Counting Down

Posted May 3, 2021 by Amie Grosshans

I officially have one paper left to complete this semester!  It’s exciting and terrifying at the same time.  It’s the last big project I have to do before I am done with all my classes, but I’m still anxious that I’ll struggle with it or somehow not pass and won’t be able to graduate.  I know it’s not realistic, but the fact that I’m so close to graduating is making me overthink things.  Once I start researching and writing, I’ll be fine.    

The past few weeks we have covered weeding, collection development, and creating text sets.  This final assignment, as well as the previous one, deals with choosing a text set for a fictional third grade class’s unit about weather.  It was an interesting assignment.  We had to choose 7-10 books that addressed the specifics of the curriculum as well as the needs of the students.  There is a lot that goes into choosing the texts.  It’s important that the texts are fun and engaging, because they need to make students excited about learning.  It’s also important to have a variety of texts at different levels to benefit all the students, regardless of their reading level.  

With all of this in mind, I looked at the list of books we were given and tried to create a set that addressed all the criteria.  I had to choose from around 25 books, examining each one for content, style, and presentation.  It was challenging to create a good balance of material, especially since I could only choose a few books.  I think I missed a few things, but luckily this last assignment allows us to fill in the gaps by adding an extra five books.  To do this, I will need to look critically at my previous choices, and, with feedback from the professor, figure out where my text set needs to be improved.  I’ll try my best to get this assignment finished early, so I can stop stressing about it!