Teacher Comments

Girls - Your reading blog started well with some interesting discussion, but then you appear to have lost direction. Rather than outlining the plot, characters and themes, I would have liked you to have discussed how you relate to issues in the book. You could have talked about the pressures placed on adolescents by parents and teachers or your cultural heritage or why people committ suicide.

In your reflection I would like you to discuss what happened to your discussion. Were (are) my expectations too high or was the task too difficult or were there problems in the task I did not accomodate for. Would you have preferred me to have chosen the book for you and given you chapter questions with an essay at the end?

You still have a chance to resurrect this blog




Replys


Jamie:
Dear Sir
I appreciate your attempt to modernise yourself and relate to us .
i think the fault lies with all of us; perhaps you could have explained in more detail the assingment and perhaps we could, as students,could have shown more self discipline.
It was hard to focus ourselves when we never actually had some set out questions.
Howewver, the fact that you let us choose our own books
is something that we will be gratefull for because it meant that
we couldnt complain about the subject matter
and, for those of us who were lucky enough to choose a 'good' book, it meant that we actually attempted to finish the book ( some of even succeeded).
In answer to your question " should i have given you an essay" ABSOLUTELY NOT - there is more to english than just doing essays
and so far my experiances with Ms Klein
and from what i have heard about you from others, you both have not demenstrated this!
Also sir, isnt it necessary to udnerstand the broader themes and how society places values on these themes in order for us to understand as individuals the effect that these said themes/values would have on our own personal values which inturn is a reflection on society values.