My experience with this class has been incredible. For the
better part of winter quarter, English 439 has given me many opportunities to
grow and hone my skills as an instructor. The book talks introduced me to a
variety of texts that I never would have had the time to evaluate on my own.
There were some books that I had never heard of before they were introduced by
my peers of this class. Night; speaking about the horrors of the Jewish holocaust
in Nazi Germany, the way this text was implemented in the book talks and used
as material for mini lessons inspires me to always be on the lookout for texts
that can be both appropriate for use in the high school classroom as well as
provide a robust and rich perspective on such a taboo topic in world history. During
my time spent with using Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” as teaching
material in both the three-week Unit lesson plan and the minilesson I have
learned and reinforced the concept of lessons and teachable moments can come
from unexpected places, much like Alice learns and grows about herself, finding
her voice and aptitude within her story, I too have begun to find my voice as a
literature instructor and I wish to continue flexing these new vocal chords through
my career as an educator and continuous learner. Overall, this course has allowed
me the time necessary to develop my skills as a creator of lessons and empowers
me to continue seeking improvement through self-reflection and the critique of
others’ teaching abilities.
I found the mini lessons to have been extremely fun and
insightful. It hasn’t been easy but I really enjoyed the way this class
implemented both theory, pedagogy and practical concept to classroom implementation.
I feel the hardcore focus on building connections between the students and the instructor
through cultural and technological relevance is one of the most important
take-aways form this class. Constant and consistent reflections and
self-evaluations play a larger role in teaching than I had originally thought
and I find this concept rather enjoyable. Kelly Gallagher wrote on the subject
of critical pedagogy multiple times and provided a great amount of wonderful
insight and suggestion of what it takes to implement source material that
students will feel attached to for years after their time spent with it in
class.
By participating in this class and an active contributor of
my own and my peers’ learning environments, I have gained valuable insight into
a variety of teaching material, teaching methodology and ways to not only enthrall
my students but build connections through the relevance of their voice. Through
student input, I have reinforced my teaching philosophy that the instructor learns
just as much from the students as the students do from their instructor. Teachers
and their use of pedagogy in order to learn and grow alongside their students
helps me naturally to understand the rationale and effort put into developing unit
lessons, curriculum and teachable content. The fact that this course has
allowed me to prove myself and my abilities in the art and practice of teaching
inspires me to continually be thoughtful of my approach to new methods of
teaching and open to possible sources that would create interesting, useful and
overall fun literature lessons for myself to facilitate and for students to
participate. It was satisfying to both provide feedback on my peers and be a
part of their growth as educators and to be on the receiving end of such
thoughtful feedback as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment