Christensen’s first chapter painted a great picture of a diverse, yet challenging group of students. One of the things I liked most about Christensen’s lessons was the way she had the students connect to and write about their own personal experiences. I once had a teacher who told us that he didn’t care what we wrote about, as long as we wrote about something that matters. I think that writing about personal experiences and then reflecting on them can really help a writer figure out what matters and why it matters.
I also like the idea of using social issues as a tool to get students to participate and explore their writing. However, I wonder if it is typical for schools to allow topics such as violence and gangs to be brought up in the classroom on a regular basis. I came from a small, conservative town where violence and gangs were not big issues for me and my classmates. At the same time, even if things like violence and gangs were issues in our lives, I’m not sure that my teachers would have allowed us to put them on the table for discussion.
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