Chapter 7C

This portion of the chapter identified the various assessment items. The book also listed step by step how to create an assessment using the various styles. As a teacher it is important to mix up the assessments to give the students more of a variety. This way each student has a chance to have an assessment style that they will excel at over the other styles. Each student has their own strengths, so allowing different assessment styles will allow them to showcase their knowledge of the topic. I also liked the sample rubric shown in this chapter. Having a detailed rubric will help keep assessing fair.

Chapter 7B

This chapter is about assessing and reporting student achievement. This portion of the chapter discusses standardized and nonstandardized tests. I think the idea behind standardized tests is good, however standardized testing has become too powerful and influential to the basic classroom operations. With test scores reflecting how teachers perform, many teachers are now teaching for the test, instead of teaching the students in a way that they are able to remember the information later on. As a teacher, I need to find the healthy balance of teaching my students how to understand the information on these tests, but also teach my students so that they understand the subject on its own.

Another big portion was test anxiety. As a teacher I need to be able to identify when students are under a lot of pressure and help them out when they are stressing. I also need to be able to teach them different strategies that will help them overcome the test anxiety.

Chapter 7A

This chapter is about assessing and reporting student achievement. I think the checklist version of assessment is interesting. I can see how that would make grading easier as well as a self evaluation form easier. However, in figure 7.4 when the first question was, "Speak so that everyone could hear?". Instead of only yes or no, I would want more options like a rubric because the student may not be loud all of the time and more in between then the yes and no options. The checklist in figure 7.5 was more appropriate because it was a checklist of whether or not the student portrays developed skills. In that example, a student would either have it or not. So the yes or no options make more sense.

Chapter 6B

The middle portion of chapter 6 is all about writing the lesson plans. The author explains that writing lessons is a skill that takes time to develop and perfect over the years. They also stressed the importance of writing lessons down and having extra activities in mind.

As a middle school teacher, I see many benefits to having hard copies of my lesson plans. Lesson plans should have step by step procedures so you always have a guide to follow while teaching. I am in my novice teaching right now and one thing I have learned is that you have to be able to go with the flow. In one of my math lessons, I found out right before I began teaching that we had added computer lab time to practice PARCC testing. So, I had less time than what I had originally thought. When the computer lab time came, I was able to mark in my lesson plan where we stopped, so on Monday, I could pick up right where we left off.

Another thing I want to take away from this chapter is that with my first few years of teaching middle school, I will not have a good idea of how much time my lessons will take because I will not have taught them yet. By writing out a lesson plan and listing "if time remains" at the bottom with a few more activities, I won't have to worry about getting done with a lesson early and not knowing what to do.

Chapter 6A

This chapter discusses how to prepare an instructional plan. In the very beginning of this chapter, the author discusses the two instructional modes: delivery mode and access mode. I like how there was a chart that showed the strengths and weaknesses of each of these modes.

As a middle school teacher, I would want to use access mode as much as I could. I believe when students have more input to what they are learning, they will gain more because they had the choice of what they were learning about. I could see myself falling back to teaching in the delivery mode style because that is the traditional style of teaching that is more comfortable to teach from. Some positives from delivery mode are that more content is covered and the teacher has control of the content covered. Using delivery mode would allow me to plan out and have more of a schedule to the instructional plans to keep us on track for the year, however mixing in the access mode style would keep the students more engaged and interested in learning.

I want to take away from this portion of the chapter that teaching both of these modes throughout the year would make for a healthy balance for my students because there would be days that are more teacher lead with a more controlled environment, and other days that are more inquiry based for students to explore what they want to. I do not think it is a good thing to teach 100 percent in either one of the styles over the other one. All students learn differently, and having a diverse teaching style and classroom will allow for more success for all of the students.

Chapter 5C

This part of the chapter discussed the different taxonomies and how to develop a class syllabus. The taxonomy I can relate to most is Bloom's. Whenever I have to write a lesson plan I always have my Bloom's Taxonomy sheet out with the different levels and different verbs that correspond with the levels. This way when I go to write the objectives and procedures, I can make sure my students are getting a variety of levels within the lesson. Now students aren't only completing the lower levels of thinking, but they are also having to think at a higher level to complete the lesson and assessment.

I believe having a thorough syllabus is critical for any class. In my middle school classroom, I want to make sure I cover all of the class procedures, class description, supplies needed, our goals, objectives, grade scale, and assessments. This way the students know what is expected of them right at the beginning of the school year. If students are ever absent, they should know what the procedure is to getting the work by looking at the class syllabus. I will have my syllabus printed on a colored paper so that it is something the students will easily be able to find within their binder.

Chapter 5B

Chapter 5B goes into how to choose the different types of curriculum. It also discusses how most subject areas will contain potential controversial topics. I definitely agree with that. If I ever come up to a topic that I want to teach but think of possible issues that may come up, I would want to speak with the other teachers teaching the same class and with the administrators to come up with a plan. I believe that as long as you have solid communication when coming up with what curriculum to teach, the outcomes will be better if a problem were to arise. This way a committee of educators have already met to discuss the potential problems prior to teaching the unit. Then the committee could speak with the parents and students and whoever is concerned with the curriculum. If the committee of teachers and administrators thinks my curriculum choice is too risky, then I would have to choose a different topic to teach. This will definitely come up at some point when I teach middle school. I would want to be proactive and have a plan in place if a concern about the content and curriculum were to ever come up.

