HONORS BOOK CLUB (2ND SEMESTER)
HONORS BOOK CLUB PROJECT REFLECTION
The Honors Book Club took place during our second semester and allowed students in this elective to take a journey through the works of Kurt Vonnegut (Cat's Cradle), Edward Abbey (The Monkey Wrench Gang), and Zora Neale Hurston (Their Eyes Were Watching God). Students had ~1 month to finish each book. In between the assignment of each book and final seminars, meetings were held once/twice per month to give students time to communicate with fellow book "clubees" and discuss the plot while gaining more clarification and insight from the teacher. In addition to being fun and genuinely entertaining, The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey synced perfectly with the content of the 11th Grade Energy and Place project. Learning this content while reading this book enhanced the learning greatly, and I was glad that I could add this to my "backpack" of environmental writing going into the writing of my Sense of Place Essay. At the end of each book, a seminar was held that required students to bring an opinion and analytical lens to each text, and gave students the opportunity to express their reactions and critiques with the entire book club. To conclude each book, a seminar reflection and final project were written + created/painted/performed in a setting that was appropriate and took a standpoint on the content of the book.
Interacting with literature was very key to helping me grow as a learner second semester. Although I don't often like to admit it, I do not read nearly enough as I should. In fact, since graduating the 8th Grade, I can probably count the number of books I've read independent from school on two hands. This is why, when it came to signing up for the book club, I was very excited to be forced to read (as odd as that sounds). Working towards the end of a book and having to actively engage with the content was something that I enjoyed very much, and it reminded me how intriguing reading can be. As far as enlightening me to the depths of American literature, I feel that this elective only allowed me to scrape the surface of this genre. If anything, reading these three books made me want to read more American literature, and I hope that I will be able to do so this summer.
As a whole, I'm very glad that I decided to take part in the Honors experience for 11th Grade Humanities. At times it was hard, but overall I feel very strongly that it payed off both in progressing my educational goals as well as in providing an extra challenge that this year would not have been the same without. An example of when I used perseverance was during the creation of my art project for Cat's Cradle. When I was initially making this art piece I had a vision for what I wanted it to look like, but as I progressed it became less and less appealing to me and at points I almost considered starting over. I persevered and refined my project, however, and in the end I feel like this helped me turn my ideas around and come out with something that I was proud of. This piece is just one example of the times that I had to work through challenges in this unit. The largest payoff for me was seeing the thoughts of my peers become illuminated in seminar. Each seminar was unique. Almost every time we had a group discussion I would find myself intrigued by the words of my peers. This kept me on my toes, constantly trying to engage/converse/rebut the arguments and claims of my peers. All of these aspects together wove an excellent Book Club experience which I am very glad that I participated in.
Interacting with literature was very key to helping me grow as a learner second semester. Although I don't often like to admit it, I do not read nearly enough as I should. In fact, since graduating the 8th Grade, I can probably count the number of books I've read independent from school on two hands. This is why, when it came to signing up for the book club, I was very excited to be forced to read (as odd as that sounds). Working towards the end of a book and having to actively engage with the content was something that I enjoyed very much, and it reminded me how intriguing reading can be. As far as enlightening me to the depths of American literature, I feel that this elective only allowed me to scrape the surface of this genre. If anything, reading these three books made me want to read more American literature, and I hope that I will be able to do so this summer.
As a whole, I'm very glad that I decided to take part in the Honors experience for 11th Grade Humanities. At times it was hard, but overall I feel very strongly that it payed off both in progressing my educational goals as well as in providing an extra challenge that this year would not have been the same without. An example of when I used perseverance was during the creation of my art project for Cat's Cradle. When I was initially making this art piece I had a vision for what I wanted it to look like, but as I progressed it became less and less appealing to me and at points I almost considered starting over. I persevered and refined my project, however, and in the end I feel like this helped me turn my ideas around and come out with something that I was proud of. This piece is just one example of the times that I had to work through challenges in this unit. The largest payoff for me was seeing the thoughts of my peers become illuminated in seminar. Each seminar was unique. Almost every time we had a group discussion I would find myself intrigued by the words of my peers. This kept me on my toes, constantly trying to engage/converse/rebut the arguments and claims of my peers. All of these aspects together wove an excellent Book Club experience which I am very glad that I participated in.