Future Teacher, Forever Student

When you think back to the vocabulary lessons you studied in middle and high school, you probably remember sitting in your English Language Arts or Reading classroom while furiously scribbling down a definition that your teacher wrote on the board or projected on the screen. If your schools were anything like mine, you may have also had a series of Vocabulary Workshop notebooks that followed you around from grades 7 to 12 like an uninvited house guest that never leaves. I admit vocabulary lessons were never my favorite part of any unit; especially when using the notebooks, the activities always felt repetitive and had little application for real-world use. Focusing on my experiences in social studies, I do not recall participating in lessons centered on vocabulary often, if at all. In fact, I believe the closest my peers and I got to a history vocab lesson was a few bolded words from our textbook readings casually mentioned on PowerPoint slides. Source: http://ecx.images-amazon.co

Since 2013, the Education Department at Saint Michael's College has sponsored a department-wide common read , featuring compelling narratives that inspire critical thinking, deep reflection, global activism, and connections to teaching. Throughout the year, students and faculty are encouraged to attend several events centered around the selected text, including author talks, film showings, workshops, and panel discussions. For the 2018-19 academic year, the Ed. Department chose Girl Rising: Changing The World One Girl At A Time : a vivid, non-fiction account of the hardships faced by girls living in countries or immersed in cultures that in some way hinder their opportunity to receive an education. Based on and building off of a documentary of the same name, author Tanya Lee Stone gives the reader a closer look at the causes and effects of a girl not getting an education; using a mixture of pictures, graphics, and quotes to provide a window into the world of girls interviewed f