MIDTERM REFLECTION

Five Dimensions of Learning

1. Confidence and independence
2. Knowledge and Understanding
3. Skills and strategies
4. Use of prior and emerging experience
5. Reflection

LLSS 443 Midterm

Summary

The purpose of our children's literature class is to provide opportunities to read quality children's literature as a self-motivated learner in a project-based learning setting in acquiring a repertoire of children's literature for engaging children for aesthetic and efferent reading purposes.

Stories are the heart and breath of this course and everything else extends from this human storytelling center.

The invitation for growth, discovery and learning are:

• Creating individual websites to house our own intellectual property generated (inspired) during our course-
• at means of shared communication
• Weekly highlights - capturing our learning journey as a recorded history from week to week.
• Weekly Email - maintaining correspondence in between sessions for updates, clarification and reminders.
• Booklist- indulging in wide variety of children's literature
• Project-based-working with Tibbett Middle School Penny Smith's sixth graders in Literature Circles
• Literature Circles-reading strategy for reader response, to literature and comprehension and scaffolding learning and growth
• Author/Illustrator/Genres/Literary Elements- invitations to explore literary content
• Reflections- personal and working with sixlets
• Creative Drama - character play and opportunities to improvise stories
• Guest Speakers- Uma Krishnaswami and Tom Rago
• Farmington Public Library, Storytelling Festival & PRIME TIME-opportunities to experience stories in different settings outside the classroom.

REMAINING SEMESTER

• Topics to address: censorship, psychology of illustration, awards, hero's journey/story forms, Chautauqua & Jeopardy
• Facilitation of literature circles with sixth graders and mutually nurture an effective communicative community interacting with comprehension strategies, sharing experiences and stories; negotiating what they read with others and themselves; extend their learning and understanding of literature circles to creating a DVD for their peers.                                          

Evaluation

I model high expectations and the need to learn beside students in a continual problem-solving process. I expect the best from students because they expect it from themselves.

After the midterm, I will focus on the progress of individual websites more to assess quality and accuracy content.

Something very important is for students not to become stymied in the old teaching paradigm of learning. As educators we need to explore and push the boundaries of how we currently teach in the system, known as school. I strongly encourage pre-service educators to explore and risk beyond their comfort zones (for that is really where learning occurs) and become interested, curious learners about others as well as yourself. Only then will you and can you become better educators of young minds. Teaching involves constant exploration and discovery-continual CHANGE, in other words! Be receptive to otherness, differences, ambiguity and to being enthusiastic about learning yourself!

I hope by now students are becoming comfortable with my teaching/guiding style. I look forward to getting to know them better as we play with our characters more and even do a Chautauqua experience! As children, we learn through play!