I can demonstrate growth in the five areas of ELA: reading comprehension, writing, vocabulary development, grammar, and oral & digital communication.

This is only one of the two narrative vignettes that I did, but here is the link to the other one. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IlU9wtGLEaBj2jOkAmSDrBz-o2ZDlElGA7LF41tUXmU/edit#heading=h.ki371fi4vups 

1. What would you add or change if you had more time? To be honest, I like both of my vignettes a lot. I might go around and switch the wording of a few things, but mostly, I wouldn't change anything!

2. How does this assignment demonstrate growth? In what area? I think it demonstrates growth in self-reflection, which I haven't been the best at in the past. This assignment helped me look back on a time in my life a few years ago, and think about an experience that I am going through right now. It let me express those times in my writing.

1. What would you add or change if you had more time? I would have liked to also write the dialogue from Checkouts, but I just didn't have time, and was also sick when the class read the story, so I don't know it.

2. How does this assignment demonstrate growth? In what area? It helped me practice writing dialogue, because I'm not the best at that. I had to start over and retype this at least three times before I got it sounding right.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

1. What would you add or change if you had more time? I don't think I would add or change anything really, I'm happy with how it came out. Maybe I'd do a couple grammar fixes, but other than that, it's great.

2. How does this assignment show growth in the ELA area of writing? This assignment showed growth in writing because it was written in a completely different style than I normally do. It was written as if directed at someone, and I had fun with it.

The Modern Form Of Censorship: Book Banning

Merit Martinet

Picture this: You walk into a library to get a book your friend recommended to you. It’s about a person like you, living their life. Maybe some adventure will happen. Maybe they’ll find love. Maybe they’ll go through a tragedy. Whatever the plot, you’re excited to read it, and feel you can relate to the main character. You ask about the book, and the librarian replies: “Sorry, that book isn’t allowed in this library.”  

Believe it or not, this is happening all over the United States, and is spreading like COVID-19 itself. It is rapidly becoming one of the largest forms of censorship known to the world.

Long story short, book bans are not a good thing. They create unnecessary censorship, and spread unawareness about essential members of humankind. But what even are book bans? Some people would tell you: A method to protect children from “harmful” or “inappropriate” content in books.

Really, what book banning is at its core is a cowardly way to express racism, homophobia, and just other horrible feelings about minorities. That was a very strong response, but as Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the Director of the ALA (American Libraries Association)’s Office of Intellectual Freedom, “...we’re seeing policies and advocacy to stigmatize a whole range of materials under the rubric that they’re illegal or pornographic — when they are none of those things.” 

I’ll present you with a different question: Should parents be able to choose what a school teaches? Most people would say no, that’s the school’s choice. But through book banning, huge parts of curriculums are being cut away. Take for example the book Maus, an award-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust by Art Spiegelman. 

It is a part of many eighth-grade English and Language Arts (ELA) curriculums, and portrays an essential part of history. But parents and school board members are voting to remove it from schools and libraries entirely. Reasons for this include “Unnecessary violence,” “Vulgar language,” and “An image of a partially nude woman.” These are all valid reasons, but not out of the ordinary for eighth-grade reading level books. Also, vulgar language and violence are present in younger grade curriculums, like The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman. Basically, these reasons are just a mask for the real reason they’re being banned: Holocaust portrayal. 

The overwhelmingly large reason behind book bans is trying to silence a marginalized group in society, namely the LGBTQ+ community and people of color. I see the reasoning behind this, and that is that some topics in books are not appropriate for the ages they are directed towards. And I agree, some topics are not appropriate for all ages.

 Although some topics are indeed not appropriate for all ages, the topics that are being banned are not among them. These are just humans living their lives. The people saying kids shouldn’t learn about these are just racist or homophobic. LGBTQ relationships aren’t any more appropriate or inappropriate as straight relationships, and vice versa. If you don’t think a kid should learn about gay people in love, that kid shouldn’t learn about straight people in love. 

Same thing with people of color, if you don’t wanna see a book about a black person living their life, you shouldn’t be shown a book about a white person doing the same thing.

So, do you think that book you wanted should’ve been taken from the library? Think about what would happen if it stayed banned. Think about all the other people like you, looking to find someone like them in a story. Think about all the kids, bullied at school and unsure about whether who they are as a person is valid or not. Think about the bullies discriminating against those kids, who may have never learned that groups like that existed, and bully them without knowing any better.

For kids, teens, adults, and everything in-between, seeing themselves represented in books and media has a hugely positive impact on their mental health. It helps people to feel like they belong. That’s pretty important, in my eyes. Banning books takes away that representation, and basic rights of people, all while the people doing it are sitting behind a screen.