Reflection

 

This portfolio reflects a lot of hard work.  Not only did it take many hours to complete the final product, it took many hours to do the assigned work within it.  I spent several weeks thinking about, researching, drafting, correcting, and typing each paper, lesson plan, and piece of professional information. I am very proud of the work that I have done.  I feel a sense of accomplishment in being able to look back over all the hard work I did in order to achieve success at the university level.  Southern Arkansas University presented me with a difficult challenge.  This university pushed me into becoming the best English teacher that I could be.  Through several tough classes, grueling assignments, and long hours, I persevered. 

            The professional development portion of this portfolio provides readers with information I believe describes me as a teacher.  Within this section, one can read my resume, philosophy of teaching, rationale for teaching English and Literature, strengths and weaknesses, growth, and what I learned as a teacher.  One can also read about student behaviors that I like and dislike.  The title of professional development truly lives up to its name.  Each piece within this section provides a glimpse of the experiences that I faced during my total educational experience.  My ideas are not based only on the things that I would like to do as a teacher, but also on the things that I like to do as a student.  Everything from my philosophy of teaching to my opinion on student behaviors signifies that I focus on the fun side of learning.  I believe that class must be interesting in order to hold the attention of the students. Because of the Field Experience classes that SAU required, I was able to observe the same attitudes in junior high school students.  Though I know that I cannot run a fun house, make every lesson a blast, or satisfy every student every time, I do believe that I owe it to myself and to the class to try to make class interesting.

            With the idea of fun learning in mind, I will turn to my lesson plans.  I was able to create lesson plans for three classes.  “Speakin’ Up on Idioms” was designed for my Field Experience II class.  “Propaganda” was built for Curriculum.  However, neither these two, nor “Dear Mr. Wilson,” “Grammar Survivor,” or “A Tale of Two Books” could have been created without my Methods and Materials of English class.  This class taught me how to make English teaching a fun position.  From authors such as Susan and Steven Tchudi, Jeffery Wilhelm, and Constance Weaver, I learned several of the trends that English teachers are using to make class more interesting.  Teaching the Writing Process in High School, a book put out by the National Council of Teachers of English, and excerpts from other sources gave me several ideas of techniques to use when creating my own lesson plans.  Needless to say, I was excited to see that many of the techniques discussed in our classroom were the same techniques being used in actual junior high classes that I observed.  In Methods and Materials, we discussed multi-media, group work, and drama. My collaborating teacher incorporated all of these techniques into her lessons.  After reading all of the books and observing those types of lessons first hand, I decided to give them a try. 

My first attempt was “Dear Mr. Wilson,” which was based on an activity that we had done in Methods.  It is a descriptive writing lesson that involves exploring and describing a painting.  I got good comments from my college peers on this lesson.  However, my favorite responses came from the junior high students that I taught.  They were very attentive and never once seemed bored.  The lesson went well, and examples of student work are in this portfolio. 

Though the students liked “Dear Mr. Wilson,” their favorite was “Grammar Survivor.”  After teaching this lesson, I had students coming up to me at Wal-Mart, begging me to teach again.  I really liked that.  It made me feel good.  Though they liked it, I felt that it was my worst lesson.  For one thing, it was only a review lesson.  Though I asked higher-level questions that I was not sure that they would know, most of the questions were reviews of the things I had seen them learn in class.  The bad thing was that I was not sure about many of the answers they gave.  After all, I was only in the classroom for four hours a week. 

            I did not teach my favorite lesson to any field students.  It is actually the last lesson that I did for the Curriculum class.  I chose to teach Propaganda because it is a simple lesson to teach that can be very beneficial to future learning.  Not only could I teach about propaganda as literature, but I could also apply it to the consumer-based propaganda of today.  The lesson involves a simple explanation of types of propaganda, examples of each, and opportunities for students to create their own.  The lesson is interactive and thought provoking.  The students of the Curriculum class, who were not English majors, gave me good reviews.  One comment was, “If I would have had English classes like that in high school, I would have paid more attention.” 

