Entry #5

I experienced from the October Sky novel study was that if you continue to do what you believe in it could change your whole life. The novel study schedule seemed like it was a good amount of time. The reading was hard to keep up with but in the end I finished the book on time. I didn’t like writing the journals; I found that they didn’t help me understand the book anymore then if I didn’t write them. The group work projects where we went over chapters 10-15 wasn’t a very good experience because the group I was in over half the people had not read that far into the novel. It made it difficult for the rest of the group members to do that project and to summarize the chapters. The final science fair project was difficult. Having the website only on one computer made it hard for the rest of the group members because we had to wait to put it on or send our portion to that one computer. I enjoy doing group work but when some group members don’t help out or don’t do their part I get frustrated because I don’t think it is fair that they get a mark even when they don’t do anything.

The October sky novel study was like no other novel study I have done before. In the other novel studies that I have done, we answer a lot of question for each section of reading. I liked not having to answer question but instead reflecting in the journals. In some of the other novel studies I have done we did worksheets and used different ways to read the story. I have had people read the story to the class or I even listen to the novel on a tape once. I liked reading the book to my self because I find that when other people read it out loud I lose concentration.