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.