Group 4: Grammar

Well as for the group I think that they did a great job, but I already new about the book because of English 574: Teaching Grammar. But I think they helped me to appreciate the book a lot more. Before I had only read the chapter that my group was assigned, which was about using different leads to began a paper. Other than that I had not taken a look at the book. Although had be exposed to some of its content from other groups in the grammar class. I think out of all the books this book was most informative to teachers. Mainly, because grammar is usually everyones worst nightmare. I think Noden works toward getting grammar back into classroom with ease and less tension. I think that is what makes the book so useful. It helps teachers to realize that not only do they not have to be perfect they can teach grammar to kids while making it a lot of fun.

I think with the way they used the book to teach us certain techniques was exactly what Noden wanted his book to be able to do. It's a great teaching guide, and I think that it was very beneficial to not only us but the instructors. I never really thought about grammar at all before this semester and I think that I have learned a lot of helpful things from this course. I think most of all the greatest thing I got out of this groups presentation is that we are stereotyped to have be like experts on things like grammar and spelling just because we are English majors but really most are not and we don't have to be. I'm glad that came up because people are always correcting me if I may say something wrong or mispronounce a word in a conversation and then ask, "How you gon teach english?" (see the irony!) I'm just glad someone else thinks the same thing.

Good Job group 4!

Group 3: Poetry

I enjoyed this group's presentation mainly because I enjoy poetry in general. I was absent from the first day and my only question is did they reference the book on the first day? I really want to know what there book was about. Other than that I think they each did a good job. I think the part that stuck out most to me was Robin's portion. I loved how he gave us a minute to jog our memory so that we could have some material to write our poetry. I think that was a great technique and I'm sure I will use in my classroom.

Overall, I enjoyed their portion of the project; and I loved participating in the writing process. I think that showed how well they planned each persons part and I really enjoyed that they allowed us to express our selves. Good job group 3!

Christensen Confrence

I was unable to attend the Teacher talk segment on Thursday but luckily the Friday morning conference included another intro/activity that allowed us to get to know Christensen. I don't really remember us discussing the Tea Party in class, but I did remember reading about it in the book and after actually participating in one I think that is a another innovative way to get students interested in learning. I think that students respond so well to teachers who can make learning fun and I feel like we are learning really great ways to make learning fun because I myself enjoyed High School (yeah I'm a proud nerd!) but I think a lot more people would have enjoyed it if they experienced these methods of teaching.

I really didn't have any expectations about Christensen; I have saw on others blogs that they expected her to be different I really didn't expect her to be anything. Maybe i should have? I don't know but interacting with her was a great experience. I enjoyed the fact that she took time out to give us advice and to explain her methods. I never got a chance to ask my question about why she focuses on problems more than successes but I think I understand more and more why she wants her students to be aware. I mean look at the economy and the state of America, its crumbling and maybe if more teachers taught and focused on the wrongs in America their students might work to improve them.

I basically just enjoyed the fact that the conference was more like pointers workshop for us future teachers I came in thinking it would be a lot more hands on but I guess that would not benefit us as much as hearing and asking questions about what others have done with their students. I enjoyed the poetry workshop it was great to here from someone just starting and out. She really had dig in order to get her students to truly interact with her on a personal level and I never really thought about that aspect of the job because although I feel like I can relate to kids, they just might see me as this old dinosaur that could never understand them . I really though : "Hey! Their gonna love me!" Now I'm not so sure. But I guess we will see!

Group 2: Communities (My Group)

The beginning of the first day was rocky... very rocky. But, as the discussion got underway it improved. I think the pictures assignment got everyone thinking and a little more open to the topic. The book was not as helpful as I thought it would be so the intros and discussions were up to us. I thought at first that this was horrible and I critized the book but I think that as teachers, most of the work and intros come from us. As in we have to develop them for ourselves. So I guess the book did its job.

The second day was fun. This gave me a chance to act the way ignorant people treat me sometimes. Not only that, everyone elses reactions were surprising as well. Once the African American group figured that they couldn't do anything without getting arrested they did nothing. And the special needs people couldn't really get what they wanted either becuase they weren't allowed to question things. I think the reactions of the white group was the funniest of them all they loved their privleges so much that they never notcied the fact that everyone else needed help. That was the most surprising to me. Only one of them cared about the other groups. Maybe this is a sign that the predjuices that people have are human nature.

