Blog #8

A: In chapter 7, Carol acknowledged that it is hard to care. She gives several reasons. Which reason is most validating to you, and why? If you don't really connect to any of Carol's reasons, explain what you believe your "reason" is.

I agree that it is hard to care for some and not for others. My mother was a teacher, she taught for 15 years before she passed away. She won Who's Who of American Teachers award twice and was nominated 3 other times. If you don't know what this award is it is an award that is given because she was nominated by seniors that were graduating to be their favorite teacher. This means that 12th graders were nominating their 7th grade teacher to be their favorite. Was this because she was easy? no. Was this because they didn't need to do anything in her class? No. The reason why she was nominated by so many seniors was because she cared. She would have students in her class after school for hours just to hang out. Just so they could talk. I have heard on many occasions, "Your mom was my favorite, I failed her class, but she was my favorite!" This is who I want to be. I want to have high expectations, I want to bring my kids up to the level I know they can be at, but I want them to know I care and want them to succeed. I want them to leave my year knowing that they grew in more areas then just cognitive thinking skills. This isn't easy it is hard because "it is hard to teach" but if I am willing to "take the risk" I know that my students will be stronger because of it.

B: Carol offers two final metaphors, what I call the "McNurlty Metaphor" and the "London Metaphor." Which one do you connect with most, and why?
I think that I can relate with both but with the "McNurlty's" Metaphor the most because it is true. I had a mother, as above, that was amazing. she was amazing because not only was she a wonderful teacher but she could bake like no one else. She could make cinnamon rolls that would just melt in your mouth! My sister makes them too, they are good but they aren't my mom's cinnamon rolls. The art of a mother's love changes everything. This is true with teaching, you need to have your heart, love, and soul in teaching so that you can learn and grow it every little nuance that is taught to you, the teacher, by their students. I bet that like McNurlty and my mother they both learned how to make they confections of tastiness. They didn't say no to suggestions nor to teachers they learned till they were experts, as teachers we are also continuous learners. We need to learn in order to have even the sibilance of perfection. Then every year we are retaught because every year is a different dynamic to learn from again.

C: Read one or two blog responses from two or three of your classmates. Then, please give a brief message of encouragement to one of your classmates based on your reaction to their response that you read. Leave your message of encouragement on their blog as a comment (at the end of the particular blog your are responding to). Copy your message of encouragement and paste it into YOUR blog, telling me who you are responding to.

I LOVE YOU!!! Keep it in there! Are you moved yet? If you need help cleaning please call me! I would love to help. You are amazing! Thank you for being you! to Melissa

Archer! You are my inspiration. I want to love and be loved like you, your heart is so large and all encompassing that you surround me with friendship! Thank you for being you and being my friend. You will be an amazing teacher! thanks

To Archer

You are brilliant! I am so glad to have you as a friend. I hope that all is going well. I can't believe that you are holding this all together, moving and keeping so on top of everything in class. You are making it through this and I know after this you can make it through anything! Megan H.

Blog #7

If your approach to reading our text is anything like my first one was, you probably didn't take time to read all of the parts of Mr. Johnson's Unit on Buoyancy. When I finally did read it, strategies for "Important, Focused & Engaging Curriculum & Instruction" came alive for me! What helped was that I read it with eyes that finally understood how all of the hallmarks could really be "visible" in one unit of instruction! For Blog #7, carefully read Figure 6.1 on page 70, Figure 6.2 on pages 75- 78, Figure 6.3 on p. 79, and Figure 6.4 on page 80. Really looking at this unit makes Carol's words on the surrounding pages inspiring and engaging. So, after you have read the unit in the pages listed above, find 3 subheadings in the chapter that are very clear to you now. Compare and contrast Mr. Johnson's ideas, YOUR ideas for your own class, and the 3 subheadings that are especially meaningful in that comparison. (By "subtopics" I mean the 1- to 2-paragraph sections surrounding the Figures in chapter 6.). Is there something in what you are required to teach for which you could "plan the engagement" in similar ways?

Blog #6

4.2) Chapter 4 is all about teacher responses to student needs. Throughout the chapter there are multiple bolded subheadings (scenarios, specific strategies, and ideas for classroom routines). Choose three of them that you believe you can work on or that you would like to do in your own classroom, and explain why you chose them.

