Chapter 10: Going Beyond the Classroom

Arranging internships for students is such a great idea! "However modest our contribution, doing real work in a field that interests us not only develops new skills and habits but also gives us more motivation for academic work"(178) This is awesome, if I was able to get internships for the students they would be able to work outside of the classroom and we could talk and do projects about it while we were in class. They could be in groups or individual but it would be all voluntary and would benefit our classroom and the people that they are helping. I never would have thought of this before EDU 101 because we were mentors in classrooms and although it was megar it was the most helpful thing I did all year. I was able to see what it was like to be in a classroom and so what if it was a learning lab I was not a student and I was doing what I want to do!

Chapter 9: When Things go Wrong

Report cards cause much fear in many students minds and in some cases it is a confidence booster but for others it may ruin their day and the only thing on the mind is what their parents are going to say. On page 164 one student proposes questionnaires students could fill out before they got their report cards and one to fill out afterward. This could show how they felt before and if it was very different then what the scores show the teacher would know to have a meeting regarding the grades they received. After the students got their report cards they would have the chance to fill in a different questionnaire stating if they were happy with the grades they got or how they could improve. Not only does this keep you as the teacher on the same page it gives you a greater understanding how the students are feeling and how you can help them improve.

Chapter 8: Teaching Students Who Are Still Learning English

I learned a lot from this chapter because I have never been in an ESL classroom so seeing what the students thought was great for me. "Looking past language mistakes" (150) this would be very important for teachers because we need to understand that if English is not their first language it would be hard not to make mistakes while taking in boat loads of information in English. We must praise what they have learned and complement often at the hard work they are doing and their new abilities. When I was in high school I took French as a foreign language and it was so difficult for me, I was able to speak but not able to write and this make homework and projects very hard for me. My teacher knew that I was having difficulties and worked with me after school everyday, having the one on one time with her helped me so much and I was able to write much better and felt more confident in front of my classmates. This was all due to her constant praise and helpfulness.

Chapter 7: Teaching Difficult Academic Material

Chapter 7 was a good chapter for me to read because breaking down material that is difficult to students will be a challenge to new teachers. It is going to be hard to overcome the fact that people do not always understand what is going through my head. I will need to practice what I am saying and how I am saying it in order to make it as easy to understand as possible. "Try different ways to approach things" (125) this is exactly what I am talking about, using different techniques and seeing what works the best. I might think that I am explaining it greatly and then the test scores come back and everyone has failed, I will conclude that I failed at teaching the material and go about it a different way so that the students will be able to understand better. While at Mt. Blue I was asked to make a test over Africa, I did as I was told and the test was given. After talking with Beth she told me new and fun things to do before taking the test like looking up youtube videos from Africa.

Chapter 6: Motivation and Boredom

Motivation is a hard thing to do when dealing with a classroom filled with twenty or so hormonal teenagers. The last thing most of them want to do it listen to lecture and take notes for an entire period, and to be honest, neither do I! We need to be able to connect things with the real world, like page 105 talks about. This should be easy for my major because when dealing with history it is easy to show how we got to where we are as humans now by looking at the past. Currant issues are so important for students to know and understand even if it is something comical like a TV show the class should cover stuff that is going on today and then lead it into what the subject is covering and how closely they may or may not relate. Having students choose what they do their project on but using the teachers guide lines might make it more enjoyable for students and more worth while for everyone, this would throw a little twist on each project to make them individual and tie the past with the young future.

Chapter 5: Teaching to the Individual, Working with the Group

"Or without intending it, teachers might be sending messages that students' questions are not opportunities foe learning but rather annoying interruptions to the business of the class"(88) Not only is this awful, but it is awfully common. When I was doing the observation part of practicum I was in with mostly freshmen and sophomores and inquired many things. I would try to go out of my way to answer the questions because as a teacher I thought that was our job. The book gives a great example of how a student asked a question about a book they read outside of class and how it tied into what they were covering in class, the teacher abruptly answered back and seemingly did not care, this lead to the student placing his head back down on his desk. WOW! That is so sad, that a teacher would find a question annoying? Why are you a teacher then??? I saw this a lot at Mt. Blue in some of the applied classes because my mentor felt that they did not care or did not have the capacity to care so their questions were pointless. SOO BAD

Chapter 4: Creating a Culture of Success

This is such a great chapter, it points out so many different perspectives of the treatment of students that teachers do and most likely do not mean to. "Don't compare us to other students" (67) I can not agree with this more. Not only do students strive to be known in high school, but it would be a huge put down if a teacher were to compare your work to another students, after he or she put all of their effort into it. When I was in high school I did not see this as a huge problem, but I can foresee this being a huge and hurtful problem if students were always being held to standards of their peers. Going along with message was a little excerpt for teachers to "stick with the kids" and not give up on them, we can not go by face value when it comes to dealing with high school students. They will do whatever it takes to be liked or be the person that they feel will make them cool and if we as teachers give up on them then we are to blame. We need to encourage and reach out to kids so that each and everyone of them feels that they have their teachers backing them up with education.

Chapter 3: Classroom Behavior

Chapter three covers a lot of topics, one that I strongly agree with is "Practice the habits that create a good classroom tone"(39) It is a teachers responsibility to practice what they preach in order to have the students following them, all students and teachers must follow the same classroom rules. Taking care of issues before they disrupt the classroom is another way that teachers can practice good habits in the classroom, if small things such as kids leaving trash in the classroom, can be stopped immediately it will hopefully take care of the issue so that students in the future will know to throw all trash away when they are finished with it. Kids do not want to feel like they are being babysat, and it is so important for teachers to follow up with what they say in order to gain respect from the students.