#IMWAYR

Wrapping Up the Semester

Here is what is probably my last blog post of the semester, and it has been super fun to be a part of this class.  Slowly, but surely, I am powering through the final few assignments I have left, studying for final tests, and preparing for summer classes.  I’m not gonna lie, this semester was rough.  At one point, I seriously thought about dropping out of college because I just could not handle the stress, but I fought through and made it to the end.

Weekend Warrior

Hole In My Life by Jack Gantos

This weekend I powered through the last three books I had checked out for this class but had not gotten around to yet.  The first one I read was Hole In My Life by Jack Gantos.  In the book he details the events that precipitated his involvement in drug smuggling that landed him in prison.  Gantos is very candid about his experiences and his thoughts and feelings throughout the process.  To be honest, I’m not sure who I would recommend it to or why.  I mean, I guess I would recommend it to people interested in memoirs, especially prison memoirs, but beyond that I don’t really know.  The most interesting aspect of the story was that Gantos really only got into smuggling because he needed money to go to college.  With that in mind, I would probably make it mandatory reading for people who think that financial aid is some sort of handout and that college should be expensive.  That is an entirely different rant, so I’m just going to leave that thought alone.

Rules by Cynthia Lord

The next book I read was Rules by Cynthia Lord.  I liked the writing style and found it to be an easy read, but I was rather conflicted about how Lord approached the topics of disability and neurodivergence.  This book is about an adolescent girl whose younger brother is autistic.  The plot follows her struggles with identity in a household where she is expected to take care of her brother at every turn, but is simultaneously reprimanded for how she goes about it by the parents who forced her into that role in the first place.  I could get behind a book dealing with parentification and sibling bonds, but then it almost turned into a pity party for the girl because she has to “deal with” her autistic sibling.  At times it was almost good where the girl would rail against people othering her sibling for being autistic, but then at times she herself would other the young brother as well as another character with a disability.  Then, weirdly enough, the book completely deviated from the brother-and-sister storyline into a could-it-be-young-love storyline and I almost put it down completely.  I would probably not recommend this book as it feels rather ableist and fails to uphold Lord’s reason for writing this book which was to address the topic of autism from the perspective of a neurotypical relative (which is in itself problematic when not done correctly and this was not done correctly).

Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers

This was the third book that I read this weekend, and I did not mind it but I was not blown away by it.  The book was about an adolescent boy in a juvenile correction facility where he is put into a work-outreach program through the local senior center.  As he works at the center, he begins to straighten out his life and figure out his goals for the future.  Simultaneously, he begins to think more about others outside his immediate family and learns to make meaningful connections.  To me, this felt less like Monster where the story was important and the method of telling it was crucial.  Instead, Lockdown felt more like a cautionary tale or like one of those speeches where a former inmate will go around to schools and tell their story in an effort to keep those kids from going to prison.  Because of this, it felt trite and lacked the depth that Monster had where that book dealt with individuality and identity.  Lockdown felt more like it was pushing the reader to think more about how their actions affect others (like a PSA) and it kept me from really connecting with the narrator and the book’s theme.

Investing in Our Students

In chapters 8 and 9 of Penny Kittle’s Book Love, she discusses the importance of creating solidarity and cooperation within not only the classroom but the school as a whole.  She talks about how reading time was implemented schoolwide in order to encourage literacy and engagement with the written word.  My school did something similar to this when I was in high school that was much less successful.  You see, rather than creating a supportive and encouraging environment for free reading, my school made it mandatory to the point where you could get a detention if you were not reading during the assigned reading time.  By “not reading” I mean everything from conversing with classmates to trying to finish homework.

This was a problem for many students for multiple reasons:

1. It defeated the whole purpose of the exercise which was to encourage reading and not make it a chore.
2. It increased stress for students who were trying to complete homework in what was potentially the only chunk of time they were going to be able to do it.
3. The responsibility was put on the students to find books without suggestions and support from the teachers.
   1. This was problematized even further because students were not allowed to run to the library to get a book if they had forgotten one and there were none kept on hand for students in the case of this eventuality.  In fact, students were punished if they had not brought in a book.

This gave students the feeling that our school did not actually want to implement this program and were instead doing it because they had to for one reason or another.  Such an issue might have arisen because our school’s teachers and administrators were too focused on state standardized tests.  I remember teachers going over the syllabus the first day of class and summarizing their introductory speeches by saying something like, “Essentially, our entire goal is to prepare you for the standardized tests.”  There was nothing about preparing us for college, preparing us for the workforce, or even preparing us for life.  It was all about preparing us for a ridiculous test that was going to have absolutely no bearing on our lives outside of the hour or two we spent taking it.

