As my post for education 351, I will include the final reflection paper that I wrote for the class.

Coming into this course I was unsure of several things. First of all, I was unsure if I could make it through the course (as I was feeling burnt out). Second of all, I was unsure if this course would give me the skills to teach a successful series of French-language lesions due to the fact that I do not speak French fluently. Prior to this course, I wondered how it could be possible to teach a language that I myself am in NO WAY fluent in. Could it be done? Would I be wasting my students’ time? Would I be wasting my own time? As we are now in the final week of class, I have had some time to reflect on the questions and concerns expressed above. In this journal, I will explore these thoughts and state where I am now in relation to each of them.

At the onset of this course, I was feeling “strung out” to say the least. As I have never done summer school before, the prospect of a year-round school experience was a tough one for me to stomach. Of course, I knew this was what I was signing up for when I started the program (no surprises there), however, as I am sure you know, knowing and doing are very different things. Personally, I understand the theory of an engine, however, going about the process of rebuilding one myself is a whole different story. To be honest, if I really knew what I was signing up for I might not have committed to this program. This being said I am glad that I did commit as I can see the finish line and am excited to cross it. Would I recommend something like this to a friend? No way. Will I make it through myself? Absolutely!

Teaching something that you are unfamiliar with can be scary. I know that I sometimes feel terrified to teach something if I am not really comfortable with the topic myself. Although I can likely make it through the lesson itself (as this is a situation that is controlled by me), I could easily get tripped up by a question for which I do not know the answer. This is the issue of limited knowledge. Although it can be effective to an extent, it is likely that it will not be enough all the time in every situation.

This course has helped me come to grips with the fact that I will not always have all the answers. Although I can do my best, I will not be successful in knowing everything. This is a good thing though as if I knew everything, there would be no room for my students in the discussion. If I am the ultimate authority, my students are not getting the best experience possible due to the fact that I am not letting them be involved in their own learning. I now understand that letting students in is so important. If we as educators do not let students in, they will not buy into their education.

My French is not great. This being said, I think my ability to organize activities is relatively good. Going forward I would like to center my French teaching around activities that engage students with what they are learning. Language is a vibrant thing. I want to inspire students to see the beauty of the language they are learning and help them understand what this beauty means. Games that bring the language to life are best in my opinion. If students can get to the point that they are conversational in the French language via games I think they will have a far greater love of the language than if they got to that level via textbook learning and endless verb conjugation.

In conclusion, I feel that this course has been really helpful in my understanding of how to teach language. Although I had my doubts coming into this course, I feel that I am now ready to dive into teaching French. Although I am sure my lessons in this subject will not always be eloquent, I hope they are effective. I look forward to the future and thank you for the learning that you have brought about in this course. I appreciate you sticking in there for us.