Read Aloud
1. Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul 2 "Don't Forget To Remember Me" by Heather Mcpherson
I remember reading this story when I was in late elementary school and into middle school. This story always touched me very strongly throughout those years. I think it is told very well and fits in perfectly with the death and dying barrier.
2. Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul 2 "Forever in my Heart" by Lauren Ashley Welbacker
This story was very touching. I think this story fit in very well with the death and dying barrier also. It went well with the things we were learning in class. This would be a good story to start a lesson about community service or to start a community service project.
3. Always Looking Up, The Adventures of an Optimist by Michael J Fox
This book is very good to read if you need some hope or inspiration. This book would be prefect to try and give students inspiration. I think it is very easy to relate to also.
4. Big Bear Little Bear by Jane Chapman, David Beaford
This book is very cute and has very colorful illustrations. I think this book would be very good for young kids or even teenagers that are ready to grow up and not be young anymore. They need to instead enjoy being young while they still are.
5. The Freedom Writers Diary by The Freedom Writers, Erin Gruwell
The story shows courage. It made me want to have more courage after I read it. It would be a great activity to get students to write a journal entry of a time they had courage or maybe a time they needed to have more courage.
Learning Experiences
Making the barrier books the past week was so much fun. I really enjoyed making a book for myself. It made me feel very good about myself. I also really enjoyed going around and reading everyones books. It was very cool to see all the different types of stories my classmates wrote. They all resembled each student which I found very cool and interesting.
Current Event
This current event is about how college students need "soft skills" in order to succeed. Some of these soft skills are managing their own time, getting along with roommates and dealing with setbacks. This article states that college student must have these traits in order to be ready for college. I defiantly agree with this article. I also feel it is very important for student to attain these traits in order to help the succeed in college.
Quote of the Week
"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them become what they are capable of becoming." -- Goethe
I felt as if this quote went very will the our discussions on barriers. I think it is saying no matter the things a person might be going through or struggling with, still treat them as if they are a normal person. This quote really reminded me of the barriers we talked about.
Observations
Throughout the past couple of days I have tried looking back on myself as a person and leader of the cheerleading team. I have be analyzing the decisions I have made regarding cheer leading and trying to decide if I made those decisions for the better. In doing so I realized it isn't necessarily about what I did being right or wrong but more about if I learned from the decisions I made. I think if I made a wrong decision and learned from it, that isn't any worse that making a good decision. Looking back I hope I can continue to learn from my mistakes and realize how to not make the same mistakes twice.
Reflections
Throughout the past weekend I have found being positive is takes a lot of work to achieve. I am one of the captains of the cheer leading team I we had state this weekend. I was trying very hard to be positive for all of the younger girls so that they felt more comfortable. I learned it was very hard to show how uncomfortable and nervous I was. In the end, I think I did a fairly good job staying positive but I also think I could have done better.