Because the school seemed uninvested in both our literacy and our learning, the students were miserable and many transferred to other schools for better opportunities and learning experiences.  Kittle and her school, on the other hand, were successful because they were so invested.  Throughout chapters 8 and 9, you can tell how their investment had a positive impact on individuals and the student body as a whole.  Therefore, I am determined to exhibit that same investment in my own classroom because I do want my students to be healthy, happy, safe, and successful, whatever that means for them.

 

School’s Out for the Summer, but Reading Is Not

What YA books do you still have on your TBR (to be read) list?

To be quite honest, I have no idea how many of the books on my TBR list are YA.  My list was mostly created because the titles interested, they fell under a category that I want to expand my knowledge in, or they were recommended to me by friends and classmates.

How are you going to challenge yourself this summer?

I am taking three courses over the summer and I plan on getting a job to supplement my income in the interim before I can go back to work in the CASS/ENG-HUM offices next semester.  However, with this in mind I am definitely still planning to challenge myself in a manner similar to the #bookaday challenge.  I know that a book per day is going to be too much for me as I work through my classes, after the classes are over I might be able to up it, by one every two days is definitely a reachable goal for me at this juncture in time.

When and where are you going to read?

I am going to probably read in the evenings since I usually use reading to wind down from the stresses of the day.  I like to curl up on a couch or in a comfy chair with a snack and a beverage as part of my reading routine.  I get motion sickness far too easily for reading in the car to be an option, but if I have free time, usually while cooking, I’ll pick up a book and just knock out a good chunk of it by the time breakfast, lunch, or dinner is done.

How will you make sure reading remains a habit?

Reading has always been a habit for me.  The only time I stopped reading is when my teachers in high school decided that quantity trumped quality.  I was never one for SparkNotes, and I always felt weird about not completing the reading, so by the time I finished the required reading, on top of the rest of my homework, it was usually midnight and I was far too exhausted to even think about picking up a book for pleasure.  The weekends were out too since I had homework even on those days.  I would always get back into the swing of things over the summer and read selections from either my own shelves or the local library’s.  Now that I am in college, I am still going to have to use the summers to get caught up, but even that’s problematized with the need to hold a job and quite a few hours each week in order to pay bills and maintain my post-college nest egg, but I am going to try really hard.

How will you make sure you’re finding terrific books to read?

I am finding many great titles and reviews from WordPress blogs, Twitter hashtags, Goodreads reviews, and suggestions from other social media sources.  I know that personal preferences will often inform reviews, but I always pay careful attention to the reviews that discuss oppressive language and plot points.  While I may still read these titles, this will be in order to know what exactly is going on and how to prepare for students that may be impacted by such rhetoric.  I want my classroom to be a safe space for students, and perpetuating oppressive dynamics through the literature I provide them is counterintuitive to my goals.

Sourced from Nana B Agyei on Flickr

Reading Response: Brown Girl Dreaming

For this week, I read Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson.  I decided to recommend this book to three of my friends.

I described the book, included my positive opinion about the book, and gave an example of how to utilize the book in a classroom setting for student learning.

The Challenge of Choice

What did you find most interesting or challenging in the reading?

I found it interesting that this article pointed out how freedom of choice is being allowed in general English classrooms but not in honors or AP English.  This made me wonder, why are those classes sticking so rigidly to an outdated mode of instruction?  In my opinion, choice should be the entire foundation of honors and AP English classes as one of the main tenets is to challenge the students, and not every student is going to be challenged by the same thing.  Therefore, it would be better for all parties involved to integrate choice with the goal to consistently challenge each and every student regardless of whether the student is in the general class or the honors/AP class.

However, there is a point to be made that such determination to stick to, what I can assume is being implied as I have had experience with honors/AP courses, the “classics” stems from an underlying elitism.  I have an issue with the concept of honors classes anyway.  I mean, I understand that it is important to challenge every student, but differentiation in the general classroom can do that without the school separating out the “cream of the crop” for special treatment and kickbacks while the “general populace” gets to be denied the same opportunities and experiences.

What surprised you?

