Chapter 7

Chapter 7 focuses on assessment.  I was already familiar with authentic and performace assessment and to be honest, I approached this chapter as "another chapter on assessment, what new can I learn".  Well, I did learn.  I learned about assessing what a student says.  I had already been assessing what a study writes and I really like the sample rubric for assessing a student's skill in listening.  I am going to use this rubric in the near future and again with the honesty, I am going to try to assess my own listening skills, especially in how often I interrupt a speaker.

Chapter 6

Interdisciplinary thematic instruction is quite a topic and quite a concept.  I appreciated the vignett from the West Salem Middle School.  Having taught middle school for a number of years, the units I remember most, and the ones I worked hardest on were teh interdisciplinary thematic ones.  Not only are these units a source of pride (usually for multiple years) for the school, they are also beneficial in that the learning process looks at the whole student, not just the history student, who magically transforms after 50 mintues to become the English student and then the math student, etc.  Students get as excited about these units as teachers.  I also think this is a good place for new teachers to suggest a interdisciplinary thematic unit as a way of working with their colleagues.  I am glad this chapter included it.

Chapter 5

This chapter talks about the six curriculum domains.  I like the way curriculum was divided this way.  Whenever I have thought about curriculum in the past, I was referring to domains 1 and 2, content and instruction and not including the othe four demains even though they are important.  As a core teacher I tend to focus my importance on my subject but I am also aware of the time my students will put in to my homework and the time they will put into clubs, activities and athletics.  Facilities are usually out of a teacher's control however, the pride we keep in the areas we are assigned can assist the students in feeling valued, organized, and appreciated.  I will now think about curriculm a little more broadly.

Chapter 4

The situational case studies provided in this chapter were great for reflection.  Obviously I could have produced 10 additional ones from my own teaching background and I do reflect after a situation on how I could have handled something differently.  As teachers we all are guilty for engaging in teacher behaviors that do not bring about the best decision making in our charges.  There are a few things we can have control over, the environment, our personal set of tools to deal with situations and our reactions to situations once they occur.  This helps in the feelings of powerlessness over the things we cannot control, such as things that occur before our students enter our classroom.  The section on teacher's sending contradictory messages is really relevant because I have noted that this is one area where students pick this up quicker than any subject concept we are trying to teach.  I really like the way the authors handled this chapter.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3 has some interesting comments but I found something exciting hidden on page 82, the 12 qualities of genius (Armstrong, 1998).  I really liked the titles, curiosity, playfulness, imagination, creativity, wonderment, wisdom, inventiveness, vitality, sensitivity, flexibility, humor and joy.  The qualities remind me of people such as the late Steve Jobs, and they also remind me of the people around me each day that possess a high intellect.  These are not the boring people, they are the people that get things done, and done with flair, with creativity and with joy.  What I want to do now is take this to the next step.  I want to read more about Armstrong's study and I want to share this with my students, especially with my students who are "C" or "B" students but could be "A" students if given more motivation.  I want to put these twelve qualities on a poster, put them in the hall, etc.  It takes a lot to get me this excited after 24 years of teaching but I really like this concept and I am glad I read the chapter.

Chapter 2

Dr. Cantu asked us in his chapter 2 video to describe our teaching style.  I thought about this and remembered when I started teaching my style could be referred to as almost textbook behaviorism.  I believed in setting up students for success by making sure they passed the first quiz and then I used shaping, positive reinforcement and everything else I could find from B.F. Skinner.  This did have a measure of success but with time comes change, change of students, change of expectations and myself changing.  Now I would probably be described as more of a cognitive/experimentation teacher focusing on projects, cooperative learning and more facilitator than teacher led.  However, there are still elements of behaviorism that creep into my teaching.  For example, I still start every semester or every new class with an activity where the students find success, then they go through a self-fulfilling prophecy of believing they can be successful in my classroom and they are.  I like it that I am still able to change when needed, yet I keep true to my beliefs that all children can an do learn and I also believe children learn best where they feel loved.

Chapter 1

The chapter talks about traditional versus non traditional scheduling.  Block scheduling is effective if the activities are varied.  Having anyone sit for 70 minutes is not best practice.  Breaking up instruction with a bell ringer, at least two activities and direct instruction, followed by a wrap up or closure is a common template used in area schools.  The effective middle school teacher should ask the personal question, would I want to sit in my own classroom.