Chapter 5b & 5c

Chapter 5b

This section talked a lot about textbooks and stressing to students the importance of respecting the materials they are given. Teachers can help guide this by requiring or better yet, showing students how to properly cover their textbooks. I believe that stressing the importance of respecting classroom materials will help students respect each other as well. Another note on textbooks was how to use them in the classroom. Being a good teacher does not necessarily mean one should require students to read their textbook from front to back. If a teacher chooses to do this, students will get very bored with the material and lose interest in learning. Once this happens, it is very difficult to motivate students. When I am a teacher I plan to take the important information (such as the material that covers state standards) and use the textbook to guide learning with also adding hands on activities. This way students are learning but not just reading out of a textbook. One thing I really found helpful was when students do need to read out of the textbook (because there will be times when this is important) encourage students to be alert for errors in the textbook and offer some type of reward if they find one. This not only helps the students with literacy but it keeps them engaged in the reading.

As a teacher there will come a time when there is controversy in the classroom. I feel that it is extremely important for students to learn about controversial topics. With this, there will be a variety of opinions. Teachers should stress to students that they need to look at the issue from multiple perspectives. The teacher should also ensure that there is guidelines set so discussions do not get out of hand. If at any point a student gets uncomfortable it is okay for them to leave the discussion.

Chapter 5c

Chapter 5c spoke a lot about curriculum integration. With this it covered different levels of curriculum integration. As a future teacher I hope to at some point to use all levels of curriculum integration. Although level one is the most common (because it is not as time consuming) I feel that there are times when teachers can incorporate level five-curriculum integration. Level five curriculum is where teachers across multiple grades establish a curriculum around a common theme and work together with students to determine discipline boundaries and so on. The chapter also talked about using a syllabus. I feel that I will emphasize using a syllabus when I have my own classroom because it clarifies expectations for the entire class. A syllabus can be referred to for many questions and provides all of the materials and skills the students will need to complete the course. I also like that it allows students to look ahead and see what types of things they will be learning in the class.  

Chapter 4a & 5c

Chapter 4a

This chapter was very helpful in learning what NOT to do when one is teaching in a middle school setting. To start, one of the quotes that really grabbed my attention was the quote: “preventing a ship from sinking is much easier than saving a sinking one” (Kellough 142).  I feel that this quote really speaks volumes to the fact that it is important to be proactive about misbehaviors in the classroom to prevent further misbehaviors than avoid confronting bad behaviors and then try and implement a new action to correct the misbehaviors once they have gotten significantly worse down the road. After reading many of the tips I would have to agree with the book in nearly all of the recommendations. In my future classroom I feel that it will be important to speak at the correct volume. Speaking too loudly will irritate and disturb students where speaking too softly will not present you as an authoritative and professional figure. This is why it is important to find a volume in the middle of these two that is firm and professional. I also feel that it is important to not punish the entire class for one or two student’s negative actions. When I was in middle school I remember being assigned extra papers and assignments because another student was acting out. I felt that this was wrong because I chose to act appropriately and it was clear that the student acting out needed attention whether it was positive or negative attention so the student would continue to act out and did not care whether the rest of the class would get another assignment. One thing I want to make sure to use in my classroom is positive encouragement. Too often teachers focus solely on the negative and forget about acknowledging those for positive behavior as well. As a future teacher it will be one of my goals to have equal positive and negative acknowledgments. One thing I learned from this chapter was not to say “shhh.” I found this very interesting because many of the elementary school teachers that I have worked with always used “shhh” to quiet down their classrooms. “Shhh” is considered unprofessional and is just adding another noise to the classroom. All of these tips on what not to do were helpful in becoming aware of handling classroom misbehaviors.

Chapter 5c

Chapter 5c covered curriculum and all the subcategories of curriculum. Although I am not going to touch on all of the parts of a lesson plan as the chapter did, the importance of planning and having all of the key parts of a lesson plan was highly emphasized. There are different levels to planning. One needs to plan for the entire school year, the units and the lessons. I feel that co-planning is so much more beneficial to both students and teachers. I have been a part of co-teaching environments and it is amazing with the creative ideas and lesson plans that are put together and used to shape a fun learning program that the students will enjoy. With co-teaching each teacher can bring ideas to the table and use each other to bounce ideas off of one another. They can discuss what worked, what did not work and what to change. When I am a future teacher I would like to co-plan because it would be extremely difficult to develop an entire curriculum from scratch (especially my first year!). With help of the teachers around me who may have had more experience than I have, they can tell me what students have and have not responded to. 

