Part of what I really enjoy about Reading in the wild by Donalyn Miller, are the recording instruments she uses to assess and evaluate her students reading. The one I found particularly useful was the genre charts. When attempting to figure out one’s personal book preferences it can be hard to know where to start, especially for children. I think graphing what books students do or don’t enjoy is a fantastic way for them to visually see their own preferences so they can begin figure out what it is they particularly enjoy about books. Determining the readers preference will allow me to recommend books I think they will enjoy and allow them to better choose books for themselves.

I’ve also realized that I lost many reading years in my time spent in high school. Now that I have made reading an active habit again I have noticed a few preferences. I enjoy realistic fiction and making connections and being able to relate to the story and characters. However, I also really enjoy fantasy. Books are like movies to me, and I enjoy being taken into another world where things beyond our boundaries exist. Part of the magic of books are the experiences created and emotions that are felt; sometimes I want to have powers too. Another big preference of mine are series books. I like growing attached to characters and seeing them change, adapt and mature throughout the course of the series.

In The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Starr Carter is a 16 year old African American female. Part of her signature look are her impeccable sneakers that she coordinates with her outfit everyday. She presents herself as two different Starr’s. One in lower-class Garden Heights, her home, where she is free to speak and act freely. Another is at Williamson Prep, a predominantly white and rich school where she is a part of the basketball team. Here she is careful about they way she speaks and presents herself because any slip up would cause her classmates to think of her as the black ghetto girl. Starr is always hyperaware of herself around her schoolmates and rarely discloses details pertaining to her home life. Even when she witness the shooting of her childhood friend Khalil, at school she denies any relationship to him. She fears that no one will understand or that people will see her differently and treat her differently. Starr’s character changes as she finds her voice and empowerment to stand up for herself and Khalil. I really enjoyed this book and it is so relevant to everything that is happening in our country. I think this is a great novel to open up these types of discussion with young adults and to allow them to see from a different point of view.

From exploring the Diamond Bookshelf website I was excited to see all the lesson plans available to use with graphic novels and the how updated the content is. Something to admire is how the lesson plans provide you with a summary to alter the lesson to other age ranges.

C. “Smile” is a graphic novel written by Raina Telgemeier. The story follows Raina’s life though junior high to high school with an orthodontic journey, boy drama and changing friendships. This book was an easy book to be devoured in because as Raina, I currently have braces and can relate so much to all the orthodontic work.

When reading a graphic novel it is easy to read it with looking at the words, looking at the photos or both. For myself I found myself reading the words and racing through each page without taking an in-depth look at the illustrations. I caught myself missing the bigger picture by doing this. Below is a good example of words telling the story and the illustrations as well.

You can easily read the words and make a conclusion of the cause and effect of Raina experiencing the discomfort. When you just see the illustrations you are letting your eyes and mind create your conclusions. From this I would conclude the physical touch of her newly tightened braces provides an excruciating pain with just the slightest touch.

 

 

 

1. a) After reading about the preferences in chapter 5, I plan to figure out what genres my students tend to read the most of, so I can help them find other books they enjoy to read in that genre. I plan to do that by reading as many books as I can before and after becoming a teacher. I also plan to challenge my readers by suggesting genres they might not have read before or may not be too familiar with for example, if a student enjoys fiction books by a certain author, then I might try to help them find books that are similar to the ones they enjoy reading. I would do research on that author and see if they wrote any books that were not fiction, so I could find books for my student to read by their favorite authors in different genres.
2. b) After his class I can tell that I am an avid reader, because if I am not reading a book, then I am reading articles online. I probably read almost every day. I really enjoy reading for pleasure, and when I am on breaks I tend to read at least 2 to 4 novels, depending on how long my breaks are from school. The entire four years of high school, I believe I read about 100 chapter books for pleasure, outside of school. This did not include the books we read in my classes. My reading preferences I am most drawn to are fiction, romance, mystery, series books, and I love to read a good biography every now and then. I plan to continue reading as I become a future teacher and when I become a teacher someday. My goal is to have many books under my belt, so I can be able to easily recommend books to my future students.

3. c) The character Starr Carter, From The Hate You Give, is the character I decided to do my character analysis on, for my young adult novel. Starr Carter is a young 16 year old African American girl, who is the protagonist in the novel. She lives in a predominantly black neighborhood, but she attends an all white private school, which leads to her having a split identity. Starr is one of the only African American girls at her school, which leads her to find herself constantly representing her entire race at her private school. After the death of a close friend of hers, she comes to find out that her friend will have no justice for his death and Officer Cruise will not be indicted for the death of her friend  Khalil. This leads her to be an advocate for Black Lives Matter.

4.  d) I really enjoyed this book, and I would highly recommend it for teachers to have their students read. This book will open the eyes for what some African American people have to go through, because of the color of their skin.