Final Reflection

Wow! I can't believe this semester is already coming to an end. Looking back to the beginning I can see how much I've grown this semester. If you had asked me at the beginning of this semester if I was excited about the idea of creating a blog, I'd have said no. But after blogging for an entire semester I am amazed that I've never had to do this before. Not only did I read tons of books over the semester, but blogging allowed me to hear the thoughts of my peers and other people. I was able to receive comments that agreed with my thoughts, and ones that disagreed. Both of which were really helpful. In addition to receiving comments this blog allowed me to check out the books my peers were reading, which allowed me to understand the gist of books I didn't event read. This was a great tool, and I feel that my knowledge and personal library of children's literature has expanded greatly.
In addition to the blogs I love our classroom discussions. They have all been wonderful, and helped me truly understand that the role of a teacher is to be someone who both teaches and learns. I also love how the topics discussed are ones that aim at accepting all the students in the classroom, and making sure they feel comfortable in the classroom. I also loved the discussions that talked about the messages that are sent through our language and what we say. Such as, "Bring this home to your mom and dad", or How TV week is a classist, and how to address other difficult topics that may come up in the classroom and school setting.
In addition to great discussions I can honestly say that our class projects have all been extremely useful, and I can see using some of these projects as resources in my future classroom. The glogs and text sets are ones that I will definitely incorporate in my classroom. I also have a much better understanding of the various genres, and that it is important to cover a varitey of books in the classroom.
I have really enjoyed this class a lot, and I think one of the most important things I've learned this semester is that reading is reading, whether it's a comic book, manga, newspaper article, goofy chapter book, or a magazine. If students are reading that's what is important!