In class this week we watched sections of Todd Taylor’s video, Take 20. This was a video that interviewed twenty two writing teachers and asked them twenty questions. One of the teacher’s that stood out to me was Nancy Sommer’s who answered the question, “What do you feel the hardest thing about being a writing teacher is?” Sommer’s response to this was that responding to student writing was the most difficult thing as a writing teacher because you are able to see what you taught well and what you didn’t teach so well. Personally, I feel that reading student’s writing can be a very positive influence on teacher’s because it can show you what you might have to improve on in your teaching. If teacher’s never had anything to really look at and read from their students, they really wouldn’t know how well the students are understanding what you are teaching. I chose this response because it really made me realize that something so simple as reading students writing can really be very difficult for certain teachers to do. They may not want to see where they made mistakes along their pathway of teaching, but if they weren’t ever able to see their mistakes, students wouldn’t be learning to the best of their ability. I really enjoyed this video because it gave me a really good feeling of how teachers succeed within their job. It really opened my eyes to what teaching is all about.

As I was reading posts for this week, I came across one that talked about how she was having such a hard time finding a topic to write about each week when there wasn’t one assigned.  I agree that i’m struggling with the process also.  I feel that in today’s society, students are so used to not getting such “free space” to brouse and do what THEY want.  We are always handed something and told to write about it, so once we have to make our own decisions I feel that after a point we all go blank.  I have gotten to that point and it amazes me how you get so adapted to things being given to you.  I feel that within schools today, teachers should start giving their students more options early on so that when they are out in college and the real life, they can go about their day without someone telling them what they have to write about.  I feel that its a negative part in the education process and it really just started to stand out to me since I have been getting all these “free writes” on whatever I want.  I feel that the more I do these blogs, the more I feel that I am getting better at adapting to not getting every assignment stated and given to you. 

After reading Lives on the Boundary and talking about vocational schools in class it became apparent to me that most vocational schools are looked down upon or at least looked at as a “lower education.”  Attending a public school where they did have a B.O.C.E.S program was like most other public schools.  This program was located in a different building where students had to take a bus to during the day.  They would be in that different building for most of the day so you never really saw much of them.  Although this is sad, these students were looked at as students with a lower learning level.  They were always seen as different.  Today, as I look back on high school, they really weren’t that different.  They just attended these vocational schools for a better grasp on what they wanted to do when they grew up, such as cosmetology or mechanical work.  I feel that I think that it is unfair for someone to say that students who attend a vocational school are “different.”  I thought that it was a neat idea for us as a class to go around and talk about if there was a vocational school at our high school and how was it portrayed.  This really made me realize how most people viewed these vocational programs.  Would you agree that most students who attend a vocational program are looked at differently?  Would you agree that there shouldn’t be an inequality there?

I absolutley love this book!  It’s very detailed and very shocking but it is so surprising and intriguing that you want to keep reading to see what could possible happen in Jeanette’s family next.  I feel that I get very sad during some parts of the novel because of how their family lives.  It makes me appreciate what I have a lot more.  For example, in The Glass Castle, Jeanette, who is the author, is taken advantage of many times by her parents.  She is always trying to stand up for her alcoholic father who is always doing something wrong in the family.  When it comes down to her father standing up for her when Jeanette’s mother didn’t agree with Jeanette’s attitude, her father beat her.  That showed Jeanette that she should just get out of the family.  I can’t wait to see when Jeannette leaves for NYC.  I really hope that she can go and meet up with Lori.  She needs to save herself and her siblings.  Her parents are acting as the children while Jeannette and her siblings are trying to run the family so that they will have enough money for food and clothing.  I can’t wait to finish this book in a couple of days.  This has been one of my favorite memoirs that i’ve read and I would love to read more by this author.