CURTAIN CLOSING FOR EDU 5277 LITERATURE IN ESL

I enjoyed very much posting my journals in this blog. Now my life is like a blog. This is the third time I am posting my journals. The first time I created my blog is during the drama course. I think this is the course where I first started posting. Now I am a master’s student and I really can’t imagine time is flying like lightning. After 4 years completing my undergraduate bachelors’, now I am in my first semester pursuing my postgraduate. When I came to know that we would be doing blogging, I was really happy and excited because this is the third time I’m doing blogging and it was really nice to refresh back my sweet memories of the past years. But only this time, I was being in introduced to forum which is very new and challenging to me because I get to talk and discuss topics with other friends. Also I get the chance to initiate a topic which to me is a good way of interacting and exchanging ideas. Apart from that, we were also being introduced to a mini research project where we have to key in data and do some analyzation. Also the installation of the SPSS 16 which I feel is a very easy way to key in data. In fact, in this course, I have been introduced to quite a number of new things and as usual, thank you Dr. Ed for bringing such great awareness to us. I have also learnt something new from this course where we get to read young adult literature texts. It was indeed a new experience for me because I seldom read young adult literature which I have this perception that it is only for school students and teens, but after several meetings for Dr. Ed, I realized that it is not only for teens, but anyone can read it. I felt like a ‘culture shock’ and I begin to think what I have been doing these years and not picking up a single YAL book. Only after the ‘Twilight’ book and movie being released, I managed to catch hold of the book and read it. In fact, it was a nice experience reading YAL book as it brings us back to school days as well teenage issues. Besides it has also helped me to learn how to think, understand and do judgement. As with the saying goes, do not judge a book by its cover, my own saying would be, do not judge a book by its category until you read it. Overall, I enjoyed this course a lot which has developed me to become a good reader as well a good teacher. Also I have learnt a lot in this course as well as meeting new friends. So Dr. Edwin, thank you very much for the knowledge which you poured on to us as well as encouraged me to pursue my masters. I will be doing my Ph.D after that and I hope you will guide and encourage me more to pursue my studies. May God bless you. Take care.

MEN'S STUDIES ...

Today, we learnt something new and interesting and guess what ! Men’s Studies. This is a very interesting study to study about and since I am the only guy or let me be more classic, the only thorn among the roses, I was very excited because I can say what I want as well as bring out some issues regarding men. Now all the girls will be wondering what is going to happen next. In fact, I always knew something new will come up and thank you Dr.Edwin so much for introducing this study. Especially for men, this study is something important to consider about and being a guy, we should know what our students (boys) needs. Same goes to girls. Only a girl can understand another girl’s needs. But if we see nowadays, it would be best to know and understand what a boy and a girl needs and sometimes we still need to go and reinvestigate those issues. I believe that only teachers can understand this because they know what their students really need. In this study, we read 4 extracts and it was very nice. I got to know what is really behind those extracts and it was like a discovery learning for me. I should say that is something fresh and good.

MY REFLECTION ON 'IF YOU COME SOFTLY BY JACQUELINE WOODSON

The novel ‘If you come softly’ by Jacqueline Woodson is a great novel for young adult readers. It has influenced me in a sense that there are lots of issues which can be discussed. Issues such as love, friendship and many more can be used to generate students ideas. This would serve them in understanding the text. As a result, they will learn the moral values and know themselves better.

MY REFLECTION ON 'HERO' BY S.L.ROTTMAN

‘The Hero’ by S.L.Rottman is a very inspiring story as well as motivational. It would be a great book for middle school and reluctant high-school readers. It has very strong themes and most of all readability. This book could be used in many ways in terms of designing activities and tasks. For example, it could be used as a pre-reading strategty such as discussions, making predictions, brainstorming, generating questions and many more. In this book, students could predict what Sean will say in his essay or how the story will end. Students could also compare this book to another which they have read and explain why they prefer one over the other. This can bridge the gap of what they know and what they don’t know. Apart from that, students can also do research from this book whereby further research can be conducted on topics such as physical abuse and then present the information to the class. In this way, interaction will be generated and discussion will take place. This will also improve their thinking skills. Besides, they will appreciate the book and know what is the story about. Further classroom activities can also be conducted by asking the students to do a research on a hero. Questions like if the hero is dead, is he or she still admired ?, what made the hero to be successful ? and so on can be posed. This will make them to think and generate ideas. On the other hand, if students are having a hard time deciding which hero to study, the teacher can suggest some of the famous persons’ to look at like Neil Armstrong, Mother Teresa, Princess Diana and so on. Besides that, activities like what is responsibility ? and asking the class to name and discuss the different kinds of responsibility like personal, family, friends, society can be done. Questions like how do our responsibility change ? and many more can be posed. This will make them to get to know themselves better and appreciate their learning.

MY REFLECTION ON 'THE CHOCOLATE WAR' BY ROBERT CORMIER

My reading of young adult literature texts as part of teacher development has influenced me a lot. For this course, we were required to read 3 young adult literature texts that is ‘The Chocolate War’ by Robert Cormier, ‘Hero’ by S.L.Rottman and ‘If you come softly’ by Jacqueline Woodson. Each of these novels has its unique characteristics and I will reflect it one by one. Starting with ‘The Chocolate War’ by Robert Cormier, this book is extremely an amazing story. Although it has been banned in some schools in the States due to its harsh violence, but it is not that very serious whereby the students can learn from it. This book would also be a good choice for boys since there are a lot of things which a boy does and they can associate easily. This is not to say it is not appropriate for girls. Girls and even other age groups can read it. In terms of designing activities, this book has a lot of things that can be discussed. For example, the teacher can do some theme openers like telling the students what is the book is about and then can ask them to jot down in their notebooks ideas about their own school community. Topics such as peer pressure, violence and drugs, discipline and other issues can be integrated. They also can do some brainstorming activity and have discussions like explaining to the students on a quotation on a poster in the protagonist’s locker which reads, “Do I dare disturb the universe ?”. Students can then interpret this question through different ways. As a result students will get different answers and this would be a good starting point for further discussion. This will encourage them to ‘think out of the box’ and manage their own learning and discussion.

DR. EDWIN'S BIBLIOTHERAPY WORKSHOP

Today we did some workshop on bibliotherapy. In fact it was a nice learning experience for me since it involves group work and collaboration with other members. Our book was ‘If you come softly’ by Jacqueline Woodson. We had a lot of discussions and we can’t wait to present. WOW!

CHAP.11: MORE STRATEGIES FOR USING YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE

The characteristics of young adult literature is that it has characters and issues young readers can identify with; those issues and characters are treated in a way that does not invalidate, minimize, or evaluate them, framed in language that young readers can understand, emphasizes plot above everything else and written for an audience of young adults.

The similarities and differences with more traditional works is for similarities, the theme would be more or less the same, it can be read by anyone and has values. In terms of differences, it basically caters for young adults since during their time, they will face issues such as bullying, social problems, dislocation and many more. This would make them to associate easily with the characters in the book. Also the usage of words is not very high, which in return makes the reading more easy and pleasureable compare to traditional works where the choice of words is unlimited. In other words, sexism words are avoided.