I was surprised that teachers felt that AR tests could ever hope to hold students accountable for their reading.  According to this article, such was the reason for the unwillingness to give up Accelerated Reader.  Now, I do not know about everyone else, but I know for a fact that there was no way I was going to be held accountable for my reading through AR.  Half the time I was taking those tests, I was simultaneously skimming a book I had never really read to find the answer or the question/s were so obvious that you did not even need the book.  How, in any way, shape, or form, is this a good practice?

What did you learn or find yourself thinking about most?

I found myself thinking the most about how the teachers, mentioned in the two articles I have linked thus far, were the ones who seemed to be the most afraid of change.  Do we not go through each and every Education course being taught to prepare to adapt?  New research, student individuality, educational needs, learning profiles, and more should all have an impact on our teaching methods.  However, we seem to get stuck in the same old pattern either because we think it is a solid, and thus irrefutable, model of instruction or we are afraid to challenge the status quo.  We literally have the future of our nation sitting in front of us every time we teach a class, so how could we possibly think that they deserve anything less than our best?

How do these articles relate to your own experiences as a teacher or student or to your hopes for your own future classroom or work with students?

These articles relate to my hopes for my future classroom in that I want my students to be able to recognize their individuality and what that means for them.  I do not want to teach my students that to matter in this world they have to choose a job that they hate just because it pays really well.  I do not want my students to ever feel like their net worth should ever control their self worth.  Instead, I want my students to become healthy, happy, safe, and successful adults whatever that means to them as individuals.  Therefore, I want my educational practices to reflect this ideal, and giving my students freedom of choice directly correlates to this goal.

Sourced from pdxdiver on Flickr

YALSA For The Win

For this blog post, I read the incredibly awesome Women in Comics: Young Adult & New Adult Novels on the YALSA Hub.  Oh my goodness, I cannot stress enough how great this article was.  Every time I pick up a book, I am practically begging for more representation of women, and especially strong, independent women who may have men in their lives but do not need them to live a healthy and fulfilling life.  I am so here for lady superheroes, characters, villains, whatever you want to give to me, I need all of it.

This kind of representation is absolutely crucial for young girls, teens, and adults to have knowledge of and access to.  These women provide models of proud femininity and power to many demographics.  For example, you have Barbara Gordon, who many might know as Batgirl, but what you may not know is that after the Joker paralyzes her she still maintains her badassery.  She becomes Oracle, a genius computer hacker and intelligence specialist who is an expert in the weapons-based martial art known as eskrima.  Sadly, a 2011 DC Comics relaunch inexplicably made it so that Barbara Gordon was no longer paralyzed and thusly no longer a representative for the disabled community.

Another example is Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, who is a Pakistani American girl from New Jersey with shapeshifting capabilities.  The creation and launch of this character would be the first time that a Muslim hero headlined a comic from Marvel.  This character is also specifically drawn so that she is decidedly feminine without being used as a tool to draw the male gaze (i.e. wearing ridiculously illogical costumes that defy the laws of physics).

Such characters, and more, are being added to the roster of novel protagonists to appeal to people who may not like to read comic books or do not know where to start.  This effort serves a multi-faceted purpose.  In one aspect, it introduces people to characters and universes that they would have never otherwise encountered.  In another, it adds more positive and, hopefully, authentic representation of women to the world of book publishing.  Number three, it may lead to cross-pollination of the readerships of both novels and comic books/graphic novels thus causing an upsurge in popularity and attention for both types of media.

All in all, I am very excited to see what comes of this and whether this leads to new superheroes and more authentic representation of the different demographics of women in the world.

#IMWAYR

This is my first attempt at the blogging meme entitled “It’s Monday, What Are You Reading?”  My focus for this post will mostly be the book Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson with information about some other things that I am working on.

To start with, I recently finished the book Chains, and I don’t exactly know what to make of it.  On one hand, I greatly enjoyed the themes of love and family.  I especially liked how the main character, Isabel, was determined to protect her younger sister, Ruth.  Isabel did not care about the Revolutionary War insofar as trying to find out which side would be more likely to help her and her sister attain the freedom they had been promised.  However, I felt that the entire book was problematized by a white woman writing about the experiences of a young black girl.  To some extent, I get that Anderson was trying to write about a period of history from the perspective of a marginalized group, but this could have been done in a different way.  Anderson could have written the book from the perspective of a woman who had formerly been an indentured servant, and in fact has such a character in Chains.  However, she did not do that.  Instead, Anderson took a personhood that was not hers to characterize.  I really have issues with people trying to just use a character like Isabel without being part of the centuries of culture and history that she tried to depict so… I don’t want to say ignorantly because Anderson seemed to have made an attempt to do her homework, but without being part of the culture herself then how could she ever truly understand?  Either way, I would recommend this book for its interesting take on history, but I would have to warn against it for its blatant appropriation of culture, history, and personhood.

