Weakness Brought to Light

College has both built my confidence and brought to light my many weaknesses. My last class favored the latter. The class was a children’s literature course. I took a deep interest in this course because 1) children’s literature is a significant part of the career I have chosen and 2) my concentration area is English. This course was really good because it pointed out all my weaknesses with respect to my concentration area.
English, grammar, writing, reading comprehension all have been my strong suits through out my education, even when I was in elementary school. I recall my third grade free choice time, I took it upon myself to start a class newspaper using the arts and crafts corner. The teacher left a box of paper, scissors, crayons and markers. I would hear random things on the news when my parents were watching and re-write stories on it complete with custom drawings (since I didn’t have photography capabilities), except in my young and innocent mind, the facts were a bit skewed. Now, as an adult, I can imagine how entertaining this must have been to my teacher and parents! Entertaining as it was, I remember receiving praise for my creativity, initiative and writing, but I digress. . . For a long time I have received positive feedback for my strong English skills and had forgotten what it was like to be put under the microscope. The instructor for my children’s literature course did just that!
I now realize that I have to go back to the basics and work on some grammar skills and technical details of my writing. I also need to practice my literary analyses, which means identifying the basic elements of a story every time I read fiction, perhaps keeping a journal to document it in.
In addition to refreshing my memory on basic skills, I need to start focusing on how I can make someone else understand. Although I will be happy teaching any grade I am qualified for, I am most drawn to 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade. Part of what attracts me to these grades is the reading and writing level the children are entering. I look forward to having meaningful conversations about the books we read and working on writing using fun prompts. I am excited to read what students will write about. I believe some of the most creative and interesting writing comes out of this level, where the children are old enough to formulate cohesive writing but young enough to run free with the exercise and be natural and creative.