Learning Letter

I think the works we've read in this course provide me with both a wide variety of texts to use in the classroom as well as a large selection of educational resources. In particular, Katie Brown's website will prove useful in finding entertaining and interesting lesson ideas. Since engagement is a common theme in the texts we've read (such as Readicide and I Read It But I Don't Get It), the games and activities she gave us access to seem to be a great way to promote student engagement.
The assignments we've done have also given me a good idea of how to develop appropriate and solid lessons. The unit plan in particular was an exercise in trying to figure out how to connect concepts and learning objectives in singular lessons to an overarching unit with larger goals. The mini lesson also helped me learn how to develop a unit with a small amount of time, and how to teach without a lot of time. Often times teachers will have to use less time than they'd like to teach a concept, so working in such a small amount of time was a development of my teaching skills. The feedback process was also incredibly helpful in showing me what I need to work on and what I do very well, which made the developmental process much easier for me.
My participation in this course gave me a foundation of pedagogical theory that will help me develop my lesson-planning and instructional techniques. While I still have to work on the cultural aspect of education, I have greatly improved in my ability to create lessons and activities for my students that are engaging and culturally responsive. While I do still have a lot of work to do, I think I've come a long way in regards to my abilities in the classroom. I'd say that even in my cooperating classroom placement I've become much more well-rounded as a student teacher.