Reflection on how I’ve grown personally, professionally and virtually because of ECI 512: Teaching Literature for Young Adults Personal GrowthWhen class began in mid-May, I hoped to gain a wider appreciation for different genres of young adult literature, specifically graphic novels. I hadn't read many graphic novels at that time and wanted to read a few and figure out how I could use them with my students. I love how much I read over the past five weeks because of this class! Over the past few weeks, I read eight books; four of them were graphic novels. I can say without a doubt that I gave grown in this regard. I know that I will use graphic novels in my classroom next year and feel confident that I can use them as a teaching tool. I loved Boxers and Saints and the brilliant way Yang depicted the same conflict through different perspectives. As a reader, you sympathize with both protagonists and finish the books torn between the characters and their points of view. All books about conflict should be written in such a way. We would understand so much more about one another. I read books that were out of my comfort zone, not only graphic novels, but others too. Reading Maggot Moon was difficult for me. There was such violence and despair in this book and the scattered, dyslexic narration (even though it was a brilliant stylistic choice) made it hard for me to connect with the main character. I probably wouldn’t have continued reading it if it was just a book I picked up on my own. Even though I didn’t like the book, I appreciated it. I loved the discussion that we had about this book in class because we had different opinions about it. It was a good reminder that I shouldn’t just stay in my comfort zone with books that I read or books I use in the classroom. Thinking back on our CCIs, something that will really stick with me is the importance of cultivating an inclusive classroom. It is so important that all students feel welcome, safe, and willing to take risks in my classroom. Reading Bad Boy by Walter Dean Myers was an important reminder to teach multi-cultural literature. Myers expressed that all that he read in school was written by white men and as a young reader and writer, this made him feel inferior and isolated. Myers had a few awful teachers in his younger years, but he had some great ones too. Teachers who acknowledged his background and his struggles at home, but still held him to high standards, who told him he was special, and who told him never to stop writing. It’s important to introduce my students to multiple perspectives on issues and help them work through questions they have. Something that I’m taking away from this course isn’t something that I anticipated on my pre-assessment: the validity of Pink’s theory of motivation being driven by autonomy, mastery and purpose. I’ll confess that at times, I found it hard to get used to the structure of this course. There was so much free choice that I sometimes was frustrated at the lack of guidelines. It took me a while, but in the end I relished the personal freedom that this method of learning allowed me. After I read Navigating Early, I responded to the book in a way that was completely new to me. As I reflected in my week three post, personal choice, or autonomy, allowed me to read books and respond to them in ways that helped me grow as an individual. It also allowed me to create things that I have a purpose for. Choosing our own topics, methods of delivery and collaboration for the CCIs allowed my classmates and me to participate in relevant discussions and create things that we can use in our classrooms. I am eager to continue develop my belonging unit so I can use it with my students next year. I'm also eager to see how I can apply Pink's theory in my own classroom to intrinsically motivate my own students. Professional GrowthIn my self-evaluation at the beginning of the course, I expressed a desire to become more involved in my school to teach professional development sessions. Because of our CCI on technology, I now can share some great new tools with my department and my PLT. Specifically, I plan on sharing the Intra-Act scaffolding technique and Wall Wisher. I loved the reader response method that we used in class. As I shared in an earlier post, I showed my students my blog post, poem, and video that I created for Navigating Early. We had a great discussion about the book and the process of creating! Allowing my students personal choice in what they read and how they respond will help them to form connections between what they read and why it's important to them. I was excited to share my work with my students and my excitement rubbed off on them. I am committed to offering more personal freedom to my students next year. I know that at times this will be challenging, but I think in the long run they will be more engaged, motivated, and will learn more. This class has provided many practical resources that I can use next year. I created an interdisciplinary unit centered around the concept of belonging that I plan to use the second half of first quarter and I can definitely see myself using Navigating Early with my 6th graders. Navigating Early would even work as an interdisciplinary unit for all subjects.
Virtual GrowthWhen I completed my funds of knowledge inventory at the beginning of the course, I was under the impression that I knew about many educational apps that are out there and was comfortable using them with my students. While I would still say that I'm comfortable with most new apps, (or at least comfortable figuring them out) my eyes have been opened to many new types of technology that I can use with my students and ways that I can provide those opportunities when a computer lab isn't available.
Here are my top ten technology moments from this class. Top Ten Tech Tips (gotta love alliteration) I learned from this class: 1. Twitter is a great way to network with other educators and stay current with trends in educational technology. 2. Wall Wisher (Padlet) is an awesome tool for collaboration. It allows contributors to embed documents, pictures, videos, etc. and is really visually appealing. 3. How to teach a class and screen-share using Google Hangouts. If we have 9 snow days next year, watch out kids! We're having class snow or shine! 4. Storify is a cool app that I need to keep exploring. 5. Scoop-it is a great tool for curating, which is an important component of digital literacy. I've been using Pinterest in a similar way, which I probably prefer because posts per day are unlimited and I can embed my boards onto my class website, which I'm not certain I can do with Scoop-it. 6. Cell Phones can be used as word processors. So... I really need to stop dragging my feet and figure out how a BYOD policy will work in my classroom. Students are using phones at home. We should teach the students to use the tools that they're using outside of school. They come to school with technology that will enhance their learning and are forced to keep it in their lockers. I will be an advocate for change in this regard. 7. Weebly makes visually-appealing blogs, if I do say so myself. I will use Weebly student accounts with my 6th graders in the fall so they can blog. 8. There are way more apps out there than I could ever learn to use. The key is being able and willing to learn new things, to use what works for you. 9. Ning... How did I not know about Ning? 10. Google Voice can be used for Podcasts and students can SMS to it as an alternative to Twitter. I would love to do something like this to provide an authentic audience for my students. In Conclusion... It's pretty cool that I'm taking away so many practical applications from this course. I wanted to explore the idea of a BYOD classroom and integrating technology and literature, and my classmate, Bethany, led a great collaborative critical inquiry that provided resources and information to start me on that journey. Sadie led a CCI for nonfiction around the idea of belonging and I was able to create a belonging unit that I will use next year. Dr. Crissman provided countless tips, resources, and connections via her Twitter feed, which I will continue to stalk for ideas in the years to come. I became more comfortable with graphic novels. I discovered new apps. I read great books that made me think. I learned new literacy strategies. I worked hard. If the rest of my experience in State's grad program is anything like this class, I know that I'll end up a much better teacher on the other end.
1 Comment
6/23/2014 03:01:04 pm
"In my pre-course virtual conferences with students I try to encourage them to bring their passions to the coursework. I’ve seen this work beautifully for some students who design their projects so they can feed their passions. Others can’t seem to escape the graduate school survivor angst. Helping them learn to create and enjoy the process may be my biggest challenge."
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