Honors Humanities (Second Semester: Book Club)
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Honors Reflection:
In the Honors book club, we had a fairly flexible schedule between lunch meetings, reading the book, doing a project, and having a seminar. I chose to do projects for Fahrenheit 451 and Half the Sky but not The Great Gatsby. I chose these two books because when reading Gatsby, I had a large amount of other things happening in various classes so I felt it was best to choose the first and last books that we read. One of the choice assignments that I did was an art piece for Fahrenheit 451 which is shown above. The other choice assignment I did for Half the Sky was a mini documentation binder which is designed to document my thinking throughout reading the book. For that, I wrote 3 individual pages about critical reactions that I had to particular parts of the text. There was a lot to react to with Half the Sky because it is quite emotional and a lot to take in. Because of that, I felt documenting my thinking would work really well for that particular book.
The book that I felt taught me the most and I also gained the most from was Half the Sky. It was non-fiction, unlike the other two novels, and it was focused on impoverished women throughout the world. It had a fairly great impact on my view of the world and how other countries function as well as how blessed I am to live in the United States. Many of the stories about oppressed women were hard to get through because as a young woman, I cannot imagine living with the things that they endure on a daily basis. I gained a broader understanding of real-life examples of oppression and it was encouraging to see that there are people who take great measures to try and make a strong difference in this messed up world.
Being a part of the book club forced me to grow personally and academically. In Honors, all of the work is done independently and this made me learn to manage my time better as well as learning to balance extra work along with my regular work. Academically, I feel that I really grew through being able to express my reactions with writing as well as analyzing text in the novels. Because of this, I was able to go into seminars fully prepared and with solid understandings of what we would be discussing. It wasn't until the last seminar that I began to share my ideas which I had written down and I feel that I was pushed to work on communication skills. Going into college, this will most definitely be beneficial because we cannot always communicate our ideas and thoughts through writing alone. The most challenging thing about taking on Honors was completing projects and seminar prep/reflections while also doing non-honors school work. But most of all I enjoyed challenging myself in this book club experience. I didn't initially plan on joining Honors either semester because Junior year was already so hectic but I am very proud of myself and the perseverance I put into all my work.
The book that I felt taught me the most and I also gained the most from was Half the Sky. It was non-fiction, unlike the other two novels, and it was focused on impoverished women throughout the world. It had a fairly great impact on my view of the world and how other countries function as well as how blessed I am to live in the United States. Many of the stories about oppressed women were hard to get through because as a young woman, I cannot imagine living with the things that they endure on a daily basis. I gained a broader understanding of real-life examples of oppression and it was encouraging to see that there are people who take great measures to try and make a strong difference in this messed up world.
Being a part of the book club forced me to grow personally and academically. In Honors, all of the work is done independently and this made me learn to manage my time better as well as learning to balance extra work along with my regular work. Academically, I feel that I really grew through being able to express my reactions with writing as well as analyzing text in the novels. Because of this, I was able to go into seminars fully prepared and with solid understandings of what we would be discussing. It wasn't until the last seminar that I began to share my ideas which I had written down and I feel that I was pushed to work on communication skills. Going into college, this will most definitely be beneficial because we cannot always communicate our ideas and thoughts through writing alone. The most challenging thing about taking on Honors was completing projects and seminar prep/reflections while also doing non-honors school work. But most of all I enjoyed challenging myself in this book club experience. I didn't initially plan on joining Honors either semester because Junior year was already so hectic but I am very proud of myself and the perseverance I put into all my work.