Blog Entry #5

Reflect on your experience with the novel October Sky. How effective do you think the activities and schedule were for this unit? How does it compare with other novel studies you have done? Do you think you gained more from this type of study? Why or why not?


October Sky was an amazing book. I think that it was a great novel for us to read. It had a lot of content that connected Sonny's life with ours. I liked the morals and perspectives it contained. I learned a lot while reading it and I felt like it reminded me to be determined and dedicated. I learned that though it might take a lot of work to get somewhere it is always worthwhile to follow our dreams. We can't hope that something amazing will happen to us- we have to pursue it.

I think that the schedule and activities we had for this unit was a bit to hectic. We were always busy working on two or more projects. It made things harder to remember and we couldn't do work to the best of our abilities. I also think that the final project would be better if we could have done individual work. Group projects have their advantages but occasionally groups do not work well together and don't share the work load evenly. I think that it didn't work as well having a group final project because the assignment is worth so much.

I liked this novel study because of the way we used blogs. We got to express our own thoughts. I believe that people learn a lot more when they are passionate about something and since we got to share our own thoughts, we could write about what we loved. When I read The Giver or The Outsiders in class, we had to answer a lot of questions and that wasn't nearly as interesting as this style of expression. One thing that was better though is that we had to present some assignments in front of the class. This helped because I think students put more effort into things that they have to show to their peers.

I do think in a way I gained more from this form of study. I was able to apply it to my life in a way that I would not have been able to without writing blogs. The final project was a good review to affirm everything I have learned so far and the journal responses were a good record of the unit. I would love to be able to study every book in this way because I remember more of the details. I think I am also beginning to understand how important support, friendship and love is. So much can be done with it and so little without it. I am glad that I live somewhere where I have so many good things around to help me get to where I want to be in the future. I have amazing classes, teachers, friends and family. We take a lot of things for granted but I feel like October Sky helped me see how amazing the things I have are.