English 493 learning Letter

My experience with this class has been incredible. For the better part of winter quarter, English 439 has given me many opportunities to grow and hone my skills as an instructor. The book talks introduced me to a variety of texts that I never would have had the time to evaluate on my own. There were some books that I had never heard of before they were introduced by my peers of this class. Night; speaking about the horrors of the Jewish holocaust in Nazi Germany, the way this text was implemented in the book talks and used as material for mini lessons inspires me to always be on the lookout for texts that can be both appropriate for use in the high school classroom as well as provide a robust and rich perspective on such a taboo topic in world history. During my time spent with using Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” as teaching material in both the three-week Unit lesson plan and the minilesson I have learned and reinforced the concept of lessons and teachable moments can come from unexpected places, much like Alice learns and grows about herself, finding her voice and aptitude within her story, I too have begun to find my voice as a literature instructor and I wish to continue flexing these new vocal chords through my career as an educator and continuous learner. Overall, this course has allowed me the time necessary to develop my skills as a creator of lessons and empowers me to continue seeking improvement through self-reflection and the critique of others’ teaching abilities.

I found the mini lessons to have been extremely fun and insightful. It hasn’t been easy but I really enjoyed the way this class implemented both theory, pedagogy and practical concept to classroom implementation. I feel the hardcore focus on building connections between the students and the instructor through cultural and technological relevance is one of the most important take-aways form this class. Constant and consistent reflections and self-evaluations play a larger role in teaching than I had originally thought and I find this concept rather enjoyable. Kelly Gallagher wrote on the subject of critical pedagogy multiple times and provided a great amount of wonderful insight and suggestion of what it takes to implement source material that students will feel attached to for years after their time spent with it in class. 

By participating in this class and an active contributor of my own and my peers’ learning environments, I have gained valuable insight into a variety of teaching material, teaching methodology and ways to not only enthrall my students but build connections through the relevance of their voice. Through student input, I have reinforced my teaching philosophy that the instructor learns just as much from the students as the students do from their instructor. Teachers and their use of pedagogy in order to learn and grow alongside their students helps me naturally to understand the rationale and effort put into developing unit lessons, curriculum and teachable content. The fact that this course has allowed me to prove myself and my abilities in the art and practice of teaching inspires me to continually be thoughtful of my approach to new methods of teaching and open to possible sources that would create interesting, useful and overall fun literature lessons for myself to facilitate and for students to participate. It was satisfying to both provide feedback on my peers and be a part of their growth as educators and to be on the receiving end of such thoughtful feedback as well. 

"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie

"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian", by Sherman Alexie, is an inspiring story; it explores complicated concepts and themes that are prevalent in everyday life. This text sends powerful messages in regards to overcoming and making the best out of difficult and almost impossible scenarios that typically have a huge impact upon a young person’s life as they move on from tough times just to be bombarded with more. Only a few good times of reprieve help the main character, Junior maintain a positive perspective and focus on his hopes and dreams.

Some of these concepts may be a bit heavy but they need to be explored in the school setting. Typical High school life, from what I personally remember from my time as a high school student, was very sheltered. This text acknowledges the difficulties in life that students may be dealing with outside of the classroom such as death of loved ones, dependency on alcohol and recreational drug use. Even racial, stereotypeification factors into these topics.

As an instructor, it is important for me to understand that some of my students may seek to look up to me as a mentor and might be searching for subtle examples on how to survive in this crazy world of ours without gong completely mad. In a world where it is impossible to shelter children and young adults from the struggles of the world outside the classroom it is important to explore connections with others where friendships can be fostered and help alleviate the extreme stress that eats away at us all. Every little bit helps. "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie explores these concepts in a very relatable way and provides some insight on how to handle these struggles and cope with them. It provides instructors with material for some very real teachable moments.

Poe's The Haunted Palace, The Black Cat, The Cask of Amontillado, Fall of the House of Usher, Evening Star, A Dream and A Tell Tale Heart.

Edgar Allan Poe is a literary master; he paints a vivid environment within which his dread tales occur. Poe’s tales often follow the path of decay where once beautiful palaces fall to ruin and corruption, outstanding young gentlemen fall to degeneracy, A proud individual seals an old friend behind a wall leaving him to starve to death, the last traditions of a once revered aristocratic estate crumbles to ruin, The reversal of the power struggle between man and women where man falls into a distant, isolation of submission and the guilt of a murderer that betrays him to the authorities through his subconscious and self-inflicted madness.

The haunted Palace Is described as decadent, powerful and beautiful through elaborate immersive imagery where a place of once great beauty and many lavish parties and dances occurred now lay in ruin as a haunt and shadow of its former self clinging to the hallow corridors of haunted traditions of its former glory.

The Fall of the house of Usher depicts the downfall of an aristocratic family ruined by mental illness and an overindulgence in an obsession for preservation at the cost of one’s humanity. As the estate falls deeper and deeper into decay, so to do the remaining sickly occupants slowly fade to corpses until the personified estate crumbles into the ravine, gone and forgotten.

A Dream and A Tell-Tale Heart Tells of an incident where a man is incessantly irritated by an old man and in his obsession over this annoyance, commits murder. His own beating heart betrays him to the local authorities who had almost entirely been convinced of the man’s innocence. Through the murderer’s hallucination of the “old man’s” beating heart growing louder and louder in the murderer’s ears; he is driven to confession to stop his madness in the hallucinations.

These stories and others by Poe not mentioned in name are aspects of the inevitable grotesque future of humanity. All things come to an end, but only some are willing to accept it.