Final Course Reflection and Prezi Presentation

Course Review and Reflection:

            For the course EDLI 635: Theory and Practice of Literary Instruction, I learned a wealth of valuable information and strategies that will help me in my future career as a classroom teacher. Overall, the class was informative and helped me feel better prepared to complete the rest of my courses at NYIT and work towards my initial teacher certification. The syllabus, assignments, and discussions with our classmates all helped keep the course organized and engaging.

            The syllabus covered all the basic information we would need to know when taking this course. Course goals, assessment format, and grading formula were all easy to understand and refer to as needed. When I begin a course, reading a syllabus in full can be overwhelming for me to see the whole semester at once. However, it was an excellent resource to refer to when I had questions about weekly assignments or grading throughout the semester. The timeline was helpful but could have been more detailed as opposed to just listing links, which I was not able to get to work. I also would have liked to see clear guidelines on all the larger assignments, with more detail provided on each. Overall, the syllabus was helpful but a bit confusing at times, because I had trouble with clear and concise expectations. I was able to use it for what I needed throughout the course and having the option to start a thread under “questions about syllabus” on the blackboard to get help from peers if the instructor was unavailable.

            I found many assignments this semester to be useful in future planning and instruction. One of the most valuable assignments in this course was working on the blog. The blog was a great way to post your own work, view others, and build community where our classmates could help provide feedback. I can see myself using a blog in my future classroom because I think it’s a great way to provide opportunities to write to an authentic audience, and create an environment where the students feel comfortable sharing their writing. When I had questions on an assignment, or wasn’t sure how to proceed, it was nice to be able to see the direction other students took on the blog to help clarify and make me feel more confident about my work. I also enjoyed taking a running record and performing a miscue analysis during field observation. The suggested outline was difficult for me to follow for this assignment, but I was still able to complete the assignment as well as a lesson based on the assessment results. Another assignment I really enjoyed was creating a phonics lesson. I think writing the lessons and conducting a running record and miscue analysis were the types of assignments that were most helpful because they can be translated to other classes and a future career. The discussion board assignments we had to complete where we would have to watch videos, read articles and reflect weren’t as helpful to me as the other assignments. Some of the work felt a little like busy work, so maybe I just wasn’t able to make a strong enough connection between the blackboard assignments and how to apply those to future teaching. However, I will go back to visit these articles and videos in the future to help design instruction so I’m glad they were included as part of the course work.

            The discussions I had with my cooperating teachers, and other ELA teachers, was an important part of this course. I find that having conversations with people who have been in the profession and have real experiences are the best people to turn to for questions or just conversation in general. What I found most interesting was the fact that there were so many different approaches to ELA instruction in the same school. Some teachers incorporated technology more than others, where some stuck to print text books and paper worksheets. Being able to see these different approaches helped me to collect ideas and strategies I will apply to my own ELA instruction. I enjoyed discussions between classmates. I think that having the discussion forum helped me feel comfortable sharing my work and I liked the feedback from my classmates. At times the conversation did feel forced because we were required to respond to a certain number of posts or classmates, but I really appreciated being able to share concerns or ask questions and know that I was not the only one with the same problems or concerns.

            Overall I really enjoyed this course. I came away with great resources and strategies that will help me be a good classroom teacher, especially in ELA instruction and with ELLs. The only thing I would say could have been better was if we could have received grades throughout the semester. It also would have helped to receive specific feedback on assignments, as opposed to a general statement made on blackboard to the entire class.

Prezi Presentation: EDLI 635 What I have Learned