Learning Letter

-
Throughout my time in this course I have completed weekly blog posts on various texts, a three week unit plan, and two book talks. I think that my favorite assignments I completed during this course were the book talks. I loved looking at different texts that I love, developing a rationale for using them in the classroom, and finding ways to teach them; I also loved getting to listen to everybody else share their texts because I now have an extensive list of diverse texts that I could use in my classroom someday.
Going into this course, I knew that I had to write a unit plan and it seemed like an incredibly daunting task. After completing my three week unit plan on Dystopian Literature/Unwind by Neal Shusterman, I can say that it was one of the most challenging things I had to do this quarter. Although I have had some experience in writing lesson plans, I had never written a comprehensive unit. Through the process of creating the unit plan, I believe that I have figured out more about myself as a teacher, what I want to do as a teacher, and how I go about the process of creating a unit.
Out of all of the theories and concepts we explored this quarter I think that looking at and discussing the different ways we can assess student learning. Although I see the merit in using traditional assessments, like exams or essays, I believe that as future ELA teachers we are working in a content area that can allow for new, innovative, and engaging ways to assess how our students are doing in our classrooms. In addition to looking at different assessment strategies, I enjoyed discussing standards-based grading. I really like the idea of standards-based grading; I like that it seems like it is geared more towards helping students actually reach a goal or to focus on their performance in the class rather than focusing on what their grade is.

Overall, I believe that my participation in this course has helped me develop more ideas of who I want to be as a teacher and how I want to set up my future classroom. I think that participating in our weekly class discussions (i.e., active listening and maybe some talking), has helped me see the different ways that I could teach, the different ways that I could figure out who I want to be as a teacher, and the different critical theories that I will carry forward as a teacher.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Read It, But I Don't Get It

-
Reading through I Read It, But I Don’t Get It, by Cris Tovani, reminded me a lot of my dad and my journey as a young reader. My dad has always had trouble reading; he has always been good at reading texts like instruction manuals or magazines about something he is interested in, but I’ve never seen him sit down with a book and read it for pleasure (until just the other day when he asked to borrow my copy of Ready Player One ). When I was young, I wasn’t as much of a reader compared to my classmates, and my parents were worried that I might end up not liking reading like my dad. Something clicked though, and I became a voracious reader; I’m still a voracious reader (when I have the time). I think that the reading/thinking strategies that Tovani goes over in this book really stood out to me because they make me think of how my dad could have used this when he was growing up, or could use them now, to become a better reader; they also make me think of many of the students in my prac...
Read more

Book Talk: The Importance of Being Earnest

-
Image
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Summary: “Oscar Wilde’s madcap farce about mistaken identities, secret engagements, and lovers’ entanglements still delights readers more than a century after its 1895 publication and premiere performance. The rapid-fire wit and eccentric characters of The Importance of Being Earnest have made it a mainstay of the high school curriculum for decades. Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax are both in love with the same mythical suitor. Jack Worthing has wooed Gwendolen as Ernest, while Algernon has also posed as Ernest to win the heat of Jack’s ward, Cecily. When all four arrive at Jack’s country home on the same weekend--the “rivals” to fight for Ernest’s undivided attention and the “Ernests” to claim their beloveds--pandemonium breaks loose. Only a senile nursemaid and an old, discarded hand-bag can save the day!” -from the Prestwick House edition Biography: Oscar Wilde was born October 16, 1854 in Dublin. Wilde was an author,...
Read more

Graphic novels

-
For this weeks blog post I read “Teaching With Graphic Novels,” an article I found through Edudemic. The article discusses different reasons why utilizing graphic novels in the classroom can be beneficial for students as well as insight into how teachers can begin to incorporate graphic novels in their classrooms. One reason for the use of graphic novels in the classroom that the article touched on was that graphic novels are essentially the same as any other assigned novel in a classroom, the only difference is that they utilize panels and images to further the story. With that in mind, I think that it is important to note that because graphic novels are essentially the same as traditional novels, in terms of content rather than format, they can and should be utilized in classrooms in order to give our students more variety in reading materials and in order to help meet the needs and interests of our students. The article also notes that graphic novels may be a good way to reach stu...
Read more