Chapter 3:
- The big idea of this chapter is…
About building through work. Students need to be challenged and inspired in order to create the work that is expected from them. With the more effort put into their work, students not only begin to give their best, but receive a boost in self esteem for having accomplished something great. Berger likes to point out that although many teachers or schools would love to enrich their curriculum with powerful projects, they state that they simply do not have enough time because they must “focus on basic skills and literacy” (Berger 72). Berger realizes that his proposal is not clear to include all basic and high order skills in these projects throughout the year, and not to label projects as extra activities to complete after the real curriculum or instruction is done.
One of the ways in which real valuable work can be conducted is through research. “There is almost nothing more exciting than being engaged in genuine research- research where the teacher and students are exploring new ground together” (75). Before arriving at this statement, Berger made great discoveries in his own classroom noticing that the kids who liked being involved in these researches and experiments were normally the kids who acted out, so he now had them engaged.
This chapters is also heavily fond of working with the arts where students critique and publicly display their work. This way students learn to form an opinion about their own work, about others work, to constructively tell another what to work on, and to openly take suggestions from other students, as well as proudly show their work off simply because it was something they made.
- A teaching strategy I gained from this chapter that I think I will use is…
Having the students share their work with not only the class but an additional audience. Berger states, “every final draft my students complete is done for an outside audience. It may be for a small audience of kindergarten children of for a national audience on educational television. Either way, my role as teacher is not as the sole judge of their work, but rather similar to that of a sports coach or a play director: I am helping them to get their work ready for the public eye” (99).
I like this strategy because…
There is a reason to do your work well, and it is not just because the teacher wants it that way. Its very realistic that students are going to have to eventually show their efforts to an audience whether it’s for a job interview, in a play, or on a field. They are going to one way or another have to display their work or performance to more than one person, so why should I have the only view and say in what a student creates?
- A passage that I found especially meaningful was…
“one of the first things a school or classroom can do to improve the quality of student work is to get off this treadmill. This doesn’t mean to an end to deadlines- the real world is full of deadlines- but rather a clear distinction between rough research, rough drafts, and finished, polished draft work. It means final drafts may take days or weeks to complete. It means a different type of pressure: not just pressure to turn in enough work but pressure to produce something of real value.”
This passage was meaningful to me because…
I find myself procrastinating all the time, and I remember back in middle school when I had projects to do where drafts needed to be turned in, each draft would be just okay and then my final product would be good, but there was no proof or progress in how I got there. I did not understand how to take something good and turn it into something great. The world is full of deadlines and they are not necessarily going to change for anyone, but the most a teacher can do is fully support change and variation so that a student’s initial idea isn’t exactly the same as their final product. The deadlines of drafts is more like steps, and students should have a sufficient amount of time that fits their needs in order to complete that particular draft that allows them to the next step. This draft needs to be worthy of passing them onto the next step, and that is what I believe deadlines should be used for.
- A question I have arising from this chapter is…
Berger makes it sound as if there is almost not a single misbehaving, out of line, or intelligently inept student in any of his classes. I know that his teaching is supposed to really affect students and bring out the best in their behavior, efforts, success, and accomplishments, but are there any students that slightly or even significantly fall out of the spectrum?
- An experience from my practicum that relates to this chapter is…
All the students in the fifth grade classes were assigned to complete a “bucket filler” assignment where they draw the superhero they wish they could be and why. Every student drew a picture and explained it in a few sentences on a separate page. All of these projects are hanging on the wall in the hallway outside the two classes, and for everyone who is passing through to see. It’s a great way for students to feel proud for having their work hung up, and to see all the work done by your class and how successful your class is.
No comments:
Post a Comment