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.

The Haunted Palace by Poe is a great poem. The palace is described as beautiful, which I loved because you get this sense of imagery that you didn’t imagine was possible. There were pretty palace doors and when you look in there was dancing going on. To me, this just seems like an overall happy place. Somewhere you can go to always clear your head. Unfortunately, the palace was attacked by evil things. All of those beautiful things go away, and that was really hard to read. You can tell how evil this placed has turned out. The palace becomes creepy, which I didn’t like because I saw the palace as something beautiful. Poe completely surprises us when he writes this because it comes out with an outcome we didn’t expect.

The Black Cat by Poe was also a great read. As readers, we don’t know the narrator, but we do realize that he confesses a great love for cats and dogs. He also marries at a young age and introduces all kinds of pets to his wife. Though, all of these pets are noticed, he loved the big black cat named Pluto the most. The narrator becomes a drunk and comes home to cut one of the cat’s eyes out. This came as a shock to me because I thought he loved this cat. He murders the car and they also get a new cat. This started to become a little bit of a weird read for me. Why would Poe make the story like this? The police storm the house and bust down a wall where the corpse laid. Upon the head was the missing cat. Now this, I didn’t expect. It is like the cat was there trying to mess with him and pop out and say remember me? This was also a creepy read, especially because it was a black cat.

The Cask of Amontillado by Poe is one of my favorites. I have read it in previous classes and enjoyed it just as much. Montresor expresses that he is seeking revenge for Fortunato. When he sends his men to the carnival he then starts to taste the wine. He begins to cough and the narrator tries to get him to go back him but he doesn’t want to. They continue to explore under the vaults and they see many dead bodies. As the story goes on, we realize that Montresor traps Fortunato and starts to build a wall around him. I believe this whole thing is analyzing their trip to hell. Things don’t go as he planned so he takes it to his level on how he thinks things should be done. Poe writes the strangest things, but it always leaves us on our toes no matter what.

Fall of the House of Usher by Poe is also one of my favorites. Of course, since it is written by Poe, it starts out dark and mysterious. The narrator approaches a house that is super creepy, and dark. Roderick wrote him a letter saying to come to the house because he was very ill and needed his help. He mentions that the inside is just as creepy as the outside. Roderick is very sick and pale he mentions. His sister Madeline has died but also comes back alive. Madeline attacks Roderick and he dies of fear. The narrator hurries out of the house and once he makes it outside, the house falls to the ground. This was such an amazing ending I thought because you were expecting for him and his friend to both make it out. Once again, you never know with Poe.

Evening Star by Poe was also an interesting read because he starts the setting off by explaining that it is midnight. He explains that the moons light always will shine brighter than the starts light. The mid planets seem to represent Poe himself. The moon controls him and we realize that this would be a women. He is her slave. He explains that the women is too cruel for him. He changes from being angry and now he is starting to act happier. He realizes that gazing at the far away star makes him happy even though he knows it is far away. The light of the star is more powerful to him. We can see his journey throughout the poem with the women and I love the imagery he chose to use here.

A Dream and A Tell Tale Heart by Poe of course starts out by not knowing the narrator. This seems to be a popular thing during his writing. We start to realize that this man has killed an old man. He isn’t mad, even though he is a criminal. The old man cries for help and we can realize that he is scared. But, before anyone will hear him, the narrator kills the old man. The police arrive and they don’t expect a thing from him, but they start hearing something from under the floor boards. The narrator hopes that they don’t hear anything that he does, but they do. The narrator then says that they need to start ripping up the floor boards and get him out because he is alive. He lays out a tale of murder, and he becomes familiar with this old man. This story was interesting to me because he comes to close to this old man but still kills him. Poe seems to have a pattern in his works, and I find that so interesting.

Book Talk (The Swimmer)