In the chapter the three headings that I found that I feel are important and that I want to have in my class are:
1)The Classroom Environment
I want my environment to be what I am teaching. I want there to be posters on the walls that can stimulate my students minds. I want the walls to be congruent with what I am teaching. I want there to be clean organized tables and desks that make the room feel like I have a handle on what is being taught and what is being received back from the students (even when there might not be).
I want there to also be and an emotional environment that is consistent and predictable for my students. I want to have the same consequences for the same actions every time that my students misbehave. I want my students to know that I love them and that is why we work so hard in my class, because I want them to succeed.
2)Communication
In my classroom I want there to be a good communication. I don't want it to be teacher-teacher-teacher, but I want it to be teacher-student-student, in other words I want to teach once and then have my students feed back to my teaching, then the most important I want my students to teach each other. Having my students teach each other is the most powerful type of teaching. The communication will always be open in my class. I will treat my students with respect and they will treat me with respect. That is one of the reasons why I want to have morning meetings in my classroom. having morning meetings creates a soft, warm, and open atmosphere that allows my student the want to communicate with me and others in there class.
3)Classroom Routines and Classroom Operation
This step and the one before in are so close to me in my mind that I almost some that in the same category.
Having routines in place is essential to the flow of the classroom. This shouldn't be something that the students should guess but a path that is drawn with heavy lines that doesn't leave my students guessing. I want them to know that when I give them warning to clean up it is because I actually want them to clean up! The reason why I say this is because my daughter Kenya had a third grade teacher that had a Troll doll on her desk (these are the dolls that have the bright colored hair that stands up from their heads). If this doll had its hair up then the kids could play and if the hair was down then that told the students that their teacher was grumpy and that they needed to watch themselves. This was difficult because if the student wasn't watching the desk then they would get in trouble for not paying attention to "Mr. Moody." How ridiculous this was for the students to have to guess how to act on different days. I pulled my child from this class the 3 week when I came to the school on a "Mr. Moody" day and found the students marching back and forth in lines till they got it right, uncalled for!


5.3) On the bulletin board that I face as I sit at my desk in my office, I have posted, just above eye-level, the following:


Are my assignments…
· Important? (authentic)
· Focused? (students know what to do)
· Engaging? (interesting)
· Demanding? (challenging)
· Scaffolded? (students aren’t left hanging)
I think this sign is helping me improve, but it’s a lot to work on. Some things are easier than others. For instance, I think I’ve come a long way in planning focused assignments, largely through gentle suggestions from students and colleagues. I think the one in which I’m “better than the others” is “demanding assignments.” Obviously, these come from Figure 5.1 on page 59. Take a look at them, with their bulleted explanations, and list them in a prioritized order for yourself… from the easiest for you to the most difficult for you. Briefly explain your ranking.

I really want to do this for myself to see what I need to work on some of these are at the same level for me but I will try do rank them.
Scaffolded
Engaging
Focused
Important
Demanding


Scaffolded is the easiest for me because I automatically think in my mind, what steps do my students need to do to get to this point? for example I found out that I will be able to have my students be pen pals to a different country. The first thing I thought of was, What do they need to know before my students write some where else? They need to learn etiquette for letter writing, how to write, how to write open ended sentences, how to respond, what to do with the letter. Then how to write on line, do they know how to email? I came up with a word the other day instead of etiquette, Netiquette. This means do my students know how to write to people online? do they know how to treat new friends online?
The hardest for me, but not really, just the one that would be the one that I need to work on more it Demanding. It is difficult for me to not be a softy! To listen to the sad little stories and just let the assignment go to easily. The rest is understandable and I can do easily.

Blog #5

For this blog, please find two different places where Carol makes a statement or quotes someone else, and this statement really touches you... really calls to your heart.

In your blog response, for each statement, give the page number where it is found in the book, copy the most important portion of the statement, and briefly tell why it matters to you -- why it has significant meaning for you. (Please do not use the quotes printed right underneath the chapter titles).

1) On page 17 when it talks to about Affirmation I believe that it is true that you need to feel "accepted and acceptable" in order to want learn. I think that it is important to remember this for all manner of learning and working with others. I know that this book is more geared for teaching in the classroom but I think that it is very important to know that being accepted and working with others goes for adult also. Harsh words or said things to others that you work with can make it so that they don't want to work with you or be around you in your adult relationships as well as in teacher/child relationships. The comment "Do I feel worthy here?" is an important question to ask yourself, Have I made the ones around me feel worthy to be here? The old adage, "Do unto others" is really important in all relationships that you come across.

