After reading the romantic novel “The Fault
in Our Stars” by John Green, for my summer reading book there was a book group assembled
at school. The faculty member supervising our group discussion was Ms. Barr. She began by asking each student about
their general feelings towards the book and how they liked it. After that, she
spilt us up into groups of two to analyse important quotes of the book. Then
the whole class got into a circle and we discussed the significance and purpose
of the book, this discussion was similar to a Socratic seminar. This group of
freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors led our discussion. The main
contributors to this conversation were mainly the upper classmen, the
sophomores and freshmen did not participate as much due to their nerves. The conversation
flowed quite nicely as the whole group worked off each other’s comments and one
person was not dominating the discussion. This worked because we all had a
chance to talk, however, some did not take the opportunity.
The topics we focused on were, the realism of
this story, as well as love, death, and pain. During this discussion I talked
about the parallels, and foreshadowing from the beginning of the book. As well
as the parallel that this story had almost an unfinished ending that connected
to an “Imperial Affliction”. Also, after people had discussed the main topics
of this novel, I connected all the topics together that one can only love after
they have experienced pain, and the only way to feel the reality of love is to
overcome the obstacles. When people would say that there would never be a
person like Augustus, I agreed because his character and actions were
unrealistic. Then when people said that they liked Monica, Hazel’s friend, I
disagreed because she seemed like an inconsiderate person.
The new perspectives I had from this
discussion were that I put myself in Hazel’s position, and tried to feel her
pain and see what she thought when Gus died. Then we discussed how in one part
of the book Hazel was the healthiest person in the room of Gus, and Isaac, and
from her perspective it was a new experience because she was always the sickest
in the room. This showed Hazel that she does have things to be grateful for,
like not being sicker than she is.
I love this style of summer reading
analysis, because it is much more laid back and more enjoyable for the
students. This summer reading influenced me to read more than the assigned
summer reading, because I realized that reading isn’t a chore but indeed a
gift. I really liked being able to choose your own book, but I didn’t like the
guidelines for the discussion, as I would rather be able to speak freely about
the book and not be restricted to certain themes. These choice in reading and diversity
of participants in the discussion, change up the learning atmosphere, by making it more social and the reading more enjoyable.
Overall I really liked this experience and I don’t think this structure should
be changed.
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