Learning Letter

Dear Sean,

I have had a wonderful time this quarter growing as a student and as a future teacher.  Through this class I have become aware of my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher.  Now that I am aware of some of those strengths and weaknesses I can focus on growing even more to become a better teacher.

I enjoyed the book talks.  I loved learning about the different books that were presented in class and realized I had not had the chance to read most of the books that were presented.  During my own presentation, I was unsure on how to connect and expand on the points that needed to be covered.  The guidance given allowed for me to grow in my decision making skills for books to use in the classroom.

The lesson plans were a great experience.  All of the professors I have had say something different about writing TPA lesson plans.  The advice you gave was more helpful and direct than I have had.  This has allowed for me to grow in my lesson plan writing skills.

The Unit Plans were the most difficult for me.  I had no idea on how to connect lessons together in a sequence.  I gave it a go.  I also, found that I like to read to my students and have discussions with them.  I learned that I feel discussion is an important part of reading any text to help create a better understanding.  But I also learned that I do not like doing similar activities for too many days in a row.

I was glad we got to discuss and learn about how standardized testing was first implemented.  I had never done any research into it before this class.  I also was able to take many different concepts about reading from the different books we discussed in class.  I will be using some of those strategies in my own classroom.

Thank you for a wonderful quarter,

Dez