Chapter 10 QR

As students we are constantly trying to make connections with the content we are learning to the real world. Some students struggle to find the importance and disregard school as important, when in reality it is vital. This chapter gave suggestions that teachers could do when trying to relate their material to the outside world, creating more meaningful learning experiences for the students. In high school I learned the most when the teachers took us out of the classroom and brought us to a different environment.
Sometimes all it takes is a new atmosphere that can spark student interest. For math, a teacher could go outside and use the distance formula by measuring meters and how quickly a student can run from point a to point b. Or for a health class, the teacher could take a field trip to the hospital and see a cadaver’s diseased lungs and liver during a the substance abuse portion of the course. If students can make connections to what they are learning to the outside world, they will enjoy learning, welcome it, and see it as something that is important to them.

Chapter 9 QR

Chapter nine is about dealing with when things go wrong in the classroom for the teachers and students. When students feel discouraged, it is important that we know some of the reasons why they are feeling this way so that we can help them create a better attitude about school. Incoming freshman are dealing with huge changes in course curriculum, work load, new social groups, etc. As teachers, we should make their transition easier by making sure they feel like they are in comfortable environment as well as communicating with them early on and often about how they are doing in the class. The book suggested showed a list of questions that the teacher can give out to the students before the grading period ended that involved their performance. The questionnaire also included questions that refer to the teacher’s performance and how they could do something differently. As a professional, I think that being able to take constructive criticism from your colleagues as well as students is vital to the learning process. When student provide feedback, teachers can evaluate how they’ve been doing and change accordingly to the class needs. As a new teacher, this process will be extremely valuable!

Chapter 8 QR

Chapter eight gives ideas and suggestions for teachers who have students in their classroom that are still learning English. I think the most important piece of this chapter was the general idea of getting to know these students as much as possible. If teachers can make connections between things kids already know and what they’ll be learning in class, the process will be much easier to them. Like the book stated, it’s much easier to remember new words and ways if student can compare to experiences that they have already had. The second suggestion that the chapter made that I thought was valuable was drawing students into conversations about their attitudes and experiences in relation to their culture. Anytime a student has an opportunity to share details of their lives, they are more than willing to, making it important to make sure we make every student feel like they are able to do so. Later in the chapter, it talked about how we could provide students who are still learning English different ways to present their knowledge of the content that is being taught. It suggested that instructors use not just language, but math, computers, video, music art, and movement as ways of assessment. I think this is a great idea and as far as implementing something like this would be easy because if teachers are involving the multiple intelligences in their lesson, they should have already have some of this in their lesson plans.

Chapter 7 QR

Chapter seven mainly talks about how to approach teaching difficult academic material. Most of the chapter is students describing tactics that can help teachers approach difficult material and what techniques have worked for them in the past. The first thing you must do before teaching difficult content area is determine what the students already know about the topic. If they know very little, you may want them to do some independent research or reading for homework so they are somewhat familiar to the subject and feel comfortable moving on to the more difficult aspects of the content. To make the harder parts of the lesson easier to learn, link it to previous knowledge or breakdown the lesson to several parts. If the students still don’t understand what is being taught, it may be because they’re learning style is not being used, so try approaching the lesson in a different way. I think this part of the chapter was referring to using as many multiple intelligences you can in a lesson so that it is easier for every individual, know matter what learning style. The last part of the chapter describes the importance of knowing if the students understand what has been taught or not. In order to move into more sophisticated material, we must evaluate if our students are really getting an understanding of what is being taught, and they want and expect teachers to do this. Providing them with things simple as feedback or quizzes can determine if we need to spend more time on the material or if we’re ready to move on.

Chapter 6 QR

Chapter 6 talked about students and keeping them interested in what you are teaching. Most individuals realize how important school is to their futures, but they don’t always know how what is being taught relates to the real world. In creating our lessons, it is vital that we know how to answer the question if asked, why are we learning this? We have to be able to explain why learning Pi will benefit them in the future. If we can’t do this, they won’t think what we are teaching is important, and won’t bother to learn it. Another issue that this chapter brings up is motivation. For different reasons, students will lack motivation to learn the material, so as a teacher it is critical that we facilitate them to be motivated about every content area we teach. A good way to do this is to show how passionate you are about that particular subject, even if you have to fake it! The part of this chapter I found most helpful was when it spoke about how timing was everything. Scheduling schoolwork carefully can greatly influence the performance and motivation of students, therefore contributing to a better learning environment. The chart given on page 112, “When Should We Do That?” was very helpful and would change some of my instructional strategies throughout the day.

Chapter 5 QR

The first part of this chapter talks about the “types” of personalities in a classroom, and divides them up into seven different personalities. I can relate to this, not only because when I was a student in high school I remember each type of personality, but just a few weeks in my placement you can pick out these students almost right away. I think these types of personalities don’t hinder the learning environment but only help it because it forces teachers to differentiate their instruction so they can hit all these learner and personality types. The second part of this chapter talked about why some students may or may not participate and why. I think this part was insightful and eye- opening because it gave a lot of reasons and strategies students use to get out of participating. Knowing this, I think it will be easier to get around this type of problem, and start getting everyone involved. The last part of this chapter is about advice when putting students into groups for activities. I think in a younger classroom, it is important to divide up the responsibilities and assign spefic roles among the group so that work is being equally distributed. Working with a few people, it is easy for students to sit back and get away with doing nothing. However, groups are meant to strengthen interpersonal learning experiences and allow for a deeper understanding of the material, so explaining how groups should work and what roles each person will be taking. I think that this strategy is a great way to get the most out of group work. In practicum, we have practiced this for interpersonal group work and it has proven to be a much more valuable practice than just regular grouping.

Chapter 4 QR

Chapter four talks about how to create a classroom “culture” of success. Teachers have the ability to control the environment and if they create negative experiences for the students, some may become convinced that the school offers nothing worthwhile. The broad message I got from this chapter was to show that you believe in your students and their ability to achieve. As educators, we can start providing students with the steps to a greater sense of self- efficacy by first believing in them. Push the students to work harder and encourage them to improve on their work. By doing this, you show the students that you care about them, and want them to do well. In my first three weeks of placement, I found that my mentor teacher was able to create this “classroom of success” fairly easily. She made it clear that she wanted every student to achieve in health class and always showed how she cared about each individual. From this, I noticed that students wanted to be in the classroom and were excited to learn.

Chapter 3 QR

This chapter is mainly outlines what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior is in the classroom, both for teachers and students. The beginning of the chapter really stressed how important it was to start out on the right foot in your classroom in order to have a successful semester and learning environment. One important aspect of this part was following up promptly when addressing students who misbehave and break the set rules made by the classroom. I feel that if the students take part in creating the rules and guidelines in a classroom, they are more likely to follow them as well as accept the consequence for their actions. One part of this chapter I could relate to after being in the classroom for 3 weeks was deciding on a consequence based on that individual and their behavior. As a practicum student, I was able to see how my mentor teacher disciplined her students and how each consequence was different based on that particular student. Our students are not the same, and they all have different needs, including different disciplining. I valued the way she did this because it not only worked, it was one of the most effective styles I have seen. Lastly, my mentor was able to show me how just important it is to keep the students learning and not alienate them when they misbehave, a point that this chapter made.