Chapter 15: Parents as Partners in Twenty-First-Century Learning

This chapter addresses a new method of communicating with parents that almost completely eliminates the effort from the teachers. You can have a website with e-mails, all assignments posted using an online syllabus, and pretty much any other technological tool, that will keep parents involved with their child’s education. It is no longer necessary to send notes home or make phone calls, while still useful, there is a magic land of “the Internet” that allows that interaction to take place easier. A quick e-mail will make it to the targeted parent instantly instead of waiting for the student to remember to hand their parent a note, and a phone call requires coordination of common times to have a conversation. Have the world of electronic social media at our disposal we as teachers should have no trouble keeping parents up to date with their children’s progress and it might even make some otherwise absent parents more involved.

Chapter 8: Effective Assessment

The key ideas from this chapter that I will implement into my future classroom are clear expectations, focus on essential knowledge, and valid indicator of students knowledge. The first idea is so easy that it is embarrassing that it has to be written about. It is not the job of a teacher to try and trick students. We should always let them know where we want them to get. Outlining the goal will allow them to worry about material rather than the process it will take to show what they know. The second and third ideas go hand in hand, focusing on essential knowledge and a valid indicator of students knowledge are near and dear to my heart as a future math teacher. I make English teachers mad because I will not count spelling or grammar on anything written, I will note the papers so the student can self correct if they want to but at no time will writing rules take points away from the math concepts the student is trying to demonstrate. Teaching is a team effort I agree, but receiving a poor math grade because you struggle in English class is the most backward idea, and a great way to squash any remaining confidence a student may have.

Chapter 7: Differentiated Instruction-Fitting the Lesson to the Learner

The main idea of this chapter that I will take into my classroom is that there is not just one way to differentiate instruction. In order to actually cater to the individual student’s needs a teacher must be flexible and resourceful. We are aware that children learn differently so it is our job to not try to box them into our lesson plans. This gets me on a rant about the standards again but that is a different chapter. We should be constantly evaluating where our students stand and find ways to bring them further into the material so they are learning at their maximum capacity. Creating lesson plans with differentiation in them is a great start but the teacher needs to be able to formatively assess the situation and adjust on the fly if a student needs additional instruction or differentiation. I truly think that individualized instruction is the most powerful way to get all the students to gain the most from their time in school.

Chapter 6: Accountability for High Standards

The idea of accountability to standards determined by administrators really makes me angry. Students are expected to perform well on tests designed to be multiple choice or maybe an essay and the subject of the tests are only broadly identified as math, or science. This makes no sense in relation to the clear expectations that we are taught to give students. The book identifies the short comings of the system nicely but the idea still makes me angry. I thought the book went a little far into “idealand” when it imagined a world where academics are thought of as highly as athletics, people watch sports for entertainment. I don’t feel the academic achievements should be brought into that conversation even with a sarcastic tone. There is too much pressure for the students to meet somebody’s expectations instead of just letting the learning take place. Go through school, learn what you can, enter the real world and continue to learn what is important to your life.

Chapter 9: Involving Parents and Communities

This chapter addresses the need for teachers/schools to be in contact with the parents and community members to best offer children an education. It is exponentially more effective to have the teacher and parents on the same boat rather than having the child spend all day at school and then hearing a parent bad mouth a teacher or the subject matter. It is hard for adults to stop acting and talking in ways that show their opinions on things but for the betterment of the children everyone needs to be on the same page. In fact that is an important step I want to take as a teacher, if I am aware of a parent who thinks the material we are learning or my methods are stupid, I will ask them to meet with me to see how we can best remedy the situation and let their child thrive. I think people mistake disagreement as hostile confrontation, where in fact it can be used as a platform to change what I might not realize needed to be changed.

Chapter 8: A Safe and Healthy School Environment

It seems now more than ever (in my memory) do schools need to try and create a safe environment for students. Bullying is a huge problem both physically and emotionally, and now you add social media as a bullying medium and kids need adult allies. That is why it is so important to create an environment where your students feel comfortable both physically but also emotionally. When there is a feeling of safety a student will likely take more risks which will often times lead to greater learning. What it comes down to is simple; schools are the necessary step that a child takes to learn skills and information that shapes them into adults. It is a huge problem if that school is not a safe place for the child because their effort will be spent protecting themselves from all sorts of outside evils instead of focusing on learning. There are atmospheric ways a teacher can create a classroom that feels comfortable but I think the most important part is the unseen culture of the room. It is the job of the teacher to create a culture of respect and learning so children are free to explore.

Chapter 4: Designing Instruction to Improve Teaching and Learning

This seems like a no brain idea of a chapter but after sitting through many college classes I think it is important for all future teachers to read this. Know where you want to go with your students and design your lessons to get everyone there. Being over prepared as a teacher is the only way to expect to succeed; it is too much to ask of yourself to think you can best reach all the students with poor plans and off the cuff ideas. You should differentiate ahead of time and think of ways that might better engage the students. In general having great lesson plans ahead of time makes you a better teacher and will make the students better learners.