Group 1: Multi-genre

I loved doing the actual mini-project on multi genre. It was fun to actually want to research something. There is a difference between an assigned topic and a topic of your choice. I can't wait until I get the opportunity to try this out with my own students. I hope that they can see the importance of expressing themselves in different way (other than essays). I know we kind of debated about this kind of assignment and giving the students so much freedom, but I think teachers don't give them enough freedom to think for themselves.

I often heard freshman from most of my professors that they were going help us mold our own way of thinking as appose to the way we were taught and expected to think. I think that this kind of exercise is important to help students to understnad they do have a mind of their own and that they do have a choice. I would caution doing this kind of asssignment with freshmens in high schools though becuase their minds are too fresh possibly, to stay on track. I would still consider letting them do the assignment but it would be in a little more guarded way with something that we have studied to guide their topics.

Christensen Questions????

1. Why do you focus so much on the negative as appose to the positive accomplishments of social justice?

2. Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the responsibility that you have in teaching your students to think for themselves?

3. How do you feel about what you have accomplished as a teacher in regards to your overall goal of combining social justice issues and English?

Gilmore 5-7

Me and test writing don't get along at all. I tend to panic if there is more than a paragraph expected. It takes me very long time to get my ideas organized and out of my head. I rarely have time left to follow Gilmore's steps. I sometime try and follow those steps as write taking up more to time and making me lose some of the ideas that were trapped in my head. What is Gilmore's advise those students, those who are good writers but the pressure and fear test inhibits their ability? How do I approach students like myself? How do I differentiate between those students and those who don't try, when their mistakes look the same? I agree with most of what Gilmore suggest what about those who have trouble? I can see that this paragraph is full of unanswered question but I guess that's what the text suppose to do, make me think.

I already discussed my thoughts on revision using technology but this chapter does make me see how important the use of technology is to improving students writing. Mainly because it teaches me the effective ways to do so through, while still making it fun. This chapter did answer a vital question: How do you approach revising creative writing? How do you ask a student to revise something so personal? her methods are great in allowing the student to keep the authenticity of a their writing. The teacher can help the students improve their use of stylistic expression, while strengthening their writing. I think that Gilmore's are helpful to show that students can express themselves even better through revision.

Gilmore 3-4

I enjoyed this part of the book as well. This text has helped me in evaluating the way I approach essay writing. I can use the tools and helpful hints provided by Gilmore to not only help my future students, but to help me now. essay writing has always been a sort of hard task for me, with what to write and what my teacher expects. With what I have learned from reading Gilmore, I can now approach writing with a key understanding of simply proving my point well. I know my students can use what I have learned to better their writing and I intend to carry on what I learned from this book to my students. This part of of the text teaches students to increase their understanding of language and its use. I think that if I was introduced to this book long ago I would have been able to write not only more clearly but with a better understanding of just how important the knowledge of language use is to writing.

As discussed i n chapter three, letting others review your work is most effective in gaining a clear assessment of what is written well and different ways to improve it. I always like to have a lot of opinions on my writing and it helps me to improve what may already be good and make it it's best. I think that Gilmore's most effective idea was pointing out the good in other peoples writing, not only does it act as a sample, but also provides hope to who don't feel very confident about their own ability. I also think that the use of technology to is very important. Gilmore refers to it as typing, in one instants. But, what about those students who don't have access to those resources how they familiarizes themselves with using technology? It just makes me wonder how those of us who choose to go into the inner city schools to teach, will provide our students with that kind of knowledge. I aways hope that things get better and more equal but I deep down know its all but impossible.

Chapter 8: Christensen

This chapter brings up a lot memories from my own high school experience. I can remember the day I decided to take school seriously: I was in the 6th grade and they came to get students to rehearse for the honors program happening later on that night. I can remember thinking to myself that I had o.k. grades so I was expecting my name to be called. But it wasn't, and after the kids whose names were called left and class was over, I stayed behind and asked my teacher why I wasn't picked. He nicely told me that my GPA wasn't high enough. That was a turning point for me and I decided that I would be on the next list. I studied hard and by the time the next semester came I was on that list and it felt good to be recognized for all my hard work.

I guess what my point is that I made the choice to be one of the top students no one made that choice for me. Neither one of my parents were college grads, and we weren't rich we were middle classed. So, when I read this chapter I really can't relate. I mean maybe it was because I went to a charter high school were class time was extended and we were well prepped. But, inside that there were still students who were sent to my school because they "failed" at other area high schools or their parents thought that they would do better at Northwestern, but most of the time those students were pushed into this school that got out at 4pm rather 2:15pm, and the class work was hard. I feel like they were given a choice to care and my teachers did try and make them feel like they could do it and outside issues or them just not caring made them either not try or leave.