Chapter 4

Chapter 4a & 4b

          Chapter 4 was a very interesting and helpful Chapter for not only me, but for other first year teachers as well. What first grabbed my attention when reading was the word "conducive." In Chapter 4 a conducive learning environment was defined as on that is "emotionally safe, that helps students to perceive the importance of what is being taught, that helps them realize they can achieve, and is instructive and supportive in the procedures for doing it (Kellough, 110). I found this to be incredibly helpful because I believe that students who feel safe and feel that the information they are learning is relevant to their own lives they will be less likely to have disruptive behavior and will also grow as a learner and person. To have the connection with students, students must feel that their classroom environment is being supportive of their efforts, that the teacher whole heartedly cares about them, that the teacher respects the student and they are welcome in the classroom and the learning is challenging but not impossible. One thing that I notice about young adolescents is their want to fit in. Many times the disruptive behaviors that are created in a classroom are because students feel the need for attention. As a teacher, one must learn how to react to these situations and guide the disruptive student back on track. This is very tricky for middle school teachers because their students are going through a very awkward time. Students are trying to figure out their place in life, they are dealing with hormones and other emotional factors and in addition to all of these things, many may come from rough psychological backgrounds. When I have my future classroom it will be important to implement a strict but respectful management plan that way students understand the expectations of the classroom. By doing this, my teaching can be effective and well-organized and have a "business-like classroom" where I can properly motivate my students to learn free from distractions. Ginott commented on the importance of "communication with the student to find out his/her feelings about a situation and bout him/herself." I feel that teachers should truly learn everything they can about their students that way they can facilitate learning with each student in the most beneficial way possible.
          The Chapter also spoke on "dead time." When teaching it is important that ones classroom runs with no dead time (time where students have nothing to do) because this is what often creates the disruptions. The teacher must then spend even more time getting the class back on track. When I have my own classroom (preferably a first grade classroom) I am planning on using some type of positive reward system where students are rewarded for doing the right things. This way I can model and reward those who are doing the right things and keep them motivated to continue to do the right things but also get those who are acting out back on track.

Chapter 2a, 2b and Chapter 3

Chapter 2a

          When becoming a teacher one must know that you will be making hundreds of decisions every day. Whether they are big decisions such as dealing with solving a conflict in the classroom or making a smaller decision such as which morning song you should use that day. Regardless, you will make countless of them. When it comes to the Decision-Making Phases of Instruction, one can see that the thought process can be divided into four different sections which are: (1) the planning or preactiive phase, (2) the teaching or interactive phase, (3) the analyzing and evaluating or reflective phase, and (4) the application or projective phase. All of these phases ensure that teachers are appropriately planning lessons that cover all needed learning aspects. In my future classroom, I can use these four phases to make sure I am well prepared to teach my lessons. For instance, I will use the first phase, planning or preactiive phase, to help select the content I would like to teach as well as my goals and objectives I would like students to take away from the lesson. In this step I also would be thinking about homework assignments and also taking students prior knowledge into account so I can appropriately plan for my lesson. The next three phases, the teaching or interactive phase, the analyzing and evaluating or reflective phase, and the application or projective phase, will all be helpful when it comes to making decisions when creating my curriculum. One thing I believe to be incredibly important for teachers is reflection. Teachers must reflect on the students responses to their teaching skills in order to continue to improve and increase student academic achievement. In the future if my students do poorly on an assignment I will take full responsibility in what I need to do to ensure they learn the necessary material. This will require me to reflect and adjust my lesson in a manner that students will be able to understand and better grasp the concept. I feel that issues such as these can be reduced by using individualized instruction. In my previous post I referenced a quote that said "Not every shoe fits," meaning that not every teaching strategy will work for every student. Some students may learn at a slower or quicker pace. Some students are visual while others are auditorial. By individualizing instruction, you can select a learning plan that will best suit each student and set them up for success. I feel that using facilitative instruction in my classroom, which is student-centered rather than the traditional teacher-centered style, will create a positive learning environment where students can develop the necessary skills they need to be prepared for the future.
           As one may begin to see, teaching requires a lot of skills and is a big commitment. A teacher must be committed to their students, their school and the school's mission statement, the district and the district goals as well as ensuring their students are safe.

