Learn Something New

I tell my students that you never stop learning. Learning continues through college and well into adulthood. I give them examples from my own experience in the field of teaching, always learning something to stay current and up to date on teaching trends. Eyerolls are what I get as a response from my middle schoolers. Go figure.

Recently, the English department asked the social studies to team up with them for a cross curricular unit for World Read Aloud Day, February 1st. The book chosen was Brother’s Keeper by Julie Lee. The book is set during the Korean War, when the North invad the South. When I heard it was set during the Korean War, my immediate thought was I did not recall learning about the Korean War or if I had, I remember nothing of it. I immediately searched online to get the gist of information on the war and started reading. As stated in a previous post, I loved Brother’s Keeper.

The discovery of another genre to add to my reading genres is a recent learning. I am a non fiction reader and tend to shun fiction writing. My immediate reaction to hearing that this book was historical fiction was “Oh I am going to have force myself to read this one.” Obviously I was focused in the fiction part. But, to my surprise my feeling quickly changed when the historical aspect was introduced in the book.

Learning about the Korean War is my most valuable new learning. I compare this war to the middle child, the forgotten one, as it is a war that has not had enough attention brought to it within schooling systems. The Korean War or The Forgotten War is of significance, and I highly recommend reading Brother’s Keeper not just because of the story but more improtantly for the learning or the re-learning of Korean War. It was a significant event in history and the effects can still be seen today but rarely is it spoken of.