So What? Reflection

Throughout this course, I have learned so many things about myself as a reader as well as a future teacher and about how to read through the lens of a teacher. I have learned how to reevaluate my thinking and analyzing process when considering books for my classroom library, and I have learned what it means to have a classroom library. Before this class, I hadn't really thought about having a classroom library of my own, but now I cannot picture myself not having one in my future classroom. What matters to my future students and classroom work is that I can help guide my students through their reading. This class has helped me learn how to do this. It also matters that I can decide what books are best to be read as a whole class or as an independent read. 

I think I have struggled the most with is staying on top of all of the reading because, before this class, my reading for pleasure had taken the back burner to read books for my classes in undergrad. Yes, I read these books for this course, but the difference is that I chose the books to read, which made me enjoy the reading process again. Before this course, I had started to fall out of love with the process of reading because the majority that I was reading were academic articles, which are not fun. I still remembered how much I enjoyed reading for fun, but I never had the time to do so, and when I did have time, reading wasn't on the top of my list of things to do. This course helped me get back in the groove of reading novels for enjoyment, and I hope to pass my love for reading along to my future students. 

The ideas that were shared throughout this course of how to engage students in reading, such as doing an alternative project to the book report or having a reading ladder for each individual student (if they want one), are ones that will definitely inform my decision on what I do next. I know that not everyone loves to read, but throughout this course, I have learned that the right book and the right attitude can change that. Also, the idea of having a classroom library influences how I will proceed with my reading because I am going to try to read toward books to include in it. Based on this, I will definitely be a teacher who reads because I think it will help me relate more with my students and show them that I understand who they are as a person when I can recommend a book to them that they end up loving.  

This course has helped me understand the YA genre on a deeper level, but I think the thing that I benefit from subsequent courses would be how to distinguish a class read versus an independent read and how to gauge what novels would be best for your curriculum.

I'm most eager to read the rest of Marie Lu's Young Elites series since I haven't had time to do so since I read the second novel in the series. Once I am done with that series, I'm not sure what I will read but I can't wait to peruse the isles of a bookstore to find a new novel.