Thursday, February 3, 2011
Meet Me in the Middle: Chapter 9
In this chapter, Wormeli essentially gives a breakdown of backward design while exploring the benefits of block scheduling. What I did find interesting was on page 102 where he said that low-achieving students are the ones who really benefit from block scheduling because of the support and adult exposure that longer class periods provide. I have always thought this sort of set up was good for me as a student and I now understand the advantage it provides to educators.
Meet Me in the Middle: Chapter 1
Stoking the Fires Within
“It all stems from attitude” – Wormeli, page 2
Chapter 1 of Meet Me in the Middle called attention to looking at education from the inside out, starting with teachers. Wormeli encourages educators to look at themselves and observe the attitude they are putting forth to their classes. An interesting technique he describes involves picturing your own funeral and imagining what you want people around you to say about your life. Take that image and project it onto the life you live. Wormeli also discusses the importance of communication and listening. He recounts his own experience of miscommunication with a student and uses it as a tool to advise other teachers to experience their class through the eyes of the students.
Synthesis:
From reading the class blogs, it seems as though we all support Wormeli’s push for positive attitude in the classroom, although it may not be 100% responsible for the success of a class. Good communication is key to becoming an effective educator and faculty member. Listening to and understanding your student’s perceptions and reactions to your teaching are essential to your success and, more importantly, your students’ achievement and ability to thrive in the school environment.
“It all stems from attitude” – Wormeli, page 2
Chapter 1 of Meet Me in the Middle called attention to looking at education from the inside out, starting with teachers. Wormeli encourages educators to look at themselves and observe the attitude they are putting forth to their classes. An interesting technique he describes involves picturing your own funeral and imagining what you want people around you to say about your life. Take that image and project it onto the life you live. Wormeli also discusses the importance of communication and listening. He recounts his own experience of miscommunication with a student and uses it as a tool to advise other teachers to experience their class through the eyes of the students.
Synthesis:
From reading the class blogs, it seems as though we all support Wormeli’s push for positive attitude in the classroom, although it may not be 100% responsible for the success of a class. Good communication is key to becoming an effective educator and faculty member. Listening to and understanding your student’s perceptions and reactions to your teaching are essential to your success and, more importantly, your students’ achievement and ability to thrive in the school environment.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Turning Points 2000: Chapter 6
The thing I found most interesting about this chapter was the dry way it was written. Perhaps that’s just because I have just finished reading Wormeli’s chapters on these same concepts, but really I found this book to be quite dull. I understand the benefits of teaming and advisories and it is nice to have Turning Points be able to support these structures with hard data, but I found it difficult to keep myself engaged with the text.
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