Your response should include:
- 2 concepts that strike you as important or significant and your reasons why.
- 1 concern or question about how the chapter content applies to you or in your classroom OR comment constructively on someone else's post.
Chapter 4
Please provide your responses to Chapter 4 here. Please take some time to read through everybody's responses.
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1. "Children, teachers, and classrooms are microcosms of human existence." (p.46)
ReplyDelete2. "...creating a classroom environment that issues a daily invitation to each learner that inhabits it, offering acceptance, affirmation, challenge, and support." (p.59)
There is a lot of good information here. Beautiful descriptions of healthy classroom worlds... hopefully a happy places, centered in Christ, learning and working together. In this chapter she again refers to teaching as an art, instead of a mechanical exercise. (p.15 and Figure 4.1) I think that is a key point.
~ Laura
"Forget all the books and standards for a minute. Go back to what it was that used to make science magic for you." (page 51) I once taught science with no textbooks, no guidelines, and no standards to obsess about. It was the best three years I have ever had! I enjoyed reading about all the creative, and engaging classrooms within this chapter. I think having a differentiated classroom will challenge each teacher but think how fun it could be if the teacher was a creator of learning rather than a facilitator.
ReplyDelete*Lana
1. I agree Laura, there are a lot of nice healthy classroom descriptions in this section. Classroom environment plays an important role in many of these descriptions. It is stated on pg. 56, that in a healthy classroom, teachers must teach up. The author describes this as knowing a child’s next benchmarks and the scaffolding needed to get there.
ReplyDelete2. This struck me as important: A child without self-esteem is often closed to learning, yet genuine accomplishment can produce something more potent than self-esteem: self efficacy. What children bring to school from home cannot be left outside the classroom door; similarly, for a lesson to be truly powerful, it must go home with the child. (pg. 54) This also relates to my response to chapter 3 on the blog.
*CindyF
1. "Thinking and puzzling about the unknown gives us far more power than rote regurgitation of isolated names, dates, facts and definitions or practicing disconnected skills." (p 52). That does not mean that the names, etc are not important...it just means that the "rote" needs to be connected in a relevant, authentic and meaningful way, not just for it's own sake.
ReplyDelete2. Several of you have touched on this happy, magical element that can be in a classroom...This "joyful learning" is what just makes my day when it happens, most often with K-2. It happens very rarely with the older grades. Perhaps the learning triangle exists more naturally in my lower grade classes and needs some "side" reconstruction in my upper grade classes. Something to consider. ~ Cindy C.
Teaching is like an equilateral triangle where the teacher, students, and content are the vertices. One by itself cannot form a triangle. The three need to work together to strengthen the triangle.
ReplyDeleteA teacher's approach to the students and instruction determines whether respect, humiliation, delight, drudgery, possibility, or defeat determines the day a teacher gains respect by treating students with respect. A respectful atmosphere in the classroom is a necessary part of learning.
I think parents need to share in the triangle as a support of the teacher (they are their child's first teacher) and a support for their child by being involved and a source of encouragement.
Pat
The chapter mentions our mood and emotions in the classroom and it made me think about how I definitely need to check myself more often. My outside issues can wait until after school. It is not a healthy classroom environment if I am snappy!
ReplyDeleteLike Lana, I also love teaching without texts and guides. It's more fun to experiment! Last year, aside from some assistance from the math book, I barely used any of the texts/work books. There were just too many better resources out there. Everyone just needs to look. Pinterest and other peoples blogs can be your best friend!
Does Bill have that Dateline: Troy book?? I think it would be awesome for the 6th grade for next years Illiad lessons!
-Brianna
Dateline: Troy is in the St. Columba library. Slim volume for so much power. I had several ask for books on Troy last spring. Perhaps it is something Bill and I can do collaboratively. ~Cindy C.
DeleteBrianna,
DeleteI know how you feel. I only had 2 books I used as guides when I taught Kindergarten. I created my own units and lessons. Kids were all about free choice and moving around in the classroom. I think that is the hardest thing I had to let go of when I went to 3rd grade. Now maybe I can do some of that again.
Chris
The one thing that grabbed me in this chapter came under student independence. When the question was asked which classroom has students that work with the highest degree of independence for large chunks of time? Kindergarten!!!!!! 5year -olds! Isn't that sad that after that they are generally put in desks and considered too immature to work independently. Positive classroom management was the other thing. I am considering the fill your bucket ,classroom management system to put a positive spin on our day instead of the negative checks and card turning.
ReplyDeleteChris
I was telling Tina that we needed to get everyone on board with more pos. reinforment. That is why my clip chart has the squares that go up like "outstanding behavior" and "sweet success."
DeleteI think even just a little postcard or special "merit cards" can be given out regularly to students caught being good or who are working hard or do something special.
I am running the character ed thing this year and one of my plans is to do bucket fillers like you mentioned. I want to have buckets be filled as students show these good traits and we can count them monthly. Classes can have personal goals for prizes and the highest bucket in the lower wing can get extra recess, ice cream, or some other treat.
-Brianna
Any thoughts for upper wing? Think they need the "random acts of kindness" push as well. They can be really hard on each other. There was this article in the Post a while ago: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/dc-classrooms-welcome-babies-in-effort-to-teach-empathy/2014/06/01/3b799610-dd2d-11e3-bda1-9b46b2066796_story.html
DeleteWe may be able to build on the Kindergarten lunch monitor or morning patrol experience for K and 1st grade and translate it to all students? Think there is the potential at least at the beginning that anyone caught being "good" in the upper wing will be made fun of...
This popped into my head in the middle of the night - I know this is an "old saw" but perhaps the upper wing students are young enough to not have experienced it the last "go round." Would it work to use "WWJD?" - certainly connected to who we are. Or create something like Path of the Saints ("PS") - courage, kindness, perseverance, self-knowledge, etc.)???
DeleteThat might be a great thing to try.
DeleteChris
Surprisingly the thing that spoke to me most was the quote at the beginning of the chapter. "A really good teacher is someone who: knows that a student can teach and a teacher can learn...." I want to try to do this more with my class. I need to be a part of the class instead of just leading the class discussions/lessons. I think we all can learn from our students even the ones that test our patience and make us want to rip our hair out.
ReplyDeleteThe other point that really spoke to was the learning triangle. It doesn't matter how well we know the content if we are insecure about our devotion to our students and their capabilities. Far too often I have written off a student due to my own frustration with them. These are the opportunities I am missing my chance to make a really positive impact on my students.
Amy