Goals for Class

My goals for class include:

1. Developing some learning/literacy strategies for making epic poetry more accessible to my 9th grade students. (I teach ancient literature, and the majority of texts we study are written in a style that is very, very difficult to access. The fact that they are extremely long does not help, either, but considering that these works are foundational to future literature and philosophy, they are necessary to tackle).

2. Increasing my understanding of how to properly and effectively motivate student learning. Some specific strategies here would help considering my subject matter is typically one that my students groan about. (Did anyone have a good high school English experience? When I tell people that I teach English I typically get one of two responses: looks of abject horror or contemptible pity)

3. Learning some new ways to challenge student to think critically. I think this goes hand-in-hand with proper student motivation. Oftentimes students do not want to think critically because it is hard.

4. Learning from other teacher experiences on the discussion boards and getting to know some of my classmates.

5. Developing a better understanding of today's' student and some of the issues they face both inside and outside of the classroom.