Okay so I must admit on the first day starting the UNM program when Maxime showed up in the classroom, I was a little weary! The outfit and facial hair didn’t scare me, but the pressure to taste the special flavor in the tea that did not exist was a little nerve racking. Once I was home and able to reflect on this creative character, I was able to understand “his” role and interpret the reason for “his” visit. This was a great ahh haa moment for me and I believe has helped get me ready for a successful semester- I was able to truly understand the importance of reflection! It is through my reflections that I have been able to interpret what I learned this semester.

I list this dimension of learning first because I believe that it is a very crucial part the learning process. Being able to interpret and reflect on all of the other strands of work and dimensions of learning is imperative to being a successful student and teacher. What good is knowledge if you cannot interpret it and apply it to your personal experience? I also believe reflection is critical in a classroom environment. If one does not reflect on what happened during a lesson, how can they realize what works and what doesn’t? How can one improve as a teacher (or anything for that matter) without interpreting what happened and recognizing the strengths and weaknesses? I believe that reflection is a key element for accomplishment in any circumstance and especially in this field.

This semester I have used my ability to reflect as a useful learning tool. I have used reflections to help me when working with the students at Tibbetts, as well as to develop my overall understanding of the material presented in this course.

Communication is vital to succeeding in this class. I am constantly communicating with my instructor and other classmates to help stay on track and informed. I am also continually communicating with the other literature coaches in my group. It is imperative that we stay in tune with each other in order to lead a successful session with the students.

Research has also been an important element in this class. I have conducted research for a number of different assignments including the Genre and Literary Element assignment, Author/Illustrator assignment, collecting information and lesson plan ideas for our literature circles and exploring different literary websites. I have learned a great deal from each dimension of research done thus far, but perhaps the most enjoyable has been my search for fantastic children’s books. I am always on the look out for the next book that will give me shivers from its strength , make me cry from it’s sincerity, leave me appreciative of it’s uniqueness or make me roll on the floor by it’s humor. That is children’s literature at it’s finest!

I believe reading this web page is a great example of this strand of learning. Technology has played a very important role for this class. The ability to post reflections and information all in one place and access it almost anywhere has been a fantastic tool. I have also used my personal website to plan lessons for Tibbetts that allowed the students to follow links from my site to informational sites relating to our book. Me constructing a webpage and creating links- who would have thought it was possible? Not me! I have become more and more familiar with this innovative learning tool and have built confidence in my capabilities. I have no doubt that I will use this technology in my future classroom as a useful tool for my students.

Collaboration

In this class, as with almost every other situation in life, it is important to be able to collaborate effectively with others. In particular, our Tibbetts literature groups must work together as a team in order to conduct a successful session with the students. This can also be applied in our classroom. We all must be willing to cooperate during our short sessions in order get things accomplished.

These are two very important and rather complicated dimensions of learning- mostly because they cannot be taught, but rather acquired through experience. One cannot teach another how to be confident, but can give them opportunities in which they can build their self-esteem. One cannot teach another to be independent, but can leave them solely responsible for their success. During this semester, I have been able to gain confidence while being extremely independent. I believe that these two elements work together. In the beginning I was a little hesitant of the way the class was run. I was overwhelmed by the amount of work that had undefined deadlines. I was always used to an instructor giving an assignment, giving a due date, and having it completed by this designated time. With this class, I was a little nervous with having so much freedom, so much independence. I have since gained the confidence that I need to embrace the independence and realize that I know what I have to do, and that I can accomplish my goals. Creating a flourishing work ethic in which I am persistent and timely has allowed me take responsibility for my learning and in turn gain confidence.

They say “Knowledge is Power” and I must say that I am becoming a pretty powerful student! I learn something useful from this class everyday- whether it is a personal insight while writing a reflection, useful information from literary websites, facts from research, experiences in the classroom, listening to my other classmates experiences or instructor analysis.

Many of my learning, and teaching skills have been tested and strengthened this semester. My organizational skills have improved greatly, as well as my listening skills. I have had to stay extremely organized in order to stay on track, and have developed my listening skills through working in groups.

I have also been able to explore different learning and teaching strategies throughout this semester. I have learned the importance of using past experiences as a useful strategy and am learning which teaching strategies work well, and which do not. One example is described below!

I have used many prior experiences with children’s literature to help be a more successful student. I have previously taken a children’s literature course in which I learned a great deal about the importance of quality literature and used these previous experiences to guide me in my book selection for the book lists and in creating enriched lesson plans for my literature circle.

I have also relied greatly on emerging experiences in the class to develop my teaching abilities. One example can be illustrated by an insightful experience I had at Tibbetts. It was the first official meeting of our literary groups and it started off a little rocky. The students were supposed to read their I am poems to the rest of the group and I asked if there were any volunteers to go first. Of course no one wanted to go first so I asked the girl sitting closest to me if she would like to go first. I received a strong “No.” I then asked the boy sitting on the other side of me if he would go first and once again was told “No.” I felt hopeless. No one was willing to do what I was instructing. Because I had asked the first two students, there was no way that I could tell anyone else that they had to read. I was stuck in an unfortunate situation and didn’t really know what to do (this was clearly a of lack of experience with this age group). Finally, a girl volunteered to read her poem first, then she was able to pick a person to go next and so on. This was a great lesson for me. Instead of asking, I can just simply say “Okay we will start here and move around the circle” or something of that nature. Lesson learned!

Estimated Evaluation of Grade

I believe that I deserve an A+ in this course thus far. I have been present and attentive in all class sessions, participated in class discussions and have been persistent with maintaining a quality webpage. I have developed meaningful and workable lesson plans for my teaching practicum and am learning a great deal from my classmates, instructor and personal reflections.

Suggestions For Future Personal Development

I need to continue to develop my organizational skills and remember to check my email everyday!

Suggestions for Class Activities

I would suggest having a longer class period. No, not really! However it does seem like there is never enough time. I guess my only real suggestion would be to have a stricter schedule for our short meeting times.

Overall I have thoroughly enjoyed this semester so far. I am surrounded by intelligent people that are excited about learning and foster my own personal development. Besides I have a great reason to read a truck load of children’s books! What more could you ask for?!