Instructions: The first part of your summer reading blog should recap what you read this summer. If all you read was the assigned nonfiction, so be it. Tell about what you chose, why you chose it, and whether it fulfilled your expectations. You may also want to start with a title and an intro for your blog like I did, but I usually add that at the END once I figure out what my blog will focus on.
First part of blog - reflect on progress: I am (surprise!) a reader, but this summer was cram-packed with travel and projects and training for school, so I only squeezed in 14 books (I'll recommend some of them coming up). My nonfiction summer reading choice, Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be by Frank Bruni, was recommended by one of my students from last year for all juniors who are stressing about college, and that describes most kids I teach, so I gave it a try. While it didn't answer all the questions kids have about how to get into college, it did offer some calming advice about the real purpose of college, and it discourages the stress-filled atmosphere surrounding college admissions. Mixed in are funny anecdotes that add a little humor to the whole process.
Instructions - The second part of your blog should discuss what you learned from your book, how it changed your thinking, how it made you react/feel, what kind of "take away" information or ideas you gained. In this section, include at least 2 text quotes that are at least 50 pages apart. Discuss the quotes as they relate to your reaction to the book. Do NOT summarize; respond and react.
Second part of blog - react to your reading with text: After reading Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be by Frank Bruni, I am actively asking my students to reframe their college search. At the end of junior year and beginning of senior year, I can feel the tension start to mount. I hear it in the voices of students figuring out how to apply, asking for recs, and despairing about their lack of community service. Often their search for acceptance to the "right" school is driven solely by the idea of impressing others, affording costs, or getting a job. Bruni urges parents and educators to guide kids to see their effort and drive as a greater predictor of success than a certain GPA or test score. According to Bruni, who continually demonizes the arbitrary school rankings offered by U.S. News and World Report, even the man in charge of U.S. News acknowledges that, "It's not where you went to school...It's how hard you work" (88). I found it ironic that the guy who said that got a degree from the University of Cincinnati, a school that doesn't even make the list of "best" schools that his magazine publishes every year. My school, Trinity University, has frequently been listed by U.S. News as one of the nation's best small liberal arts schools, but having read Bruni's book, I don't feel like that's as important as I once thought. To be honest, I didn't pick my school based on rank; I picked it because it felt like home when I visited.
Instead of focusing on the rank or reputation of a school, Bruni suggests that "no one college, no matter how celebrated, is right for anyone and everyone who can gain admission there. A school, like a dress or a suit, has to have the contours and colors that work for the person choosing it" (139). Despite Bruni's privileged background and Ivy League-driven high school, he chose the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a school with a high acceptance rate that changed his world view by taking him out of his Northeastern comfort zone. The availability of new, meaningful experiences, according to Bruni, adds a level college education that extends beyond the classroom. The key for any high school student facing the college choice is not to nail test scores, but to develop sincere interests and to search for schools that will both celebrate those interests and present opportunities for new experiences. That is exactly what Trinity did for me. I made life-long friends. I re-evaluated by values and goals. I changed my major 4 times. And I loved everything I studied, whether it prepared me for a job or not, because my studies taught me to think for myself and accept multiple views.
Instructions: For the third part of your blog, find a connection to your book - a video, an article, a graphic - that ties in to the issues/ideas you discussed from the book. When you can make a connection, you expand your knowledge AND deepen understanding. Make sure you include a LINK to your connection, and discuss how it related. You can also, as I did, mix in cartoons and fun stuff for added interest.
Third part of blog - connection: I hope this semester of AP Language and Composition will open new experiences through student-choice reading and student-directed discussion. I also hope students will welcome the chance to build their mental muscle and to pursue their passions. Bruni's book captures the crucial ingredient for success that we are trying to build into our AP classes when he quotes Britt Harris, a former chief executive and a professor at Texas A&M, who says, "If you are extremely smart, but you're only partially engaged, you will be outperformed, and you should be, by people who are sufficiently smart and fully engaged" (195). Full engagement too often falls on teachers' shoulders. We are supposed to appeal to students' interests, use more tech, appeal to various learning styles, and provide endless energy and opportunities. I am willing to do all of those things, but if students hope only to do "enough" or to "fulfill requirements," no amount of enthusiasm and engagement from me will help the students find a passion. This article from a college admissions officer offers excellent advice about how to become fully engaged and how to find a passion with five crucial questions. He claims that finding a passion will help students overcome obstacles and accept failures in the interest of taking action and becoming a participant rather than merely an observer. Like Bruni's book, the article suggests that learning shouldn't be about what someone else wants for you, but about what you want for yourself. I'm here to help and guide any student who will take the first steps toward "Going the Distance" and making it to the finish line and beyond.
Instructions: End your blog with citations for your book AND your connection(s). Use MLA formatting, including correct punctuation of titles, correct order of information, proper use of commas/period, and indenting. Note: Purdue OWL is a helpful resource. Easy Bib does it WRONG!
Citations:
Bruni, Frank. Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2015.
"Cake-Going the Distance." YouTube, uploaded by KitHaringtonFan, 28 May
2007, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zStIm0gNnUw.
Gibson, Matt. "5 Simple Questions to Find Your Passions Today." Distinguish Me, 2016,
http://distinguishme.com/5-simple-questions-to-find-your-passions-today/. Accessed 22 Aug
2016.
No comments:
Post a Comment