Teacher Feature - Ms. Gonzalez

Ms. Gonzalez is amazed
at what she finds in
her favorite magazines!

What do you like to read?

Although I always loved fiction, the past few years I've been loving nonfiction more--especially that good ol' science writing on all topics including viruses, parasites, consciousness, drugs, behaviors in general, and brain variations that result in people smelling numbers or phantom pain from amputated limbs. A favorite science writer is Ed Yong, and my freshmen won't be surprised, because they've read lots of his articles already (parasites in fish bellies, vampire spiders, tiny mite-y frogs, and more). Online science writing is awesome: articles are free (for the most part), they're interesting and well-written, and they cover a wide variety of topics.

Some good 'ol favorites

Where do you like to read?

I like to read while plopped on anything soft, but I can read in any nook, anywhere. In fact I am like a rat: the more novel my environment, the better my attention and learning (Davis et al., 2004; Feenstra et al., 1995; Zhu et al., 1997). ;) 

Did you like to read when you were in high school?

It can be hard to decide
what to read next!

In high school I loved reading all sorts of books in and out of class: The Awakening, Frankenstein, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Odyssey (yeah, I loved that huge brick), The Catcher in the Rye. Geez, I even loved Sophocles and Shakespeare, even though it seemed like I was the only one who did (or who had the guts to admit it!). I thought it was fun to make fun of Romeo's sudden change in mood: wasn't he whining over some other girl the second before he fell in love with Juliet?! I thought that was fascinating... But I do think human behavior in general is just too, too interesting. Some of my high school favorites: The Bluest Eye, The Woman Warrior, everything Sandra Cisneros, and The Bell Jar (still one of my favorites). I also dug Spanish Literature: San Manuel Bueno, martir was a life-changer, and La muerte de Artemio Cruz was super complex (oh and totally in parallel universes with The Death of Ivan Illyich).

What is your most hated book?

There is only one book I could not love reading in high school: Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Sorry, but I've seen this soap opera played in all the Mexican soap operas ever! I prefer some variety to my stories. But, I would love to hear an argument against mine... 

I get carried away... 

I'm representing APA at FSHA:

References:

Davis, C., Jones, F. L., and Derrick, B. E. (2004). Novel environments enhance induction and maintenance of long term potentiation in dentate gyrus. J Neurosci, 24(29), 6497-6506.

Feenstra, M. G. P., Botterblom, M. H. A., and Van Uum, J. F. M. (1995). Novelty-induced increase in dopamine release in the rat prefrontal cortex in vivo: inhibition by diazepam. Neuroscience letters, 189(2), 81-84.

Zhu, X., McCabe, B., Aggleton, J., and Brown, M. (1997). Differential activation of the rat hippocampus and perirhinal cortex by novel visual stimuli and a novel environment. Neuroscience Letters, 229(2), 141-143.