Other than that, I have yet to start The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, but I will be doing that soon.  Also, I am still working hard to get through Forbidden Language: English Language Learners and Restrictive Language Policies by Patricia Gandara and Megan Hopkins.  I have also accrued quite an extensive PRO/TBR List that spans almost five pages in my notebook.  It includes titles from multiple different sources and genres that I have found from reading Book Love and the fantastic blogs and Twitter accounts that we have been exposed to throughout this class.  I am quite excited to start working may way through it even after this class ends.

Literacy Skills and Social Media

For this week’s blog post, I have titled it with the exact words that I conducted my Internet research under.  I found many interesting articles, but the one I wish to focus on in particular came from The Alberta Teacher’s Association.  It was called Can Social Networking Boost Literacy Skills?

This article, as it included information primarily from two different studies in the first part, did admit that recent numbers show that students are picking up books less and less.  However, students are still reading.  Each month, week, day, whatever, students are reading innumerable emails, tweets, blog posts, status updates, etc.  What does this mean?  This means that students are reading.  Not only that, but this social networking is also fostering a new generation of confident and capable writers.

The article, in part, focused on blogging for further elucidation upon this point, but the information is still valid for other social networking platforms.  Other studies found that students who actively blog are more likely to keep journals, write short stories, etc. outside of the blogosphere as well.  Not only that, but posting their work on social media allows for feedback potential that they might not have otherwise.  Therefore, students are being influenced by other writers and readers and thus showing definitive signs of writing improvement as well as boosted self-confidence in the practice of writing itself.

Continuing from this premise, while it can be said that students are less likely to pick up a physical copy of a book, maybe we should stop considering that the “be all, end all” of literacy.  Students are reading more digital copies of things, being exposed to more forms of information media, and listening to audio formats of works from around the world.  For many, social media is the first step where they are exposed to these new things and then are spurred to go out and look for more themselves.  As such, maybe it is time to start moving towards patterns of thought and teaching that align with this paradigm shift.  If we do so, then we are more likely to not only recognize social media’s educative potential for literacy, but to also more successfully implement it for our students and ourselves.

There is so much potential for teaching and learning through technology and social media.  All we have to do is reach for it.

Sourced from mkhmarketing on Flickr

Twenty Better Questions: Looking for Alaska

1. What character(s) was your favorite? Why?

My favorite character in the book was probably Mr. Starnes, aka the Eagle.  He is so under-appreciated as a character.  It seemed as though, consistently throughout the book, he was genuinely concerned with the safety and well-being of the students.  He formed personal connections with the students to the point where they even gave him a nickname, regardless of the fact that it was supposed to make fun of his alertness in regards to mischief and mayhem.  He also seems to understand that these youths are attempting to find their identities and explore their individuality, so his main focus is allowing them to do so in a safe and secure environment.  However, this is never fully, or even partially, explored so all of this is just my personal take on the whole situation.

2. What character(s) did you dislike? Why?

The character that I disliked the most was Miles “Pudge” Halter.  I felt as though the book was written to make Miles out to be the victim of bullying, teases, and losing the love of his life.  I have some issues with this.  To start with, I could understand the writer wanting to make Miles the victim of bullying to emphasize his status as an outsider who connects with other outsiders and they rail against the world.  However, that’s it.  That’s the only thing I can get behind with this character.  Everything else is absolute trash, and not even the good kind of trash where I read it for the pure enjoyment of it being trash.

3. Does anyone in this work remind you of anyone you know? Explain.

Miles Halter, also known as Pudge, kind of reminds me of every so-called “nice guy” I have ever met in my life.  They have one skill that they believe sets them apart from others and their status as non-jock, non-popular, non-conformist, whatever, somehow gives them magical powers of “classiness” that every girl in the entire world ever is somehow unable to see.  They choose one girl to focus their creepy obsession on, are upset every time she dates anyone that is not them because “why can’t she see that I’m here” when, ironically enough, they have shut out every other girl ever because they weren’t pretty enough, smart enough, whatever enough, to be worthy of the “nice guy”‘s time.  In reality, they are just a guy, who really isn’t that nice, and feels as though he is owed the attention of the girl of his choice regardless of the fact that she is an independent person who does not owe him anything.

