Over this past year, we’ve read a wide variety of novels that have opened the doorways for multiple real life connections. In our unit talking about indigenous people I read the novel “Solar Storms.” In the pages of this book, I learned about the struggles that Native Americans faced during colonization. For a majority of them, there was no question that their beliefs and traditions were being threatened by the changing world. They traveled across the U.S. to keep those traditions and beliefs alive, they fought hard for what they knew was truth. However, there were others who simply fell into the pattern of the changing world. This is a challenge we, as Christians, have today. The world is changing all around us and we are called to be God’s light and hold strong to his truths, not falling into the sin all around us. Reading this novel was another reminder for me personally to keep Christ at the center and not worry so much about everything happening in the world surrounding me. 

Before making those life connections, we had to learn how to dive into the deeper meaning of a text. This is something that I think we spent the most time doing during our Hamlet unit. We unpacked characters and the actions they took to reach “success.” We also followed how they developed personally throughout the storyline and what specific themes or motifs stuck out. As we finished up the unit, we were asked to make connections with the community around us, helping us see the modern meaning of the text. Not only did it once again help me look at my community through a different lens, but it also helped me think more critically about what I was spending my time reading. 

While we read many pieces that were required this past year, we also had the opportunity to chose a select view books to read on our own. All of the connections we made with the other books helped me dive deeper into what I personally chose to read as well. It was easier for me to make connections that I may not have otherwise made without first digging into the harder texts. The book that I liked the most from this year was “Maybe Someday” by Colleen Hoover. I analyzed how she wrote the book and the specific connections that related to me personally. I also reflected on what I liked about her writing style. This came more naturally since she writes about older teenagers, but as I previously mentioned, the practice I had from analyzing other literature earlier in the year also aided my learning.