Blog 7: Miller and Chapter analysis

I. What I enjoyed about this chapter from Donalyn Miller’s book, Reading in the Wild, was how she explored a very real and difficult aspect of teaching; which is helping reader’s find their preferences and how to expand their preferences so that they are well rounded readers. Miller revealed that discovering what you like in books creates a reading attitude that helps you feel confident in reading and making reading choices. I also enjoyed all the various book and genre recommendations that Miller provided and the thoughtful analysis I was able to make regarding what I myself enjoy in books. I discovered that I like complicated characters in books with the occasional flashbacks of certain events.

What I learned about myself as a reader was that like the students from miller’s class, I also like to read realistic fiction books. This is because what may be happing in the book are things that I can relate to. Reading about situations that characters may be experiencing brings a sense of connection to the reading and creates a preference to which kinds of books I select in the future. I had never really thought about what kind of reading preferences I specifically had, I generally thought of being pretty open minded to books, although; this chapter made me realize that I prefer mystery/drama books and definitely do not prefer romance or science fiction books. However, I recognize that as a future teacher I will need to be well-versed in books of all genres and I hope to continue to expand my preferences by taking the tips Miller addressed.

2. a) From my YA novel, We Are Okay by Nina LaCour, the main character’s name is Marin. Marin is a freshmen college student who has left behind every piece of her past after the death of her only family she had, her grandfather. Marin’s physical characteristics aren’t spoken about too much, the author mainly emphasizes her trauma and grief. However, she does compare her with her mother who had blonde long hair and was a thin surfer, she also contrasts her with her Hispanic best friend who has dark hair and exotic features. Marin is a very complex character, she shuts her self off to everyone she knew before and escaped from San Francisco to New York without telling anyone goodbye. During her grieving process she felt guilt, anger, and emptiness which made her alienate herself from others and push the only friend she had away. Marin starts a new life where she is picking up the pieces and moving on to be happy for her own sake. A sentence I chose to better understand the character and her position is: “I wonder if I will become okay again. I hope for it.” This sentence stuck out to me because throughout the course of the book we are following a character who has so much grief, pain, and loss that you really hope there is light at the end of the tunnel and you are not entirely sure if they can ever make it out the deep hole that they’ve sunken into. While reading about her journey, we also hope she will be okay.

b) Overall, Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I know I say this about every book I have read this far, what can I say I’m great at selecting books, but honestly I really enjoyed this book because although it is deeply devastating, it is really beautifully and sensitively crafted. It was almost eery how similar I felt in position to the character because Marin has decided to spend the winter break alone in her dorm with no one else around and I too, decided to spend time alone during the thanksgiving break. Aside from this, I loved reading about her reaching clarity on events that occurred and her acceptance towards them. I commended the character for her strength and maturity throughout her experiences with secrets, loss, and heartbreak. I also loved how the book intertwined LGBTQ discussions that are relatable among teens. Yes, I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy following a character’s experience with all things heartbreaking yet beautiful.

The graphic novel that I read for this make cycle was Pashmina. Pashmina is about an Indian teenaged girl named Priyanka. Priyanka is eager to learn about her father; who she has never met and her mother never speaks of. She is also interested in her mother’s country, India, and why her mother suddenly left it and rarely reveals details about. Priyanka stumbles across a mysterious and magical Pashmina, scarf, that takes her to a world of imagination. Through her journey of self-discovery, Priyanka learns about her culture, family, and history.

I would like to add how this book takes beauty to another level. I had no idea graphic novels could be so eye-catching and intricate. Each page was a master piece and although this book could be read in a quick sitting, I found myself taking my time, even procrastinating finishing it because I wanted to taste each page one at at time.

The link that I chose from the resource guide was diamond bookshelf; which I loved. I discovered that this website is very useful for teachers and educators. This website has a goal of helping teachers specifically by providing useful resources and tools on using graphic novels in the classroom. I found it very interesting how the site included the history of comics, graphic novel recommendations, and lesson plans, to name a few. I highly recommend that my peers bookmark this link due to the abundance of helpful information it contains and the useful way this site is organized.

Prompt:

1. An image from the novel that gives a detail about Priyanka’s character through the way she is drawn is from page five. In this image the character is designed in a way where she is uncomfortable when surrounded by girls from her school. The girls are drawn in the background with cruel expressions, giving us information that Priyanka is perhaps being bullied by this group of girls or being made felt like the outcast.On page 15, the body language of Priyanka expresses her possible frustrations and feelings of discomfort at that time with her mother when discussing her mother’s memories of India.

   Page 16 gives several background details which give the reader an inside look of Priyanka’s interests. It tells us that she is interested in music and more importantly, interest in her Indian culture. We see her in a more intimate sense while she draws to relax.

   On page 25 Priyanka holds an object that gives us significant insight on her family struggles. This object is a photo of her and her uncle laughing. Through this object we can identify how she longs for a father-type symbol perhaps and how fondly she admire her uncle.

   Lastly, on page 91 we see the object of the hut. On this page this hut is very symbolic, as we the readers have not been introduced to its significance. However, the hut is drawn with a kind of majestic glow around it. This object later is identified as a place where Rohini weaved the Pashmina.

Enchanted Air is a memoir that captures the internal struggles and emotions that Margarita Engle faced when Cuba and the United States were feuding. In the first few pages we learn a lot of intricate details about the author’s life, which creates a more intimate sense of connection. Margarita writes about her joyful innocent memories of her mother’s home country and she compares it with her own home county and her current residence, Los Angeles. I discovered that although pleasing images are painted of Cuba, the novel also includes sadness, war, and feelings of being misunderstood. I grew to appreciate these themes because it made relatable topics come to life for the reader. Her remembered thoughts were woven beautifully with the way she structured her form in this free verse novel. This form certainly affected the way in which I read the text for example, she writes,

“so that fire

can never

find us

again.”

This form allowed me read each line with a more dramatic and slow manner. It places emphasis on each word and delivers a strong message that the author wants you to recognize.

 

 

So much depends

upon

 

planes

in the sky

 

dropping bombs

and

 

crushing

divine dreams

Hey Class! The chapter book I have been reading is George. This book battles topics such as bullying, LGBTQ, identity, gender roles, and kindness. Something that strongly stood out to me from this book was the main character’s best friend Kelly. Kelly embodies the idea of being the change you want to see in the world and how kindness can make someone’s day or life. I believe that as teachers we all hope to make a little change and be positive role models for students. I took the idea of kindness and decided to make a pay it forward graffiti wall, based on the idea by Donalyn Miller.

For this make I created a Pay It Forward Bingo. It goes like this: students will all receive this handout. Once they have completed a mission on the handout they will put the date and a few details of how they achieved the task. Once they are all filled out I will take their picture of them holding their completed filled out bingo board and put it in on the wall. Hopefully it will look like a beautiful wall reflecting the kindness the students have achieved which will create a sense of accomplishment and positive feelings.