Chapter 7 comments

Chapter seven concentrates on an important aspect of teaching that is often underrated. Assessment can make or break a class, especially if the assessments are inaccurate. The tips that the book gave on various types of assessment as well as question types was quite helpful. They underlined the advantages and disadvantages of certain question types and provided tips to make sure our questions would be the best they could be. I liked all of their guidelines and found them very applicable to teaching a foreign language. Much of our assessment is performance based, but especially with the activity, I can also think more outside of the box to make sure I am getting an accurate assessment.

Chapter 6 comments

I really enjoyed the book's thorough respect for lesson planning and preparation. This process was referred to "like a rudder on a ship" or the guiding process that seems small but can have major effects if tended to correctly (241). Obviously, preparing and planning ahead is extremely vital for the success of the students in the classroom. In that regard, I thought the inclusion and emphasis on thematic units was quite appropriate, as they are typically long-term plans with much thought, effort, and coordination behind them. Without that effort, they can be unfinished or mediocre, which only wastes the time of both students and teachers.

Another positive aspect of lesson planning that the book pointed out well was the greater possibility of including a greater variety of different learning modalities and styles, in addition to intelligence types. The more these aspects of student learning are thought about, the more diverse of a lesson plan will be written, and the better the students will learn the curriculum. Obviously, educators need to understand these concepts in order to fully minister to these specific needs and to understand how to most effectively plan for them.

A third idea that impressed me was the student involvement in the culmination activity. It only makes sense that in order to become interested and invested in an activity, that the students would have some sort of involvement in its decision. They often have some of the best ideas for accurate assessment and provide an interesting new prospective on what would help them learn the most. Also, the use of meaningful culmination activities is very intelligent, because it is much more motivating and rewarding for students to help write and publish a book than to simply write an informative report.

Chapter 5 comments

Controversy in the classroom has always been something that as an educator I have shied away from. I thought that it would only be the cause of problems from parents and the administration. After reading the small section on controversy, I realize that it is almost impossible to avoid controversy if all levels of the taxonomies are truly reached. That being said, I also realize that there is an appropriate way to approach potentially controversial topics so as to not force your views on your students. I thought it was interesting that they pointed out that it is not wrong for the teacher to express their opinion, especially after the students had fully developed theirs. I think this would be a delicate subject, and might bring about unwanted consequences for teachers, especially from parents. However, I do believe that controversial topics should not be avoided simply because they are controversial. Students need to learn how to form their own opinions and the classroom is a great place to do that. If they are guided through the steps to forming their own opinion correctly and not coerced in to believing any one view point more than another, I think controversy can be appropriate in a middle level school setting.

Chapter 4 comments

The advice in chapter four (though a lot to take in at once) was very good and will be helpful in maintaining a well managed classroom. I agree with the book's philosophy of preventative discipline instead of reactive, and agree that there are many ways to prevent discipline problems instead of just punish them. All of their ideas such as eliminating down time, smoothing transitions, reducing distractions and being well prepared, are excellent suggestions and ones all teachers need to keep in mind throughout teaching.

I also thought the activity on planning out procedures for different situations was very useful. As teachers, we will be hit with many situations that we didn't even imagine, but we can always plan for the ones we can imagine. Thinking ahead and planning for situations that are likely to happen will eliminate surprise and uncertainty of how to respond. It will also force us to think of how we would react, and to make sure we aren't going to react poorly or emotionally.

Chapter 3 comments

In any educational settings, questions are the base to learning. Especially in a middle level classroom, the students are extremely curious and have a tendency to question everything. However, being young adolescents, they are often too intimidated or self conscious to voice the questions they do have or to even answer questions in front of their peers. I thought that by defining the different types of questions and delving deeper into each type, the book gives great tools to assist teachers in helping students answer questions as well as voice their own. The book was right on when it said that questions are a sign that students are engaged in the lesson plan because it means they are curious about the subject matter and want to dive in deeper.

I also thought the information about reacting to answers and questions from students correctly was extremely valuable. If the teacher reacts poorly to answers given, then their questions will be of no use because the students will be unwilling to answer them. Teachers need to understand wait time and equality, so as to not embarrass students in this sensitive time in their lives. Effective praise is also important and I think not stressed enough. The more comfortable students feel with the teacher and the classroom environment, the more likely they will be to both respond to and generate their own questions.

Chapter 2 comments

I enjoyed reading about the different teaching philosophies and the characteristics of good teachers. I agreed with all of the characteristics the book mentioned and thought they were good things to keep in mind. The questionnaire was helpful in getting me to think about my own personal teaching views and further develop my own style of education. It was a great way to foster metacognition as well as reflection.

The section on copyright laws was very interesting to me. I had not learned very much about copyright laws previously, and was surprised to learn how often they are violated by teachers. Tying it back to the section on teachers needing to be good models of positive behavior, if teachers participate in technically an illegal activity, that sends a very bad message to students.Even trivial and inconvenient laws should be kept, especially by teachers.

Chapter 1 comments

I thought that the most important information in chapter one was in figure 1.3 with the definitions of general characteristics of young adolescents in many important categories. This information (then followed by suggestions of how to cater to these characteristics) is vital to understanding the middle school student and what they are going through at that time in his or her life. Though the information was not new or surprising, I think adult educators can easily forget their own experiences with middle school, and so this table is extremely useful to remind them of the unique group middle school students really are.

I was also surprised to learn the differences between a Junior High and a Middle School. I personally attended a Middle School under the name of a Junior High, so I had not previously realized that they were completely different ideas.