Journal Entry 7: A Happy Ending

I am almost a little saddened by the fact that this class is over. I really feel that it has been a fruitful and productive course, one that will surely aid me in my future endeavors concerning the adolescent populace. This course has forced me to think about the act of reading in a different light and from different angles. Wilhelm has been helpful up to a point, but I think that over the break I will have to invest in some further reading on the subject.

I was thinking about our synthesis project the other day during my observation, and how the teacher I am observing does a great job of fostering reading in her classroom. Many of the students in her class were reading Twilight and she decided to pick it up just so that she could converse with them about the series and see what they had to say. She takes a genuine interest in what her students are reading and tries to incorporate it into the classroom whenever she can. For reading projects she offers alternative assignments (like creating a Body Biography, which I thought looked like a lot of fun) that allows her students to explore their learning through creative venues. She attempts to value all types of texts in her classrooms (she uses the BOOK THIEF!) which I think is quite admirable. I don't ever want to be the type of teacher that will turn my nose up at certain types of books/genres. I think that as an English teacher, especially a high school teacher, that I need to be as open minded as possible when it comes to what my students are reading.

Lastly, I suppose I just want to reiterate that I enjoyed this course, and I think it has opened my mind to a lot of methods and techniques and questions that I didn't have before. I am still apprehensive about certain aspects of teaching, but I think that with a little effort I will (HOPEFULLY) have it under control... :) Thanks for a great semester and I wish everyone luck with all their future endeavors!!!!