4. Are you like any character in this work? Explain.

Chip Martin, also known as the Colonel, reminded me of myself.  The reason for this is because he works very hard and refuses to be pushed around.  He does not let himself be saddened by his socioeconomic situation and is unashamed of where he came from and who he calls family.

5. If you could be any character in this work, who would you be? Explain.

I would not want to be anyone in this book.  Ever.  I would not want to Pudge because of reasons mentioned above.  I would not want to be Chip, even though I do relate to him, because I have no desire to be friends with Alaska Young at all.  The Eagle would not be a good match because I would not want his job in the slightest.  Everyone else in the book is exceedingly flat and boring and I could find nothing to make them relatable let alone someone I would wish to be.

6. What quality(ies) of which character strikes you as a good characteristic to develop within yourself over the years? Why? How does the character demonstrate this quality?

I think, if anything, I would want to develop the Colonel’s self-confidence.  This is because I myself lack self-confidence and I feel that this trait is important to make connections with people, try new things, go to different places, and essentially get the most out of life.  Chip demonstrates these qualities through his determination to be himself even when he wants to impress his girlfriend’s parents.  He refuses to be made ashamed of his background and even invites Pudge and Alaska to his house though they come from middle-class backgrounds compared to his own background of poverty.  Lastly, he does everything he can to find out the reason behind Alaska’s death, even if it is not perfect, because he understands that he and Pudge both need that closure.

7. Overall, what kind of a feeling did you have after reading a few paragraphs of this work? Midway? After finishing the work?

To be honest, I hated the book.  I felt that the writing style was boring and difficult to read at times.  It was not any sort of complexity that caused a challenge, but rather the fact that he would use the most ill-fitting synonyms of words and I could not understand why.  This did not change once I reached the midway point.  I despised how he, the author, seemingly kept trying to make the reader feel sorry for Pudge because Alaska was such a cock-teasing bitch even though she was in a relationship with another person, had no inclinations towards polyamory, and really owed none of her time and attention to him.  After finishing the work, I had entertained hopes that Pudge would come to the realization that friendship is not a consolation prize but a prize in and of itself and he should be happy that he had the chance to have that connection with Alaska before she died, but that never happened.  He ended the book, sans realization, with Pudge coming to the conclusion that he would always love Alaska and that she forgave him for letting her drive that night and that he forgives her for never giving him that “to be continued” that she promised.  Seriously, it was awful.

8. Do any incidents, ideas, or actions in this work remind you of your own life or something that happened to you? Explain.

The only idea that reminded me of my own life was that one should not be ashamed of where they come from.  There is no shame in coming from a background of poverty and becoming friends with those from different socioeconomic strata than your own.  Beyond that, there was nothing else that sparked any reminders.

9. Do you like this piece of work? Why or why not?

Nope, I did not like this piece of work at all.  By this point in the Twenty Better Questions, I think I have covered most of the reasons.  However, there is another reason that I strongly disliked this book.  This is the fact that none of the characters seemed to really grow or change as people in any substantial way.  I spent 221 pages hoping that some great realization about human connection would happen, but nope.  Instead it just worked to undermine female independence and personhood.  Fantastic.

10. Are there any parts of this work that were confusing to you? Which parts? Why do you think you got confused?

I was confused with John Green’s word choice in places.  In one bit he says that a character’s hair “was perennially wet”.  Nope, just… nope.  All of the nope.  “Perpetually” would have been a better word choice and is just as many syllables and letters as “perennially” so why?  This was not the only time that this happened in the book, but this is one of the most memorable.

11. Do you feel there is an opinion expressed by the author through this work? What is it? How do you know this? Do you agree? Why or why not?

I feel that there is a message of love and forgiveness being pushed, but I don’t agree with it at all.  As previously mentioned, the author is pushing the love between Alaska and Pudge, but she doesn’t love him like he loves her, and that really sets up the message of forgiveness later.  Her death keeps her from ever consummating that (nonexistent) love between her and Pudge, and he finds himself unable to forgive her for that.  This is in conjunction with how he believes that she blames him for not keeping her from driving while drunk and thus causing the fatal accident.  I could sort of get behind the whole “I blame myself for kinda, sort-of causing your death so I can’t forgive myself because I think you blame me” if it wasn’t so heavily intertwined with the “you were in a happy, stable relationship with another person but you owed me your love because I loved you” thing.