            Though I have good teaching reviews from my classmates, administrators need more. Professional information and lesson plans are very good things to provide administrators when looking for a teaching position but, administrators should be able to see examples of the hopefull teacher's work ethic. Of course, a degree signifies that a person has passed a sufficient amount of courses that qualifies him/her as a professional in a field but, it is always best to provide some concrete examples of the work it took to earn that degree. This way, administrators are more assured that they are hiring a person who will do the job. Therefore, I have included four papers that I wrote to fulfill requirements for my some of classes.  Each paper was included for a purpose.  "Ozark Speech" was included to provide an example of my linguistic knowledge.  This paper hits close to home for me because my family is from the Ozark region.  I remember laughing as I researched for this paper because many of the words and sayings that were written in the books have been used in my family since before I was born.  The paper as it is in this portfolio is not complete.  I decided to edit out the part on Ozark taboo in order to avoid controversy from parents and students.  Though I had written it in a scholarly manner, I was afraid that students might read some of the things within that section, repeat them, and them blame me for teaching those things to them.  Then, I would have to deal with angry parents and administrators.  I do not want that controversy when it can be avoided.

            "On John Ciardi’s 'The Way to the Poem'” showcases my literary theory knowledge.  Not only did I dissect a famed article, listing the different forms of criticism used, but I also formed my own interpretations about the poem in question.  Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” was interpreted differently by Ciardi and me. Where Ciardi saw the poem as being about death, I saw it as being about marriage.  I was very proud of myself for coming up with that interpretation.  Though I do not know that anyone has ever written about that before, I have heard two other men say that they had thought about it. I would like to do some research to see if anyone has published this idea before. If the interpretation holds, it could bring an entirely new line of discussion to all Frost poems.

            The same questions that I have about my Ciardi paper can be applied to "Ah, Paris."  This paper was included to showcase my creative ability.  It is my favorite because, where the Ciardi paper involved some outside research, "Ah, Paris" required none.  It is strictly based on ideas that I had about Prince Paris of Romeo and Juliet.  I did not get the idea from anyone else, nor did I look to get any sources to support it.  Every assumption that I make is based solely on my personal opinion.  Though I enjoyed writing this paper, I also believe that it is the worst written of any paper in the portfolio.  The intent of the paper was to suggest a possible interpretation, not to prove it.  Therefore, the paper includes a lot of jumbled information without any defining proof.  Of course, any paper could be taken or left for what it is, no matter how much support it has.  However, it is always best to have someone else agree.  That way, readers will feel that the writer is not just spouting out his own ideas, but is actually speaking on behalf of others who feel the same way.  I would like to research to see if anyone else agrees with me.  Though I may never rewrite the paper to include other sources, it would be nice to know that I am not the only person with this opinion.

            The last paper included is "Transcending to Jackson Island."  Because of the personal aspects of the other papers, I felt that I needed one to show my true research and writing ability.  I believe that this paper is the best researched and written one in the group.  The professor who assigned the paper recommended two of the sources (Nordloh and Blair) from which I received my information.  The other sources came from references in other books. Besides the relevancy of the sources, the paper is short, to the point, and well organized.  It is interesting and informative.  There is not much in it left open for further research.  Above all the others, it showcases my ability to write a scholarly paper. 

            Though there was a lot of research done for the papers, none of them would have been created without the requirements from SAU professors. If they had not been required, I would never have thought about doing them.  However, because they were required, I did do them, and I am the better for it.  Theses papers each provided me with an added bit of education that I would not have had otherwise.  They also helped me to understand different viewpoints from other scholars. I got better and better with each one.  Now, not only do I know how to write them, but I know how to help improve and grade student papers that I will require. 

            Overall, this portfolio has been very helpful to me to reflect on my progress as a student.  It has also helped me to realize the high quality education that I received from SAU.  Hopefully, administrators, principals, other teachers, parents, and students will be able to read this portfolio and get the same impression that I get from it.  That way, not only will my chances to gain a position somewhere increase, my work will also establish me as a scholar.