Chapter 2b

          Chapter 2b focuses on characteristics of a competent classroom teacher. The chapter provides a lengthy list on skills that a teacher should strive for in order to be successful in the classroom. The list includes things such as:

1. The teacher is knowledgable about the subject matter
2. The teacher understands the processes of learning
3. The etcher uses effective modeling behaviors
4. The teacher is open to change, willing to take risks, and to be held accountable
5. The teacher is nondiscriminatory toward gender, sexual preference, ethnicity, skin color, religion, physical disabilities, socioeconomic status, learning disabilities, national origin, or any other personal characteristics.
6. The teacher organizes the classroom and plans lessons carefully
7. The teacher functions effectively as a decision maker
8. The teacher demonstrates confidence in each student's ability to learn
9. The teacher makes specific and frequent efforts to demonstrate how the subject content may be related to the students' lives.
10. The teacher is reliable


          As one can see there are many characteristics that a good teacher must possess. Out of the twenty one that were listed in the book Teaching Young Adolescents: Methods and Resources for Middle Grades Teaching, I  narrowed it down to ten, which I listed above. Not saying the other eleven are less important but the ones I chose are ones that stuck out to me and that I plan to use in my future classroom. Another thing that I really enjoyed reading about was a teacher's "withitness." A teacher's withitness is the teacher's ability to be aware of the entire classroom. It is their ability to stay alert and to quickly redirect student's misbehaviors. Guidelines to developing this withitness is being aware of spending too much time with anyone student (a general guideline is longer than 30 seconds with one student in a class of 20), avoid turning your back to the class (example: writing on the white board), keep students alert by calling on them, and maintain constant visual surveillance of the entire class. I felt that these were very good tips to provide to a teacher, especially first year teacher, to remind them that they must be mentally sharp at all times when in the classroom.



Chapter 3

           Chapter 3 touches on Teaching thinking for intelligent behavior. When I say this I mean teaching students how to think and as a teacher help them develop their thinking skills. When students develop their thinking skills they develop a type of confidence. They begin to believe that they can learn and start to enjoy learning as well. When a student enjoys learning they become hungry for knowledge and begin to make connections and apply their knowledge and ultimately become a life long learner. Some characteristics of "intelligent behavior" are things such as being able to draw on knowledge and apply it to the real world as I just mentioned above. Other characteristics are skills such as managing impulsivity. Especially for young adolescents, there are times when it is easy to act before thinking (acting on impulse). If a teacher can help a student manage their impulsivity the student will learn to do small thing such as think before speaking,  raising their hand, think before beginning a project and so on. When I become a teacher I think I can help guide my students to control such impulses by pausing after asking a question and asking students to raise their hands. Students must wait for me to call on them. This helps "train" these impulses. I also think it is important to remain open to continuous learning. Although at times I have been a person who likes to do things my own way, I will need to understand that intelligent thinking will open new pathways of learning whether it is a new way to solving a problem or looking at something from a different perspective. By doing this I can continue to encourage my students to learn and become the intelligent thinkers I know they can be.
          This chapter also focused on questioning and it's purpose. Not only did the chapter provide multiple types of questioning such as analytic questioning, clarifying questing, convergent-thinking questioning, evaluative questioning, socratic questioning, etc, but it also gave many positive reasons of why questioning is so critical. By using questioning in my future classroom I can review and remind students of classroom procedures (by reviewing rules and daily procedures in an elementary classroom I can cut down on misbehaviors and waisted time). I can use questioning to gather information about my students such as "who is done with their assignment? and who still needs more time?" One of my favorites is using questioning to guide student thinking an learning. By asking the right questions I can guide students to discovering the right answer without just telling them. Learning about the different types of questioning and the benefits they provide were very enjoyable and I plan to use many of them when I become a teacher.