Final Reflection

Quite truthfully, this class has been my favorite this semester.  And no, I’m not saying this to get brownie points or anything.  I truly was excited to come to this class every Wednesday.  Why?  Because on some level, I knew that I would actually learn something.  Not only did I learn academic things (like critical articles and novels), but I learned how to apply each of those things to my classroom.  In my opinion, that’s the most important thing.

In terms of strategies, I learned quite a bit.  Until this class, I never really gave any thought to how to group my students.  I figured counting off down the rows would work sufficiently.  Over time though, everyone would end up being in the same group every time.  I know I wouldn’t that for my students.  I want them all to be able to communicate effectively with one another.  Grouping students based on what color is in the corner of a worksheet or picking a quote is a fun way to get groups formed.  Another strategy is literature circles.  I learned ways to amp up the participation within the circles.  By making it more student-oriented, they can be more interesting and enticing for students.  That leads me into the next important strategy: student choice.  Obviously you don’t want this 100% of the time, because then you (the teacher) can lose some credibility.  But by allowing students to decide what they want to read or what “role” they want to be in a literature circle, they can branch out and become a more active student.

Preparation in a classroom is key.  I feel like if you aren’t prepared, your students won’t feel prepared either.  Preparing a lesson is not easy.  It requires you to be on top of your game; you don’t want to teach a lesson that will have half your class sleeping, but at the same time, you want it to be informational.  It’s important that they get the meaning behind your lesson.  I always thought delivering a lesson would be easy.  It’s kind of like giving a presentation in class.  I thought that until I gave my group teach last week.  Having everyone act like someone else was frustrating.  Especially since they were all feeding off each other, it didn’t help.  Delivering that lesson was possibly one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.  I couldn’t get anyone’s attention… no one was listening to me… all 14 people were asking questions at the same time.  Ugh!  I hope my classroom will never be that bad (no offense, guys).  While it was extremely difficult, I learned a lot from it.  I realized what I need to do better in those situations.

Like I said before, I learned more from this class than anything else this semester (or perhaps the past 3 years).  I learned a great deal in my group teach.  I realized how quickly my frustration shows to the students.  During my lesson, I went over to one group.  Kelly held up a sign (since she had no voice) that said “I feel bad for you.”  Lauren asked me if I regret making them act as someone else.  At the time, I said yes.  I was so frustrated because I had no idea what to do.  I had students mocking me, ignoring me, arguing with me.  It reminded me of when my brother, sister, and I were really young.  This taught me, above all, that I really have to watch what emotions I show and how I show them.  If my students see me getting frustrated, they will likely feed off that.  I also learned how quick we have to be.  If you have a lesson planned for 20 minutes and you think it’ll take 40 minutes, you better make sure you adjust it.  If not, half of the lesson will be irrelevant without the second half. 

I think everyone’s definition of what it means to teach is going to be a bit different.  When I teach literature, I want it to have an impact on my students.  I want the pieces of affect them.  Maybe they will cry or laugh or throw it in anger.  I don’t care which one… I will gladly take any.  I want to make them aware of things that are relevant to their world.  I want them to reflect on the literature.  Especially when it comes to the “classics,” I want them to reflect and tell me how they relate this older piece of literature to themselves in today’s society. 

I know I still have a long way to go in my development as a teacher.  Teachers should be constantly reflecting and adjusting things that aren’t working for their classrooms.  As a teacher of English today, I am learning.  I am observing, taking notes, analyzing, critiquing.  I am taking the advice of others far wiser than I am and seeing how that will affect me and my teaching.