The+Learning+Log

This is Jordan's "Glass Castle" its supposed to depict heaven, a promise for the future that no one can prove or deny.



This is Rachel's glass castle. I really want to live in a beautiful penthouse in a big city. I want to live for myself but also be able to live in a place where there are people I can help. I want to feel like I'm living in the center of it all, not hearing news of places far away and foreign.



This is Cate's glass castle. For me my glass castle could be anything anywhere in the world, all I want to be able to do is help people, and see the world. If I don't get anywhere else I will go Africa. That is one of my lifetime dreams/goals.



This is Alex's glass castle. I've always loved the tropical side of life. I think it would be amazing to walk outside and see hundreds of different plants and animals, while listening to the rush of the ocean. The beauty is just astounding. It would be like an adventure for me!

This is Melissa's Glass Castle. I love the living in Colorado and one of my favorite places is in Aspen. I would love to one day own a home in Aspen; it is truly a beautiful place to be.



I see this as my Glass Castle because it is a dream sight. When I look at this glacier with and snow capped peaks I see the beauty and serenity that it has to offer. There is so much beauty and life wrapped in this one shot. I love the mountains; so naturally, this view would be a home like comfortable one. -Kira

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For today's in class activities we looked at postsecret for their batch of mother's day edition secrets and we each found a secret that we felt related to Jeanette's mom at some point in the book. //  Jordan: I believe that this postsecret relates to Jeanette's relationship with her mother because the mom had the power to leave Rex and had the control over the kid's lives most. Although the dad did most of the direct damage the mother was the victim to him as well and could have taken the role of being the caring parent.

As Jeanette grows up, she begins to see her parents in a new, and probably more truthful, light. After growing up trusting and unconditionally loving her parents, it’s a pretty significant transition when she begins to expect them to take some responsibility. When Jeanette asks her mom to leave her father, it represents a culmination of her growing feelings of mistrust, despite her continued love for them. Jeanette became her own person during that part of the novel by standing up to people who had determined her life and circumstances for so long. “Mother please… shut your pie hole! You aren’t helping.” Jeanette is realizing that she can begin to try and control her life, and not accept her parent’s inadequacies and their negative effects on her and her sibling’s lives. -Rachel 

 I think that this secret completely embodies the relationship between Jeannette and her mother. She loves her mother, but their relationship is very broken. She is afraid of not having her mother their any more, but at the same time she has a bitterness from her past and the relationship her family shared. Her biggest secrets of her life were those about her family, those were the ones she never wished to share. This image depicts a girl who loves her mom but fears for the future. She is afraid of her anger and sadness but knows that she has a love.   -Melissa

<span style="font-size: 110%; color: rgb(149,44,170); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alex said: When I think about this saying, I can see how it completely describes the mother in __The Glass Castle__, but at the same time, it completely contradicts her too. Throughout the book, it seems as though the father, Rex, is in control of the family because he is the “man of the house.” At the same time, however, the mother controls Rex too. The minute that Jeannette talked back to her, the mom immediately pulled Rex onto “her side” and he whipped Jeannette because the she told him to. She is also almost always the only parent that is ever home because Rex is always out drinking. Because of that reason, she has control over the household whether the kids/her husband likes it or not.

<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(84,141,212); font-family: 'Segoe Script', 'sans-serif';">This postsecret really works well for //The Glass Castle// because it ties in so well with Jeannette’s life. All her life she grew up poor thinking that she could never amount to anything; she thought she was bound to follow in her parents footsteps. Living the life that she did and having the drunken father and selfish mother that she did, it seems that she would have very little problem buying into that lie. At the end of the book, her mom tells her that they had never had any hope in her because she wasn’t pretty or artistic or strong or intelligent. She proved them all wrong by becoming a newspaper writer and graduating from an Ivy League college. She wasn’t too stupid to be anything that she wanted to be. She set goals and they brought her very far. - Kira

// For the Closing Activity on the last day, we had to come up with a "Glass Castle" describing our relationship with someone else. Here's what everyone came up with: //

<span style="color: rgb(84,141,212); font-family: 'Segoe Script', 'sans-serif';"> <span style="font-size: 120%; color: rgb(43,177,150); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">As for my "Glass Castle of Relationships" I found a picture of a Play-Doh (I was unable to find an actual house made of Play-Doh). I think that this depicts my relationship with my parents because we are "molded together." Together, we can bounce ideas off each other and help mold one another into something amazing. Also, we are accepting of one another, and I think that Play-Doh is very "tolerant." Finally, as most people know, as Play-Doh ages, it becomes quite hard. This is like our relationship because as the years pass, our "Glass Castle" (or relationship) becomes harder - or STRONGER. Play-Doh is not weak, it is accepting...and lots of fun to play with!

<span style="color: rgb(168,0,0); font-family: 'Kristen ITC';">I see this picture as a beautiful thing that has been forgotten. Like in //The Glass Castle// the kid’s are always being forgotten and replaced by other material things. Their father reverts to drinking and their mother to her art. The beauty and wonderful awe of their children is forgotten as they choose to grasp at the things beneath their beloved children. They would rather have the little rocks. There is a multitude of them, they are easy to grasp, but they hold no beauty. The rose, the ultimate beauty, is left forgotten and abandoned where it lay. I think that this can hold true in my relationship with old friends. You never really realize what your missing until it’s gone.

<span style="font-size: 110%; color: rgb(46,3,140); font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> This picture embodies the relationship with my parents. We are pushed and pulled through all situations, sometimes it feels like the weight of the word is on our "branches", but we can always come back stronger. This tree is experiencing much of what all people experience in life, and coming back unbroken is the most important part. This relates to much of this book because these children were almost pushed to the ground by their parents, but they came back so much stronger; they came back on top. This is my new glass castle, what I hope to continue to be able to do as my life continues, my dream: to be strong. -Melissa

<span style="color: #09c36a; font-family: Georgia, serif;">I feel that this represents the "Glass Castle" of a parent/child relationship, with the nut things being the children, and the tree being the parents. The parent's make and shape the life of a child, but eventually, the nut will fall off, and have to decide what kind of tree it is going to be. It can be just like the parent tree, or completely oppisite. It is up to the nut... :). ~ Cate