EDU 4010 Final Reflection

November 30, 2016

Edward T Barringer

My final thoughts on this course now that I am at the end are skewed all across the board. If I
have not already mentioned here in this class, I have in many others, the Pearson loose leaf
textbooks are as a whole rotten, they are close to unreadable and they are filled with inane
composition, this book was no exception. Since I started with such a terrible review of the
textbook, I shall follow up with a rousing cheer for the number of hours we were required to
spend observing in the class. Indeed, this class also required us to spend a few hours in classes
not our own special subject. That is a good thing and I found the experience very rewarding.
I must say, I remain quite confused with the name of this class literacy and the actual work
we did for credit in the class. I have gotten involved in teaching because I am a believer that
reading is the key to all learning. I hope to instill a lifelong passion for reading in the students
who will be under my watch. This class started out with some direction and focus towards that
end, but we quickly learned this is about lesson planning more than anything else. This is not a
poor reflection on Mr. Barringer, as I understand it; lesson planning is always the main
component of EDU 4010. I just dont understand the literacy component. It is my opinion that
lesson planning should be a separate course and all you do throughout the semester is write, rewrite and submit lesson plans.
I observed at Githens Middle School and as it turns out, I was able to secure a student teaching
spot there as well. It cannot be that this class was not a very helpful tool for my posting at
Githens and for that alone I appreciate all the more the experience of taking this class. The
teachers I observed at Githens were all exceptional educators, especially given the inherent
problems that are within that school.
Mr. Barringer has been very fair and open in his expectations of what he asked of us. In my
ludditeism I am afraid I missed some obvious tasks, but that is on me.
My final thought is to once again harp on NCCU to take a more pro-active part in placing
students in classrooms for this particular class. When you are asking teachers to accommodate a
NCCU education student for thirty hours plus interviews and teaching two lessons I believe there
would be more understanding and participation from the designated teachers. Again, my
teachers were great and even though I sent all of them what I would be required to do, none of
them were fully on board with my situation. NCCU is asking already stressed teachers for even
more of their valuable time, so it would seem that teachers who sign up for this project would
be better prepared for us when we show up in their class.