I guess my point is that some people don't try even when they can excel and they are given the tools to help them succeed. But I don't know maybe it's because everyone at my school was mostly black so I never really experienced the fact that I had to compete until I started here at Western and the Affirmative Action debate caught my attention and I realized that I needed to be ten times better than all of my non minority peers. Well at least thats what it seems like. I don't know maybe I'm being insensitive but I just think that sometimes its up to the person and sometimes it is a race and class problem but in my experiences it depends on the person. But, I can say that my high school is no longer a charter school and it is now facing its own discipline problems and kids who want to learn are put in classes with those who don't care but it still works out because they make the choice to succeed for themselves.

Chapter 7: Christensen

I really love the idea of forming a Portfolio as an ending project. It's very helpful in showing the students the mistakes that they use to make and how much they have improved on their writing. Christensen's idea should be used more often in writing classrooms because of how useful it is to students. I sometimes come across some of my old writing in my parents house and its interesting to see what I use to think was a successful submission. I most of the time look back and go, "wow this is not as good as I probably thought it was." Things that I wouldn't dare turn in now show how I have grown since then. How I have improved the way I write paragraphs, essays, and responses. Even how my penmanship has changed. I think that assignments like this would help students improve their work quicker than if they go back 6 and 7 years later and see their mistakes.

I almost want to say that it should be a requirement. I think that we are our own worst critic and if students are faced with their own mistakes they can better improve them then we can by telling them what they do wrong. Teachers never focused on our progress but I wish they would have because I bet these students learned a lot from seeing what they did wrong and evaluating how they could improve it. I think that the things that Christensen focused on needed to be addressed. I like the way she helped her students understand the importance of the assignment by comparing it to their own interests. I think that if teachers do that more with other subjects of writing they can spark the students enthusiasm. Christensen's use of her own writing as examples was a good idea as well because I think it helps to see that the person teaching you didn't start out as good as they are now and that it took time for them to get where they are. I think this helps the students see that where they are can be improved and that just because they are not the best right now doesn't mean that they will never be that great at writing. It's a confidence booster to use the professional as an example and a role model.

Glimore 1 and 2

First off, I would like to say that I enjoyed the conversational tone of Gilmore's text it was very easy to relate and understand to the point that I didn't really feel like I was reading a required text. I can completely understand what Gilmore means when he says that revision is underrated. It takes a lot of time to develop a good essay. When speaking for myself, I know that it takes me a long time to even begin a paper let alone revise to the point where I am proud I wrote. Not many of my papers that I have ever turned in are the same as when I first began.

What I agreed with the most, was his idea that it takes more than just one person to revise one paper or essay. That is true on so many levels. I know that some of my best writing came from me allowing the input of more than one person. I learned last year that when you let different people with different opinions and levels of knowledge take at a look at your paper you come back with more and more good ideas and evidence for your topic. But, I think that the ability to revise is mostly the students responsibilty. It is the teachers job to prepare and guide the students in the right directions and sometimes teachers use rubrics way to much and takes away the students ability to come up and revise their own Ideas.

Chapter 6: Christensen

I think it is important to focus on the History that the American Educational system rather not talk about. I think that assignments like these help to get "the truth" out so that later on when those kids grow up they can try and make change in the educational system. These kinds of projects are what made black history month possible because it use to be just a week. I like the idea of the the project but my only critique is that it got a little out of hand. Students wanted more time then Christensen had after she pushed them into looking deeper into the projects and then she could hardly give everyone a fair amount of time to present their findings equally!

Another thing now that I think about is that people always say that African Americans complain about the past too much and we get too much recognition about our struggles, but we really don't. And the things that we do have we faught for and are still fighting for. I know sometimes hearing about M.L.K. and Malcolm X gets old but they were powerful figures who died for rights that all of us take for granted, but I digress. My point is that I would have probably included all of the different races and backgrounds and assigned them at random so that everyone learns something about someone else's background then the research really would have been more meaningful and less based on personal experience in which Christensen kept having conflict with.

Overall I think that discovering other immigrants struggles and prejudices is a great thing to focus on. I can remember in high school in my English course we read and study the novel "Night" about the Jewish concentration camp experience from a child's point of view. That book opened up a new world for most if not all of us there really was no other nationality at my high school besides African and African American, so we all were shock about the brutality that our history books left out of Germany's brutal doings to the Jewish population. These kinds of projects and readings are eye openers that help students realize how much a change in this world is needed.