2)On page 18 it states, "It is satisfying to find themselves becoming more powerful." This is so true. I totally agree that a child that finds themselves powerful in what they do will come back to prove that one, they can do it again or two, they can do more and better this time. I loved the statement that Principal Sylvia Allan said, "Some children in the world ask for something and get it, they don't have to work for anything. Isn't that sad? Isn't it sad that children don't have to earn what they want. What a shame!" I feel the same way. If a child strives hard to obtain a goal and then achieves what they are working so hard for. They will be so proud of themselves. They will grow so much in self esteem and self worth that they will jump at the chance to accomplish the next goal in life. Helping a child or your students learn that this, goal accomplishment, is an amazing thing; that finding their worth in life, is a life lesson that can not be taught, but must be earned.

Blog #4

Tell me about any part of Principal Sylvia Allan's presentation that "struck a chord" in you, (either positively or negatively), and how you think it will affect you in your teaching.

Oh my gosh I love this woman!!! I want to be her! She is the amazing the love and devotion she has for her kids (students) is amazing! The comradery in her classroom is, was, wonderful. This love and devotion has transfered to her entire school. I hope and pray that my principal is remotely as wonderful as she is!
One of the things that she said that I didn't think of was memorization in my morning meetings, I decided that it is important to have this part of my morning meeting. Poems can teach about many things in life about self and about the world. I have decided to implement that into my morning meetings because of Sylvia Allan.

Blog #3

Blog #3: With the reading you've done so far, about differentiation, can you see any differentiation I have organized for you in this course? Look at the assignments (listed on page 3 of the full syllabus and outlined on pages 7 - 11). Which one appears to you (not your friends, or study buddies, but to YOU) as if it may be the product and process differentiated for student interest? Briefly explain why you think so, and connect it to something you read in Ch. 1 of Fulfilling the Promise.

When reading the list of assignments I can see that all of them relate to differentiation in one way or another. It is amazing how in every assignment there is a way to change it for the needs of each and every student. The assignments that are assigned to us is to teach us how to to change the lessons for ourselves so that we can understand how to differentiate for our future classrooms. My favorite assignments is the morning meetings and the closing meetings. I love the morning meetings I love how it makes the classroom a community. I can't wait to implement the morning meeting in my classroom!

Blog #2

1. In the "morning meeting" readings you were exposed to several teachers who do morning meeting in their classrooms. Please find one of them, list his or her name, and explain what they do or believe about morning meeting.

I really enjoyed the morning meetings that the first grade teacher did in field this last semester. She actually had two morning meetings. One in the morning and then one right after morning recess. I liked having the kids brought back together after the time outside. The first morning meeting she would bring the kids together and have the student of the day pick 3 poems to read together. Then she would pass around the totem and have a round of lightning share (everyday, I would have liked for her to switch it up a little). Then they would be sent to their seats to do their journal read, hand writing, and silent read (if they were done).
The second round of morning meeting she would have them do the day of the week, how many days have been in the school year so far, time, and money. This would also segway nicely into the math section of the day.

2. In both part I of Differentiation in Practice and chapter 1 in Fulfilling the Promise, you find a short list of curricular elements that teachers can adjust and a short list of student traits or characteristics teachers can respond to. One of the books lists 4 of these, while the other lists only 3. What do you think changed in Tomlinson's thinking to add a 4th curricular element and a 4th trait to her original list?

The fourth student trait is "Affect". This trait refers to how students feel about themselves, their work, and the classroom as a whole. I think that this was added to the list because the way the students feel, or their affect, influences and affects the other three student traits. If a student feels unsafe or uncomfortable in their environment they can not increase their emotional intelligence. This has become just as essential to the learning and growth of a child then the ability to learn book smarts. It the feel of the classroom is not in harmony with what the students need emotionally they will not make risks in class.
The fourth curricular element is "Learning Environment" which refers to the operation and the tone of a classroom. Just like affect, a students learning environment and the way it is run affects the students whole school day and they way that they learn.

3. In the introduction to The First Six Weeks of School you read about the importance of establishing a friendly, predictable, and orderly classroom as a "prerequisite for children's academic achievement." Is "friendly" as important as "predictable" and "orderly"? Why or why not? (Please refer to ideas you find in the introduction to The First Six

It is extremely important to have a class that is predictable, orderly, and friendly. A classroom should have a balance between all three of these. Crating a climate and tone of warmth and safety helps create a friendly environment. Teaching the schedule and routines that are to be expected of them, in the class through out the day, can help your classroom be orderly and predictable. Having the students know this at the beginning of the school year will decrease the conflict that can arise throughout the year. When predictability, order, and a friendly atmosphere is established at the beginning of the year will help maintain a class that is wanted.