Teaching Reading in S.S. - Final Reflections

Hello again,

As the semester quickly draws to an end I look back and see that is has been quite a great year. I've had the opportunity to learn a lot from all of my professors, I've gotten to know a few of my fellow classmates a little better, we've had some great in-class discussions and educational assignments throughout the semester.

My Teaching Reading in Secondary Schools has definitely been one of the classes that I have gained a lot of very important information from. I found the most interesting assignment that we worked on in class this semester to be the unit on preparing to teach F. Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby. I remember reading this novel back in high school and not being all that enthusiastic about it, but having a chance to come back to the text and re-read in in college has been awesome. Having the chance to evaluate my prior experiences with the novel and apply it to how I would design my classroom instruction for the novel has been a very enlightening and educational experience for me.

I also learned a lot of other, very valuable information from this class that will be very beneficial as a teacher. For instance, the time that we spent studying ways to facilitate more productive classroom discussions will come in extremely handy as a teacher. I felt that it was a very good idea to spend time on this subject. Preferably, I would have liked to have spent even more time diving into that subject a little more in-depth.

We also took a look at the different things that comprise the classic literary canon. It was interesting to study the different elements that define what qualifies a novel as classic canon. It makes me ponder the books that are being published today that will one day be considered classis literary masterpieces. I will be very interested to see what books are required reading in schools by the time I reach retirement. My hope is that in addition to some of the timeless works of writing that students read today we will see some new titles being read and studied in the classroom of the future.

Overall, I would have to say that Dr. Pytash's class, Teaching Reading in Secondary Schools, has been one of the most interesting and enjoyable classes I've had in a long time. This is saying a lot considering that class begins at 7:45am. I learned a lot of very valuable information in this class and had fun while doing it. To Dr. Pytash and all my fellow classmates - thank you for a great semester. Best of luck to all of you in your future endeavors!

I'll close this class's blog with the same sign-off as I have in my Multi-Modal class... You don't have to go homepage, but you can't stay here. And as always, keep it classy Kent State!

-Sam P.