Blog #6: Due by midnight on Friday night, May 20th (Blog #5 can be found below this one).

You will need to answer two questions from the choices below. Please select and address one question from chapter 4 (4.1 or 4.2) and one question from chapter 5 (5.1, 5.2, or 5.3).  Copy & paste only the two questions you are addressing, and place your response underneath each of the questions.  Please use a font for your answer that is different from the font used in the question (this helps me read it more efficiently).  Thanks!

4.1)   At the beginning of chapter 4, Carol includes a discussion between Charlie and his teacher, from a book called The Perks of Being a Wallflower.  I’ve read the book, and it’s gut wrenching, edgy, and sometimes over the top – definitely meant for mature audiences who are not especially sensitive to harsh language and difficult lifestyles.  But… this discussion moves me every time I read it.  Have you ever had this type of a discussion with a teacher?  Please tell me about it.

4.2)   Chapter 4 is all about teacher responses to student needs.  Throughout the chapter there are multiple bolded subheadings (scenarios, specific strategies, and ideas for classroom routines).  Choose three of them that you believe you can work on or that you would like to do in your own classroom, and explain why you chose them.

5.1)  On page 56 Carol says: “It is the teacher’s contract with the child to care intelligently, unyieldingly, and deeply about the individual’s strengths and weaknesses, dreams and nightmares, uniqueness and commonality.”  I felt this from Carol when she was my teacher.  It was a powerful experience that really did change me as a teacher.  Is there a teacher in your past who seemed to have this “contract” with you?  Please tell about it.

5.2)   Tell me, in your own words, what Carol teaches us in the right-hand column of page 58, about curriculum that is important.  Have you ever had to endure curriculum that was not “important” in the way she describes?  Explain the circumstances and how you felt (without names, please).

5.3)   On the bulletin board that I face as I sit at my desk in my office, I have posted, just above eye-level, the following:

Are my assignments…

·      Important? (authentic)

·      Focused?  (students know what to do)

·      Engaging?  (interesting)

·      Demanding? (challenging)

·      Scaffolded? (students aren’t left hanging)

I think this sign is helping me improve, but it’s a lot to work on.  Some things are easier than others.  For instance, I think I’ve come a long way in planning focused assignments, largely through gentle suggestions from students and colleagues.  I think the one in which I’m “better than the others” is “demanding assignments.”  Obviously, these come from Figure 5.1 on page 59.  Take a look at them, with their bulleted explanations, and list them in a prioritized order for yourself…  from the easiest for you to the most difficult for you.  Briefly explain your ranking.