Valentin Kucheryaviy
Learning Letter
This class was a great learning experience
for me. It changed my view on teaching English and I learned a lot about the
EdTPA. The articles we got in class ended up being very useful for my unit
plan. I got a lot of ideas on how to create classroom activities. One of the
most important things I learned is that the teacher is the least important
person in the classroom. The teacher should not focus on the information he has
to teach the students, but focus on the students and their needs. This class
consisted of blogs, book talks, mini-lesson, and a 3 week unit plan.
The blog were very helpful because
they made me think deeper about the articles we had to read. They made me think
about the teaching theories the articles touched on. I got to also read what my
colleagues had to say about the article and then we discussed them in class as
well. We talked a lot about discussion. Discussion is an important teaching strategy
and it can be done in so many ways. I personally liked how the teacher can
create group discussions and assign students their role in the discussion. Every
time I came to class I felt that I was prepared because of the blogs. I liked
sharing posts with other people and hear what they had to say.
The book talks were very interesting,
because of the wide variety of books. I even ended up watching the movie the
Outsiders after Michael’s presentation. I loved the ways people thought they
can use their books in the classroom. Some of the books I never even heard of
and seemed really interesting. Some of the books I read for fun and never
thought about how they could be used in the classroom.
My favorite part of the class was
the mini-lessons. Before this class I didn’t have much experience with English
lessons and I got a lot of ideas after the mini-lessons. I liked how everyone
chose different age groups and had different ways of teaching a text. It made
me think more about teaching English. I feel a lot more prepared to teach English
after the mini-lessons. I got to know my strengths and my weaknesses.
The 3 week unit plan was the first
time I had to create a unit. I had to think of a way to link all my lessons
together. I never created 15 lesson plan focused on the same text and having a different
assessment every day. This assignment was definitely a challenge.
This class is the kind of class that
you get out of it how much you put in. I came into this class with an open mind
to learn different strategies on how to teach English. I learned the importance
of making the classroom more student focused and meaningful. Also I got to
exchange ideas with a lot of the other students, so I learned how to work my colleagues.
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