Hows your Berger?

1. The big idea of this chapter is… Actually three ideas: the value of culture, the positivity of peer pressure, and the value of community. We are too worried about test scores that we forget about the importance and impact that culture has on a school. Berger explains how “students adjust their attitudes and efforts in order to fit into culture. If the peer culture ridicules academic effort and achievement… this is a powerful force.” The most stressed way that he defines culture is how students or communities accept others and allow them to fit in. The primary obstacle seems to be about fitting in and what the most efficient way kids think that they can do that.
2. Berger adds the second idea of positive peer pressure. Peer pressure is often seen as something negative and to be avoided, but the fact of the matter is that the constructive criticism that a classroom has for everyone included is what makes that classroom a safe, supportive learning environment. Students that work hard to create products that they are proud of also receive compliments and pride from other students in class. Positive feedback creates for more understanding of criticism at later times. Berger exemplifies this idea when he speaks about a student, Jason: “At first when he turned in careless papers he said he didn’t care. When I edited his work with him he argues. Later, when he began to enjoy some positive feedback from classmates, he grew less resistant to my suggestions.”
3. Lastly, Berger identifies the value of community as being a key component of a well functioning school. He states “one thing clear to me through is that the power of the culture rests in community.” Building a strong community means eliminating the trend of a bigger everything. In a small school setting, teachers are more accountable and the web of personal relationships both supports and pushed students and faculty. Communication is constant and trust is largely demonstrated and accountable as well. When everyone is familiar with everyone, where the local community, families, and businesses, all involve themselves with a school because they believe is a good one and that it is a positive learning environments, that could only make students want to try and want to achieve.

2. A teaching strategy I gained from this chapter that I think I will use is…A specific project where a character is invented and a file and book are created documenting this character’s life. The project also includes a portrait of the character, personality, family, and career descriptions, and life history, as well as can include realistic artifacts from their life such as birth certificate, diploma, etc.

I like this strategy because…
It really allows for a student to help relate themselves to a specific character in a book or even simply create their very own character. Either way, maybe they want to be like this character and display the same traits that this character demonstrates. They could even use the character as a model for how they should continue to behave so that they can someday hope to achieve the same qualities as that character. This project incorporates some intensive writing, analyzing literature, and artistic virtues. As well as the other aspects of the project, I think it is so important for students to be able to express their ideas and release some creativity while they are in school.

3. A passage that I found especially meaningful was…“Schools need to consciously shape their cultures to be places where it’s safe to care, where it’s cool to care. They need to reach out to family and neighborhood cultures to support this.”

 This passage was meaningful to me because…
I know in my own middle school and high school that if you showed that you stressed over a test or a subject too much and spent a lot of your time studying it meant that you were a “smart kid” and you were nerdy and weren’t cool. It was fine to do well which is what a lot of student hoped for, but when a lot of effort was demonstrated by a student, I experienced other students calling that student an “overachiever” in a negative way. Although this wasn’t always the case, it definitely was a feeling that a lot of other students had that did not achieve as greatly. From my own witnessing of this type of situation, I feel that this same state of affairs occurs in many schools, and it’s a shame that many student simply don’t live up to their main potential because of how they think others will perceive them if they do extraordinarily or even ordinarily well in school.

4. A question I have arising from this chapter is…

That Berger explains how a strong and close community functions well because there is a close bond with the small number of inhabitants in that community. Schools  can’t help if they are big, especially if they don’t have the funding to create a few smaller schools, so how can larger schools create the same great sense of community as these successful small schools that have teacher accountability, spirit, and positive culture?

5. An experience from my practicum that relates to this chapter is…

My practicum school consists of grades ranging from kindergarten through sixth grade. There are only two classes from each grade in the school, therefore making this entire elementary school smaller than my graduating class in high school. This community is very close where every faculty member in the school knows every student that walks down the hallway. They know their first name, last name, siblings, learning disabilities, hobbies, just about everything. Everyone’s brother or sister is in someone else’s brother or sister’s class or everyone’s neighbor is someone they go to school with. The clearest demonstration of this close community bond is during the school’s morning meeting in the beginning of the school day. From eight thirty to nine o’clock, all students are permitted to play games and run around in the gym. At about nine o’clock, the whole school gathers in the gym and a morning message is shared. The principal speaks for a moment to tell the school how great they’ve been, and some events that are happening. Birthdays are shared and celebrated, and the pledge is said by all. The meeting concludes with morning movements where all the students do small exercises to warm up for the day. Since the whole school is taking part in this session, it is a positive and efficient learning environment for the whole school.