Response 5

Response #5: Reflecting Upon the Class

            This class has been very beneficial to my learning. My first day walking in—although I was 10 minutes late, still embarrassed—I felt a positive vibe. I already knew two of my nerdy English friends, Shelby and Alex, but Kelly, Keola, and Emily really made this class easy to open up and speak my mind. This classroom structure was very safe. Never once was I afraid to say something that might be controversial. Instead, I felt an overwhelming amount of support from my peers and from YOU! Discussions were substantial and many of the conversations in class will remain with me as I enter into my last semester of classes before student teaching. The assignments for this class were relevant (thank you, by the way. Surprisingly not all professors followed suit on this one) and eye opening. I particularly liked using the blog as a means of outside discussion. This was my first time using a blog, and I think I will incorporate something like this in my own classrooms one day!

            I really enjoyed this reading selection, minus Little Women, and I find a lot of connections forming between these stories and our potential students we will have. Butcher and Hinton state “[y]oung adult literature reflects [students] experiences with conflicts, focuses on these that interest young people, includes young protagonists and mostly young characters, and has language common to young adults” (Butcher & Hinton 10). Every novel we read fits this characteristic of YA, however, I would have loved to see us read a novel about a child with a disability. While my beloved Holden does have some sort of mental breakdown, Salinger never gives us a definite answer of that illness besides Holden’s “I could probably tell you what I did after I went home, and how I got sick and all” (Salinger 234). The Catcher in the Rye is a great example of mental illness, so I do not believe you should remove it from the list. Its subtleness about specifics reflects what mental illness is sometimes in individuals. It is not always blatant. However, maybe a novel like Accidents of Nature by Harriet McBryde Johnson would be a good one to use. It has great ratings on GoodReads and a Lexile of 690—which would be appropriate for middle school readers who are meeting the reading requirements.

            I suggest a book about disabilities because of the push with inclusion in the classrooms. I know Shelby hit on this in her Response 5 paper, but being in the Education 560 course this summer really brought to my eyes how unfair these students are treated in many public school settings. I can speak on my own experience that the students with physical and mental disabilities were not ever in classes with me unless it was something like art or music. Research shows “more students with disabilities are in general education classrooms” (Bauer & Kroeger 6). This news is great and exciting. Novels like Accidents of Nature might help these students feel included. Part of education is being able to meet the needs of all students. By addressing issues that are important to individual students, we are modifying “the curriculum to enhance relevance for each student” (Bauer & Kroeger 6).

            I do want to point out how diverse this class reading list was! This is the first time I ever read a book in which the main characters were young, gay boys. This screams relevance on so many levels in current society, but on a larger scale, it speaks to the intolerance that is shown and how quickly mindsets need to change. In Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, students are introduced to two very different boys, who are part of the minority groups because of their sexual orientation and ethnic background. With Elenor and Park, we see a Korean boy who falls in love with a shy red-head with an abusive and poor living situation. Even in our novel Monster we see this young, black male (in jail nonetheless) with a household of two working parents who are seemingly involved and loving. Many of these stereotypes students have are broken down and challenged. Adding a book about disabilities would only further diverse a classroom in a positive and progressive manner.

            To conclude, I’m really sad this class is over. I’ve really enjoyed coming to campus four days a week to see everyone and talk about novels that are awesome in their own way (even Little Women). I think this setup worked really well and so many different ideas continued to bounce around. English-y people like ourselves are usually pretty tolerant and accepting, so I wasn’t surprised that we all got along in that regards, but I think many of us come from different situations and have our own stories. I felt a personal connection with everyone and I do hope we cross paths again in other classes. Thanks everyone, and Dr. Hanrahan for a great 5 week summer session.

Works Cited

Bauer, Anne M., and Stephen Kroeger. Inclusive Classrooms: Video Cases on CD-ROM ;             

      Activity and Learning Guide to Accompany Teaching Special Students in General Education 

      Classrooms, Sixth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall, 2004. Print.

Bucher, Katherina and KaaVonia Hinton. Young Adult Literature: Exploration, Evaluation, and         

       Appreciation. 3^rd ed. Boston: Pearson, 2014. Print.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Little, Brown, 1945. Print.