EDTL 3100

Reflecting back on this course I believe this is one of the courses I took the most from. Our Professor did an amazing job of introducing us to teaching and made everything seem a little less scary at a time where we did not know what we were doing. She had a way of telling you what you needed to hear and how it really is in a classroom setting without any of the fluff but encouraged us the entire time that we would be able to achieve great things in our careers. I learned a lot from this course and this professor but one thing that stuck out to me was the effort she placed into her lessons. As we would show up every Monday there would always be something on our desks waiting for us for that days lesson or we knew we would be doing some form of fun activity and it made it exciting to go to class. From this course, I will take away my professor’s drive for providing fun and interesting lessons and her ability to provide calmness in tense situations and practice the same traits in my future classrooms as a teacher.

EDLL 3100

One assignment that really stuck out to me was one I did in EDLL 3100, and was one of my first presentations of the program. We each had to pick a literacy strategy and present it to the class like they are an elementary class. I remember being extremely terrified when I first heard the outlines of the project, mostly because I did not know the people in my classes very well yet and was nervous to present in front of them and have to treat them like children. This was my first moment where I kind of got the feel for what it was like to plan a lesson and follow it through. Although extremely nervous before my presentation, I felt really good after. It felt good to put myself out there and really test-run what it feels like to teach. Reflecting back on this moment I am glad I no longer feel nervous to present in front of my peers. I contribute this to getting to know all of them and feeling safe to put myself out there. I look forward to making my future classrooms a space where my students can feel the same way by creating lessons that require students to interact and share ideas.

EDEF 3200

This course I enjoyed because it aligned pretty close with my undergrad and my interests outside of teaching. I found the content of this class to be most valuable and I believe this is the kind of content that should be taught in all programs. I place a high value in understanding one’s self and that means uncovering your own bias, values, and understandings. For the teaching profession, this is extremely important because of the variety of students we are going to have throughout our careers from all different backgrounds and coming to school with different life experiences. This class has taught me the importance of understanding my values, biases, and understandings of the world and understand how that may transfer and affect my teaching and ultimately, my students. This course also highlighted the importance of understanding that my students will be from different socio-economic backgrounds, cultures, and communities and it’s important to incorporate these differences into the classroom and alter my lessons to fit my classes’ needs.