Chapter 5: Christensen

This Chapter made me like Christensen even more than before. I love poetry and I think that sometimes (particularly in my h.s. ) it is not taught or focused on enough. I think that poetry helps students think freely and its a very great start to any novel or class discussion. Students can express themselves so freely and that makes good poetry and good discussion. I wish they had this kid of assignment or focused on poetry in high school more.

I can really relate to how the kids get to know each other more. It makes me think back to one assignment in high school that I had to do, where we were suppose to write a poem about our childhood that we normally wouldn't talk about. Most people talked about guilty pleasures and a few brought out deeper feelings of pain and neglect. I guess Chapter 5 trigger this memory because my poem was about how much people told me I was fat and ugly all my life and everybody was shocked at how deep I went and the people who might have made comments before thought about how much what they might have said hurt me. Everybody always saw me as letting peoples comment roll off my back but sometimes everything can't be let go and that day, they realized that. But, my point is that with poetry, whether it be personal or character analysis, can help open up students mind to other people P.O.V.

Jago Chapters 5 and 6

The end of the Jago text was I guess meant to stress how to teach essay writing. I believe that her main focus was teaching students how to write with practice. I agree with her attempt to get them to practice and get use to writing so that they can write a effective and persuasive thesis. I believe that this is important but it is often too stressed out by teachers. I can speak from my experience in high school that teachers badgered us with the idea of writing a great thesis statement, but I think that a thesis statement should only be developed after a student has gather ideas and an argument that they can support well enough to develop a thesis.

Jago's ideas for the five day plan was ok but I just don't know if students would be interested in such a planned out process. I think that students respond more to teachers who offer help in writing their papers with out them tracking every step. I know that probably would have made me feel like the teach thought I was incapable of writing a good paper without her. If help is offered in a gentle approach then a student may see this as the teachers way of showing that they have confidence in their abilities and that they are there if the student needs them.

I others might see Jago's methods as a very helpful way to direct students in the way to writing a good essay. Jago's methods are very precise and very inclusive . I think that the way Jago teaches can be effective but not ever one reacts the same to all teaching methods. I think her book can be used by future teachers effectively to experiment with different ways at get the students to enjoy writing. I think that she has a lot of useful information in the book and that the tools that she provides teachers with can help structure our own lessons. I think that Jago has a passion for writing a good and resource pieces of writing and that is always helpful to future teachers.

Jago Chapters 3 and 4

The beginning of chapter three of Jago was like my one of my worst fears or worries about becoming a teacher. I fear that one day I might read a piece of writing from a student that focuses on some negative scenario. I won’t know whether not its fact or fiction and if it is something that scares me enough to question that, how do I approach the student about where the feelings or occurrences in their writing came from? We talked about this in class last week and I kind of kept quiet and listened to what others had to say because I always wondered what I would do when this problem arises. I guess that like Mr. Bannon said there will be policies that help me make the right decision and if not I should ask before I start but it still scares the crap out of me. I want my students to feel comfortable in my class and able to write out their feelings and not feel afraid that what they say may cause trouble. I want a classroom where students can voice their thoughts freely but I just have to learn when to react and when to respect what students choose to share.

I enjoyed the part of the chapter that discussed ways to get students started with narratives. I loved the exercises that she came up with to get them to learn the important aspects of a narrative. It was very engaging to see how students responded to the exercises. I admire how Jago made the vital information she was giving the students feel a fun task. She made learning fun and that’s what I hope to accomplish with my students. I think I talked about the important of college essays when Christensen discussed it in chapter three of her text, but what was interesting about Jago’s discussion on the topic was that she encouraged her students to write about their lives. I always thought college essay’s were suppose to about your high school achievements and volunteer along with academic goals for their college career. I like that students got to write about personal experiences.

Jago Chapters 1 and 2

The first chapter of Carol Jago’s “Cohesive Writing” wasn’t as interesting as the Christensen text and I didn’t really agree with her first thought of free writing to help students start a paper. I think that free writing is a great exercise to get students comfortable with writing but not to start a paper. I know that if I was to free write a paper I would most likely drift off the original topic. This may not be the case with everyone but I think it might be hard for a student to start a paper with a free write. But, I guess if you can begin with a free write and revise it later you may be able to successful start a great paper with the free write as a start, but this might not work for everyone. I really did like the question paper idea. It was a great idea for getting the students thinking about how to begin a paper or how to gather their thoughts on their topic. I think that this exercise gets the students started on the critical thinking to build a paper.

