Saad's+Journal+entries

**__Chapter 2 Response: Children & Reading/Writing__**
Children learn from a very early age how to read people. Children look up to adults as a model on how to act, talk, walk, etc. in different scenarios. Children are constantly reading adults and deciding how they, in return, should act. Some could even argue that reading people is innately ingrained in our minds at an early age. Writing, on the other hand, must be learned. Bomer encourages teachers to create “opportunities for affiliation and connection” (32). Allowing children to understand the relationship between reading and writing can go a long way.

Reading a person’s emotion and then being able to connect that emotion in writing is a difficult task, but achievable. All it takes to achieve this are high expectations and a lot of motivation on behalf of both the teacher and student.

**__Chapter 3 Response: College Readiness__**
The term "College Readiness" is vague to begin with. If you asked me when I was 14 what college readiness was, I'd point you in the direction of the SAT/ACT preparation classes I took, or those judgmental career choice quizzes I was forced to take even before someone asked me what I wanted to do with my life. I don't think college is for everyone, but I do think it's important to prepare students for college, or some type of alternative.

Looking back, Elementary school prepares you for Middle School and Middle School prepares you for High School; so, its just assumed that High School should prepare you for College, right? However, thats not the case for everyone. I think it's important to show students the alternatives to College. Most people are quick to assume that those who don't go straight to college are lost, confused, dumb, poor, etc. As educators we need to level the playing field and show students that going to a community college, or getting a job, or even settling down before committing yourself to four years of expensive, hard work, CAN be beneficial and SHOULD be praised.

**__Chapter 4 Response__**
I always struggled with reading and writing English growing up. English was not my first language, and I had to spend a couple years in ESL classes learning the basic foundations. Entering High School, English became easier. I was fluent in the language, could read novels with ease, and partake in class discussions. However, I always found it difficult to connect, or build a relationship, between what I read and myself.

My teachers always stressed the importance of connecting to what you read in some form or another. But how was I, as a Pakistani-American, supposed to connect with a little Jewish girl's holocaust diary? It wasn't until I re-read The Diary of Anne Frank a few years later and really tried connecting with her work that I became enlightened. I saw the text in a new way. It was easier to read and I was able to talk back to the text as if Anne Frank was a close friend. I don't think most students understand just how much easier reading can become once you are able to connect with the text and build a real relationship with it.