Chapter Reflections for Classroom Management Book

Chapter 1 Reflection
In reading Chapter 1 of our book, one single paragraph really jumped out to me because of my biggest fear in teaching. On page 28 of Chapter 1 it reads “Several years ago one of the authors was working in an elementary school located in a community in which approximately one-third of the students were Native American. Several teachers expressed annoyance (like I would) when they discovered nice, shiny, “I’m #1” buttons in the waste baskets.
During a faculty discussion concerning the lack of respect for school property displayed by these students, a Native American staff member informed the teachers that in her culture, students were encouraged not to outshine their friends. She noted that students from her tribe would be chastised by members of the trip for bringing home an item indicating they had outperformed their friends and focused attention on themselves. The stat assistant had provided teachers with an important lesson in how methods used to encourage and motivate students are more effective when they are responsive to student’s cultural values.”
I say that this mistake I believe is common to teachers but with more education is becoming less of a problem, being non-educated about the cultural values of other races is a serious problem that people like myself need to correct. I have grown up in Iowa all of my life and have lived outside of this state and have ventured off to other countries during my life but have never taken the opportunity to learn about other races culture and values, like I have wanted to learn about mine. I grew up in Runnells, Iowa and to say the least it wasn’t very mixed at all. There were kids of my background, with the same interests that I have, so I didn’t feel the need to “Reach out” to any other race because I was happy where I was. I don’t know what kind of teacher I will become, but I do hope I can shred this notion of “staying in my comfort zone” as a person and help reach to those not with whom I share similar backgrounds with but ones that I have never experienced.

Chapter 2 reflection
"Teachers are involved daily in creating the atmosphere in which children spend approximately one-fourth of their waking lives" I dont know of is just my pre-notion that going into teaching would be easy or what but when I think about that statement, Teachers have way more responsibility and impact on a student's life than I personally realized. I dont mean to come off like I was disrespecting the profession, I just realized within the past year, teaching is what I want to do, I guess I never realized just how much of an impact one person can have on other in one career choice. "By creating enviroments that respond sensitively to student's needs, teachers can ensure that most student behavior will be positive and goal directed." I didnt have this when I was growing up. I'm sorry if this is not the goal of chapter refections, writing down things that pop out at you as you read the chapter, but my whole mindset of what kind of Teacher, I want to become is quickly changing by the minute with statements like this. When Alfred Adler, Rudolf Dreikurs centered his ideas for working with children on the belief that their basic need is to be socially accepted: "We should realized that a misbehaving child is only a discouraged child trying to find his place; he is acting on the faulty logic that his misbehaviour will give him the social acceptance which he desires", it reminded me of a teacher in which I did my practicum with back in 2009. This teacher would allow his students, who were 7th graders, to talk for the first five minutes of class and the last five minutes of class each and every day. When I asked him why he was doing this he told me that by allowing children at a time in their life, where they are so socially active to talk before class started and after, that they were more incline to listen more intentively during class time if they knew at the end, if they acted appropriately, they would be allowed to continue their talks. He found out that the kids did better on their tests, were more active during disscussions and had fewer discipline problems if he allowed this to continue. I personally think that this was one of the greatest ideas, I so far have ever heard of.
Chapter 3 Reflection-Late

In reading Chapter 3: “Establishing Positive Teacher-student relationships”, I remembered going back through my school years and first thinking of the type of teacher-student relationships that I really enjoyed and those teachers whom I could care less about today. One quote that quickly jumped out at me for personal reasons was that of Allen Mendler. He stated “Nowadays, to be successful in a position of authority requires an ability to connect in a caring way by inspiring hope within others and by leading one’s own life in a manner that models the message.” The only question is how do you balance a position of authority with caring about someone without losing your position of authority? First off the book talks about adjustment with regards to students at a risk who need a more personal and supportive relationship with adults. A lot of teachers when I was going to school didn’t feel the need to have a personal and supportive relationship with their students for coming off as “weak” and as a student, would know who I could come to and who I wouldn’t dare ask for help. As I continue in my education degree, I am solidifying my ideal teacher and how I can become one of those few teachers who do know how to balance a position of authority and someone who truly cares about another individual.
One concern I had about reading this chapter was that of the beliefs the author stated saying was needed for a positive teacher culture and that was of that “Teachers accept personal responsibility for student success.” When I first read that statement, a red flag jumped up at me and was wondering how much of a pitfall that was for some teachers, who got caught up on how well their students were doing, therefore since they taught them that way, in the future, they would not need to change their teaching styles. I probably am reading too far into it or as I usually do misinterpret what the author is trying to get across but I see that as a danger zone for teachers. Do I want to be excited when my students do well, of course. Should I be concerned when my students are not testing as well as I think they should be, always, but to take personal acceptance on just their success or any type I think is dangerous.

