Banned Books

The first reading we had for this week was “Top Ten Challenged Books List” from the American Library Association. This read was interesting to me in the way that I had never really thought about books that would be banned in schools. It does make sense because there seems to be banned on everything nowadays. Some of the books that I saw on the list that I was familiar with consist of, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”, “The Hunger Games”, “Looking for Alaska”, and “I am Jazz.” I didn’t know so many of these books would be so relevant! As we read the reading. “A Dirty Little Secret: Self-Censorship” this passage made me think that a lot of the more questionable books that are around wouldn’t be so popular and relevant. The books that are listed on the banned list are obviously a lot more well known because of the fact some of them are movies but also the fact that they are a lot less risky than the book, “Boy Toy” by Barry Lyga.

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Personally, I have read books that are on the banned list and to an extent, I realize why the books are banned. Some educators don’t want to advocate bad influences to their students by either sticking up for the piece itself or allowing it to be in the school. A lot of the books on the banned list talks about real issues that the majority of people experience which is sexual indicators, the LGBT community, offensive language and viewpoints, mature themes, and drug use. These topics are difficult to talk, even in literature, and I think it should be the student’s choice to decide if they want to read about these concepts and not the educators. I feel like students can learn from reading outside of their normal preferences and maybe they will see what it is like inside somebody else’s perceptions and the things various other people experience. We all have our own truths and I think exploring different life experiences, though literature, can let students have more insight about what other people go through. Exploring the human condition and everything it comes with, if we have the chance to which I think is an important aspect of it all.

I then went onto the reading “Why You Should Read Outside Your Comfort Zone.” This article related well to the discussion I have in my previous lines in the way that this passage advocates for the expansion of learning through various types of reading. Expanding your reading material can help shape knowledge of different writing styles and formats and can help build your own writing patterns. Staying inside your comfort zones, while reading, will not benefit the advancement of writing comprehension but will only keep the static which isn’t really beneficial for anything. There is so much to learn between reading and writing and I think as learners we should never be comfortable with our understandings of both of them. You cannot effectively write without comprehensively reading and understanding the information first.

Sources:

Bunting, J. (2012, March 17). Why You Should Read Outside of Your Comfort Zones – The Write Practice. Retrieved from https://thewritepractice.com/why-you-read-outside-of-your-comfort-zones/

American Library Association. (2017, December 6). Frequently Challenged Books. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks

Whelan, D. L. (2016, September 12). A Dirty Little Secret: Self-Censorship. Retrieved from http://www.slj.com/2009/02/censorship/a-dirty-little-secret-self-censorship/

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

This last week I read the book “The Battle of Jericho” by Sharon M. Draper. This is definitely one of my favorite books I have read so far this semester! This book is set in the 1990’s in Cincinnati Ohio. This book is written in third person omniscient which means that the author does get into a lot of the different characters heads and lets the reader join him on this journey. It is mainly a story about a teenager named Jericho who wants to join the “Warriors of Distinction” which are royally known for being the coolest kids in school, getting all the ladies and excelling in their studies. Getting into this group is hard, they require the new members to be initiated and go through trivial experiences just to join the group. Dana is the female pledge who won’t stop at anything to join the group, even if members of the group do crazy things make sure she isn’t able to join. The perspective of Dana is very honest and lets the readers take a look inside of how a woman is treated in a strictly male-centered environment and gives harsh realizations of what they can be exposed to when trying to assimilate or be themselves in a more masculine atmosphere.

The themes of this book revolve around social acceptance and peer pressure. These are very relevant themes in young adults lives and translating them into such a real, outspoken story was very entertaining to read. This book is different from the other books I have read this semester as it uses language you would hear in a high school cafeteria like cussing, gossip, humor, and sarcasm. This book does give us real-life scenarios that have real-life consequences and I think that is something very beneficial to put in a young adult novel. The question of how far these pledges will go before they have conscious realizations of what the repercussions will be for their actions is really what is at stake in this story. Humanity is at stake in this book as well as we go along different characters and see their personal truths and what choices they pick for the better well being of themselves and who they are around. We see acts of greed and self-affliction and that causes different conflicts in the book. Overall, it was a very enjoyable read!

