Through this reading I have learnt that a great deal more about the war in Afghanistan and the history of Afghanistan. For the first few years after 9/11 I paid attention to the American foreign policy and involvement in the Middle East but in the past ten years I have stopped listening. Perhaps because I lost interest and gained new interests. I also felt that the war was quite hopeless and there was little chance of a decisive overthrow of the Taliban with a prosperous and stable reconstruction.
As I have begun to research many articles, newscasts, documentaries, and interviews, I have reflected on the importance of small local events in the context of larger national and international events. I recognize that there are many contributing factors that influence the way we act and the decisions we make.
As a reader the personal events in Parvana’s life and her commentary on the war have heightened my level of understanding the complexities of armed conflict. I certainly do not think that by reading this novel I will have a thorough understanding of the complexities of the international and national conflicts in the Middle East. I also know that the articles that I have read and watched, particularly the HBO documentary has coloured my perspective of the American presence in the Middle East. I would like to continue to gather more perspectives to increase my own understanding.
I still find Parvana’s question about the Women of the West haunting. In light of her life circumstances, women in the west appear to have unlimited opportunity to pursue their dreams, receive an education and live the life they imagined. While I am reminded to be grateful of the rights that women in Canada enjoy today, I am also aware that there are concerns about the rollback of women’s rights to pre-war conditions after the American presence withdraws from Afghanistan in 2014. I wonder about the living standards, protections and rights that women in Afghanistan will have in the future.
As I have begun to research many articles, newscasts, documentaries, and interviews, I have reflected on the importance of small local events in the context of larger national and international events. I recognize that there are many contributing factors that influence the way we act and the decisions we make.
As a reader the personal events in Parvana’s life and her commentary on the war have heightened my level of understanding the complexities of armed conflict. I certainly do not think that by reading this novel I will have a thorough understanding of the complexities of the international and national conflicts in the Middle East. I also know that the articles that I have read and watched, particularly the HBO documentary has coloured my perspective of the American presence in the Middle East. I would like to continue to gather more perspectives to increase my own understanding.
I still find Parvana’s question about the Women of the West haunting. In light of her life circumstances, women in the west appear to have unlimited opportunity to pursue their dreams, receive an education and live the life they imagined. While I am reminded to be grateful of the rights that women in Canada enjoy today, I am also aware that there are concerns about the rollback of women’s rights to pre-war conditions after the American presence withdraws from Afghanistan in 2014. I wonder about the living standards, protections and rights that women in Afghanistan will have in the future.
My own reading process was quite personal and unique to who I am and what I am interested in. I am a self-motivated learner therefore I eagerly followed my interests in foreign policy, women’s rights, and current events in Afghanistan to see what I could learn and where I would end up.
This is what I really enjoy about learning. I like to form the text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world connections. I often feel like my learning is a network of information and I love creating connections between my areas of interest.
However, I would not use the same approach for teaching My Name is Parvana as I have used for reading it. I know that not all readers will feel compelled to do a great deal of research while reading a book. Some may focus on their ability (or inability) to relate to the text, to enjoy the text, or to experience the text. Furthermore, depending on the class’s maturity and grade level it may not be appropriate to incorporate all of my research though for some class’s it could initiate interesting discussions about human rights, laws of war, violence against women, etc.
I would want to focus on how that particular class of student’s would best engage with the text based on their maturity, reading comprehension, and interests. I would also want to differentiate the reading and teaching strategies so that the text, themes, and characters are accessible to all students, not just those who learn like I do from reading and writing. One of the best ways to focus on differentiation in English Language Arts is to start by looking at the six strands and developing the novel study to incorporate those.
On my online portfolio I have incorporated a variety of reading comprehension strategies that could be used with the novel. I wanted to gather strategies and practice using them to create a sample but also to learn from first-hand experience. I found that the strategies I used encouraged responses from a variety of Bloom’s taxonomic levels. Therefore, I would use a particular reading comprehension strategy based on what level of understanding of the text that I wanted to generate.
I also really enjoyed the photo essays that I found online. Now with my understanding of visual texts and teaching visual texts, I would certainly want to integrate that into the novel study. While the photos of Afghanistan help generate ideas of what the country looks like, there are lots of questions that could be used to develop our understanding of visual texts and the media. For example: What is this a picture of? What tone/perspective does this image create? Who took it? Why might the photographer take this photo? What does the photographer want you see/believe/feel? Do you think that there might be important information about this situation/event/perspective that is not included within the photo’s frame?
From my experience I enjoyed writing journal responses to the novel. It helped to consciously think of text-to-self connections. I also know that not all readers will respond best through journals so I would like to include small group discussions and class discussions about themes, questions, personal opinions and connections.
As a reader my goal is discover more authors, develop a stronger awareness of Canadian literature and to keep reading! The meaningful text presentations and Canada Reads text are challenging my notions of being well-read. I realize that there is so much more literature and genres available!
As a teacher it is my goal to find meaningful texts to engage readers. While I want to use texts that the students will enjoy, I know that everyone may not like it so it is also a goal to create units and lessons that will engage readers regardless of their personal like/dislike of the text.
This is what I really enjoy about learning. I like to form the text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world connections. I often feel like my learning is a network of information and I love creating connections between my areas of interest.
However, I would not use the same approach for teaching My Name is Parvana as I have used for reading it. I know that not all readers will feel compelled to do a great deal of research while reading a book. Some may focus on their ability (or inability) to relate to the text, to enjoy the text, or to experience the text. Furthermore, depending on the class’s maturity and grade level it may not be appropriate to incorporate all of my research though for some class’s it could initiate interesting discussions about human rights, laws of war, violence against women, etc.
I would want to focus on how that particular class of student’s would best engage with the text based on their maturity, reading comprehension, and interests. I would also want to differentiate the reading and teaching strategies so that the text, themes, and characters are accessible to all students, not just those who learn like I do from reading and writing. One of the best ways to focus on differentiation in English Language Arts is to start by looking at the six strands and developing the novel study to incorporate those.
On my online portfolio I have incorporated a variety of reading comprehension strategies that could be used with the novel. I wanted to gather strategies and practice using them to create a sample but also to learn from first-hand experience. I found that the strategies I used encouraged responses from a variety of Bloom’s taxonomic levels. Therefore, I would use a particular reading comprehension strategy based on what level of understanding of the text that I wanted to generate.
I also really enjoyed the photo essays that I found online. Now with my understanding of visual texts and teaching visual texts, I would certainly want to integrate that into the novel study. While the photos of Afghanistan help generate ideas of what the country looks like, there are lots of questions that could be used to develop our understanding of visual texts and the media. For example: What is this a picture of? What tone/perspective does this image create? Who took it? Why might the photographer take this photo? What does the photographer want you see/believe/feel? Do you think that there might be important information about this situation/event/perspective that is not included within the photo’s frame?
From my experience I enjoyed writing journal responses to the novel. It helped to consciously think of text-to-self connections. I also know that not all readers will respond best through journals so I would like to include small group discussions and class discussions about themes, questions, personal opinions and connections.
As a reader my goal is discover more authors, develop a stronger awareness of Canadian literature and to keep reading! The meaningful text presentations and Canada Reads text are challenging my notions of being well-read. I realize that there is so much more literature and genres available!
As a teacher it is my goal to find meaningful texts to engage readers. While I want to use texts that the students will enjoy, I know that everyone may not like it so it is also a goal to create units and lessons that will engage readers regardless of their personal like/dislike of the text.