Over the course of this semester I have learned so much about what it means for students to truly grown and learn in my content area. 

There are a few specific things that have really made an impact on me. 

Those things are:

-Every student is an individual and should be treated as such

-Using critical literacy to help students think and form opinions on their own

-Using technology to support the topics you are teaching

and

-Finding interesting texts for my students that will make them want to learn more.

I believe that every student has individual power and that if we are able to discover those powers and help students to understand them that they will be able to make a big impact on the world. 

Also, every student has different learning styles and different interests. It is our responsibility as educators to acknowledge these differences and tailor our lessons to fit these differences. We cannot simply teach the same lesson for every class or every student because that it is what is easier. 

It is also our responsibility to acknowledge cultural differences and help students to understand the different backgrounds that are present in our classrooms and how to support them.

Critical Literacy is something that I have always thought is very important in a classroom. One of the most important things for me when it comes to teaching is allowing students to form opinions on their own and discover who they want to be as a person. Students can often times be influenced by the people around them, which can be good or bad. However, I want my students to decide what is right and wrong for themselves.

Technology is something that I think is very interesting to use in the classroom. I don't think I will use it all of the time but I think it can be a great support. I believe it is important to find situations where technology can enhance the experience of the students and help them to learn more or grow more. If this situation presents itself then I think it is important to allow that growth to happen. I also think that technology should be used widely in the homework for classes. Students are so attached to their technology now that finding ways to integrate it into your homework assignments it allows them to access it wherever they are and they are more likely to complete things in a timely fashion. 

For one of my projects this semester I completed a text set for a class that is preparing to perform "Diary of Anne Frank." My text set included different genres, from graphic novels to government texts, and different reading levels, from basic picture books to books that were written for a high college reading level. As I was creating the text set I was sucked in. I wanted to read every book that I put on there and I wanted to be able to find more and more books, magazines, websites, etc. that I could add to my list to make it more exciting and comprehensive. I think this type of activity has great power for students. Whether they are creating their own text set or simply being allowed to choose their reading from a text set like the one I created it gives them the power to learn what they want to and how they want to learn it. This is something that I think would be very exciting for students.

I am grateful for all of the things that I have learned this semester in our class. I believe it is one of the most beneficial education classes I have ever taken. We learned how to help our students grown and become the best individuals that they can be by finding their individual powers which is something that I have always wanted to do but was never sure how to execute it. Now I have the tools that I need to create the type of classroom that I have always dreamed of.