Final Reflection:
My experience in this course has enriched not only my creative writing skills, but also gave me skills I will be able to utilize in my classroom. I want to share a few examples, first the “I Am poem, and Sense of Place” allowed me to share both who I am in my family and where I lived, which gave me the freedom to write for pleasure. Next, the “Text Reading Presentation,” I was able to research how to “Role Play,” with students in any subject. I believe that this assignment gave me a strategy that I can use in my classroom, that will give the student a better understanding of any topic. Last, is the “Ethnic Roots Presentation,” where I was able to revisit my past and where I came from. I was able to include the two people that gave so much to our family. I believe my prior experiences are what made me who I am today. There were other assignments that were just as important but these were the ones that resonated in me.
When I was writing the “I am poem, and the Sense of place,” I was given the freedom to include the people I care about, which are my husband, my two children and my three grandchildren, because they are my blessing, I was more than ready to share my family and when it came to sharing my sense of place. I believe that line where it says, “The heart is where the home is.” I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t over doing it, but still sharing my wonderful blessing.
In the “Text Reading Presentation.” I feel that this strategy was amazing. Last semester I was in a 5th grade classroom, and we performed a “Shadow Play.” This was a long unit on Harriet Tubman. Every lesson did give the students a better understanding of her life, but I believe the student’s “Role Playing,” gave them a deeper sense of both who she was and how hard her life was. I feel this strategy will work in most subjects because it gets the students involved in not only the role playing, but also in researching the topics.
The last one I chose was the Ethnic Roots Presentation.” This generation started in 1895, when my grandfather was born and my grandmother was born in 1908. I enjoyed this assignment because I was able to reconnect with my memories of the two people that meant so much to me. These two people were more than grandparents, because they were more than willing to sacrifice not only their home, but also their lives for my family. My grandparents were always inventing different ways to keep us grandchildren entertained. One example was when they dug a large hole and filled it with water so that we could have a small pool. Yes, we were a mess, but we had so much fun. I was so blessed to be able to share this part of my roots, because I am so proud of my family.
I believe these types of assignments gave me the confidence to work independently, because I had the freedom to share what was important to me. I enjoyed that in each assignment, I was not only able to give my view of how I perceived things, but also how to use these new strategies and skills I learned in this course. It is always encouraging when you can utilize what you’ve learned in a course. I believe these types of writing prompts will encourage my future students to be more creative writers.