English 341 was more than just an average english class. This class was a place of community and of true learning. Not just any community but a community of people that cared and were going in the sam direction as I was. It was a class where the professor, Kim Jaxon, truly put her heart into what she was trying to teach. This class allowed learning in a way that was different from any there class; ideas were freely shared, creativity flourished, and we all grew in our reading habits. As I was reading through my old blog posts I realized that I learned a lot throughout the semester and had fun the whole time. From the fairytale unit, to the series unit, to the author choice, to the genre study,to the poetry unit, to the book club unit, I progressively was learning how to instill a love of reading into children and how to use different resources in a classroom.

In the Fairytale unit I learned that there are so many different ways that a story can be told. Children have so many stories and dreams and they too can write fairytales and stories. In the series unit, I learned the importance of encouraging children to increase the amount of reading they do. In the author study, I learned that a writer can come from anywhere and use his/her experiences to create a masterpiece. In the poetry unit I learned that anyone can be a poet and every poem is worth being called poetry. In the genre study unit, I learned the importance of branching out and reading genres that are often ignored. In the book club unit, I learned that it is great to just enjoy a book! There were so many lessons learned it is hard to put them all down.An important lesson I also learned was that online tools are becoming more and important and it is just as important to help students learn how to use the tools and resources available to them.

This class was great because it  not only required a lot of reading, which I love, but the requirement of blogs, which truly helped me process ideas. I enjoyed all the grow discussions and learned so much from my peers as well.I also learned what it looks like to be a teacher who encouraged thought and creativity. Kim Jaxon was a great believer that students could truly do anything if given the opportunity and I will take that belief into my future classroom.

Thank you Kim Jaxon for everything!!

I read Counting by Sevens for my book club choice and I wasn’t to enthused by the book. I did ,however, really liked the main character, “Willow” because I thought she represented a lot of children who feel that they don’t fit in with the “other” students. “Willow” was a fascinating character and I felt that the author did a good job at developing her throughout the book. I liked what the author did by putting a little quote at the beginning of each chapter that correlated with each character. I even wrote one of  them down in my journal, “A leader gets everyone to shoot in the same direction”.

As I was reading the story it really did remind me of when my cousin died and how horrible it was and I felt for Willow and the pain that she was going through. The death of my cousin was almost ten years ago and as I read the book, I was reminded but I was able to read the book and be “okay”. I don’t think I would give this to a child that was in the process of healing but probably after quite some time. I think the author wrote the book to helps students who don’t fit in and to give them some sort of hope.

Compared to other books that I’ve read, I didn’t enjoy it as much. I like books that have different perspectives but this one was a little bland for me and I didm;t like that the mom suddenly had “money” to better her family. The book was a little sad and a bit slow but nonetheless had a great main character.

I think Williams is seeing a red wheelbarrow that has been outside in the rain. It might be the in the morning that he is seeing the wheelbarrow because he says it is, “glazed” with water. That could mean that the water is drying up and only a little water is left. The glazed water reminds me of the way that grass looks like when it is wet with dew. He also, obviously, is looking at white chickens as well. I think William might be feeling a bit of melancholy or even reminiscing of a certain time in his past. I feel like he might be recalling a memory because a wheelbarrow is a children’s toy and white chickens are usually on a farm. It is likely it might be an image from his past.

 

 

So much depends

Upon

 

A green engine

Truck

 

Covered in white

Sparkles

 

Beyond memories

lane