Source:

Simon & Schuster. (n.d.). The Battle of Jericho. Retrieved from http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Battle-of-Jericho/Sharon-M-Draper/The-Jericho-Trilogy/9780689842337

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Penny Kittle Review

This week I read the first two chapters of Penny Kittle’s Book Love. This book gives good input on how to approach student reading and different tips on how to make student reading a beneficial part of the classroom rather than one that the students don’t look forward to. Kittle explains that she would plan her instructs to correlate with her student’s interests. This is a quality point to make in teaching instruction as this concept will allow for the students become more motivated in their learning processes and will peak their interest more effectively. This first chapters overall concept was that “teenagers want to read-if we let them.” Kittle further explains this by relating the idea that dispassionate readers will only read if they are given the right books, with the right amount of time allocated for them to read this book. Reading can become a heavy pressure on teenagers and let them have more free reign will allow them to have more control of their readings and it will all feel more pleasurable to them instead of forced. A point in the second chapter talks about the digital resources that are available to students like SparkNotes and how this can hinder classroom experiences. Kittle said that she molded her questions in class that was not talked about in the online resources and that was the ultimate test for if the student read or not. Measuring reading comprehension to its fullest is one of the only things we can do as teachers to make sure students are doing the reading and understanding them.

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I then went to watch Penny Kittles video called, “Why Students Don’t Read What is Assigned in Class.” This video talked to real students and discussed their issues and problems that they have had with reading. A lot of them will admit that they barely ever read the assigned readings for class and when they did, it was usually just skimming the reading or looking up summaries of them online. This is an issue I see a lot as a student in college but I do think that reading the assigned information before the allocated class time is a really beneficial thing to do for your overall understanding of the class and that information. Reading does take a lot of time and for some people, the time just isn’t worth it. But, as soon as these students got to choose what they were reading, their overall outlooks on books and reading changed dramatically. These students that would never consider themselves readers at all now read almost every day and actually see the benefits of reading. I was I’d say an average reader in high school but learning all the benefits of reading in college changed my mind on reading in general. I have to write a lot for my classes and if you try to write without reading, it is very difficult! Number one rule I have learned in college so far.

Sources:

Kittle, P. (2013). Book love: Developing depth, stamina, and passion in adolescent readers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Kittle, P. (2010, March 15). Penny Kittle: Why Students Don’t Read What is Assigned in Class[Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gokm9RUr4ME

Passion-Based Learning

The first article I read for this week was “3 Questions to Drive Passion-Based Learning” by George Couros. This article talked about simple questions that can be helpful to further the drive for students with passion based learning. The first of these questions is “What will I learn?” This question explores the concept of applying interest to content that we are actually concerned about and that will benefit our own lives. The passage then goes to talk about how we can use passion-base learning to network with people and learn things from them; potentially creating engaging learning opportunities which is always a high priority as a learner. Connecting with people who share the same interests and passions as we do is always helpful along our journey as learners because these people can help us grow and further our passions. The next question is “What will I solve?” This section stuck out to me because it is true that we are creating problem-based learning but rather than focussing on problem-solving, we should focus more on finding these problems. This makes the expansion of the problems that are faced by other people more relevant and it makes us have more empathy for others. The last question is “What will I create?” Having an end product in learning makes for a much more pleasurable and memorable learning experience. Using our learning patterns to create something that can be sustained like art can help promote the idea that what we are passionate for matters and if we don’t have strong interests to drive us then what do we have in this world?

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The next article I want to talk about is, “10 Reasons Why Educators Should Encourage Independent Learning” by Julie DeNeen. One of the first reasons that I find to be important is number two which is, “Flexibility for different levels of intelligence.” As a future teacher, I am going to have to learn how to adapt to my student’s different abilities to make sure that they are comfortable with what they are learning. Doing this will not be easy but learning different techniques about how to find my students strengths and weaknesses will help me make the fullest out of my student’s classroom time. The next reason that I often have to remind myself is, “passion and curiosity cement learning.” This is critical in education because if we do not spark the interest in adolescents, they will draw no meaning to what we are trying to teach to them and everything will be irrelevant.  The next reason I found to be important in this article is, “Independent learners are more aware of their own strengths and weaknesses.” I think that it would be beneficial for everyone to really know what they are talented and not talented at in this world. Some people believe in themselves too much and some not enough and I think exploring different areas of learning and life, in general, will help us know what we are good at and what we are not good at. Independent learning helps people find these passions and helps them work towards more concrete goals rather ones that are just implanted in our lives because either we think we are good at it or we wish we were. Sometimes it is just better to rely on things that we find ourselves valuable in whether that be education, or any occupation or interest really.

