Why a good book is a secret door

G+ Community

We will share most of our work in a Google+ Community. We can upload images, respond to each other’s ideas, and share links and artifacts here.

Calendar

Course calendar can be found above and HERE.

Author: kristieweibling

Reflection – Kristie Weibling

Reflection – Kristie Weibling

ENGL 341 was a class I always looking forward to coming to. I was absent for one class, and not being able to go was disappointing. One of my goals as a teacher is for my students to feel similarly about my class.

 

This semester, I learned that I can appreciate books from a variety of genres. The genres and books I chose to read weren’t always ones I would choose for my own enjoyment, but I could see my future students liking them, so I read on. One of the important points I came across in this class was that students are capable of forming their own opinions on literature, and we can be their to guide them. During our graphic novels unit, I learned about and agreed with Rocco Versaci’s view that “we should not force our opinions of what qualifies as literature on our students. I can certainly see this causing students to resent what we’re telling them to appreciate, and… we can do better by them by helping them to form their own opinions” (Weibling).

 

Sometimes I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed a genre genres, such as graphic novels and poetry. Having a say in what books I read in each genre was beneficial. I’ve never enjoyed assigned reading so much; in fact, it didn’t often feel like required reading. I learned that allowing students to make choices from a selection of books is a great way to assign reading while still giving students a say. I feel the same about our gallery walks. The freedom to come up with our own ideas for projects allowed me to discover more of a knack for creative projects than I’d thought I had, and I felt like we were doing our projects for ourselves and to share our love of reading.

 

I felt challenged by some of the units this semester. I surprised myself by writing riddles and even not-so-bad poetry. I also learned how I can use technology in my classroom. I proud to have learned how to use SoundCloud, how to create a website, and how text alerts can be used to touch bases with parents and teachers.

 

In this class, I got to witness firsthand the importance of community in the classroom. I’d never been in a book club before, and it was a fantastic experience. Through our reading groups, I got to know my classmates, and it was beneficial to bounce ideas off each other. Overhearing other groups’ enthusiasm for their books made me want to read theirs as well. I’d like for my students to have similar experiences. I expect I’ll be reading a lot this summer!

 

Thank you to you, Kim, and to all of my classmates for a memorable, worthwhile semester! I’ll miss our fun discussions and book chats. :)

Counting by 7s – Kristie Weibling

Counting by 7s – Kristie Weibling

Counting by 7s encourages its readers to talk about the value of having support systems.  Early in the book, Willow loses her parents, the two people in her life she relies on.  She strikes me as very self-sufficient and reclusive, but suddenly being on her own sets her on a journey of putting herself out there, reaching out to others and creating new bonds.  The people she lets into her life throughout the book aren’t always great at providing comfort, but like Willow says, “just being there is ninety-nine percent of what matters when your world falls apart” (175).

 

Counting by 7s is closer to reality than fantasy, but can be far-fetched at times.  Sometimes in the book, characters make choices that pull me out of the story, like when Dell’s apartment is taken over and when money comes out of nowhere.  I occasionally felt that the story was meant to be an even quirkier, more-humorous story, for which I could more-easily suspend my disbelief.

On the other hand, Counting by 7s does not shy away from serious issues many people face in life.  Willow experiences an accusation of cheating, being labeled, grief, poverty, and finding a new family.  Her counselor, Duke, is an extreme hoarder and is unhappily employed in a profession he knows he is unqualified for.  These characters seemed comfortable being creatures of habit, and I enjoyed reading how they handled themselves when their lives went topsy-turvy.

Comics and Graphic Novels – Kristie Weibling

Comics and Graphic Novels – Kristie Weibling

One of Rocco Versaci’s main points is that we should not force our opinions of what qualifies as literature on our students. I can certainly see this causing students to resent what we’re telling them to appreciate, and I agree that we can do better by them by helping them to form their own opinions.

One of my favorite parts of Scott McCloud’s TED Talk was when he explained that while comics are visual, they also “try to embrace all of the senses within” the medium. Pictures, the text, “the different symbols and everything in between” are all given visually. I was also interested in his view of media as “a window back into our own world.”

As I read Rapunzel’s Revenge, I felt as though I was watching a muted TV and following the captions. Having constant images provided allowed me to read quickly; they images flowed together for me, I didn’t take much time to create the setting for myself in my mind. I liked that some pages had more text than others; sometimes my eyes quickly flew over the pictures, and other times I slowed my reading and followed the text carefully. I didn’t feel like I had to do much to follow the story, but Versaci later helped me to see that I wasn’t just a passive reader. He explained that reading books like this “requires an active, though largely subconscious, participation on the part of the reader.” I realize now that I was actively filling in what happened from panel to panel. McCloud said something similar in his talk, when he talked about comics’ “balance between the visible and the invisible.” He explained that comics leave it to you to envision what happens between each panel.

Rapunzel’s Revenge seemed to rely on the illustrations, because when I read a section of the text online without them, I struggled a bit to picture some of the settings. While this isn’t my favorite way to read, I really enjoyed and appreciated the experience, and I hope my students will too.

The Deaf and hard of hearing students I’ve worked with tend to be learning English as a second or third language, and I’ve been impressed by how books with illustrations help them to create mental images of what they’re reading. Graphic novels seem to be a good way to set aside speech tags and focus on dialogue. My only concern is that the dialogue tends to be capitalized throughout, which takes away from the shapes of the words. I noticed that reading the all-capitalized words affected my flow of reading, and I can see it doing the same for my students.

I didn’t know much about graphic novels before this unit, but I’ve seen my students enjoy them, and have thought before about using graphic novels in my own classroom. I hadn’t realized how diverse the style and subject matterr could be! I’m excited now by the idea to have students create graphic novels of their own.

Poetry – Kristie Weibling

Poetry – Kristie Weibling

I imagine that Williams sees a glossy, wet red wheelbarrow gradually being filled with water as the sky drizzles, and chickens wandering nearby. The use of the word “glazed” to describe the wheelbarrow and “white” to describe the chickens–despite the rain–has me thinking he sees the image in a positive light. I think he appreciates the significance of the resources available to him.

So much depends
upon

a family’s
support

apart for
now

still laughing and talking
every day

–Kristie Weibling