Book Review: The Selection by Kiera Cass

Picture from: http://www.thebawdybookblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/selection.png

 

It's kind of like "The Bachelor," except in a book, without as much drama (because this is YA fiction), and set in a dystopian future.

In what was once the United States of America but is now Illea, Prince Maxon is coming of age, and he must find a suitable princess who will one day be queen. In order to find the best girl for the job, girls from every province can apply to be a part of The Selection. One girl from each of the 35 provinces is then chosen to participate-- it's the chance of a lifetime considering this society thrives on a caste system. America Singer (a 5-- 8's are the lowest caste) is chosen to head to the palace to compete for the prince's heart. There's just one problem: she is in love with someone else. A place in The Selection, however, guarantees her a permanent change in caste status whether she wins or not, money for her family, and food to eat. And as she gets to know the Prince, she realizes he's not as bad as she once thoughts. This book follows America's experience in The Selection as she tries to decide if she should take a chance and let herself fall for the Prince, or if she should follow her heart and not forget the boy she left behind.

Overall rating: 4 stars (I liked it)

A word of caution: This is the first book of a trilogy, and it is meant to be a trilogy. The book does not come to a complete and satisfying ending. You will need to read them all for the full story.

Why I Wanted To Become a High Tech Classroom Teacher

So many times in my classroom I find myself thinking, “this would be so much better if…” And that “if” is usually related to technology. I think about how much more engaged my students would be if I had 5 or 6 devices that I could set up in stations for them to rotate through in small groups, each station giving them a piece of an overall big picture concept or idea they are learning about in class that day. I think about how cool it would be if my students could share a device with a partner and look up vocabulary words on a daily basis. We keep our reading log on a Google Doc that I leave up on the student computer in the back of my room—how much richer would our conversations about reading be if every pair of students could call up that doc and discuss the things they are reading independently with one another?

And if every student had a device? I’d be using Socrative almost daily to check for understanding and to determine what needed to be retaught. I’d save myself so much time by posting articles for discussion that students could easily call up on their devices instead of trekking to the copy machine to make them. When conferencing with students about their writing, they could make corrections and adjustments immediately, while in their conferences with me, instead of taking notes and then taking those notes home and then making changes.

While I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself someone who is uber-tech savvy, I will say that I am knowledgeable about a lot of technology trends, and I’m certainly not afraid to try new things and learn about new technologies. The things I have learned about and have been able to implement thus far (wikis, Google Docs, Socrative quizzes, movie editing, using my personal iPad to monitor student progress in discussions, etc.) have changed the way I teach. I’ve come a long way in how technology is used in my classroom from when I first began my career ten years ago.

 I am excited about being a high-tech classroom next school year. I am excited about how it will change what I do. My students growth will be maximized as they learn through platforms with which they’re already familiar. As a professional, a high-tech classroom will challenge me daily to implement lessons that truly teach and review 21st Century Skills. And I'm excited to share what I learn along the way.