Book Talk: The Swimmer by John Cheever

Mackinzi Archer 

1.      The Swimmer by John Cheever is about a man whose name is Neddy Merrill. The book starts out by him, his wife, and some of their friends sitting around their friends pool complaining about their hangovers. Neddy decides to swim through all of their neighbors pools in order to get home. Neddy pictures the pools that are ahead of him are the friends that await him at the end as well. Every neighbor’s pool he swims through, he has a drink with them. At one of the neighbor’s house Neddy finds that their pool is empty, which he finds weird and starts to wonder if he is losing his memory. Then, at another neighbor’s house, Neddy gets out of the pool are starts to talk to them. They mention that they are sorry his house sold and said sorry for what had happened to his family. Neddy denies that anything has happened to him and he doesn’t know what they are talking about. After this, he feels cold and weak and all he wants is some whiskey to warm up. At the next neighbor’s house he attends a party and he realizes that people are talking about him, he then realizes his social status has changed. He then goes to his ex-mistresses house and she claims that she won’t give him any more money and he can’t recall the last time they were ever together.  Neddy can’t help but to cry after this because after this whole adventure he can’t figure out why people are treating him this way. He starts to cry and explains that he hasn’t cried since his childhood. Finally, Neddy reaches his own house, and realizes the lights are off. Every door is locked and no one is home. Neddy looks in through the windows and realizes the house is empty. As you can see Neddy isn’t in the right state of mind here and doesn’t know what is going on with his life. I believe the message here is that you don’t know what you have till it’s gone.

2.      I chose this text because it was a fun read. I didn’t know why Neddy was swimming through all of these swimming pools. Until the text goes on and you start to realize he isn’t remembering anything. I simply love the message here throughout this story. What I also loved is that I didn’t expect that to be the ending either. It is however, a sad ending. Of course I didn’t like how his family had left him, but I think Neddy got a lot of chances. This is another message Cheever tries to get across as well. This shows that Neddy has let his family go from all of his actions. This text would be appropriate for I believe, high school seniors. This is because it is a mature text and it does talk about Neddy drinking a lot. This is appropriate for this group of students’ because I believe seniors would get the message that Cheever is trying to get across. I would hope that students’ in this grade would focus less on Neddy drinking so much and focus on the message here. I believe Cheever is showing us that if you make so many mistakes, you could lose everything, like your family. Younger students’ may not understand this as much because they might to too immature to understand.

3.      The way I would teach this text in the classroom would be to first off, start with a free write. I would want my students’ to relate this story to their life as well. I would ask them if anything in their life has slipped away from them without noticing it was going to. This story can be related a lot to our own personal lives and I would love for my students to write about it. This gives me a chance to read more about what my students’ have experienced in their lives and for me to get to know them better. The second way I would use this in my secondary classroom would be to have a class discussion. On one side of the room I would have the students’ who think Neddy deserved what he got and on the other side I would have students’ who believe Neddy should have got a second chance. This would almost be like a debate between students’. It would be curious to see what students’ believe to be true about this story. The third way I would teach this to my secondary students’ would be to have an outline characterization worksheet on Neddy. I would ask my students’ when they saw certain clues that Neddy was changing. I would want my students’ to pay really close attention to Neddy’s character, and if they have to read the story again, they should.

4.      Some obstacles I could see happening when using this text would be the fact that Neddy does have a shady memory because of drinking. Administrators and parents might not like this as much because they don’t want their students/kids learning about this. I personally think students’ would find this interesting and maybe even realize that if they do abuse alcohol, they will see the consequences like Neddy did. I don’t see this story as anything negative. I do however, see how some people can see this as an issue. I really hope that whatever school district I am a part of, they will see this story as a good thing.  

5.      I think students’ will enjoy this story and I would hope they wouldn’t see this as boring. Cheever tries to get the message across that you should never take life for granted. Everyone should worship the moments they are given and you should always appreciate family the most. Neddy did take that for granted and we saw the conclusions that arises for him. Students’ will see the message Cheever wants them to know and realize the same thing. Hopefully this message will get my students’ to cherish each moment, because that is what I hope for.

Gallagher’s Readicide

Gallagher’s Readicide was interesting to me because all of what he says is true. It was eye-opening to me that he mentions whatever reading strategies are going on in the classroom today, are leading to the death of reading. As teachers we know the importance of reading, but the students’ are struggling to read outside of the classroom. I completely agree that the elephant in the room is that students’ are only being taught to read for standardized tests. Students’ are also in desperate need of reading skills for how much we do as adults. Students’ today at this rate, it will be hard for them to even read the newspaper. On the other hand, if you over teach books, this will also be a struggle for readers, like high school seniors. I know as a teacher I want my students’ to read somewhat of a hard text so their reading skills will grow. They may struggle with it at first, but I think they would be very proud of themselves in the end. Assigning reading and teaching reading are two different things according to Gallagher. He explains that you can’t overload students’ with too much of one of these because this won’t make them life-long readers. As a teacher, I want to find my balance when it comes to this. I never want my students’ feel as if they are struggling with reading. I will teach them reading, but at the same time I will assign them reading so they can get better on their own time. Having a good teacher or a bad teacher can really affect a student down the road. This is because this will determine how the student plans to learn along the way. I hope to have the best influence on my students so they can look back and realize that I did help them become stronger students. People who do less reading and do less work, he claims these are the people that do less in life all around. This reading was very eye-opening to me not only as a teacher, but as a person as well. I will not only strive to be a great teacher but an even better person for my students.

