I chose the title of my blog because it feels like such a short period of time ago that I was reading and discussing Wilhelm's strategies in _You Gotta Be the Book_, and now it's almost over. I think it feels like such a short time ago because every week, whether it was the articles or books assigned for reading, they're fresh in my head. I attribute all this to how much of the learning and reading I have internalized in this journey so far. If I had to guess how this class would be without taking it, I never would have guessed I would learn so many diverse perspectives to take when teaching literature. So much material of importance has been breeched in this classroom that I feel that I would never run out of possibilities in how to differentiate my classroom to initiate learning - and if I do exhaust all the materials discussed, I would learn to always try out a new piece of technology or form of literature in the classroom. I think this class definitely helped broaden my horizon on how to teach outside of the box in the classroom so certain methods don't become redundant over time, and moreover, that we are willing to take a sometimes unorthodox approach to teaching, because it just may be the hidden key we needed all along but couldn't step outside of our comfort zone.
When I reflect back on Wilhelm's writings, to the mangas, to articles about activism in the classrooms, and every other reading I had, they all hold a lot of merit to me. Each piece of literature examined, I thought it held a very important theme that could be adopted in the classroom. For example, like Wilhelm and countless other educators preach, we need to present our students with material that is relevant to the world in which they live in currently. Every text we used bared significance on our adolescents - from multiculturalism, to adolescent's identity and conflict, to current trends, and even Shakespeare. What depends on us bridging that gap between these themes and our students ability to understand and identify their concepts, well, that relies on us, the teachers: the facilitators of knowledge. We should never give up trying to find ways to help a student make connections and understand a text. We've read examples of how teachers had classrooms full of low level students and students with English as a second language, and they still dramatically improved their writing and reading abilities by always trying a new approach when something is not working. That's one of the key elements to me as a teacher, to have my students walk out of the classroom at the end of the day understanding the concept. If they walk out scatter-brained from the lesson, they that's my fault - I need to look at how I'm teaching the material and find ways to better transfer that knowledge to my students.
Graphic novels, literature circles, texts that can be applied to practical use (which can be any, in my opinion!), I want to implement them all! If one class could show me how to keep learning consistently flowing while maintaining a high level of fun, it would be this one. So many strategies to take on when in the classroom and with themes, if taught right, can have a very relevant impact on the student who is reading it. And lastly, and I'll say it again, if my students are not comprehending a part of what I'm trying to teach, then the fault is on myself. It only means I must try harder in order for them to succeed. And speaking from experience as a former student, teachers that always developed close relationships with their students, those were the ones that had the most successful students. I will always take that into consideration.
