Final Review

What a semester, well I read a lot a children's books, which is actually something that I kind of missed out on as a child. When I was growing up I was so concerned with reading "the classics" of literature that I neglected all the wonderful books aimed at kids. Lately, reading children's books have become a guilty pleasure that I can simply call "professional research" as I wait for lectures to begin. I feel like I learned a lot from this class just from reading children's books, there are just so many more options that I am now aware of for lesson plans and literature groups, plus it has reignited my love for reading! In these last four months of this semester, it has occurred to me that while reading is important, that this class could stand alone in teaching prospective teachers about reading. Block A is very informational and all, but I feel that it has placed too much importance on measuring child ability level rather than finding quality literature in which to model to students how to read and find solid jumping off points for in depth text based units. I am not trying to dump on block A, I am simply stating that I am glad that this class is used to fill in the crucial points that it has missed. Perhaps the best part was the prompt to review all this children's literature, and begin forming opinions and insight to how I can use these books in my own classroom, it's all very exciting.