much on the friends that he made. They helped him get through school and the hardships. The one friendship that stood out for me was the one he had with Rowdy. On page 24 in the book Junior says, "Rowdy might be the most important person in my life. Maybe more important than my family. Can your best friend be more important than your family?" I think this is very important to realize because Junior sees Rowdy more as a member of his family than his father, mother, or anyone else. He talks about how much time they spend together and because of that he says "Rowdy and I are inseparable" (24). I have certainly had friendships like Junior's and Rowdy's so this helps make the characters feel very relatable in that aspect.

Night by Ellie Wiesel blog post

Instead of writing about what I found interesting, I decided to write about why I think this book is a good book to teach to students. First of all, the author provides first hand experience. In the synopsis of this novel, it mentions  that he was a teenager when he was taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp and then to Buchenwald. Reading a novel about a teenager that went though all of these horrible events and tells us about his memories of losing his family is very sad to read about but it also gives the reader a different perspective on what people like Elie went through. I think the reader will be inspired by Elie's journey because of what he survived through. I also think this book would be very useful to teach to a history class. It can easily take place of just watching a movie about the holcaust and also take place of "the Diary of Anne Frank". (Although the novel about Anne Frank is also a really good read and inspiring as well.  "Night" is simply another choice for a teacher to use rather than using the same famous novel over and over.). A teacher could also pair the two novels together and compare the two characters and what they both went through.

Blog Post - The Black Cat

I chose to write my blog post on the Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe. I mostly concentrated on the speaker's love for animals and then the overall treatment of his animals and how it changed as the story went on.

Like most of his other pieces of works (poems, short stories, etc) it starts out with a sorrowful tone. The speaker says he will be talking about some horrible events that occurred in this story. They open with the line: "most wild yet homely narrative" (203). The speaker also talks about how the speaker is especially fond of animals at a young age. He grew up loving house pets and his parents bought him lots of pets. His love for pets continued into his young adulthood and when he got married they bought their own pets. The one pet that he seems to have adored the most is a black cat. "Remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black, and sagacious to an astonishing degree" (203). He named the cat Pluto and he did everything for the cat. The cat even followed him everywhere, except when he left the house, which he felt was difficult to prevent himself from allowing the cat to follow him.

The sorrowful tone continues with "But to-morrow I die, and to-day I would unburned my soul" (203) What is the speaker unburdening his soul from? As I read the story, I learn he wants to unburden his soul from the events that "have terrified--have tortured - have destroyed me" (203). The first horrible event that occurred was when he cut out the eyeball of his beloved cat, Pluto, out of its socket. The man did this when he came home drunk one night and grabbed the cat viciously and the cat defending himself by biting his owner's hand.

I found it interesting that a man who loved his pets so much would do this; especially to the cat whom he loved so much. That is what makes this piece of work so interesting by itself. I think it mostly explores the mind; how our minds can be easily persuaded; especially when a drug such as alcohol is involved.