End of the Semester Reflection

I think this class has gone very well for me this semester. The blogs have been very fun and I think they will be very useful in the future when I am selecting books for my classroom for read alouds or student selection. This blog will be a useful resource for me with literature selection - it's essentially mini reviews of books and many are organized by genre, which will also be helpful with units.

My favorite book(s) that we read as a class were "So Far From the Bamboo Grove" and "The Giver". I think both books would be terrific to read in fourth and fifth grade classrooms. Both books were engaging, emotionally riveting and many lessons could come from each. With "The Giver", it would be so much fun to teach a lesson on color. Students could select the passages which feature color. The students could use illustrations and poems to display their understanding of the use of color in the novel. Students could also write about their own thoughts on the future of the world. "So Far from the Bamboo Grove" would be a great book to accompany a World War II unit. Comparing this book to the viewpoints in "Year of Impossible Goodbyes" would create a great compare and contrast paper or discussion.

My favorite part of the class was making our glogs. I love art and am a very creative person. Glogs allowed me to showcase my creative abilities in a digital form. I had also never even heard of glogs, so I was able to learn about a new modern technology that I could use from now on. My glog will also be a great visual for the start of an author study unit or poetry unit about Shel Silverstein.

This class has broadened my knowledge of children's literature and has given me insight into many aspects of book usage. My favorite unit was the controversial book study. The practicality of this class will allow me to be able to use many aspects of this class in my classroom in the future.