12. Do you think the title of this work is appropriate? Is it significant? Explain. What do you think the title means?

The title of this work is appropriate in that Miles is always chasing after Alaska, and it is significant because he is looking for her love in the first part and then looking for her forgiveness in the second part.  I think it means that Miles, who is miles away from Alaska in life-experience, coolness, whatever, is looking for her love, her approval, her attention until her death in which case he looks for absolution and her forgiveness.

13. Would you change the ending of this story in any way? Tell your ending. Why would you change it?

I would change the ending of the story to make it so that Pudge realizes how childish he was being by devaluing the worth of her friendship like that.  She was a beautiful soul, both inside and out (at least in his opinion when he wasn’t too busy hating her for not being with him romantically), and he should have been glad that she had chosen him to form an interpersonal connection with.

14. What kind of person do you feel the author is? What makes you feel this way?

I don’t really have a good basis on which to determine what kind of person I believe the author to be considering I have only read one of his books. However, I do get the sense that he is trying to write what he thinks people want to read. I felt this way because the book seemed almost ridiculously formulaic, even for him. Even though I haven’t read any of his other books, I do know the premise of The Fault in Our Stars. Essentially, bot and girl meet, they fall in love, tragedy strikes, and the relationship is broken. Boohoo, sob sob. He is even more formulaic with how he writes in Looking for Alaska that boy meets girl, he falls in love, she is sadly with someone else even though she could do so much better with someone like say him, girl does something unforgivable and has to make up for it, and guy graciously forgives her for it.

15. How did this work make you feel? Explain.

This work made me incredibly angry. The reason for this is that it only perpetuated the notion that guys are somehow victimized when a girl only wants to be friends and nothing more. The fact of the matter is that friendship is awesome in and of itself. That’s that.

16. Do you share any of the feelings of the characters in this work? Explain.

As mentioned previously, I share the Colonel’s refusal to be shamed by his background.

17. Sometimes works leave you with the feeling that there is more to tell. Did this work do this? What do you think might happen?

This work did not leave me with the feeling that there was more to tell. In fact the ending left me feeling that had Alaska survived, she would have left her boyfriend for Pudge even though there was no reason to do so because “Pudge really loved her and it wasn’t just infatuation and hot and cold feelings depending on how willing she was to pay attention to him”. I want absolutely none of that ever.

18. Would you like to read something else by this author? Why or why not?

Nope. If he wishes to write books that perpetuate harmful ideals such as the “friend zone” and that women owe men their time and attention for meanly putting them in the cold, cruel world of that “friend zone” then I have no desire to read anything else by him.

19. What do you feel is the most important word phrase, passage, or paragraph in this work? Explain why it is important.

I feel that the most important word in this work is “looking”. This is because the characters all seemed to be looking for something whether it be the “Great Perhaps”, connection, love, friendship, absolution, meaning, truth, etc. Everyone was looking for something.

20. If you were an English teacher, would you want to share this work with your students? Why or why not?

Nope. As I mentioned previously, the work is sort of poorly written, perpetuates harmful ideals, and really has nothing else to offer students or adults for that matter. If anything, the easy language and simple syntax would be good practice for struggling readers and ELL students, but that’s it.

The Importance of Communication

For this week, I read chapters 5 and 6 in Penny Kittle’s Book Love.  She had some amazing things to say about both book talks and writing conferences.  For me, the two practices are so interconnected that it is difficult to separate them in such a manner, but I understand that she was differentiating for a reason.  Therefore, for the purposes of this post I will do so as well before discussing their synergy.

Book talks, in my opinion, are one of the most important things a teacher can do in the classroom.  To clarify, I mean this as not only presenting new books to the class, but also letting students do so and speaking to the students on an individual basis.  This creates a sense of give and take between the students and the teacher, and it lets them know that you care about their interests, likes, and dislikes.  The camaraderie can only be supplemented with the individual meetings because you are getting to know your student personally and are taking the time to hear their thoughts and opinions.  This shows that you respect the students on an individual level and proves to them that you care about their identities.

Writing conferences work much in the same way.  Without writing conferences, there is a large chance that the subtle nuances of meaning injected by the student into their work will be lost.  When you take the time to speak with them and listen, you get valuable context that helps you to understand their work and their thought processes on a deeper level.  This aligns with the book talk points as you are getting to know their identities and individuality and thus have an insight that is priceless.

In essence, both book talks and writing conferences give you the chance to demonstrate that the students are more than just faces in a class.  They allow you to show that you see their individuality, you hear their voices, and you care.  Understanding, companionship, connection, and community are all ideals that I wish to encourage in my future classes through the utilization of book talks and writing conferences.