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The last article I want to talk about is, “Nine Tenets of Passion-Based Learning” by Tina Barseghian. I am glad that this article was integrated into the mix of readings for this week because it gives actual examples of issues in the education system and then it gives tips to solve these occurring issues. One of the tenets of this article that I see as being really effective to use in the classroom regularly is, “read out to the disenfranchised.” This sentence really stuck with me as I continued reading because this is the ultimate test for to determine if you are the teacher for all or just the teacher for when it’s easiest. It is easy for teachers to focus on the students that are easier to teach and that absorb material better but reaching out to those students who are disinterested in the classroom and showing them the relevance of what we are doing in the classroom and how it can help them in their educational careers. The next tenet that I thought would be effective to use in the classroom is to incorporate digital media into the classroom. Adolescents use so many different forms of digital resources that often include media and using these in the classroom can be so beneficial to relate things into what they are interested in. Always keeping learning as the number one priority. Of course, all these tenets are going to be really helpful in the classroom! Can’t wait to use them to their fullest.

Sources:  

George Couros. (2015, July 25). 3 Questions to Drive Passion Based Learning. Retrieved from https://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/5432

DeNeen, J. (2017, March 24). 10 Reasons Why Educators Should Encourage Independent Learning – InformED. Retrieved from https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/other/teachers-or-facilitators-10-reasons-why-educators-should-step-out-of-the-way-and-encourage-independent-learning/

Barseghian, T. (2011, July 13). Nine Tenets of Passion-Based Learning. Retrieved from https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/07/13/nine-tenets-of-passion-based-learning/

 

 

 

Independant Learning Plan Week 4

I have a quieter week for my independent learning plan. I started this week with researching more materials to help me with my cosmetology experiences. Some of the information I have researched includes different techniques to cut hair. I plan on trimming a couple of different peoples hair and researching the best techniques will give me a lot more confidence as to what I am actually doing! I know one technique that I have learned from my mom is when you are cutting longer hair you cut one side first and then pull two strands of hair from each opposing sides of the face and measure them with each other. You do that by pulling the hair to the back of the head and seeing if their lengths align. If they don’t, then the two sides aren’t even and you’ve messed up somewhere. Another technique I found for making sure that the haircut is even, for cutting your own hair, is doing a technique like the one I listed above but you would pull the hair below your chin and measure it that way. I posted some resources below of some videos that I found helpful for maintaining straight ends while cutting hair.

 

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Sometimes hairstyles can get boring, especially when you’re a girl and you constantly have hair around your face and it takes everything you have not to cut it all off. I have been thinking lately about different styles that would work with the frame of my face. One of the more popular hairstyles for long hair is the middle part with layered bangs. I have thought about doing this but it takes a lot of volume to do this hairstyle. Some research that I found to add more volume to your hair is to blowdry your hair with your head turned upside down so your roots are being pulled upward rather than downward. Another way is to backcomb the roots of your hair with hairspray. I use both of these on a regular basis, although backcombing can become harmful to your hair. 

I have been growing my hair out since my senior year of high school which is about 4 years. I had long hair before my senior year but proceeded to chop it all off until it reached my shoulders. Letting hair regrow is really beneficial as when you cut off that much hair, the hair that is left is a lot newer and more stronger so it won’t break off as much. Having longer hair means keeping it from getting too dry which means adding hair oils and deep conditioning. I have researched what the best hair oil to use in your hair was and one of the better ones were argan oil. Argan oil is used in a lot of different shampoos and conditioners and is used to strengthen, shine, and make hair silky smooth which I can back up as I have seen the improvements myself. Argan oil also has a nice fragrance which is always a necessity with hair care.

Source:

Patry Jordan English. (2016, January 19). HOW TO CUT YOUR OWN HAIR STRAIGHT [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgYVImOwYiI

Teri Miyahira. (2016, July 14). DIY Haircut How-To! *LIVE HAIR CUTTING* | Teri Miyahira[Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhVWDxFR79w