Ka’alea Rennie
306
In our daily lives we face the fear of not being able to fit in with the popular crowd, or being unable to impress our “friends”. In the novel Rules by Cynthia Lord this idea is repeated constantly. In Rules the genre is realistic fiction. The events that take place in this book could easily take place in our daily lives. The author Cynthia Lord is a very talented author who has won the John Newbery Medal, and the Schneider Family Book Award. The book Rules was published in the year 2006 and won these awards in 2007. After Cynthia Lord attended college she became a teacher for kids in the sixth grade.
In the novel Rules a twelve year old girl named Catherine has an eight year old brother named David with Autism. Catherine
For the first time in Manzanar, Jeanne attends a school. She enjoyed the school, which is equipped with a blackboard, desk, reference books, lab supplies, and so on. Her school is depicted as a desirable environment for learning. She also has a good white teacher, who is strict, fair, and dedicated to teaching the children. “Because of her, when we finally returned to the outside world I was, academically at least, more than prepared to keep up with my peers” (105). Outside of school, the students like Jeanne are also introduced to many planned activities, such as camping, ballet, baton twirling, and so on for the students to explore and develop their own hobbies and interests. For example, Jeanne became passionate on baton twirling and for months she “practiced, joined the baton club at school, and even entered contests”
The central idea of the book was when “she tried to be cool to fit in” but “you don't have to be cool to fit in”(3) “you can be a nerd”(5) and “you can still fit in”(7) but just “don't lower yourself to fit in”(11) or “try to be better than everyone”(14)
People will read this book and realize that there is nothing wrong with being yourself, and should learn from Lucy Grealy’s mistakes.
In essence, the book gets its name at first from the rules that Catherine writes down for her autistic brother, David, who she often cares for. These rules are set up to protect him from getting hurt. Catherine loves her brother, but it is easy to imagine that caring for him has its drawbacks. For instance, it interferes with her ability to make friends with a new neighbor who does not understand David's condition or limitations.
The story of “ St. Lucy’s Home for Girls” by Karen Russell introduced a girl named Claudette and followed her through her life during school. The author wrote about her learning how to be civilized. She talks about Claudette’s transformation from her old culture to her new culture. The transformation is put into five stages. The stages represent emotions that Claudette and the other girls would feel during these courses.
High School students are mature and they had experience of uncensored books and movies. Alexie’s novel remains in high school libraries available for the students to check it out by their own choice. Students should have the right to choose what they want to read. The main character Junior in Alexie's novel shows
The major theme of the story was creating awareness in adolescents about what life has to offer. The nature of human beings of accepting the realities of life to such an extent that apathy and lethargy sets in, is what proves to be destructive for the social fabric of today’s world. In this stagnation, Mrs. Moore provides the impetus required for people to realize their god given right to something better. We are told that Mrs. Moore has a college degree, is well dressed most of the times, and has a good command on her language. She seems to be a kind of a person who has seen the world. She has experienced life, and wants to use that experience in providing the children with an opportunity to broaden
Childhood is the most sensitive period of human development. A well-structured academic enabling environment allows children to flourish, learning 15-20 new words every week all while adapting to and learning specific motor functions of all sorts. The correct environment carries an extremely important role and promotes learning under the proper circumstances, however a poor learning environment with constant conflict and poor role models can actually inhibit or slow the growth of a child. By no means does the perfect learning scenario exist, but psychologist can often identify a scenario where parents and/or guardians foster a variety of developmental issues from a psychological, physical, and mental perspective. The authoritative figure's unique and condescending style of teaching the girl in "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid, directly leads to harsh social and developmental consequences short term, with diminished long term social and developmental effects including troubled relationships, attachment issues, and a poor understanding of basic social scenarios.
Elementary and middle school years (6-12) are Erikson’s fourth stage in which the child must resolve the crisis between industry and inferiority. During this stage, a child becomes more aware of themselves as individuals. It is important that a child learn the feeling of success; if not allowed enough success, they might develop a sense of inferiority or incompetence. Again, it is about the balance of industry and inferiority that leads to competence both intellectually and socially. Despite the fact that the Welsh school administration placed Jeannette in classes for students with learning disabilities, she knows she is smart. She was in honors classes in Phoenix and continues to excel academically under the guidance of her parents. She reads on her own and understands that education is important. Despite her placement in the lower classes and not having any close friends, she is able to develop a sense of industry.
In the book Anthem by Ayn Rand the story takes place in a setting where the main character and supposably the entire world for all they know lives in a city full of rules and controls. The book is about a society in where people don’t have their own names and where they go by numbers like the main character who’s name is Equality 7-2521. The book is also about the main character Equality 7-2521 and how he goes about finding essentially a battery that he has created and brings it to the world council where he is turned down and from that point on he realizes how bad their society really is and how he reacts to it. The reasons the society full of rules and controls exists and what the purpose is for them is because of a government trying to make a utopia, to forget the past, and to forget about a singular world as a whole.
Miss Caroline is a brand new teacher and has been trained to teach in a certain way. When she finds that Scout’s premature reading ability disrupts her teaching plan she has no idea what to do with her, and tells Scout not to read at home anymore. ‘Miss Caroline told me to tell my father not to teach me anymore, it would interfere with my reading.’ This shows how society is oblivious to individual situations and this can cause achievements to be frowned upon.
Expectations in this book affected how they act because there parents themselves and the community
The protagonist soon learns that life of a person is expected to be guided by the norms that regulate virtually every aspect of one’s developed. A good example is the criticism that she faced when she had learned to read before school: it was something that children were not supposed to do.
He impressed his father when he was little by kite fighting, but when he grew older he stopped conforming and focused on his true passion: writing. Even though he had been a victim of conformity, he was able to stand up for himself and take a hold of what he wanted to do in life. This shows that even if peer pressure dominates a person’s life, they can still turn things around and head in the right direction.
The inevitable had happened; I, as a small child, was demanded to read. A little antisocial human being launched into a world of, at first, difficult words and lengthy phrases. While words and literacy were forced into my mind, I had reluctantly begun the adventure to enjoy and accept the art of literature. Later however, my hopes and dreams were crushed to pieces by a gruesome teacher with an interesting form of a so called “grading policy.”