By far, this has been my favorite class this semester. What an incredible way to begin life as a future teacher here at Chico State University. I have learned so much from you Mrs. Kim Jaxon. I know I will run into you from time to time, may it be on twitter, or on campus. I mean, the growth you have given to me will be put to good use in my teaching. When I met, I didn’t know how to blog, and because of you I do. I built an entire website, didn’t even know you could do that! Thank you for giving me the proper tools to love reading and writing and look at this in different eyes. I truly was a dull reader…now, I have a list a mile high to begin as soon as the semester ends. I wasn’t aware of my capabilities to be able to read so many books in one semester. Thank you for giving that to me. Probably not what you want when it comes to my final reflection…so here it goes…again.

Looking Back & Moving forward, this is the image and statement I have towards class and learning. I look back on the positive experiences that taught me valuable lessons that will not only improve me as a whole but will allow me to entrust it with others that surround me; children, parents, and teachers alike. I feel that if I didn’t get challenged, then I didn’t learn. In this class, I did just that—LEARN.

LEARN that reading can be fun,

LEARN that anyone can write poetry,

LEARN that teaching is leading by example,

LEARN that I can do anything I put my mind to!

Look at that another poem:)

No really, I have enjoyed this class immensely…fun people, enthusiastic teacher, and assignments that were interesting and not the typical hair-pulling, teeth-grinding, nail-biting type of boring.

“What is literature?” Versaci asks his students at the beginning of every semester, already inferring the dislike towards the subject English. He does this not only as a way to get to know each students attitude towards English but to give them a chance to voice out their hates and or likes of the subject and its content. The negative or positive remarks from the above question gives him an idea of how to appropriately handle this next semester and tailor it to each and every students needs. One response that he was concerned about was that literature was something that people have decided was either good or bad. This is concerning because this means the student has separated themselves from writing and reading and identify it as a piece of work that is either deemed worthy or not. He states that as teachers we should strive to have our students ask questions when it comes to our grading their work.  Our goal should be to encourage students to have an active role in questioning their creative work within parameters of course. This enables an active, critical and engaged readers Versaci suggests.

As future elementary teachers, we should try to entice our students in regards to literature through captivating and energized experiences and process, and create activities that will encourage to be as creative and excited to do it in the first place. We are the foundation of this child’s academic career!

Versaci’s view on comic book reading is simple that it can change the way students see literature. In his article he introduces excerpts from comic books to read to his students and has them try to investigate and analyze them to representations of real life situations. He realizes that most them have read comics but never viewed them as having a voice in mature situations and subject matter.

With Scott McCloud’s TED Talk on the Visual Magic of Comics his main idea is that not only does the comic have a visual medium but it tries to captivate the reader by allowing the reader use all of his/her senses. He back this theory up by referring to ancient artifacts of statues, columns and wall art; he uses this as a way to show that even back before published work and the internet that there was art that used the same form that comics so today. Such form as a temporal map used for time in comics, invisible lines that the naked eye to cannot see. Reading from left to right automatically for both elements.

Students in this day and age are surrounded by diverse and complex media, and sometimes they will find subject content in the classroom dull and boring. IT is the job as the teacher to use this as an advantage in the classroom to encourage the student to want to pursue their opinions and ask their questions about real life situations and of what they read.

The Center of Everything written by Laura Moriarty is her very first book. The setting is in Kansas and it is during the Reagan Administration. Moriarty vividly describes one girl’s hardship in growing up with a single parent and the troubles of trying to stay positive in a negative environment. Her mother is not quite the role model to look up to but she stands to persevere. I am only half way through the book, but so far this child (Evelyn) has to deal with being so poor that her mother can even purchase her shoes. She is a smart and happy girl but is stuck in a horrible situation that her mother has placed them in. I would feel that this book would want its readers to try to look through the eyes a child and how poverty can influence the decisions that this child has to overcome on a daily basis. Readers will talk about the mother and her choices that she has made, such as sleeping with a married man, whom she hopes that by doing so this guy will leave his wife (who can’t bear children for him) for her. He doesn’t though. And Evelyn’s mother gets pregnant and when she finally notices that she is it is too late to abort. She is deathly sick throughout the pregnancy and the baby is born a preemie with a lot of birth defects. Evelyn describes this moment of her life as a line on a map. One that separates the states yet is invisible and she states that with what her mother has done…lying…hiding…and depression, Evelyn has drawn an imaginary line between her mother and herself.

