Reality...

For the past year and a half, I have been working as an elementary ELL (English-language learner) Teacher's Assistant while attending classes to become a certified teacher. Today, I turned in my letter of resignation to my principal effective after winter break. I did this because as soon as I return from "winter break" I will begin my student teaching placement. This was a bittersweet moment. For a year and a half I have been raving about how badly I want my own classroom. I love my current position, but there is definitely something to be said for eliminating my label as assistant. Usually I do not think the day can come fast enough when I have my own classroom and can carry out all the language arts lessons I envision.

However, sometimes I think that I might not be ready for this. Now, the perfectionist and overachiever inside of me constantly points out that I would never be satisfied if I were to remain an assistant. But then I wonder if I have all the tools necessary to be the sole teacher in a classroom. I guess only time will tell...

The Odyssey

I recently finished rereading The Odyssey by Homer for a class for my teaching certification. I read it for the first time when I was a sophomore in high school, about eight years ago. I have always loved reading, especially challenging, "classic" books. However, I have a distinct memory of absolutely despising The Odyssey. I remember misinterpreting multiple parts of the story and being strongly opposed to sitting down to do the assigned readings. However, reading The Odyssey the second time around gave me a newfound appreciation for it. I saw it as a well-crafted and interesting story, not to mention well-written. This makes me wonder about high school reading assignments. Perhaps it was because it was assigned reading that I did not like it, but then again, it was an assignment this time around too. Perhaps I did not like The Odyssey the first time because I did not understand it.

This makes me question the idea of assigning challenging books to high school (or middle school) readers. For the eight years in between my first reading and second reading of The Odyssey, I had the mindset that this was a terrible book. Maybe I simply read it too young before my mind could comprehend such a complicated text. So, where does this leave me as an English teacher? Do I never assign my students challenging texts or do I accept the fact that they probably will not understand/appreciate the texts I assign? Or do I simply find some magical way to ensure that every single one of my students loves Homer?! Not an easy task...

Technology in an English Classroom

During an observation last week at Deerfield High School, I overheard a freshman student telling her teacher that something had gone wrong with her "forum post" for that week. After the student left, I told the teacher I had overheard part of the conversation and asked her what they were talking about. She told me that the class had an online forum in which the students were able to respond to teacher prompts and occasionally converse with each other over the web. I then explained to her how I was utilizing a similar forum in one of my teacher-certification classes. The teacher seemed so excited about the possibilities the forum presented to her students, both in terms of content and simply becoming familiar with the technology.

Next week for the same certification class in which I am partaking in the online forum, I am doing a "hot topic" presentation on the use of technology in English classrooms. In my opinion, it seems like this topic should not even be up for discussion. Given the artistic nature of the subject of Language Arts, the possibilities for incorporating technology into the curriculum seem endless. Furthermore, when taking into account the multiple intelligences, technology seems to be the perfect medium in which to appeal to various learning styles, such as visual and auditory, to name just a few.

One of my main goals as a Language Arts teacher will be to consistently introduce to my students new ways to use technology to assist them with their study of the subject. Some technologies I see being extremely beneficial in the classroom include Podcasts, online discussion forums, audio books, and countless computer programs created for just that purpose. As a (hopefully) soon-to-be teacher, I feel it is my responsibility to build up my knowledge in all of these technologies, as well as others, to make myself the best possible teacher for this highly technological generation of students.