Chapter 10: Going Beyond the Classroom

The idea of A Week Without Walls really struck me as something that could be beneficial to kids in so many ways. The idea is that students spend a week doing an project they chose from a list that teachers create and teach and each student who participated receives credit for a quarter long class. Going camping could earn a student who has fallen behind credit as well as teach them knew skills.
I think this is a fantastic idea, it gives students a chance to make up credits they lack, but in a way that they feel more involved, because they got to choose the non-traditional activity. Often, students might have more interest in a subject than imagine; they just haven’t seen it in a light that makes it attractive to them yet. By learning in a non-traditional way, students get more excited and involved than they might within a classroom. Instead of just reading about something, they get the opportunity to go and do it.

Chapter 9: When Things Go Wrong

Students’ advice to teachers is, “don’t judge your success by whether students like you.” They claim that being a popular teacher isn’t what matters: what matters is doing your job well. As time goes on, if students see that you’re a good an effective teacher, they will learn to respect you, which is better than liking you.
I think it’s important for teachers to understand that they don’t need to be everyone’s best friend. If practicum has taught me anything thus far, it’s that not being scared and being strong gains you more respect than being nice and friendly. My first day with my junior class I got called “fresh meat” by one male student. My mentor forced him to apologize and even though I was very taken aback, I didn’t let him see it shook me up. Now, when I come in the room, he says, “Good afternoon Miss. Ferry, how are you?” Being liked isn’t half as important as being respected.

Chapter 8: Teaching Teenagers Who Are Still Learning English

Students who do not speak English as a first language often have a much more difficult time reading English than speaking it. These students usually find themselves reading books way below their abilities with in their own language because they are just starting to read English. But reading easy books written for much younger audiences doesn’t make anything easier; it makes the task insulting.
ESL students are usually very proficient in reading in their own language and can read books of the same level as everyone else in their grade; they just can’t read them in English. In middle school, I helped teach a Michael, a Spanish-speaking sixth grader how to read in English. He was exceptionally bright but painfully shy and that kept him from speaking in class and asking for help. Together, we read chapter books in the library a couple of times a week. He started to look forward to finishing the books and got excited to start new ones, but looking back, I wonder if he was ever insulted that we were reading books that were below his abilities in his first language.

Chapter 7: Teaching Difficult Academic Material

Students benefit from relating the material they are learning to their everyday lives. If students can connect with a piece of literature in a way that makes it relevant to them, they are going to be move invested and learn more. “Relate Romeo and Juliet to interracial dating,” or help students to view Hamlet as a teen who can’t decide which road in life is the right one (137).
Being able to connect to the material is often essential for students to connect to the material. And the more connected a student is, the more likely they are to want to learn. I always do a lot better when I can find a way to make literature relate to my life or something happening in my world. Even just relating Lord of the Flies to “LOST” to make an up-to-date connection can make all the difference.

Chapter 6: Motivation and Boredom

A student once had a teacher who was asked an off-subject topic and told the student they would talk about it later, and they all assumed that was her way of dismissing the question. But the teacher came in the next day and planned the whole class around what the student had asked. The teacher was willing to adapt to the students’ needs and desire to learn.
When teachers do things like this, it really makes the students feel listened to and respected. I’ve only had teachers do this a few times, but when they did, the whole class loved it. It shows the students that they really do have a say in what they learn and spend their time on: it makes them realize they can have a say in their education, and they should.

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

Teachers often dismiss questions that they don’t think are relevant or don’t require answering. But the truth is, all students’ questions, so long as they are appropriate, deserve to be answered. If teachers’ don’t answer students’ questions and dismiss them as unimportant, it can make the students’ feel like they themselves are unimportant.
I feel this is something teachers really need to pay attention to. No question should be left unanswered, no matter how simple or trivial it seems to be. It often takes a lot for a student to muster up the courage to ask a question about something they don’t understand, because they don’t want their classmates thinking they are stupid. If a teacher dismisses a question, it reinforces the student’s thoughts that they are not important. Teachers are supposed to create a safe and supportive learning environment, and that means responding to their students, because a question that seems trivial might be the one thing a student needs answered to really grasp a subject.

Chapter 4: Creating a Culture of Success

Comparing students to other students or praising and criticizing in class can be detrimental to students’ learning. One student even claimed, “most students do not want to be singled out—praise and criticism feel almost the same” (67). Students want to learn, but they also want to fit in, and honoring both of those wants is something students wish teachers could learn to do.
This really leapt out at me because I’ve felt the exact same thing, and this student said it so eloquently. In high school, I had English teachers who would pull good examples of essays from the class and copy them to hand out or put them on the overhead to discuss what made them good, and they made sure to never include names. But when you’ve been going to school with the same group of kids for years, you learn what people write like, you can always pick out the kid who’s fidgeting in their seat trying to look like they’re not the one who wrote the paper: I was often that kid. It’s so wonderful to be praised by a teacher and hailed as a good example, but sometimes it feels like criticism because your classmates are angry you understood what they couldn’t seem to grasp.

Chapter 3: Classroom Behavior

Teachers need to plan for their classes, and share the plan with their students. If a teacher comes in and is clearly unprepared, it is only natural for the students to ignore the teacher and chitchat with their classmates.
If the teacher shows up unprepared, they are signaling to the students’ that being prepared and ready for class is not necessary. It also makes the kids think that the teacher doesn’t care about their education, and sometimes, the only adult kids have to care about it, is the teacher. I think teachers always need to be prepared and ready and willing to share the class plan with the students. By involving the students, the teacher is allowing the students to take some responsibility in their learning and also showing them respect. Two things that I feel are essential in the classroom.