Chapter 6: What Makes A Teacher Effective? Notes

Chapter 6 asks the question, "What makes a teacher effective?" Teaching is more than just intuition. Decisions must be made and acted upon on a day to day basis. Teachers must be able to plan decisions, implement decisions, and evaluate decisions. This is a process known as reflective decision making. The chapter highlights the importance of keeping a positive attitude in the classroom as an educator's attitude determines how students respond to lessons and the classroom environment. An educator's attitude towards themselves is also import. Self-understanding must be achieved in order to generate a positive attitude towards oneself. The chapter advises that a potential teacher take self-understanding and self-examination seriously as it is a step in being able to become the best teacher one can be. Teachers must always try to maintain a positive attitude in the classroom. Children are highly sensitive to adult behavior, so that is why casting all bias aside and treating students fairly while reflecting a positive attitude is important. This stimulates a positive learning environment. Another thing teachers must practice is having high expectations of their students so that their students may have the motivation and drive to succeed and meet those expectations. An educator must not only maintain a positive attitude towards his or her students, but towards colleagues, parents and the subject matter. If a teacher shows no interest in what they are teaching, then how can they expect their students to care? The chapter highlights the essential skills that are required in being an effective teacher. Those outlined are: the ability to ask questions, the ability to provide feedback, the ability to plan instruction, the ability to diagnose student needs, the ability to vary the learning situation to keep students involved, the ability to recognize when students are paying attention, the ability to use technological equipment, the ability to assess student learning, and the ability to differentiate instruction based student experiences. There are various other skills that teachers must possess in order to be effective in their teaching. Characteristic behaviors that are addressed, based on research by Gary Borich, are" lesson clarity, instructional variety, teacher task orientation, engaged learning time, and student success rate.  Another important topic that the chapter discusses is classroom management.  It is defined as "actions taken to create and maintain a learning environment conducive to successful instruction." Classroom management is also required to stimulate a positive learning environment. A teacher's questioning skills are also imperative in teaching students, as is their planning skills. Those two skills are related to one's effectiveness as an educator. Effective questioning techniques include avoiding vague questions, asking brief questions, encouraging students to respond, and avoiding asking yes or no questions. Planning skills are essential in allowing lessons to run smoothly. Four types of planning are addressed in the chapter: yearly, unit, weekly, and daily. Each one is as effective as the other. The chapter is wrapped up by readdressing the skill areas reviewed in the classroom; classroom management, questioning, and planning. These essential three contribute to the makings of an effective teacher.

Chapter 5: What Is Taught? Notes

Chapter 5 defines curriculum and what it entails. The chapter discusses the different content areas that teachers must teach, and the standards that each state has for each area. Each state has a content standard for each subject, from grades K-12. Examples of these standards are highlighted in the chapter. An example would be the second grade mathematics standard of using place value concepts to represent, compare, and order whole numbers using physical models, numerals, and words in Ohio. Present day curriculum is divided into subject-matters, each of which are presented with issues and trends that the schools must face. With language arts and English, some teachers are choosing literature that is relevant to student interests while other teachers argue that English courses should focus on what they call the whole language approach. In Mathematics, teachers are using multiple approaches that give students the tools for solving real world problems. They are integrating different approaches to emphasize problem solving while using technology as an aiding tool. In Science, teachers are trying to base their curriculum on key concepts and principles while posing two questions: "Where will the next generation of scientists come from?" and "How can all students be prepared to make informed judgments about such critical and science-based issues as environmental pollution, energy sources, and biotechnology?" Social studies continue to draw upon various social sciences while focusing on History. A concern for non-European cultures is that current social studies and history curriculum focuses too much on European history rather than Asian, African, and Latin American history. Foreign languages are trying to make the subject more appealing by integrating the study of the culture and not only focus on the language. Technology continues to be a pioneer in foreign language curriculum. Physical education and health focuses on fitness and health education topics such as injury prevention. Most high schools offer elective courses that are aimed towards non-college bound students. There are many people that are critics of contemporary curriculum. Many studies are rising that attempt to judge the academic performance of United States students. Some of these studies and statistics show that despite the efforts of school districts, some students are still lacking in the areas of history and geography. Compared to the academic performance of other countries, the United States scores relatively low. Because of this, teachers are trying to become more innovating in their approaches. Two different concepts that have arisen are interdisciplinary curriculum and integrated curriculum. There is also a growing emphasis on problem solving and critical thinking. The end of the chapter poses the question "is the existing curriculum relevant to today's society?" The answer that it presents is that the relevance of the curriculum depends on the philosophy of the educator.

