This past week in her English class, our teacher, Mrs. Levitt, had her students undertake a unique and amazing project about the books we were reading. Each student signed up to read a different book and all the books had to be by different authors. On the day of his presentation, the student would dress up like the author (yes, there were some skirts over the pants!) and Mrs. Levitt would ask him questions about the book and the author.  Each student had to present as if he actually were the author, and speak accordingly ("I had many push factors to write this book" or "The point I was trying to convey when writing this book is..."). This exercise taught me so many new ways to read books because almost everyone thinks differently when reading. When one student was presenting, he spoke of a metaphorical fire in his book, as opposed to a regular fire the way most readers would understand it.  This taught me something very important when it comes to reading, namely, that a reader must understand the literal points of the book but likewise must look beyond - at what is behind the lines - and think for him/herself what this book truly means.

 I also learned many new things about motivation and why our childhoods are such an influential part of our lives. Many of the authors we discussed in class were greatly influenced by their childhood or even chose to become an author because of how they grew up. I learned from here that this short period of time when we grow up can give us ideas, influence and motivate us, and make us into who we are. Unfortunately, a lot of these authors were treated poorly as children and this experience was reflected in their writing. I also learned from this project about many different cultures from around the world. Students who had authors from other countries brought in articles of clothing that reflect the life in that region and they spoke about religion, economy, and the social settings of the countries which their authors came from. I learned all these things from this amazing project that Mrs. Levitt had us do, and I am looking forward to a wonderful year in her class.