Caroline Ledeboer – Final Reflection

This class was my favorite class that I had this semester. I love to read, so I was initially very excited about all the books and reading that you had set up for us. From the beginning, I was the most excited about the series portion of the class because of how excited I was to read Divergent. On the other hand, I was absolutely dreading the poetry section of the class. Poetry scared me so much that I literally didn’t want to come to class the week that we did it. It’s something that I never thought I could do and that I’m not good at. I also haven’t been exposed to it very much in my life, which doesn’t help. After the poetry section, I far surpassed all of my standards and expectations of myself. I am so glad that we had the opportunity to read Wishes, Lies, and Dreams because it completely changed my view of poetry. I learned that ANYBODY could write poetry. You don’t even need to be creative. My favorite idea that I got from this book was the idea of having all of your students contributing a single word or idea from a common theme and creating a poem out of it.

I have also learned that I enjoy graphic novels. I never would have known that if it weren’t for taking this class. I would have never even opened a graphic novel book. I didn’t like them when I was younger, so I figured why would I like them now. Well, I was wrong once again. I loved the genre study section of this class. Granted, I read a children’s graphic novel series, Lunch Lady, and it was absolutely hilarious; but I also got the opportunity to glance at a few classmates graphic novel books that they had. I truly think that this is such a cool way of reading, especially for kids. And definitely for kids that think they don’t like to read. I had a really fun time during that portion of the class.

Overall, through taking this class I have learned to open my eyes and keep an open mind to different kinds of literature. Not everyone likes the same things, especially children, and that is something that I have to always remember. The best way to teach a class is to be educated on every type of literature because if you are knowledgeable on all different kinds, then you will be able to recommend readings to your students easier. If you can recommend these books to your students because you know the type of book and your know your student well enough, then they will be more likely to read. If they like these books then you could have started a life-long reading habit for them.

In conclusion, I feel that I got everything and more out of this class that I was expecting. I had a lot of fun throughout the semester and feel that I made great friends and connections with new peers. You had a way of connecting all of us and I appreciate your passion and influence that you had on our class J