Starting Off

This is my first blogging experience for TE. I am really excited to be able to have a place to share my ideas with my classmates and I think that it will be a great resource to look back on in the future. I really enjoyed today's class and I think that everyone did a great job writing their autobiographical poems. One thing I found to be very interesting is the fact that we all come from very diverse backgrounds, yet we have several things in common. Many of the poems were about the same topics such as: family, friends, childhood homes and loved ones. Another thing I really enjoyed about class today was reading over the books and talking about whether or not we would use them in our classroom. My group read, "Sitti's Secrets" and the more I think about the book, the more I enjoyed it. I really loved the illustrations and I also found that the book correctly depicted Sitti's culture. Another great aspect of the book was the fact that Mona was able to write to the president and express her opinions about our country's foreign relations. Although many kids believe that they have no role in the decision making process, I believe that this book is a great reminder to students that they really do have an impact on their futures. I plan on starting to read our first book tonight and I can't wait to share my thoughts on it!