Final Reflection

Lindsey Johnson   

Final Post

Looking back at this years I would say I gained a positive experience from having a variety of choices within the classroom structure.  Having an option when it came to picking what book we wanted to read for book club or how we wanted to present a our literature whether it was in an essay or a project there was a lot of flexibility and it made it a little easier to have a role of control over what we were doing,  I do feel that with having choices it left room for a lot of interpretation, and at first it was difficult but I took a lot away from it and learned to work in a more advanced way.  

    Overall my favorite book this year was Laughter in the Dark, which we read in class.  I found that this was the most enjoyable book I read which took me a little bit by surprise because I feel that I never get excited over books chosen in school. (No offense!).  With independent reading at home I expected to enjoy it the most because that came with full freedom in choosing a book and when/how much I was reading at a time.  However, I learned that I work better with having an expected structure and I ended up not “ independent” reading as much as I hoped to because I didn’t make the time for it.  Also, as much as I find it difficult to get into a book that is chosen by a teacher, it is also very hard for me to find a book that I want to read by choice and follow-through with it.  But I hope to figure out what genre interests me most and expand my reading, that has become a real goal of mine.

    With that being said about independent reading combined with books assigned through school I can definitely say that I read more this year than any other year all together and my reading at home increased.  I specifically told myself that I really wanted to complete one book this year, no skipping chapters or skimming and I successfully did that with Laughter in the Dark, majority of this was done at home I believe.  I would say that aiming for this goal did for sure increase my reading at home and pushed me to do so.  

    Throughout the many pieces of writing that we were given I do feel that the reflection of my writing has improved from last year.  I noticed that my writing took a more personal perspective and it wasn’t so formal and structured.  I was able to share my opinion and explain my thoughts thoroughly so a lot of my writing felt more like my words rather than being given a prompt and only being able to answer the question based with evidence.  

    With being able to revise our writing, have independent reading, and choose what type of projects we wanted to present I definitely felt that I had a lot of control over my learning this year and perspective on English.  I will admit that I took advantage of such flexibility in the schedule sometimes and thought that I had time to spread out my work or not “ stay on top of it” and that poorly affected my grade.  So with being given such control I learned that I need to manage my time better and also with such independency I felt expected to work harder.  I think this was the perfect time to have this amount of control in learning because it taught me that not everything is always detailed and written out and that my individual responsibility has now increased as if I want to have a successful education.  

    The book club projects was a very independent and student based presentations, we chose our book, came up with what we wanted to present to our class and how we wanted to present it.   I learned a lot in working with other people on a project that didn’t quite have specific expectations or criteria to follow.  It identified who clearly did the work that was expected from the beginning and leadership while it also highlighted different ideas for what was important to share and present.  We all have different learning methods and how we interpret readings and often when we read in class we have discussions so we sometimes all tend to eventually view the same perspective even if at first we don't. With the small reading clubs it was easier to share all our opinions and learn from others or I feel gave us the confidence to explain how we interpreted something and then share that with our group, almost trying to prove a point with evidence.   

    Looking back at how you chose to structure or curriculum with what you already had to follow according to guidelines, I truly don’t know what more you could have changed.  If you choose to continue the book club and the individual projects whether it be throughout the year or just at the end, I think a syllabus at the beginning of the “unit” or term would be helpful because it adds more structure and that way you have a hard copy of all the dates in advance and it would allow students who need to plan and manage their time better and insight of what the should expect.  I would 100% say that I took a lot from English class this year and it has by far been my favorite year. This subject has always been tough for me and that led me to feeling it was my least favorite but after this year I can say that my writing and reading has most certainly improved.  My analysis and use of evidence has strengthened as well.  Focusing on utilizing independency in this subject is a very useful way of learning and I would continue to use this structure and method of learning.