Chapter 5A

Chapter 5 is all about the curriculum in a class. The first part of the chapter goes into how important planning out the year is for meeting all of the curriculum standards. I liked how the book mentioned that the planning takes place at three stages: the school year, the units, and the plans. Breaking the planning down into long-term and short-term is helpful. You can use the long-term plans to guide the short-term daily lesson plans. Having a long-term plan allows teachers to stay on track so that they can complete the school year with having all of the standards met.

Chapter 4C

Chapter four is about classroom planning and management. In the last section of this chapter, it discusses different scenarios and explains why each of them should be avoided. I think that it is important for teachers to be proactive in the classroom instead of reactive. If teachers take the time to correctly plan out what their lessons and procedures should be, they are less likely to run into trouble when they begin teaching the lesson. If a positive learning environment is never established, it will be very hard for a teacher to maintain control of the class so that the students have the best opportunity to learn what she is trying to teach them. Even though planning everything out takes more time up front, it will save the teacher a lot of time in the long run by preventing a bad situation.

Chapter 4B

The second half of chapter four was about suggestions for class management for each part of the day and each part of the year. I liked how the author suggested a list of procedures of what to do on the first day of school. That is something I can reference once I begin to teach on my own. There were several scenarios towards the end of the chapter. I liked the variety the author had provided because it was a good mix of things that could happen when you begin to teach. These would be really good discussion points for a class to have.

Chapter 4A

Chapter 4 discusses classroom management and behavior. In the first half of the chapter, the author talked about the different theorists and authors with their opinions about classroom behavior. I remember discussing this information in the ETE 345 Guiding Learners class. I liked the approaches by Glasser, Gordon, Sprich, and Marshall. Their views closely follow my philosophy because I also believe that students are in control of their behavior and they should have consequences when class rules are broken. I think holding class meetings at least once every two weeks would be beneficial because the class could review the rules and bring up anything that has been bothering them. Students would be able to discuss different options and then come to a conclusion as to what approach they wish to take as a class on the different matters. This is a good approach because the students feel a part of the class and it makes the class environment more student centered instead of teacher centered.

Chapter 3

Chapter three of the book had a lot to do with questioning. The author would list many questions that are good to ask students, as well as questions to strongly avoid. There are many ways to ask good questions to students. It is important that teachers know what they want their students to learn, so that they are then able to structure the questions in a way to assist student get to the wanted response. Some questions may be a way to bring up classroom rules if they aren't being followed correctly. I would ask my students if their behavior is acceptable for our classroom. This would then allow the student to stop and think about their actions before proceeding. With asking questions teachers can also help their students with: metacognition, organization of materials, and the interpretation of materials. Questions teachers should avoid are those that belittle the students or make them feel embarrassed in front of their peers. The classroom is a positive learning environment and needs to stay that way. Students should feel welcomed and want to be there instead of being worried about making a mistake and being embarrassed. Regardless of age, whether a teacher is teaching middle school, elementary, or secondary, they should avoid questions that they know will intentionally punish the student.

Chapter 2B

This portion of the chapter listed 22 qualities that competent classroom teachers possess. Then the chapter later explains the three rules needed in order to become a competent teacher. The first rule is to know why you have selected the teaching strategies you use. The second is that the students are physically and mentally engaged in the lesson due to minimal behavioral disruptions and proper time management. The third rule is that the teacher is able to complete the lesson efficiently and effectively. I think these three rules and all of the qualities for competent teachers are extremely important. The teacher needs to know why they are using specific teaching strategies, because then they will know what types of results they hope for after the lesson. Teaching with many different strategies is beneficial because students learn in a variety of ways. By mixing up the style of instruction, each of the students will be able to experience learning in their preferred setting, instead of having to constantly adapt to the style of teaching.

Chapter 2A

I like how this part of the chapter discussed two different teaching styles. There is a nice chart that shows the primary differences between traditional and facilitating teaching styles. Traditional style is how teaching has primarily been in the past. Facilitating teaching style is what more and more people are leaning towards today. In my classroom, I would fall under the facilitating teacher style category. I think it is very beneficial to have a student centered classroom. To reflect this, I would have the students' desks in small groups or in a U shape pattern so the students can see everyone and easily interact with one another. I believe students learn better when they are able to work together and bounce ideas off of each other. Traditional style is when the classroom is centered around the teacher instead of the students. The teacher's desk would be in the front of the room and the students would be in rows all facing forward. The traditional style does not fit my beliefs of cooperating work, so that is why I teach with a student centered classroom under the facilitating style.

Chapter 1

I like how the textbook categorized young adolescent development into five groups. The groups are intellectual, physical, emotional/psychological, social, and moral and ethical development. Within each section are lists of characteristics of young adolescents within that type of development. Also listed are ways teachers and educators can help students out when they notice these characteristics. For example, under physical development, the book states that young adolescents are more concerned about their physical appearance, lack physical health, and have quicker growth in various muscles throughout their body. A teacher is able to help their students by providing a health class or health presentation where the students can learn about what is happening to them and how they can properly take care of themselves.

This is beneficial for middle school teachers because young adolescents experience many changes with their attitudes, their ideas, their ways of learning, and their body. Knowing that these changes are most likely to happen and knowing different steps to help the students is something that will help a middle school teacher be proactive with assisting instead of reactive to a situation.