Pytash- Final Reflection

It is hard to believe that the semester is almost over. Our class has really helped me become more confident with my teaching skills as I approach student teaching. Before this class, I had never written a lesson plan, and that bothered me. It was nice finally getting to do this. I think it really helped doing this with a text that most schools have their students read and that we will most likely teach in our careers. It gave me a much better handle on the text we read and made me see how I can do this with other texts. It was also really nice to see the groups present their lesson plans to get different ideas on how to present the text.

Just like last semester, we had a pretty good textbook. I didn’t enjoy reading this book like I did Beer’s text, but I did learn a lot from it. I liked how she had an example for everything she was talking about and shared lessons and activities she used when teaching a text. I found that I didn’t agree with her on everything. After spending so much time looking at YA novels last semester, I was kind of upset at her feelings toward the genre, and I thought she was a little extreme at times in her opinions at times. Overall, however, I think reading the book was beneficial.

Comparing this class to last semester’s class, I must say that I did prefer YA lit to this one. This, however, had nothing to do with the teaching style or activities. I just liked the subject matter better last semester. I did learn so much, though, and I definitely feel more prepared for student teaching because of this class.