To whom it may concern,
In the past three months I have made major changes to my educational plans and my future overall. Part of that came from my time spent in my Teaching Literature to Adolescents class. This class helped me realize quite a few things about myself. The most important of which is that I am not cut out to be a teacher and that is OK! I have been struggling with this realization for well over a year now and it has been a major source of my depression and anxiety. I found myself waking up every morning hating what I was doing. My only solace came from being a part of this class. While it's true that I never intend to become a teacher, I do find studying education to be terribly fascinating. seeing what works for teachers and what strategies are best for students has been one of the highlights of my time in the field of education.
I always enjoyed giving book reports. This was one of the few things that I remember about my learning in elementary and middle school. So I really connected with the book talk assignment. It's funny though, I always used to get into trouble for spoiling the end of the story, but for this assignment, it was a requirement. I love getting to talk about books, and delving into why I enjoy a specific book or series with people around me. However, this assignment also made me take a critical look into why I feel certain texts would be valuable in the classroom and how a teacher might go about using said text. That's what made this assignment challenging.
Over the course of this class, we discussed a variety of texts from educational theories to our favorite sci-fi novels and I thoroughly enjoyed those aspect of the course. However, it was these things that I enjoyed which ultimately made me realize the one area in which I am most lacking. When I develop a lesson, a project, or an assignment, I lack the necessary creativity to make a cohesive plan. sure, we discussed multiple texts and looked at some great theory, but I have no innate ability to put these things into practice. I simply lack the ability to connect these theories and ideas with lesson plans or how to make them applicable to students. I don't know why this is, but I just can't seem to make the necessary connections and that really bothers me. But now that i am pursuing a different career and a different degree, I can look back on this class and say that I am glad I was able to discover this about myself. I enjoyed my time in this class and I felt like I gained a lot of knowledge about myself and what I want to accomplish with my life.
