New Year, New Reading List

I think it's perfectly normal to keep a journal of what you read on your blog. I'm pretty sure people do this on other blogs and have entire book clubs where you can participate by commenting on the lead reader's post of a chapter. In fact, I'm doing this in one of my classes this semester. In my Practicum and Curriculum class we're reading the book The Education of Little Tree (Forrest Carter), and for every reading our professor makes a post and we all post comments of something we learned from the readings on it as part of a pass/fail assignment. I like this because I'm sure that I'd do the same thing on my own while reading the book. The book is written about an orphaned five year old Native American who goes to live with his grandparents out in the mountains. The book is great, and I'd recommend it to any and all. I figure I might as well share what I'm learning on my blog, too, because that's what I usually do when I'm not excited about concerts or complaining about sports, politics and the politics of sports.

So the book consists of Little Tree recounting experiences and learning moments with Granpa and Granma. You can tell right off that Granpa is the star of this book. From the second page when Little Tree says, "Granpa seldom spoke in a crowd, but when he did, folks listen," you knew that he would be saying things that you'd want to remember. So far that's been the extent of everyone's posts on our class blog, words of wisdom from Granpa, as well as his incredible ability to teach powerful lessons based on simple observations of nature and society.
In chapter two, while catching turkeys together, Granpa taught Little Tree about The Cherokee Way. I was impressed with Granpa's assessment of Little Tree learning The Way. He told Little Tree how animals in nature select their prey, and how in doing so they can support their livelihood in the future. After explaining the principle he then allows Little Tree to select the turkeys they would take home with them. As teachers we must teach and not just test, but help our students understand that their understanding of the subject will effect the way they make decisions in life (something a geometry teacher rarely has the opportunity to do). In addistion, we must also let them feel capable of making decisions based on what we have taught them. After teaching Little Tree, he expressed his good faith in Little Tree's understanding of The Way in giving him an opportunity to live The Way.
This type of teaching is especially important to us as health teachers. The quality of our teaching is not so much based on the grades our students get on tests, but on the number of sexually active or pregnant students in the school, or the percent of students who drink, smoke or use drugs, or their body image and nutrition. We must be able to not just effect a student's academic acheivement, but also their lifestyle. Granpa shows a good example of this by letting Little Tree make the choice himself.

I also would like to post entries on other books I'm reading this semester. One that I'm reading right now is called Red China Blues by Jan Wong. Expect to hear about that one until the end of the month when a report on it is due. But it doesn't end there; I had to buy over a dozen books for this semester and only a handful are pure textbooks, so I've got some good material for postings.