Chapter 4 Reflection-Late
In reading Chapter 4 “Creating Positive Peer Relationships”, the book states that peer attitudes toward achievement affect students’ academic aspirations and school behavior. Second, the quality of peer relationships and personal support in classrooms affects the degree to which students’ personal needs are met and their ability to be productively involved in the learning process. Thirdly, peer relationships can directly affect achievement through cooperative learning activities.
When thinking about the first statement of how peer attitudes toward achievement affect other students academic aspirations and school behavior, I believe that starts off with what the Teacher portrays to their students. I did my practicum with Mr. Melendez at the Van Meter middle school and every student I talked to, told me how much they enjoyed Mr. Melendez and how much he respected them. Now I know, what you may be thinking, how does that affect peer to peer academic aspirations? Well, if the teacher shows respect to the student and expects the other students to respect each other, it’s a domino effect. Will it work all the time, of course not but how the teacher comes off to the students, greatly affects how the students, in that classroom, will treat each other.
Secondly, with the quality of peer relationships and personal support in classrooms affect the degree to which students’ personal needs are met, was a surprising statement to me at first. Just glancing over this statement, I thought to myself, how could a student have their personal needs met by the quality of peer relationships, but then I realized what was probably the most important aspect of the junior high years, was that of being accepted. If you were accepted by anyone, you had one of the most important social needs met instantly. A classroom is an easy way of getting students to act outside of their “box” and befriend someone that society would say distance yourself from.
Lastly, peer relationships can directly affect achievement thorugh cooperative learning activities, excites me all the more. I love activities as a student, especially in classes, that I wanted to learn in. As a future teacher it will be my job not to fall into the trap of doing the same activitiy each year, even if I enjoy doing the activity myself. Having to come up with new and exciting activities to perform during sections of the year, is a challenging task but one that I look forward in trying to accomplish.

Chapter 5 Reflection

In reading Chapter 5 “Working with Parents” this caption immediately caught my eye because of several reasons. Off the subject when I was interviewing for the Ankeny Assistant Football Coach, one of the questions that were asked by Ankeny AD Gary Telford, was “How would you respond to angry parents calling you late at night, and asking you how you would deal with them?” At first, I became defensive as I think anyone would be when someone else is attacking them in any fashion but as I sat back and thought for a second, I referred to this summer being a little league umpire and how parents would always act so nicely and respectfully to the umpire no matter what call they would make. I would simply state what I saw and knew was correct and no matter what their reaction was, I believed I was making the best decision in that game and I think the same should be done with Parents and their students at school.
I do believe that parents and guardians are the most important and influential adults in a student’s life and I want to be the teacher that encourages struggling parents and reinforces ones who aren’t. I seem to be as I am reading this book, relating the material to my experiences as a student and for this instance, how my parents really weren’t too involved in my schooling. I remember as an elementary student, my dad telling us if we got A’s we’d get five dollars and for B’s three dollars and for a C a dollar and that was his sole push for us. It was up to us to stay motivated to get as much money as possible but for me; it quickly became my only motivation for getting good grades. Once the “bank” stops paying, my grades quickly dropped to passing but not failing.
As a future teacher, I want to get each parent involved with their students’ progress and as the book stated “teachers find that, for several reasons, an important and rewarding role includes their work with parents...” I want parents to share in the accomplishments of their children and my students. I can accomplish them by having an introductory letter either by every quarter to have the parents on constant notice of what their student is about to learn or by semester. I could set up meetings throughout the year, to give updates and receive feedback from the parents on what their children are saying to them about a certain topic and what I can do myself to improve on my teaching skills.
EDU 462

Chapter 6 Reflection


In reading chapter 6: “Enhancing Student’s motivation to Learn”, I liked the quote from William Morse when he says “If school is not inviting, if the task are not clear, interesting and at an appropriate level, how can we expect pupils to be on task? Adverse student reactions should be expected when classes are dull, teaching is uninspired and failures are built in. Their oppositional behavior is a sign of personal health and integrity.”
Is it possible for a teacher on every student’s level to have a task that is clear, interesting and at an appropriate level all the time? I believe that having this has a goal for each teachers isn’t necessarily bad but expecting the teacher to accomplish this task is the same as expecting each student to become a doctor, or a lawyer or an engineer. As a teacher, I may be teaching a certain subject that myself finds boring, uninteresting and tough to teach but somehow I will have to be creative in how I want the content of the subject to come out. Motivation has to be interesting to the student. Some things that go into motivation are reason, activities and objectives, and that’s where knowing your students on more of a personal note will allow the teacher to come up with objectives and activities that will reach the majority of the class one instance and reach the other have on another instance. I believe it to be impossible to reach every student, every time no matter what your objective is or planned activity but that it should be the mindset of the teacher “if I didn’t reach them this time, then the next time I will!”
The authors go into detail on creating a learning environment that includes establishing inclusion, developing attitude, enhancing meaning and engendering competence. Creating inclusion is key to having a successful student feeling motivated to learn, without it, you might as well be talking to a brick wall. When you engendering competence, you are creating an understanding that the student feels they are effective in learning something they value, goes back to knowing your students are a personal level. How will I know without knowing my students what they value on a personal level, and how close will I be able to get without crossing any lines? I hope I am stating that clearly, I do not want to show any favoritism, and want to be fair with every student I have.

'What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon it destroys our democracy.' John Dewey

Tigers

What do tigers dream of when they take their little tiger snooze? Do they dream of mauling zebras, or Halle Berry in her Catwoman suit? Don't you worry your pretty striped head, we're gonna get you back to Tyson and your cozy tiger bed. And then we're gonna find our best friend Doug, and then we're gonna give him a best friend hug. Doug, Doug, oh, Doug, Dougie, Dougie, Doug, Doug! But if he's been murdered by crystal meth tweakers, well then we're crap out of luck.