Reflection – Kristie Weibling

ENGL 341 was a class I always looking forward to coming to. I was absent for one class, and not being able to go was disappointing. One of my goals as a teacher is for my students to feel similarly about my class.

 

This semester, I learned that I can appreciate books from a variety of genres. The genres and books I chose to read weren’t always ones I would choose for my own enjoyment, but I could see my future students liking them, so I read on. One of the important points I came across in this class was that students are capable of forming their own opinions on literature, and we can be their to guide them. During our graphic novels unit, I learned about and agreed with Rocco Versaci’s view that “we should not force our opinions of what qualifies as literature on our students. I can certainly see this causing students to resent what we’re telling them to appreciate, and… we can do better by them by helping them to form their own opinions” (Weibling).

 

Sometimes I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed a genre genres, such as graphic novels and poetry. Having a say in what books I read in each genre was beneficial. I’ve never enjoyed assigned reading so much; in fact, it didn’t often feel like required reading. I learned that allowing students to make choices from a selection of books is a great way to assign reading while still giving students a say. I feel the same about our gallery walks. The freedom to come up with our own ideas for projects allowed me to discover more of a knack for creative projects than I’d thought I had, and I felt like we were doing our projects for ourselves and to share our love of reading.

 

I felt challenged by some of the units this semester. I surprised myself by writing riddles and even not-so-bad poetry. I also learned how I can use technology in my classroom. I proud to have learned how to use SoundCloud, how to create a website, and how text alerts can be used to touch bases with parents and teachers.

 

In this class, I got to witness firsthand the importance of community in the classroom. I’d never been in a book club before, and it was a fantastic experience. Through our reading groups, I got to know my classmates, and it was beneficial to bounce ideas off each other. Overhearing other groups’ enthusiasm for their books made me want to read theirs as well. I’d like for my students to have similar experiences. I expect I’ll be reading a lot this summer!

 

Thank you to you, Kim, and to all of my classmates for a memorable, worthwhile semester! I’ll miss our fun discussions and book chats. :)