Last Blog of the Semester

What have you learned about yourself as a teacher (or future teacher) of adolescent literature (or English) in this class? What strategies will you take from this class to apply in either the Methods course next semester or your own English classrooms?
I have learned that I really enjoy teaching novels to students. Especially when I know they are stories that maybe the students can relate too. I know that it won't be easy, though. Trying to make up lesson plans for my methods class can be hard at times for me. I find a story that I want to teach, but then I don't know how to go about it. I like the idea of the fishbowl to create a discussion, and I also like the literature circles. Both of these things can be beneficial to a classroom, because they provide different ways for students to participate in the classroom.
I have also learned that teaching literature can be tricky, but if it is done in the correct way, it can be successful. After the scenarios were given to us in class the other week, I also learned that there are many situations that I will not be prepared for. I will have to do my best to be as organized and prepared as possible, but I know that there will still be instances that will occur. I just have to be ready for them.

What books resonated the most with you? The least? Why? Which selections do you think should be kept/removed from the class?
The books that come to mind as my favorite were Speak, Monster, American Born Chinese, and Book Thief. These are books that I could see myself teaching in a classroom, because I think there can be a lot of useful information that I can pull out of them. I would definately like to incorporate American Born Chinese, Monster, and Book Thief into my multicultural literature unit (or however I teach it). These stories offer so much about cultures that a lot of students may not be aware of. Even Persepolis would be interesting to teach.
Books that I would probably not teach in the classroom are Forever, Boys Meets Boy, Twilight, and Harry Potter. It's not because I didn't like these novels, because for the most part I did. However, as far as Twilight and Harry Potter go, these novels are ones that students read for pleasure. To bring them into the classroom could make them not enjoy reading them anymore. However, it could also have the adverse affect, and students could be excited that they can analyze the books that they like to read for fun. I just think that I could find other novels that would cover the same topic. I don't think I would like to teach Forever or Boys Meets Boy, because I had a hard time finding anything that could be worth while teaching. I know that we discussed talking about sex and things like that, but (and this is just my opinion) I believe that my job is there to teach literature. I feel like students would be more beneficial learning about stuff like this in a health class. I don't want to sound completely cold hearted. If my students wanted to talk to me about any of these issues, I would be willing to listen and do my best to answer any questions they might have. I just don't know how I would feel teaching on something like this as a whole, though.

Would it have been more helpful for you to read "classic" or traditional texts alongside the adolescent novel? For example, would reading To Kill A Mockingbird (a frequently taught text in the secondary schools) alongside Monster have yielded more realistic approaches for using adolescent literature in the classroom?
I think that this could be done for some stories. It could be beneficial for students to read stories that were written a while ago and compare them with stories written today. They could look for similarities and differences between the two, and I think that would be a good topic to lead to discussion. I don't think that this should be done for every text, though, because that would be a lot for students. Unless I was only planning on covering a small amount of text for the course of the year. To read two stories each time could be a lot on students. I definately think that it has it's place in the classroom, but not necessarily all the time.
What are your perceived strengths as a teacher of literature at this point? What remaining weaknesses or anxieties do you have regarding teaching literature (or teaching students!) How might this class have better helped you to address these concerns?
I feel like I can relate well to students (younger kids). I definately don't want to be one of those teachers that students are affraid to approach because they are intimidated. I have had several professors like that, and I don't feel like I learned anything from them. I want students to feel comfortable enough to ask for help and right now, I think I have the kind of personality for that (at least I think). I still get nervous when I get up in front of a class, because I am afraid that I am going to mess up or the students will be completely bored and uninterested. That causes problems for me, but I do feel like I can see that I have grown a little more over time. Hopefully, after student teaching, it will be gone for the most part. As I said before, I have a hard time coming up with lesson plans and knowing what will work and what won't. I know that that is something that I will learn over time, though. I don't consider myself horrible, but I know that I have a long way to go.

Was the group-teach a valuable experience for you? What was beneficial? What was frustrating? What did you learn about yourself in this experience. Should this experience be included in future classes?
The group teach was fun, but it was also kind of hard. Trying to find a time to meet with everyone's different schedules and things like that was very hard. However, we did manage to get it done. Although it was nice to have group members to help, I think it would have been more beneficial if we could have done something on our own, because we will be on our own as teachers. I think everyone can agree that if we would have taught by ourselves, we could have come up with everything that we wanted to do, and been able to show our prescence more.
Overall, though, I still had a fun time watching everyone present. Everyone came up with great ideas in their lessons. Some that I will take away and probably use in my own classroom. I think it would be more beneficial if students could do something by theirselves, however, pairing up might not be too bad.

Skim through the blogs you wrote this semester. Was creating your own blog and responding to the literature in this blog each week a valuable activity for you? Why/why not? Would you consider using a blog with your own students?
I like the blog activities, because we were able to see other peoples opinions about a certain topic before we got to class that night. It's always nice hearing other people's ideas, too, because sometimes there were things brought up that I would have never thought of. Overall, I thought the blog activity was a valuable aspect to the coarse. I think that, for the most part, we all enjoyed it. I would consider using it in my class if we had enough computers in the class or we had a lab to go to. I doubt that I would have students blog if there were only one or two computers in the classroom. That could take a while.
What recommendations or suggestions do you have for the content of this course. Was anything missing that you felt would have better prepared you? What was valuable to you overall? Feel free to address any other areas that may not have been raised here as well.
I liked that you taught us in different styles that we could use in out future classes. That was really beneficial to me and I learned a lot from that. I also like having a couple discussion leaders every week. This could be a good way to get students more involved, and that way they aren't hearing me lecture about it all the time. Overall, I had a really good time in this class and I learned a lot.
I know with a lot of students, it is hard to have them all teach on their own, but that would probably be my only suggestion. Maybe instead of having them teach a whole class period, have them create a lesson for an hour or a little more. I also know that there will probably be more students than books, but several students could teach a lesson about the book. There are som many things that can be done, that I'm sure they would come up with something different.