As single parent myself, I feel that Evelyn’s mom, Tina, doesn’t care about anyone but herself. It shows. She thinks that the only strength that she has going for herself is her looks when she should try other venues. But she doesn’t, she just digs herself a bigger hole. She doesn’t notice her daughters needs and she is placing more stress and responsibility on her little girl. Evelyn is only in fourth grade and had to take care of herself for more than three days when her mother became depressed and stayed in her room. She lived off cereal and TV those three days and when the milk ran out she had to wake her mother out of the funk that she was in. This is so wrong on so many levels. A child should never be subjected to that type of parenting, and be forced to grow up and teach themselves and live on their own while there is an adult present but still absent.

In this book, Evelyn was introduced to the title of Welfare Queen and she is trying to understand what this concept is and why it isn’t good. The government was allowing people who are in low incomes to apply for cash assistance, Evelyn has to go with her mother after the depressing news of her being pregnant and try to apply for help. But her mother blows this opportunity as well, by getting mad at the lady who asks her who the unborn child belongs to. So once again Evelyn is embarrassed by her mother actions and reactions. The police had to bring them home because she flipped out in the heat of the day and laid down on the lawn in front of the highway. She was baring it all and causing a scene. The police officer brought them home and the next day Evelyn had new shoes…because the day before she was forced to go to the welfare office without shoes.

When I was a child, I grew up in such circumstances and so much worse than that of what Evelyn had to go through. I was homeless several times as a child with my parents and knew all about the Welfare System and Medical and food stamps and AFDC. Not fun going through school as a child who is aware that you are poor and need a lot of help. But I was a special child, one who got all A’s and skipped a grade such as Evelyn who was succeeding in her school as well.

I bought this book at a yard sale some four years ago and the reason I bought it was the fact that it was describing a story of a single family home and the trials and tribulations that she and the child had to go through. I never finished though. So I am hoping that I finish it now.

When it comes to literature, I would think this book falls into the category of New Realism due to the fact that it shed light on situations or events that most children are unaware of because adults try to censor it from them. When in actuality more and more kids are subjected to this type of poverty and situations with out an escape or a way to talk about it. This way the book can be used in a manner of a way for them to talk about it openly. This type of reading mirror’s real life situations that people face on a day-to-day basis. It is hard to read sometimes because of the truth that is underlined by what this child has to face. So it will be a book that I will finish before the summer ends.

In response to the poem “Red Wheelbarrow ”  written by  William Carlos Williams I believe that the author envisions a strength within the materials made of the wheelbarrow, and the many uses the actual wheelbarrow can do with the help of an able body of equal amounts of strength to maneuver it (the wheelbarrow). Have you ever seen a wheelbarrow become rustic from over exposure to the winter elements; rain, sleet, snow, leaves and debris? Have you ever left it out in the that environment and watched the decay of the wheelbarrow? I have. In fact, mine sits on my front yard anticipating it’s next load of cut wood to bring into my house. But while it waits, it sits, it collects that rain water that falls, and then without the help of an able body (me) to pour out the water that sits at the bottom of the wheelbarrow, the water will become a poison to it and began to change its color. Become a rustic color of red. So much depends on that wheel barrow, but if rain water glazes it, then “it” cannot become its full potential of what it is to be expected of it. As for the white chickens in Williams poem I believe he was trying to captivate the strength of the wheel barrow and what it can do for them. Carry their feed and clean out their chicken pen! Only they can’t depend on it if the owner of the wheel barrow decides not to take it out of the harsh elements of fall and winter; therefore the “barrow” begins to weaken. I believe this is what he felt because this is what I experienced with my own wheel barrow and my mistreating it as well , so maybe the author was feeling the same way, too. I know really corny…oh well that is me!

My imaginative poem called:

The Lonesome Tree

So much depends upon

that lonesome tree,

a vibrantly green,

as it stands there looking at me.

So much depends upon that tree,

for you and me to breathe.

So much depends upon that tree,

for the little girl in

it’s strong branches to flee.

So much depends upon that tree,

for in that solemn moment,

I am one with a tree!