As I reflect on this quarter, I look
back on how much effort and work I put into making this quarter successful.
With very little spare time, I had to make the most of every spare minute I
had. I had to carefully balance English 408, English 493, and Education 341
along with student teaching and getting engaged. This was by far the most
difficult quarter I had ever experienced. Frantic, stressed, anxious are all
great words that could describe my personality for the past ten weeks.
Throughout this quarter I found a number of the activities we did in class to
be beneficial for my own learning. I also found that the articles assigned
along with the blog posts opened my eyes to an entirely new side of the
education world. In all honesty, I never felt like I was ever doing busy work
in this class. I thought that this class was extremely beneficial for my
teaching career.
The book talks, mini-lessons, and
unit plans are a few of the most significant assignments I’ve ever done. The
book talks helped me reach a new level of understanding of what my students are
reading. I truly enjoyed getting to see my classmates introduce new novels that
I can use in my classroom. I loved getting to introduce a novel that I really
enjoyed reading as well. I completely agree that teachers must update their
reading lists with books that are relevant to their students.
Another assignment that we did was
the mini-lesson. I found that the mini-lesson was an extremely insightful
activity. I learned so many things that make me the teacher I am today. I was
able to receive awesome feedback that helped me improve areas of my teaching
that I’ve been struggling. This activity added to the experience of teaching in
a live classroom.
The unit plan was an extremely
difficult, but well worth it type of project. I struggled with certain areas,
but I persevered to the end. While you can read my full reflection in my unit
plan, I will say that this project prepared me for my final edTPA. I feel much
more comfortable now to finish my edTPA than ever before.
Several theories and concepts that
we explored this quarter will stick with me for my entire teaching career. I
thoroughly enjoyed reading each article and getting the opportunity to reflect
on the given materials. Along with the articles, the pedagogical texts that we
read in class acted as fantastic guidelines for teaching. I learned a variety
of different techniques that will help me through my career. I plan on holding
onto each of one of the texts in order to have a reference point to look back
when I’m in need of research and materials.
My participation in this course
heavily reflects my teaching characteristics. I worked extremely hard to finish
all of my work on time and with my best effort. This reflects how hard I’m
willing to work when I become a teacher. I also participated in the conversations
throughout the class. Unlike everyone else, I wanted to contribute my ideas
because I wanted to hear the feedback from my classmates. I believe that this
translates into me being a successful collaborator in my future classroom.
Overall, this course was one of my
favorite classes I’ve been a part of. I felt like I learned more information in
this class than a few of my classes combined.
