In “We Real Cool,” the speakers make choices that seem exciting, bold, and rebellious, even though those choices lead to consequences. Write about a moment in your own life when you followed what looked cool or fun, only to realize afterwards that it wasn’t the smart or responsible path. What influenced your decision, and how did your perspective change later?

 Prompt Response: A moment in my life where I became a follower for the sake of being cool was when in elementary I sneaked with a groups of kids into the garden and ate a piece of the peppers that were being grown. This was not smart as later we got in trouble by our teachers. In my mind during that time it looked fun as I also wanted to try what the other kids were doing. My decision was influenced by not wanting to the be the only odd one out not trying it. My perspective later changed as I later had understood how I should not be pressured to do something even if I will be the only odd one out as it caused me to get in trouble which was very avoidable. 

Summary: During class we read the poem "We Real Cool" and annotated it as a class. We went over its theme and discuss why it is important. Futhermore we saw an real life example of the theme applied to a person who was lurking at a gas state and unfortunately got shot. After that we completed an assignment which consisted of drawing a bubble diagram for each line ending in We. 

Reflection: During class I reflected on the theme of the poem as watching the young man on the news really instilled the lesson in me to not become a follower. I think the poem is a great one that should be discussed especially for my age range. I reflected on this when we were listing the things as "cool" or "not cool".