The ending subject of chapter one was about creating a good prompt that engages the students in thinking about the novels most important themes. I think a good prompt is a great way to get students thinking about the novel or poem in a different and more detailed way other than the plot. Prompt’s that engage the students thinking help them to begin to think of a thesis statement for a possible essay. I think that prompts are a good start for thesis development but the content of the question must be very direct and precise in what the teacher wants the student to think about. It’s going to be hard to create prompts that get to the point while making the student think as well. I think that the analysis of the prompts by Jago helped me to understand the correct way to create prompts. It was very beneficial in the analysis of how to ask certain questions.

Chapter two of Jago on Teaching Persuasive and Informational writing was full of useful tips on how to get students started on writing different kinds of essays. I like how she encouraged them to use the news that they cared about to make them think. I think that allowing students to write on subjects that that interest them allow them to think without knowing that they are practicing writing essays. I that students are more interested in subjects that pertain to the things they like. Jago even states that before when the students were given texts to write about that they were foreign to their thoughts were not as developed as the essay’s they wrote about topics that interested them. Jago’s approach to writing Persuasive and Informational essay’s was great in how it tackle the students’ fears about writing essays or articles. I think that the students were more interested because it gave them an opportunity to voice their opinions on subjects that they rarely get a chance to take stand on. I think that exercises that Jago prepared worked to make the students enjoy writing. Like writing in a journey or diary, the essay’s gave them a chance to talk about serious or engaging topics on from their perspectives and I think that is the most important aspect of teaching writing: allowing the students to think for themselves and express their thoughts in their writing.

Chapter 4: Christensen

Chapter 4 of Christensen was interesting in the fact that it focused mostly on grammar and dialect. I'm currently taking English 574, which is Grammar in Teaching Writing, and I am slowly learning that as a teacher I don't have to play as Christensen put it "grammar cop." I always though, or rather people made me think that not knowing everything about grammar was a crime. I mean I know standard English and how to complete sentences, but I just have trouble with the more complex rules of standard English. But as I further my study into education I am realizing that correcting every little bit of a students grammar is not always the most important or best thing. I was always taught that if you speak a certain way other than what is considered the way "white people" talk you were speaking incorrectly. People around me who spoke English the way it was spoken in their home or region were made fun of if it was different in any kind of way. So I naturally thought that the way I use to speak was incorrect or wrong and once I arrived at WMU my speech began to change and I sort of conformed to what is considered to be correct English.

Now that I'm reading all of this literature about how grammar and speaking incorrectly shouldn't be looked down upon I'm sort of relieved to find out that I don't have to chastise every mispronounced word that my student speaks. I think it's great that Christensen discussed this because this is a big obstacle for future teachers to have to worry about and I think that the information she provided is very important to know. I love how she helped students who felt uncomfortable about their English feel comfortable by using examples of how to incorporate standard English and personal dialect into their writing so they can know that what they grew up speaking was not wrong at all. Lucky for me though someone invented spell check!As for the rest of the chapter, one thing I admire about Christensen is her want for social change and for her students to understand that if they don't agree with something they have the power to change it. I was at first annoyed by her constant want to attack everything but I think it's need to some extent. It helps her students feel important and gives them a chance to act instead of just getting angry.

Chapter 3: Christensen

When I began reading Chapter 3 of Christensen I was disappointed by the fact that she was still discussing social issues. I mean I’m all for making the students think but focusing on nothing but the negative can get a little depressing. I mean even her some of students began to question her motives. But, as I read on I sort of understood why Christensen focuses so much on social problems. As she explains in chapter 3: “When students see either their lives or history as inevitable, they are not encouraged to work for change. By studying problems in their lives and by rooting those problems historically, students are able to analyze this society, uncover inequality, and explore the reasons why it exists.” if students don’t recognize or aren’t aware of the injustices that they face they will never question things that may seems wrong.(Christensen, 62) So although I may never spend as much time on social issues as Christensen does I will definitely spend some time getting my students to realize and or challenge thing injustices of the world because I really do think it’s important.

