When we were told at the beginning of this course that our final project included the completion of no less than 15 EdTPAs, my brain began spiraling into a state of insanity. However, upon the final moments of putting together my unit plan, I was filled with a sense of accomplishment that I feel so rarely. It was a wondrous feeling deep within my chest, the feeling that I will be a teacher someday. Until this quarter, I had known that I was on the path towards becoming a teacher but the thought had never quite made the deep connection. However, now that I have experienced writing more lessons and actually teaching some of them, I now fully realize that I am going to be a teacher soon. Throughout this course, many of the lessons we have done have helped me to come to this realization. I think that the most helpful of the lessons we have done were the Unit Plan, and the Mini Lesson.
While the unit plan was a horrible gauntlet of torture, it was also an incredibly valuable experience that I am glad I had the opportunity to partake in. It gave me the opportunity to really see what I could do as a future educator. I had never thought of how difficult it is to put together an entire unit, and my already massive respect for teachers has grown much larger because of it. The mini lessons were also incredibly valuable to me because they showed us what we were doing well as teachers, and some specific things that we can improve upon. Having the discussion at the end of the mini lessons is a brilliant idea. It is a fantastic resource to have the chart created by the discussion at your disposal, as it allows you to immediately improve your teaching skills.
The book talks were another item on this course's list that gave me some experience in front of the classroom. However, that is not entirely where I feel they were most valuable. While it was good to stand in front of the class and talk about my book of choice, what I thought was truly of import was viewing my classmates presentations. Seeing their book choices allowed me to expand my library of books that I may be able to one day use in my classroom. It was good to see so many books that I had never read before and be able to add them to my list. One day, perhaps some of them will be taken into my own future classroom and help me to shape my students' learning.
Aside from the actual paperwork for this course, another thing I found to be of significant value was the lessons on inclusion of popular culture, and social justice in the classroom. I had never considered the importance of these two aspects of modern life in a classroom setting. I recall experiencing them within my own education, but had never thought much more of it. I had not realized how inclusion of popular culture in lessons helped to gather my attention to the topic. Now that my eyes have been opened to the many possible uses of popular culture and social justice as a tool for the classroom, I have found yet another tool to add to my arsenal when it comes to actually teaching.
When I started this course, I had little idea of what it meant that I was going to be a teacher. I didn't truly understand exactly what it was that teachers do aside from standing in front of some people and talking for an hour. However, now that I have had the opportunity to complete this course, my idea of what it means to be a teacher has developed more thoroughly. I now have at least a small idea of what it is going to be like to stand in front of my own classroom someday and teach them lessons that I myself wrote.
