Blog Post #6: Ground Zero BHH Strategy

     For Book Club #2 I read Ground Zero by Alan Gratz.  This book followed two different story lines, one that focused on Brandon on September 11, 2001, who was visiting his Father in New York City at work at the World Trade Center, and the other story line is focused on Reshmina who was living in Afghanistan on September 11, 2019.  

    The story about Brandon focuses on his attempt to escape the World Trade Center during the tragic events of September 11, 2001.  The story focused around Reshmina centers on her efforts to help an injured American soldier.  The author wants me to know that both characters were very strong-minded people.  What surprised me as the book went on was I found out that the American soldier that Reshmina was helping was actually Brandon after Brandon had become older.  What I noticed in my head was that during the course of the story the author gave some hints that Brandon and the American soldier were connected.  I did not fully understand the connection until I got towards the end of the book.

    What I learned about me is that I do understand the significance of September 11, 2001 and that our world will never be the same because of that day.  The connections that I made from reading this book will help me in  other reading because I will be aware of how characters are connected and hints that authors will use to show that the characters are related.

    In my Math classroom I can apply the idea of characters being connected to the relationship between shapes, expressions, equations, and so on.  Just as a reader looks for hints or similar ideas in a story, a student should look for hints and different techniques they can use while they are studying Math.  Math teachers are also reading teachers because we have to teach the vocabulary of our content, and how to approach word problems.  The ideas that we study in Reading can be connected to all the subjects studied in school.