Week Seven: Chapter 5

Before I discuss my reading, I wanted to discuss the guest speaker we had today in class. I really enjoyed his style, because it was HIS style. He didn't do morning meetings in the format we do in our class. He did them how he knew would be best for him and his class. This was super refreshing for me. It's nice to get a reminder that you don't HAVE to do things such as morning meetings in set way. I as the teacher have the freedom to adapt it to my own class. Ok, moving on.

I really like the passage from the book where it says, "Thus the teacher shapes lives... by equipping students with the intellectual wherewithal necessary to make their way in a world that increasingly demands academic preparation for full societal participation." Wow, a bunch of fancy words right? Basically we are educating students to become better people for society. My take on this is not only with books smarts but with peoples smarts as well. This includes caring for one another, making sure they are kind and know they can achieve much more than they think they can.

"Clarity about learning goals makes preassesssment both easy and nonnegotiable item in a strong classroom." I love goals! Goals I feel make many things achievable. This helps students and the teacher know what track they are one and where they should be headed. I think the key for teaching students curriculum is to make sure it is differentiated so one student isn't constantly on his or her frustrational level but they are able to be tiered. Just like we talked more about in class. Another passage I liked, "No student knows how to grow in a subject until a teacher makes necessary the growth and provides the support system that guides the growth. Yes yes yes! Not only do I as a teacher need to be a support system but I want my class to help each other and become support systems for each other as well.