Self-Selected Project

Last semester in my teaching social studies class there was a guest speaker that introduced me to a book called Maus.  I have been wanting to read the book ever since.  The self-selected project was a perfect reason to pick up the book.  After doing a little research on amazon.com I found that there was also another book called Maus II.  I was super excited to be able to read both books.  The final book that I read was John, Paul, George and Ben.  I got together with other social studies and history teaching students to make a book club.  We all wanted to read Maus and it just made sense that we worked together to complete the self-selected project.  My book club consists of Kayla, Rusty, Tom, Jessie and me.  I really like working with these guys.  We have fun together.  History really is the best!!!
 
Maus is a graphic novel created by Art Spiegelman.  It is based on his family history, mostly his father, Vladek.  (i just want to interject here... i had this entire blog written and then my web browser decided to die and i couldn't publish my post.  when i tried to recover my blog this is the point at which it was saved...sad:(...so just imagine how great this blog could have been) The novel tells the story in both the present and the past.  The relationship of Art and his father are explored throughout the novel.  The novel also explores Art's parents and how they met and their courtship.  The novel focuses on the early part of World War 2. 
 
Maus II is the continuation of the story of Art and his father, Vladek.  The relationship of father and son is explored further in the second book.  The story of Art's parents continues as they reach a concentration camp.  The book is very emotional between the issues Vladek has while in the concentration camp and also the issues between the Art and Vladek.  I liked the second book better than the first.  I liked the exploration of the issues that are tied to the Holocaust and the effects of the Holocaust on many generations.

John, Paul, George, and Ben is a great children's book.  It is funny and easy to read.  I think it took me 3 minutes to read the entire book.  I thought the book has value in both elementary and secondary classrooms.  I liked this book.  This book also shows the problems with falsehoods in history.

I joined a book club with several other social studies composite and history teaching students.  The book club consists of Kayla, Tom, Rusty, Jessie and me.  I really liked my group.  We had a lot of fun talking about the books and how to use them in our classrooms.  We decided that we could use all of these books in our classrooms.  We really liked Maus I and II for teaching the Holocaust and the effects of the Holocaust, but would probably only use part of each book for instruction.  Even though John, Paul, George and Ben is a children’s book it still has value in the classroom.  We decided we could use it to show the falsehoods and myths of history and how those falsehoods and myths might be just as important as the truth.

I really liked reading for pleasure.  It was definitely different than the usual.  I usually just read books that are required for classes.  I rarely pick up a book and read it for the enjoyment of reading.  There are some books that I read for classes that I like, but who likes reading a textbook?  No one…here is a secret the teachers do not even like reading textbooks. (p.s. if you ever try to burn a textbook...it is nearly impossible.  this i had to learn the hard way)

I would totally use something like this in my classroom.  I am observing a teacher that holds a book club for his students.  It is really successful.  The students are in charge and talk amongst themselves about the book.  The teacher rarely interjects, but sometimes he has to keep the students on track.  I would also want to have my students read for enjoyment.  I would provide my students with a list of possible books and let them choose which book they want to read.  I find it easier to read a book I choose, rather than a book that is chosen for me.