Response to Melanie's and Carrie's goals

I'm not sure what happened to my first response, so I'm going to write another one in case the first one was lost in cyberspace. First of all, I am comforted by the questions you two also have. I know it is ironic that I am relieved by your questions, but I feel that I am not alone. I feel that it is ok to have these questions, because it means we want what is best for the students. We are willing to ask the dumb questions, and admit the skills we are lacking in hopes of being better teachers. I think that is pretty cool and something to be proud of.
However, when reading both of your blogs I feel the mountain of teaching literacy grew a bit in my opinion. I don't know if i wasn't thinking about teaching literacy on a surface level or what, but after reading your goals I realized I have a lot more that I want to accomplish. You both realized that your students will be coming in with different literacy levels and it is your job to reach them all. What a HUGE responsibility that I never thought of before!!! It also made me think about teaching literacy as a deaf education major. My deaf ed students will have completely different learning styles as those that are in gen ed. Yes, there maybe some similarities but overall it is very different. How do I reach them? My only literacy course is TE402 and it is directed towards general ed students and while that is great, how do I apply the tools I learn to my future classroom. Is that possible?
My goals and expectations have changed and I expect them to keep changing as the course moves along. In the end it just comes down to being the best, most prepared teacher I can be for my students. Next year it is my practice but it is their real year, and that responsibility to teach them what they need to know is my motivation to be the best.