Final Reflection

When signing up for a class that is longer than the usual hour and 15 minutes, I am never very excited. My attention span doesn't last longer than that and the only ones I have ever taken have been the most boring classes. This class was entirely different. I was surprised when I actually wasn't minding the length all that much and was staying engaged the entire time. Everything we learned was so relevant to our careers that is was actually exciting to be in class. I loved how we got to use teaching strategies in our learning process so we could see how a teacher uses them and also from a student stand point. I found so many of them that I can't wait to use in a classroom. I also learned about a lot of young adult books and authors that I had not known about before. This is good because I need to be reading a lot of them so I can suggest them to my students when I am a teacher.

Another thing I loved about the class was the textbook! This is a very weird statement because I have NEVER loved a textbook. I have always dreaded them and put them back up for sale as soon as I was done with them. Not this one. I actually really enjoyed Beers' book. I loved how the beginning and end of every chapter started with a letter to George. I found it really touching and a good insight into the mind of a struggling reader. All of the material in the book was very practical information that I can see using in my classroom, and it was written in a way that wasn't boring and dry like most textbooks. It is one that is going to stay on my bookshelf for quite some time.

All in all, thank you for a wonderful class. The information that I learned will be so valuable to me in the field. I hope that more of my classes in the future can be as good as this class was.

Chapter 14: Finding the Right Book

When I read a Ya novel (which I do most of the time I am reading), I am constantly thinking to myself, "Wow, all young adults would love this book!" After reading this chapter, I was shocked to see how very wrong I was. There is so much thought that has to go into suggesting a book for a student, because we can't just tell them what we like and expect them to like it too.

This chapter was really nice because it went through the different genres of YA novels and specifically said what most reluctant readers are looking for. I think this is really important to know, as well as knowing you students individually, when suggesting a book. I also really like the suggestions of how to sell books to our students. I am really excited to have my own classroom where I can give book talks to my students and take them to the library. After reading this chapter, I feel much more prepared to recommend books to young adults.

Chapter 13: Creating the Confidence to Respond

During this chapter, one example in particular put the whole subject of students' confidence in perspective for me. It was when Beers was talking about a workshop that she did where she asked educators to share with the rest of the people their responses. They were hesitant to do so and when asked why replied that they were afraid to be wrong and be embarrassed. Beers responds, "So, how are those feelings different from the feelings your students have in your classroom?" This is such an eye opening question. Teachers get so frustrated when students don't want to answer, but do they ever think about why the students choose to remain silent.

What I really got out of this chapter is that we need to make it our job to make students feel comfortable in our classroom, whether it is from put-downs or with reading confidence. I loved the example used to demonstrate how to stop put-downs in the classroom. The bell idea was great! It really made students understand how often they were using them without even realizing it.

It was also very nice to know that their are stages to literary appreciation. This can help when selecting books that might interest different young adults. It also can explain why some YA are getting more out of certain books than others.

Chapter 10: Fluency and Automaticity

Once again, this chapter has made me grateful to be blessed with the the ability to read well and want to help those that cannot. It reiterated the need for reading in the classroom. I want to set time apart in my classroom each day for this and hope that I can remember to do this. Two of the methods that Beers talked about I really liked. The first one is to improve knowledge of high-frequency words and sight words. The index card idea was great. That way students can have individual words they can be working on depending on their reading level. If you have a very diverse classroom this is great. Students at a low reading level can use the cards for high-frequency words while those that are good at reading can use them for vocabulary words and less frequent words they find while reading.

The other suggestion that struck me as very important was that teachers should prompt and not correct. I have always found myself not knowing what to do when a student doesn't know a word and struggles with it. I always correct. Many times I have not even had that student say the word after I correct them; they just go on with the rest of the sentence. I see now how important it is not to do this. We need to help our students develop the skills to understand these words without us giving them the answers.