FiB Chapter 10

Although I really liked the idea of a Week Without Walls (teaching students through projects outside the classroom), I felt the most important part of chapter ten was providing internship opportunities to students during the summer months.
By providing internships teachers are both allowing students to experience real world situations and providing them a scenario where education is applicable. This is essential for students to begin to realize the value of their schooling, as well as showing them some of the opportunities that different subject areas can create. More importantly, it gives students an experience that will probably change their lives and better help prepare them for life beyond graduation.

FiB Chapter 9

I had somewhat of an “ah-ha” moment while reading chapter nine. This occurred when I came across a heading that stated: Don’t judge your success by whether students like you. I feel that this is a valuable piece of advice that too few teachers really take to heart.
The students voiced their opinions that a teacher’s main job is to teach and that students will respect and appreciate that teacher if they are learning. This is important because obviously someone in the teaching profession cares about their students and wants them to appreciate, respect, and genuinely like them as a person. Hearing students say that as long as you are doing your job it does not matter was really an eye-opener. I think Vance said it best when he stated that as long as you do your job, the bond you are seeking with students will develop on its own.

FiB Chapter 8

Being someone who can only speak English teaching ELL students would probably be my most difficult task as a teacher. Two students (Rafael and Elaine) both emphasized the importance of being patient and allowing time for students to full comprehend and respond to new material.

This jumped out at me because my family is currently living with a foreign exchange student from Korea, and she informed us that the hardest part about school is reading English and than translating it into her foreign language. This takes considerable time, thus the expectations for ELL students must be somewhat lowered and allowed revisions, redrafts, and extensions. However, several students pointed out the fact that as teachers we should expect the best out of our students, and keep our expectations in line with those for the rest of the class. The only difference is we must allow for time and revisions to help them along the way. An important fact to remember: they are studying both social studies AND English; this applies to every single class they have!

FiB Chapter 7

I found two concepts in chapter seven that I think are linked and are extremely important, if not essential, for student motivation and appreciation of social studies. The first was focusing on big ideas or themes, and the second was asking open-ended questions to encourage debate and student interaction.

A subject as broad and plentiful as history or geography truly needs to be narrowed down into main themes, big ideas, or important questions. If the material is presented in such a manner that encourages interaction students will leave caring about history, recognizing its relevance in today’s society, and may even end up liking it. The examples of slavery and pilgrims were great because they showed the complex relationships between two different groups of people and how their environments shaped their mindsets. By learning this students can better understand history and develop their own ideas as to how we can avoid letting history repeat itself (one of the main important aspects students mentioned in the book). This turns social studies into a relevant subject that holds true importance, rather than a stereotypical class where memorization of dates and names has been stressed.

FiB Chapter 6

Provide role models to inspire us. I could not agree more, because most of the causes for unmotivated students are that they do not see the relevance to life that their subject is teaching besides earning a diploma.

I immediately began to think of way I could do this in my classroom. I thought of bringing in a holocaust survivor, someone who served in Vietnam or a person who is in a high paying job related to geography. However, I believe that the most effective method would be to ask former students to come back to the class and explain how learning the material helped better prepare them for both college and the “real world.” This would be an effective method because it would display the importance of learning (and thus success) in the classroom by bringing in someone who had the class, that knows the students, and can serve as a positive local role model that can truly relate to their experiences.

Fib Chapter 5

Chapter five was insightful because it showed the importance of full student involvement, something I have been attempting (and have been mostly successful at) during my three weeks of practicum teaching. While some students raise their hands and answer questions all the time, it is important to include that student who may only raise their hand once or twice a class because those may be the only opportunities they have to participate.

I have been constantly trying to involve the entire class in responses to questions during class. When I see a student raise their hand that normally doesn’t, I make a full effort to call on that student. The most important part of this method is to be observant and know your students strengths and weaknesses. Getting a correct answer often boosts student’s self-esteem and thus creates a better learning environment in the classroom. In turn, their motivation has also increased, even if they truly dislike the subject you are teaching.

FiB Chapter 4

Chapter four reminded me of the WHERETO design that we are implementing in our lesson plans. I found that revising is extremely important to creating your best work, and many students truly appreciate teachers who allow revisions, require rough drafts, and write helpful comments (even if they are negative) on student work.

This is extremely important to the field I am going into, because much of social studies is complex and confusing. Allowing for revisions would give students the opportunity to present their best product while at the same time allowing students who do not fully understand the new material a chance to revisit it and strengthen their learning. I always hated rough drafts in high school, mostly because I am strong in linguistic intelligence and could type out a good essay in one try. However, in college, both as an educator and learner, I realize the value that revisions have on both student learning and self-esteem.

FiB Chapter 3

While chapter three focused on misbehavior and classroom management, the most surprising and helpful advice I received was actually in the form of ignorance (to an extent). The heading was Don’t Overreact and several students voiced their opinions on this, especially in terms of involving parents or placing blame on the wrong person.

These two comments jumped out for me because I completely agree with them and have experienced similar (even identical) situations through my seven years in middle and high school. Overreacting by placing blame where it is not warranted will ruin the teacher/student relationship. This happened to me when I was accused of fighting and I abruptly transferred schools, a decision that I now sincerely regret. Also, if you involve parents and higher-ups before talking with students it further severs the relationship by acknowledging that students are not mature enough to have a serious conversation about inappropriate actions. The overarching theme that I picked up on is that students are impulsive and do not think long term, thus overreacting to misbehavior can cause drastic consequences on students that in the overall scheme of things are much more damaging than the behavioral problem.