I like the forgiveness poems idea, it seemed like a good idea for helping students to deal with personal problems that may make them feel alone or hold grudges towards someone. I think it helps them to deal with this in a healthy way instead of keeping their anger locked up. The part about essay development actually was very beneficial to me because being a writer I can understand the frustration that can arise from developing a thesis statement that you can base an entire paper off of. I struggle to come up with the best introduction because I always want to write a great paper and it can be annoying trying to do that and it does take time. I especially like how she helps the students relate to her by sharing her own thought process with her writing: “I want my students to see that writing is messy and sometimes hard. And like anything worth pursuing, it takes time, commitment, and practice. “(Christensen, 68) Writing can be a long process and it scares me a little when I think about trying to teach someone how to write a good successful essay. But with the strategies I studied in chapter 3 I feel a little better about teaching that writing subject.

I think that the most interesting part of the chapter for me was about preparing the students for college. I myself started a program similar to Christensen’s at my old high school. Annually me and other former students return to Northwestern and talk to the juniors and seniors about college. We let them ask us questions and we tell them about how important it is to not abuse the freedom of being on your own and how to handle the differences between high school and college. I think it’s important to give back to where you came from and to know that other students think it’s important as well is a great feeling. I believe that college is important and that being here has been the greatest experience in my life and I will share my enthusiasm about college with my future students as well.

Chapter 2: Christensen

I think that the most important part of being a teacher is making the students feel comfortable about being themselves. But, Christensen makes a good point on what exactly being yourself really means. Most of the things that we are taught as we grow up are not always good and I think that it is important to point out the stereotypes that are drilled into our heads early on in life through something as simple as Saturday morning cartoons.

The way we look at others can be concluded as being shaped by “secret education” but I think that times have somewhat improved because one thing that does exist more is programs focusing on education, yeah there are still the crime fighting hero’s mostly played my men and woman are usually still playing the pretty damsel in distress roles but nothing will ever be perfect. I think the best thing about Christensen idea about students being conscious about the stereotypes in the media is the fact that she is trying to teach them how to think for themselves and how to be more independent with their world views. Yes, the things that are put on TV or in movies may not give kids the right ideas but what in America does and what makes the things that I believe to be right and wrong, right and wrong to someone who grew up differently then me. So my only question is why not focus on that?

Parents as well can be guilty of brainwashing their children with the wrong ideals. Too many times children grow up in homes where their mother is treated as nothing more than a maid and their father is the bread winner or their father is abusive towards the rest of the family verbally or physically or what about those families where children are taught to hate those who are different than them? What about those kinds of situations? I would have liked to see something to express those kinds of social problems. I do agree with what she was doing but I think there is a broader way of examining the problem. I think that people often blame the media for more than they should be held accountable for. For example after the students realized what they and future generations of children have been exposed to they vowed to not allow their younger family members to watch those programs any longer. I think if more people did that as well as complain about the problems things just might change.

I do believe that the “Praise Poems” were a magnificent idea that I will probably use in the future to help students deal with things that society is wrong with them. I think that people focus on the outside way too much. Praise Poems will allow them to realize that their imperfections aren’t imperfections at all. I think that it helps build self esteem in a world that may constantly attempt to tear it down.

Chapter 1: Christensen

The first chapter of Christensen was enlightening because it gave me insight into what an actually teacher in the inner city has to face. My whole reasoning for wanting to teach is to go back to my community and help the kids faced with drugs, violence and peer pressure that Christensen discussed in the chapter. Everything that she discussed hit home because I’m from a city that is ranked number 2 as the most violent city in the country, so I know exactly what she was dealing with because I was surrounded by those same type of students who felt that school was just a waste of time and needed to be coached or tricked into learning. Her methods of “read-a rounds” and Poetry exercises that allowed the children to voice their struggle through writing was a great idea. Through her ideas the students found themselves able to identify with not only their classmates but ultimately with themselves. In high school I can remember never wanting to read out loud and conforming to the normal “clone” idea that everyone had to be the same and anyone who was different was picked on, so I know exactly how it feels to not want to share your feeling because it makes you very vulnerable. With Christensen’s methods the students truly created a “community” where they could be themselves.

I struggle with the idea of being a teacher because I am such an introvert but my want to help the kids in my community pushes me to get over my fear. It is going to be hard to come out of my fear of attention and all eyes being on me but with the idea’s that I am being taught I hope to use the skills to not only help my students but to help myself. Christensen’s experience gave me helpful tips and possible lesson plans to help me and my students face our fears together. Christensen and Bigelow created an environment where students could come and learn to express themselves freely through writing. She created exercises that engaged the minds and hearts of her students. Tying together those who believed their differences made them outcasts when really their difference brought their similarities to light. From the Vietnamese student to the class clown Wesley, Christensen found ways to interest the students in writing down how they feel and being able to express it to their judgmental peers in an inviting atmosphere.