☼ Unit Reflection 10 ☼

For this final unit, we had to create short lessons that revolved around a non-print media platform and present them to the class. I was really excited whenever I saw this assignment on the syllabus because I felt as though it was a great activity that would prepare some of my classmates and I for our future as teachers. Since the following generations deem to become more and more tech savvy, coming up with lessons that revolve around technology will be extremely beneficial whenever we start teaching.

For our lesson, Sarah, Cheyenne and I came up with a pre-writing or scaffolding activity that could be altered, depending on what the teacher wanted. This assignment was aimed towards a higher level, high school English class that could completed before the students wrote an essay or a long paper. We decided to have students choose one of the novels that they had read previously in class and have them create a Wix website that included five main elements: a summary, a personal reflection, character descriptions, reoccurring themes and classmate reviews. We chose to make these elements requirements for the website because we felt as though they required higher level thought as well as analysis.

We chose an assignment such as this because we felt that students can sometimes have a hard time identifying and breaking down the key concepts of a novel. My group and I felt as though the project could be used as a pre-write activity and a resource that could guide them whenever they started writing their final paper at the end of the unit. Coming up with this project was fairly easy considering Sarah had done an assignment that was similar to this in high school; she believed that the assignment was extremely beneficial to her success in high school, which is why we chose to do it. Since we did not completely copy the assignment Sarah had done, we got to add out own personal touches and we made the project exactly how we wanted it to be. Also, since I had never completed an assignment such as the one we created, it was kind of cool to learn how to use another platform that I could potentially use in the future 

Being a future teacher, an assignment such as this is really beneficial because it requires us as students to be creative and come up with something that is doable (since we had to complete the assignment ourselves). Along with that, it gives us the chance to bounce off of eachother’s ideas. In class, T.O had said that teachers are always “borrowing,” lessons and using them themselves; I feel like after watching everyone’s presentations, I can definitely see myself using some of the assignments in the future. Overall, this activity was really awesome and I felt as though I learned a lot of new ways and new platforms that I can use in the future within my own lesson.

In conclusion, this semester in Non-Print Media I have learned more than I can even describe. I have learned how to use so many different tools and have learned how to incorporate technology into my lessons. I can genuinely say that I have gone from being a hand waver, to being semi tech-savvy. This class has been one of my favorite classes to come to and I am going to miss having a professor that cares so much about his students' success.