So April and I decided to hold a book club. She chose a book and I chose one. The two books that we read were: Slaughterhouse 5 and Dark Life. There was unfortunately some confusion (because of me). April had to read 3 books due to me giving her the wrong book title.
So Dark Life is about the world having little land left and some people decide to "homestead" under the ocean. The kids who live down below develop dark gifts and have abilities that vary. It was pretty cool because the adults who find out about these gifts (the kids parents) embrace their children and their uniqueness. We both decided that this would be a cool book that could be used both in English and science or biology. With global warming that happens today it would be interesting to see how students would react to this book. This could also be used in a middle school setting as an example of a utopian/dystopian society, depending upon how you look at it.
Slaughterhouse 5 was difficult for both of us to read. However April made some very great points. I had a hard time getting over how the story really has no conclusion. April pointed out that when it comes to war there really is not a satisfying conclusion ever. She also pointed out, because again I was struggling with the book, that war affects everybody very differently. Billy (the main character) time travels and is taken from Earth by aliens. This is how he copes with what happened to him during the war. Again this book can be used as an example of a censorship, utopian/dystopian society. Censorship is something that affects us in one way or another. This book could be used with something like Divergent and the effects of what censorship can do to a society.
These books were so different from one another but surprisingly good reads. Well I still am having a hard time wrapping my head around Slaughterhouse 5. The aliens really threw me off balance. Neither April nor I have been in a book club and we have had fun doing this. It is something that (April's idea) we would like to incorporate into our classrooms.

A few things that I have learned from this class is that I need to start buying reading material that I want to have in my classroom. This material will vary in style, genre, and levels. I know that students come to us in various learning levels and I need to make sure I can accommodate everyone who I will be fortunate enough to teach. Some things that I want to incorporate into my class is vocabulary. I found a few awesome graphic organizers that can be used for any content area and I plan on using them. Vocabulary words are so important for students. I was fortunate enough to go to a state training and they said that students should be learning about 400 new words a school year (that was a minimum!). I was pretty shocked at the information. One way I plan on teaching vocabulary is to have a "word wall". This is where students can put down a word that they heard but don't know what it means. We can as a class figure out the meaning and that student who wrote down the word can then write the definition next to the word.
I am an English major so incorporating literacy into my content area will not be hard, but it will be challenging to get students to read. I hope to have a library in my classroom that is full of all kinds of reading material. I hope this will encourage students to read more. I hope having a diverse reading section that I will be able to have all my students interested in reading. It is hard to accommodate all types of learners, but no so much that it can't be done. In my library I will have books in other languages too. I don't want to hinder anyone from learning.
Integrating technology is going to be a little bit harder for me. I want to make sure students are able to adjust between technology and "old school" writing and reading easily. There are a few ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. Presentations are a great way to do that. I just learned about a new website called Prezi. Um wow! That is definitely something that I will be using in my classroom.
Teaching English and History is going to be a fun and challenging experience and I look forward to it. I hope that with the help of other teachers I can teach vocabulary across content areas so that students know the meanings that apply to the correct area. That will probably be the most challenging thing that I will face (I hope!!).

One of my most favorite moments from observing this semester is when the students started asking questions about the book they were reading  (My Brother's Voice). The book is more of a memoir about the holocaust. The students either really enjoyed it or they hated it. Yet every class meeting the students were asking the teacher questions and engaging in a tuff topic. After reading VanDe Weghe's article I noticed that the teacher asked questions that were engaging and authentic. She asked questions that were challenging as well. I was surprised at the level of maturity for the 9th grade class. The students were open with their feelings, telling what they liked and didn't like and why. Most of the time the teacher didn't have to start asking questions, the students just jumped in, so to speak, and started the discussion. This was an awesome class to observe and the students were amazing in their level of understanding. I'm hoping I can achieve this level of communication in my classes in the future.