weak for/ week four

Reflect on what you learned about your topic to this point.

Reflect on what have you learned about yourself.


Explain where you go from here.


So far, I have learned that motivating students has been the hardest challenge. I did not think finding volunteers would be the absolute hardest part, but so far it has been. I am still working through it, and subtly including the literature encouragement in every day life, especially when I am at practicum. I have spoken to a few students in the class, and they had extensive conversations with me about the books they are reading. From this, I think I have started to answer the second part to my question, because these students are now more familiar with me, and are more encouraged to participate.


I did also find the tool we used this week super exciting and useful. Story line Online is an online database of children's storybooks that are read out loud through Youtube videos. I really want to try and use this with the younger kids. I have also heard about another resource, Owl Eyes, which is a very useful tool for assisting in reading. This week I am hoping to implement these resources with the students and see how they react to them.


This last week I feel like I have learned that teaching is problem solving. Sometimes things do not go exactly as planned, as my genius hour is evident of, but we have to persevere through it and continue to find ways to teach and learn. Learning is also one of the main topics of things I have learned about this week. To be a teacher we constantly have to be learners as well. The power of words to motivate is also something that has stuck with me. Put in the hard work, get those good results.


From here, I hope to implement the technology based resources and see how they work in my last week of Genius Hour. I am also hoping to finding more blogs and research that will allow me to understand and reach my students to enhance their experiences with literature.