"I Read it, but I don't get it"

One of my favorite chapters in this book is chapter four. It explains how a struggling 10^th grader asked her “How am I supposed to know when I don’t get something?” She clarified that she is a teacher, not a mind reader. This was interesting to me because students’ don’t know when they are confused. They just hurry as fast as they can to get their work done. She mentions that a few of the students just said they were hoping the confusion would just go away. This makes you wonder about the kids going from grade to grade always confused. Some kids may even be shy to speak up about their confusion. Also, chapter five was very eye-opening to me because Tovani explains that when the students are confused and don’t understand their reading, they just give up. What he mentions about this is that they will have to read so many things in the real world. She mentions strategies that students’ can do when they are confused with their reading. My favorite one she mentions is connect the reading to your personal life in some way. I believe that if students do this, they will remember what they just read. I hope to use this example in my classroom as well. I also really like how chapter nine expresses how strategies help students the most. The entire class can work on readings strategies. This doesn’t mean that every student needs to be reading the same material. Each student can pick a reading goal and become stronger readers. Like chapter two mentions, people just think reading is sounding out words. I believe that isn’t true at all. When students read, they should comprehend what the reading is actually saying and explaining. If they are just focusing on sounding out the words then chances are they will never appreciate reading materials. When middle and high school students can read better, they will learn more content. To me, this is the best of both worlds. They will become stronger students all around, and that’s what teachers want the most. I LOVED this book and it gave me so many strategies that I can use with my students. Also, I love how it gives us worksheets and access tools for our students and their reading. This will be a great book to turn to when I’m a teacher and hopefully these strategies will help better my students reading.  

Critical Pedagogy and Popular Culture in an Urban Secondary English Classroom

This article was very eye-opening to me. This is because as teachers we have to take a stand for what we believe in throughout our classrooms. I really like what it mentions on page 6 being that students’ were able to make connections to certain authors in their own writing. I believe this makes students’ want to write because they get to compare it to their own lives. I also believe that each student should have social justice. They should all get a chance to experience and talk about what they want. This means to me that you don’t discriminate on what their race is, their wealth, etc. They are given privileges throughout their education. The article explains all different kinds of units you can teach in order to meet each students’ needs. For example, they explain a Race and Justice in Society Unit. This gives students’ a sense of all the Races that are out there and they should all be treated equally. Students’ got the chance to share their story and their experiences to this. This is what I want my students’ to be able to do in my classroom and throughout their writing. I believe that if they get the opportunity to do this, they will be more willing to write about what they love. This is so important in our classrooms because this makes it so students’ can be who they are. Our classroom environment is so important because the students need to feel like they can be themselves at all times. Their writing, I believe, is a way to express how they feel about a certain event that has happened in their life. I am going to strive to make this a point in my classroom to make it aware that you can be yourself no matter what.

Chapter Two of Pedagogy of the oppressed

I really enjoyed reading this article because it explains the importance of teacher and student relationship. I believe this will be the most important aspect you can do as a teacher. If you have that relationship with your students’ they will know you are human too. If you are a fake person in the classroom as a teacher and not yourself, the students may not want to learn from you. The banking method this article mentions was honestly a bit confusing for me to understand at first. The message I am taking away from this article is that students’ come into the classroom just thinking that you are their teacher. They view you differently than they do their parents because you are someone who is just teaching them a certain content. But, what they don’t know is that we are human just like them. We are someone they can always come to, use sarcasm when something is funny, and love them through the hard times. We not only care about their well-being, but their education as well. I know when I was a student I looked at my teachers differently and never thought they had lives outside the classroom. Once teachers showed me that they did actually have lives and they did things besides coming to the classroom to teach me, I realized they were human just like me. Going into the teacher side of things I want my students’ to know that I joke just like them, I love just like them, and I learn just like them. If I provide this type of environment in my classroom, I believe my students’ will strive to learn from me. I want them to enjoy coming to my room, not dread it. This article was hard for me to understand at first, but I think I did understand the overall message they were trying to get across.