Chapter 4: What Social Problems Affect Today’s Students? Notes

Chapter 4 delves into the types of social problems teachers might face in their students. Whether they show it or not, the chapter claims that each student comes with their own personal scars. Chapter 3 talked about the educational diversity that some students face. This chapter talks more about the social diversity: student’s backgrounds, home life, and relationships.  Teachers must be trained in recognizing the risk factors that each of their students are exposed to. Problems that students may face can be poverty, homelessness, child abuse, alcohol use, drug us, teenage parenting, STDs, suicide, violence, cheating, and dropping out of school. Students who face these types of problems are called at-risk students. They are called at-risk students because they may have a difficult time in getting a sufficient education to succeed. However, not all students that face such problems fail as some of them overcome adversity and succeed. Society has faced numerous changes, so many changes that there is no longer the idea of a typical family. Single parents and blended families rather than neutral families are more common. Families go through divorce, and in some cases, this can impact a child's ability to do well in school as they are more concerned about their home life than school life. Single parent families tend to have a lower income and may not have the means to support their family the way they would like to. These types of problems also affect students. The changes in the typical family structure may also impact a teacher's ability to keep both parents informed on their child's progress. The chapter also claims that children with neutral, two parent families can also have problems. Because of the problems that children face with the fact that they have single, divorced, or married parents, teachers are finding it difficult to come in contact with them. Parents are becoming less involved with their child's education. Another major issue that students face is poverty and homelessness. Because of the changing job market many parents are finding it difficult to hold steady year round jobs to support their children. Because of this, they are faced with the threat of homelessness.  A statistic that the chapter presents is that approximately 1.3 million children in the United States are homeless at some point each year. This causes the child to be faced with many obstacles including transportation. The job market is not the only thing that forces families or especially children to become homeless. Children who have been abused may run away leaving them with no means of support. The chapter advises that should an educator encounter a homeless student in their class, they should provide understanding and support. This may provide the student with hope at such a crucial point in their life. Students are also faced with the rising problem of teenage parenting. 80% of teenage mothers are unmarried, which leaves them more vulnerable to poverty, the chapter states. These teenage mothers have to juggle their home and school lives, which leads to a decline in the interest in school. Teachers are advised to be open minded about teenage pregnancies and not judge as they are also advised to take precautions to ensure they get a quality education. To try and inform students about the implications of teenage pregnancy, many schools are trying to implement sexual education classes. However, these are faced with extreme controversy as some believe that sex education is a parent's job rather than a teacher's. The sex education that students receive is aimed to inform them about the risks of teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Another type of at-risk student are abused and neglected children. Neglect and abuse can take an emotional and physical toll on a student's development. As a result, teachers are responsible for reporting suspected cases of child abuse. An abused student is more likely to be withdrawn and lose sight of his or her goals and interest in school. Whether its homelessness, poverty, teenage pregnancy, or abuse, some students turn to alcohol and drugs to try to ease the stress they go through. They are trying to find a way to cope. Alcohol is the most commonly used substance. Students as young as 12 are beginning to experiment with alcohol. Should a teacher encounter one of their students experimenting with these substances, they are advised to direct the student to the school counselor as they are trained to deal with those types of issues. Another social issue that students and teachers alike may face is teenage suicide. It is the third leading cause of death among teenagers in the United States. Another statistic that the chapter presents is that one in twelve high school student’s attempts suicide. Family violence, mental illness, unemployment, substance abuse and stress are all factors that contribute to teenage suicide. Students may also face problems with gangs, and more importantly bullying. With technology on the rise, a new form of bullying, cyber bullying, is a growing concern among education professionals. Cyber bullying allows a student to threaten or emotionally impact another student through social media, texting and email. It is becoming a growing problem and schools are taking actions to raise awareness. These patterns of in person and cyber bullying can lead to violence among students. As a result, schools are also taking steps to reduce school violence by implementing zero tolerance policies and creating alternative schools for students with a history of violence. Other precautions are the requirement that students wear uniforms and having law enforcement on campus. There is also the problem of cheating that many teachers see in their students. Text messaging answers and internet plagiarism are among the growing opportunities that students use for teaching. The chapter outlines ways that teachers can prevent cheating. They include: Not giving the same test over and over, separating students during tests, stressing that cheating is unacceptable, establishing an honor system, sighing a pledge that they have not received unauthorized help on assignments, forbidding electronic devices in the classroom, and instituting character education programs. All of the social problems listed above lead to significant drop out rates in high school students. A dislike of school and alienation from peers also leads to students dropping out. Teachers are advised to discourage students from dropping out by showing an interest and encouraging them to succeed. Knowing how students feel and think can improve their attitudes about school and their work habits.

