Chapter #7

Chapter seven had two parts I found especially important.  The first one was the different types of tests items a teacher can use.  I think all these tips are extremely important to helping a teacher create good tests. Many of the tips of subtle little things that can change an item from a good test item to a poor test item.  I also like the advantage and disadvantage parts.  Performance and essay type questions are the best for assessing in depth knowledge, but there is not time to use those all the time.  Multiple choice can cover a wide range of surface material.  It is important as a teacher to find a balance all of types of questions when considered time and what a student should know.

The second point I liked was the parent interaction section.  This is something all teachers will deal with very often.  These tips are very important so a teacher can act professionally and not get themselves into trouble.  It is very easy to get in trouble as a teacher, so by following the tips and acting professional a teacher can put themselves, parents, and students in the best position to succeed.

Chapter #6

Chapter six covered many topics including the formation of units and lesson plans.  However, the thing that caught my attention most was the multiple intelligence part.  I think most of us often associate intelligence with someone who is good at math or science.  There are many types of intelligence though.  Anything a person is good at could be considered a form of intelligence, whether that be self-awareness, awareness of others, musical talent, sports, acting, or even things like philosophy.  These areas are often ignored when it comes to schools because they do not see them as valid to learning.  There are many schools that highly overvalue sports like football, baseball, or  basketball, but that does not make sports overvalued in general.  Not very often are sports like tennis, golf, bowling and others valued enough to have many resources or much attention put to them.  Musicals and plays are rarely hyped the way a football game may be.  Sometimes academics take a back seat.  One thing is for sure, no matter what a school and community decide to put first, they rarely make these all priorities.  I think that is wrong, and I think schools need to value and respect all types of learning.  Even in the basic subjects all of these types of learning can be incorporated into the classroom.  Each student is different and all students are intelligent in different ways.   We need to recognize all of these types of intelligence.  I think this might be one of the most important things the class has talked about this semester.

Chapter # 5

Chapter five brought some insight into how students think and develop.  I have learned the cognitive domain before, but I have not learned the other two domains before this chapter.  I thought they were interesting and helpful in understanding how the human mind works with emotions and movements as well as the thinking levels of the cognitive domain.  I have always liked the cognitive domain because I think it gives teachers a starting point on what students should be able to do at certain levels.  The important part for teachers, is that they must realize being in the same grade does not always equal being at the same level.  Some students will be at different levels, and teaches need to be able to deal with that.  The levels allow for teachers to plan different activities for different students.  Students that are slightly ahead or behind are able to do different activities.

One other observation I made was the difference between covert and overt objectives.  I think many of us often try to use words like know or understand when defining objectives, but they are not truly definable.  I thought that was an important thing to note as a future teacher.  Objectives must be measurable so teachers and students actually know what they have to do to be successful in a class.

Chapter # 4

Chapter four covered many of the behavioral issues teachers deal with on a daily basis.  I thought part that caught my attention was that despite the numerous situations that can arise as a teacher, the class rules should be kept relatively basic at the beginning of the year as to not confuse students.  I know in many of the classes I have had in the past, there are so many rules I can hardly remember them all.  My keeping is basic the students can remember the information better.  The important part of this though is to cover as much essential information in the few rules as possible.  Students still need to understand the rules of the classroom on a  basic level.  The teacher can make adjustments from there as long as they are fair.  Another important part of this is that teachers are prepared for almost any situation.  Teachers should know what they need to do to encourage good behavior as the book and presentation on chapter four both point out.  Everything from where you stand when watching movies, how you praise students, and how you discipline them can affect how the students react.  If we as teachers take away the temptation to misbehave there will be less instances of it.  However, it will never totally be prevented so the teacher must be prepared and have clear class rules.

Chapter # 3

After chapter two dealt with some of the details of the school year, chapter three focused in more on the day to day interactions with students.  The key part of the chapter for me was the different types of questions a teacher should and should not ask.  Many teachers I have been in class with asked the "embarrassing" type of questions the book discussed not using.  I also found the question levels part to be very interesting.  It seemed similar to Bloom's Taxonomy except it dealt specifically with asking questions instead of overall level of thinking.  I found it interesting that no matter what level of question teachers are asking, there needs to be significant thinking time.  Just like when giving a speech a person thinks they are talking much slower than they are, the pause time seems to long to a teacher, but it really is not.  I also remember many teachers letting the first person raising their hand answer, when that does not allow all students to think and learn on their own.  As a teacher, I really enjoyed that lesson more than anything.  It will stick in my mind and help me remember to let everything think and process what is going on, so every students has the opportunity to improve their own thinking skills.  In my opinion, that is the most important piece of material in the chapter.  The methods of going about asking questions are important too, but if adequate thinking time is not given, the question will not matter anyway.

Chapter #2

Chapter two was very in-depth on many topics.  I found two sections to be the most prominent in the chapter.  First I though the three main styles of learning the book covered were very interesting.  Of the three I only found one to be truly effective, and that was Cognitive Experimentalism.  I thought Romanticism and Behaviorism both seemed outdated.  It surprised me that they were two of the three main teaching philosophies discussed despite being outdated.  I think this shows how many teachers still use these methods, despite research showing that students learn better with a method like Cognitive Experimentalism.  I am not saying teachers should forget about the methods mentioned in the other techniques, but they should only be used situationally.  I thought the pyramid that displayed the different types of activities and how students learn from them was very interesting.  Lecture was very low on the list, yet many teachers use that method often.

The second point I found interesting was the tips they gave on all the subtleties of the classroom.  The advice on field trips, bulletin boards, and everything else I thought was extremely useful to a new teacher.  I found it very helpful reading all of those tips.  As teachers sometimes it is easy to overlook all the planning that goes into everything we have to do, but all of those topics are things we have to consider.  I really liked this chapter and thought it was very helpful in terms of all the details of a classroom after chapter one covered the basics.

Chapter #1

Chapter one's primary focus was to introduce the set-up of a typical middle school and expand upon some situations a teacher might face with other teachers, administrators, and different students.  One point that caught my attention is all of the chapter one material was that middle schools and junior high schools are different.  I never realized this before, but they are very different in their approach.  I would tend to agree with the middle school approach with the emphasis on the students.

A second point that stood out in the book chapter was that the many factors that influence a middle-school student's self-esteem and ability to learn most effectively.  There are so many pressures in today's world, and these students are trying to develop and figure out who they are in that very challenging environment.  On top of all of that, the students are being pushed to do more now than ever.  Playing year round sports, honors classes, increasing social pressures, decreasing family time and structure, are things society expects students are facing at younger ages than ever before.  As teachers, we must understand the ever-increasing pressures students face in order to help them grow and learn in this transitional phase of their lives.  Communication between parents, students, and, teachers is very important to accomplish this task.  

Finally, I would like to comment on the several theories of development mentioned.  I have seen many of these in other classes, and I think they come in very handy when planning lessons and understanding students.  It helps me remember that not everyone thinks at the same level yet, especially at an age when students are developing at different times, and that helps me to be more understanding of different students.  I like this chapter because it covered a lot of material, but it was all-important to the foundation of understanding middle school in terms of both the students and the school.