Learning Communities

Daniels and Zemelman were correct in there assertion that some of the practices teachers’ use to create a learning community would contain a “few surprises” (171).  Out of all the strategies, the perspective that really countered my preconceived notion was in regards to students creating their own class rules. (174). When I first read that the strategy was for “hold{ing} meetings with students to set rules for the class,” I just thought of how a teacher would do this in their classroom (174). I have thought of this issue at great length due to my CEP (below see how I would incorporate setting class rules with a lesson about government.) I didn’t realize the larger school wide response could also work in the same away. Reason being is that the feedback I get from most teachers about behavior management, is that I should try my best to avoid sending students to administration. For if I constantly have students in the principal’s office it looks like I can’t control the class. With this desire to look competent, I wouldn’t think to show administration an issue I was having with my class right away. I would definitely go to a more experienced teacher or mentor I trusted first, which is maybe how it eventually ended up with administration. If many teachers noticed the trend, the group of teacher’s then go speak to administration as there is strength in numbers. I keep saying administration was somehow involved although the principal or other members of the leadership positions were not explicitly mentioned in the section because I feel like for teachers to have a large group conversation, administration would have had to realize something big was happening at that point. Who knows, maybe no one ever notified administration. Regardless of what actually happened, I am curious about the politics within the school and how I will best negotiate my way through them later. As CF shows through its school wide approach to cultivating a new atmosphere, when all or the majority of teachers and administration work together change can happen for the better. So I see the value in working with administration even if I don’t quite have the politics figured out yet as each situation and institution will be different.   

Most of time though, chapter 7 was great for describing approaches I could envision myself using. In some of my other courses, I have been told you need to get the students to trust you. That is all fine and dandy to say, but telling me to do something and actually showing me the way to do so makes a huge difference.  I figured out a while ago that actually being able to speak with a student one on one would gain trust, but I have never known how to really implant this into a class without drawing attention to the student I was speaking with. Reading how the English teacher, Ms. Vaughan, had a small conference with all the students over a stretch of a few days during independent work completely cleared up that problem. Students get her attention thereby increasing trust because she can show that she cares in that station, but she also did the conferences in a natural manner.  All the students were receiving her attention. No one was being singled out and no one was being left out, which I think is important because it shows respect for all of her students feelings and needs. (173). I could go on about all the other ideas I enjoyed from this chapter, as most of the strategies gave good specific instructions for enactment, but I chose to focus on the trust aspect of the classroom because I see the sense in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. According to his pyramid before any learning can occur a student must feel accepted by the environment where he or she works. I have personally experienced such a situation, as reflected in my literacy profile, so finding ways to enhance the caring of a classroom really excited me on a personal level.

 However, I believe that this section should be thought of in connection with the ESL Brief and Subject Matters, Chapter 5. Chapter 7 went into some detail about how to scaffold difficult work for students who are attempt a challenging task, i.e. small group work to learn from one another (178). However, I think more goes into choosing and teaching a challenging lesson so as to avoid frustration especially with less resilient students or students with some sort of learning disability. The ESL had just pages upon pages of suggestions for how to make a subject’s content, assignments, and class environment better for ESL students (3-8). Ideas like reinforcement, non-verbal delivery strategies, modified assessment were missing from Chapter 7, but present throughout the ESL brief because such notions are important to these learners ability to learn. If I don’t recognize that then I doubt an ESL student would ever really respect me enough to trust my learning environment as a safe place to learn. In contrast, Chapter 5 has a wide selection of reading strategies that could enhance a lesson to increase comprehension. I am sure some students will like some more than others, which is why having a variety to pick and choose from until you know their strengths is helpful. I personally enjoyed the before reading activities (102-112). I never realized just how many tasks I could give a student to get them in the correct reading mindset. Yet, starting off correctly will have a huge impact on how the student executes and understands the overall assignment. In an attempt to garner more success from my students so that they will want to continue learning, I will be sure to include more activities that formalize the students with the text now. Each of the other readings display that there is a great deal of information that goes into a learning environment.  I am feeling more confident about working with my future students because I think these readings have greatly expanded my idea of a learning community.

How to Create Rules & Teach About Government

Picture from: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2012/08/we-people-%E2%80%94-constitutional-approach-classroom-rules#.UNum5vMPXf4.pinterest

Lesson plan Idea: http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=499