Tuesday, December 4, 2007

105 Reflection - Looking Back on the Semester

Looking Back on the Semester

Teaching English 105 this semester was a blast. I enjoyed what my students brought to class: their insights, their jokes, their senses of humor, their knowledge, their thinking. I look forward to next semester, when I’ll have a better grasp on teaching at the university level, and my students, in their second semester, should understand what is expected of them more than when they arrived last fall. I know some of my current students have realized that this isn’t high school anymore. I should hope all my spring students realize this from day one.

Without the students I would have no job and I would not have enjoyed myself. I’m glad this was an actual class that meets in person, and not an online course with little actual personal contact. What effect would me standing on the desk in the front of the room accomplish online? Unless it was a video conference style online course. But still, there is an energy that can only exist in the classroom, amongst the students (instructor included) that is doubtful would exist elsewhere.

I look forward to discovering what they liked best about the course as I taught it. Was it my bad jokes? The readings, the films, the music? Which of those helped them understand the goals of the course, and which helped them actual write better than when they had started 105? I want to teach this course as best as possible, getting through to all of my students. I want to be proud of their improvements, not only because I was there facilitating the writing process, but because they tried, worked, and accomplished their goals as students.

Teaching writing, and hopefully literature, are what I want to do during the next part of my life. This has been a great experience and I’ll miss my Fall 2007 students. If they don’t currently realize how important this course has been for their futures, I hope they realize it soon.

Excelsior,
Paul

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61JV73KFFEL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

Fig. 1: Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Superhero CD cover. From Amazon.com.

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