Learning Letter

Learning Letter

1.      I learned an enormous amount about myself and teaching through the three big projects we were assigned this quarter. 

The book talk was a great way to introduce us to new books that might appeal to our young students, or even ourselves.  Had I known better, I would have chosen a different book other than The Secret Life of Bees.  I was sort of disappointed to find out, after I had chosen it, that it has already been widely used in schools.  However, I still think it is a great book and teaching tool, and if I can implement it into my classroom, I will.  I have an obsession with United States history and the evolution of civil and social issues through the years, so any book relating to that intrigues me.

The mini-lesson was a great experience to share with this group of students.  It takes patience and deep thought to create a lesson, but honestly, I was happy with the way my Poe lesson turned out.  I know I could have benefited from more critical feedback than I got, but maybe I was on point that day.  I want to get as much practice as I can, teaching lessons, before the big game.  It’s nice to present to familiar faces.  I felt that everything went well, and I gained experience, not only in teaching, but in lesson planning as well.  I can’t wait to use that feedback and lesson with my own English class one day.

The Literature Unit Plan was a major lesson in patience, creativity, and will power.  I know I could have done much better, and I knew within minutes of putting the book together that there were so many aspects I could have changed.  I like what I put together, but there is always some tweaking to do.  I started putting ignoring my perfectionist side towards the end, because I had gotten too far to make any major changes. But, all in all, it is a good start to something that has the potential to be great, and useful.  My favorite parts of my unit plan are the two summative assessments I created for my “students”.  History is an essential part of literature, and being able to implement a historical English lesson will always make me happy.  I ask my students to create an alter-ego that lived during the 1920’s and write about them and their cahoots.  I have a strong belief that when given the chance to be creative, students run with their ideas and make something amazing.  The other summative assessment was a character analysis essay using evidence from the text, but encouraging a personal interpretation of the character.  Again, creativity, self-expression, and keeping work personal brings results.  I know I will use these assignments in my future classroom, or some version of them.

2.      We were given so much amazing pedagogy and teaching method material that it is difficult to choose a favorite.  I loved the idea of Andrade, et al of incorporating pop culture into learning literature.  Fiere fights for the weak, and Tovani gives lots of comprehension ideas.  The only one I didn’t like, but may appreciate later was the Kelly Gallagher book.  I know he is considered to be one of the greats in pedagogy, but for some reason he rubs me the wrong way.  Nothing personal.  Every piece of reading material we were handed will be useful at one time or another, and I am grateful to have  the beginning of an amazing arsenal on my book shelf.

3.      This class has been nothing less than an exercise in self-reflection.  Having like-minded people in the same room to share my thoughts with, was an amazing experience.  I know that this is a rare opportunity, and it most likely won’t ever happen again.  I appreciate our encouragement to be casual, comfortable, open-minded, and unedited.  It’s not often we get to really say how we think or feel without being judged or argued against.  I am a different, more educated version of the person I was before I walked into this class.  I have become more pensive, more competent, more willing, and more capable of doing things and talking then I ever thought was possible.  I have learned to embrace questioning others, especially pedagogical information, and I have stopped being the rug to walk on.  My experience in this class has helped me in other classes, and in my practicum classroom.  I hope every department has a class like this to offer to their education students.  It really makes you think, and develop more of an identity as a teacher.  Most of what I learned was from collaborating with my classmates, but the materials we were given were obviously very well researched and geared just for us.  I often complained about the amount of work we were expected to do, but in the end, it was all worth the tears and fatigue.  I am grateful for every second I spent in this class, and I feel we need more of these in the Education Program.  Maybe not the workload, but definitely the content.

Cheers to you my friends, and best of luck in our not so distant future!!