Winter 2018 493: Teaching Literature to Adolescents

                Throughout this quarter I have read a variety of texts, completed a unit plan, and participated in several different discussions on learning materials in the classroom. I absolutely think this is one of my favorite classes ever taken at Eastern Washington University. For once I feel confident about my chosen career path and comfortable with the thought of teaching my own classroom. The different texts helped me extremely when trying to find material to fill out TPAs. Without these required texts I know I would still be struggling to try to find sources to make connections to my lessons. Additionally, through the readings, I was given different learning strategies to use in my future high school classroom. I love the fact that I read these books because now I’m interested in furthering my knowledge of classroom strategies. Also, reading the different novels such as Night or Diary of a Part-Time Indian gave me the push I needed t...

“Convicted” by Jameel McGee and Andrew Collins is now one of my favorite novels. It discusses a relationship between an African American man who was put in jail on false drug convictions and the officer who put him there. Throughout the story, Jameel McGee tells his perceptions of an unfortunate event that caused him years of his life. As I read the piece I couldn’t help but feel bad for Mr. McGee because he is constantly battling this false conviction even when he is released from prison. Mr. Collins, the officer, also writes his story on about putting McGee and others away with false evidence. He discusses the philosophy and events that led him to create the false cases. The book switches back and forth between the two, reading about McGee then about Collins in the next chapter, giving the story an interesting dynamic. I chose this text because it was recommended by my girlfriend’s mom. Her mom sends me novels she reads in her book club because she knows I’m interested in read...

“Graphic Novels: An Alternative Approach to Teach English as a Foreign Language” Öz, Hüseyin; Efecioglu, and Emine challenges the effectiveness of graphic novels being used in English as a first language classrooms (EFL). Their findings revealed that using graphic novels in the classroom had many different benefits. These benefits were caused because graphic novels raised the confidence of students, they can understand the graphic novels because of the pictures. Giving students a visual representation of what is occurring within the story makes translating the English language much easier. Also, pictures often engaged students with the story. Similar to these EFL classrooms, normal classes will take interest in these novels because of the visuals. Additionally, the study discovered that “it was also seen that they play an important role in shaping one’s language” (87). Graphic novels can be used in English classrooms today to help shape a student’s language. When reading a more comp...

“The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe is a great text to use in the classroom. My high school freshman just completed their poetry unit and they actually used Edgar Allan Poe in a worksheet. The worksheet asked students to annotate the poem “The Raven” and answer a few critical thinking questions on it. Then, students were expected to write their own 2 stanza poem mimicking Edgar Allan Poe’s style in “The Raven.” My mentor teacher told me her philosophy was that if students mimicked the hardstyle Poe had written in “The Raven” they would appreciate poetry a lot more. Also, it showed them how poets incorporate the various vocabulary and structures they have been studying over the unit into their works. “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe is a beautiful work that deserves its spot in the classroom. The complicated structure shows just how beautiful poetry can be. Writing stanzas mimicking the style of the poem can show how hard it is to write a piece of this poem. Also, students find the rhym...