Chapter 3: Who Are Today’s Students in a Diverse Society? Notes

Chapter 3 delves into the demographics of the students in the United States and how that affects the state of their education. Students of today have constant emotional, racial, cultural, and age related needs that are similar to those of past students.  The chapter notes that it is inevitable that a teacher will encounter diversity in their classroom and that those students will have a number of diverse tastes and needs. A teacher must be tolerant of the diversity that they will encounter in their classroom because of the fact that they will be teaching students of different racial, cultural, and gender backgrounds. The chapter notes that there is a difference between race and ethnicity with race referring to people with common ancestry and ethnicity referring to people who are racially similar or different but have a common culture.  Public classrooms include a high percentage of minorities, and the number will continue to increase. However, the minority groups are unevenly distributed across the country. Because of this, more and more teachers will encounter students whose primary language is not English. Multiracial students also face the problem of having to choose one racial identity to identify with. This is where a teacher must be sensitive to whatever the student chooses to declare his or herself as. In the past, the United States was considered a melting pot with immigrants and those of other cultures having to assimilate. However, that concept was replaced with the idea of cultural pluralism, which is an understanding and appreciation of all cultures in the United States. However strong the wish for cultural pluralism is, the United States is not quite there. The diversity among each culture exists, but the equality does not. Schools must embrace diversity in order to shy away from favoring a single culture. The philosophy of teaching a diversity of students is called multicultural education. There have been five different approaches to multicultural education: teaching the exceptional and culturally different, human relations, single-group studies, multicultural approaches, and multicultural social justice. The chapter notes that multicultural education is not just for students of racial or ethnic minority, but for all. Many teachers also believe that attention to multicultural education is the best way to fight against prejudice among different cultures in the United States. Some educators, however, are worried about the dangers that multicultural education can cause, such as the destruction of common traditions. A method that these types of teachers prefer to use is culturally responsive teaching. Besides multicultural education, another problem that teachers face is the rise of non-English speaking students. These students, because of their difficulty with the English language, tend to fall behind in their studies. As a solution to this problem, in 1968, congress passed the Bilingual Education Act which provided the funds to create bilingual programs for students unable to cope with only English curriculum. There are four different types of bilingual education. There is the immersion model, in which the student is required to learn everything in English, English as a second language programs, which provide students with instruction in English geared toward language acquisition, the transitional model that provides intensive English-language instruction with some of their studies being taught in their native language, and maintenance education that preserves and builds upon the students' native language skills as they also strive to acquire a knowledge of English as a second language. Critics of bilingual education tend to favor the immersion model, however many educators continue to support bilingual education. Because of the No Child Left Behind act, ELL students must be tested once a year and meet the educational targets for adequate yearly progress. Bilingual education isn't the only diversity that school systems face. Students also have different learning styles and talents that aren't exactly faced by traditional schooling. According to Howard Garder, there are eight different intelligences that a student may posses: verbal-linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, spatial intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, musical intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence, and naturalist intelligence. Because of this, educators must have the ability to foster diverse student abilities. There are a various number of learning styles that a teacher must accommodate to, such as visual learning, auditory learning, kinesthetic learning, and tactile learning. Learning styles are based on the idea that all students have strengths and abilities, but each student may have a preferred way of using them. Another challenge that educators face is students with disabilities, also called special education. The Education for All Handicapped Children Act required that each student be provided with individualized education program which outlined long and short range goals for the student. In 1990, two more special education centric laws were passed with a framework of six principles. Educators and schools would be required to provide: fair and appropriate education, appropriate evaluation, an individualized education program, least restrictive environment, parent and student participation in decision making, and procedural safeguards for all special education students. School systems are wary of the trials that special education programs bring, such as costs. The concept of assistive technology has also arisen to aid special education students. These devices aid handicapped students in completing basic day to day goals. Teachers of students with disabilities are expected to avoid stereotypes and expect diversity. Another type of diverse students that teachers may face are gifted and talented, GT, students. These types of students are able to quickly grasp concepts and are exceptionally bright. GT students tend to have a high dropout rate as a result of being overlooked by educators. Efforts to identify and keep GT students in school have been recently developed. Many minorities are underrepresented in gifted and talented programs. Each state has a program for gifted and talented students with 3 million students. There are two main strategies for teaching GT students, which are acceleration, in which students learn at a pace that commensurate with their abilities, and enrichment, in which students are proved with opportunities to go behind regular curriculum. Aside from the main group of diverse students, teachers must also be aware of adolescent subcultures. These include cliques. An example of cliques would be students who identify with terms such as "nerds", and "jocks". These type of subcultures tend to form in middle school. Aside from bilingual and GT students, another type of diverse student that educators must be aware about are students of gay and lesbian sexual orientation. The chapter notes that schools are hostile to homosexuals; however teachers must be sensitive to their feelings and not condone any sort of bullying that may take place inside the classroom. The issue is extremely controversial. To make the classroom safer for all types of students, teachers must establish rules that call for a zero tolerance policy when it comes to name calling or any type of bullying. The respect of all points of views should also be observed. In addition to those two concepts, teachers and students alike should also avoid making assumptions about other students' home life or sexual orientations. It is the educator's job to be role models for all types of students. The chapter closes with the question that it posed at the beginning, "What is a school and what is it for?" In order to keep their classrooms and school life running smoothly, an educator must be observant and tolerant of all types of students as well as backgrounds, cultures, learning styles, and orientation.

