Learning Letter

Throughout English 486 I learned a lot of useful information. The information I read and the experiences I gained with the presentations are something I am going to carry for years to come. This course was one of the first that I took at Eastern that focused on the teaching aspect of English. I took other English courses, but none focused on instruction. The text presentations were great because I got to learn about teaching ideas from my classmates. I was exposed to a large variety of different teaching ideas. Some of those ideas I will incorporate in the classroom when I have my own classroom. Not only did I gain a lot of knowledge on teaching ideas, but I also gained a lot of information on texts. There were a lot of books which I wanted to check out after I saw some presentations which was great. As for my content portfolio I enjoyed going back and looking at old work. When I was doing the work I didn’t realize that it was preparing me for teaching English. However, when I looked back I realized that many assignments that I presumed to be just assignments were actually fundamental in my preparedness to teach English. The text used in class was also a great help. Some sections of reading were long , but they usually held the best information. I remember having a discussion about grammar in class. We spoke on how some of us never really took a course in HS on grammar. Not even that but we never remember a time where we focused solely on grammar. The text had a large section on grammar and some of the info in there is useful. 

This course has opened my eyes quite a bit. I got a glimpse of what it would be like to teach. There were times in this course where I was reassured that my Major was the right one for me.  I enjoy the thought of my self as my teacher. This course definitely got me thinking more into certain aspects of teaching. For example, learning difficulties, special needs, visual literacy, speaking & listening, etc. Usually you take a course and you finish it and never think of it again. However some of the experiences and material in this class is some that I see myself using when I become a teacher. I am excited to become a teacher. 

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