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Chora 1

Jacqueline Chora
Professor Corwin
College One
3 December 2015
College Reading Reflection
The novel Spare Parts, by Joshua Davis was better than I expected it to be. At first, I was
hesitant to read the novel because I found no interest and it did not grab my attention. However,
that changed once I began to interpret the novel in my own perspective and viewing the novel in
other peoples perspectives. Through the RRJs I was able to explore more on the specific topic
the sections focused on, which helped me connect to the novel. As a result, I became more
intrigued to the novel.
The RRJs where the most helpful because I had to summarize and explain my emotions.
By focusing on these questions on every section I read, I was able to improve my reading and
understanding skills because RRJs provided me with useful feedback. However, the
summarization part helped me remember the important situations and understand the author
argument. Summarization prevented me from having to remember what each section was about,
rather it gave me a feedback of what the next chapters will focus on. As I summarized the novel I
realized how I connect with these four undocumented students. They constantly encounter
themselves with stereotypes that crystalize them as dumb, troublemakers, etc. Crystalizing theses
teenagers is by labeling them a certain way and only seeing them like that. For instance, Joshua
Davis in the novel Spare Parts mentions the reaction the judges had when they saw that four
undocumented boys from Carl Hayden High School participating in the underwater robotics
club. The judges were skeptical because similar to numerous of people they had only one

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perspective of Hispanics, which is that they are trouble makers and do not like school. Similar to
these boys I got the same reaction when one of my classmates asks about my grades. When I
showed her, she was surprised. She stated You do not look like the type that would have good
grades. In my mind it was difficult to understand why she would get that perception of me.
However, stereotypes such as those are meant to be broken. This novel inspired me because if
they can break the stereotypes that followed them, so can I. I try to prove people wrong when
they doubt them; however, I break stereotypes for me. This way I am proving to myself that I am
not what the stereotypes say I am.
Reading has always been difficult for me; however, through college I learned and
experienced new ways to increase my understanding. At first when I read I would not understand
the concept the author was trying to portray. But I now understand that reading takes time and
that rereading slowly will help me better understand a paragraph or novel. Usually when I would
read in the past I would never connect to the novel; however, reading Spare Parts and connecting
myself to it helped me interpret and analyze it. Since these methods helped me get a deeper
understand I incorporated to when I was reading, A Place to Stand by Jimmy Baca.
As a result, the memoir was easier to understand and rereading paragraphs made me get smart
interpretations. For any other readings that I may encounter in my other classes, I plan on using
sticky notes. Sticky Notes eased my ability to remember the main concepts and situations in the
novel and made it simple to write down my opinions in specific paragraphs. Methods such as
sticky notes and annotations help me get thought difficult readings especially reading the
chapters in my political science classes. By annotating I tried to look up words that were
difficult to understand and underline or highlight the important things the textbook may say.
However, sometimes I feel like an outside reader because many of the interpretations my

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classmates come up. Even though we all have different perspectives their interpretations are
impressive. In order for me to get rid of this insecurity I would have to come up with more
methods to even deeper my understanding such as discussing the books with my peers in order to
get their perspective and help develop my. Either way the methods that I was able to discover
make me feel like an insider in reading because they made my reading experiences more
enjoyable then I expected it be. Not only that, but I will be able to use these methods for the
future.

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