Chapter 2: What Is a School and What Is It For? Notes

Chapter 2 explains the correlation between the two questions "What is a school?" and "What is it for?" At the beginning of the chapter there are a list of answers to the two questions. The difference between education and schooling is also differentiated. Education is explained as "a process of human growth by which one gains greater understanding and control over oneself and one's world," while schooling is defined as "a specific, formalized process, whose general pattern traditionally has varied little from one setting to the next." One has to understand the difference between the two definitions to truly understand the two questions posed at the beginning of the chapter. The chapter also discusses school as a culture, an influential social setting in the lives of students. To truly understand the difference between education and schooling, one has to understand the acculturation and diversity that takes place within a school system. The chapter notes that schools don't only accommodate to the needs of one type of student, but to the needs of many as teachers educate students of various different cultures. The chapter discusses the three different groups of people that wish to reconstruct the system. They include, social reconstructionists who see students as young agents of change, economic reconstructionists who see schools as pilant services of those in power, and democratic reconstructionists, who see schools as the answer to social issues such as poverty and racism. The chapter also outlines the purpose of schools and groups them into four different principles. The four basic purposes of school according to the chapter are intellectual purposes, political and civic purposes, economic purposes, and social purposes. The chapter goes on to talk about what takes place in different classrooms, and uses elementary and high schools as models. The characteristics of a good school are outlined as well, and include teacher's expectations, communication among teachers, task orientation, academic engaged time, behavior management, the principle as a strong instructional leader, parental involvement, and a healthy school environmental. As in chapter 1, the end of the chapter refers to the two questions posed at the beginning, and notes that the two questions have no single answer. Schools were created for a variety of purposes and were believed to be primarily created to help people lead happy and successful lives.

Chapter 1: Why Teach? Notes

Chapter 1 poses the question, "why should I become a teacher?" It causes the reader to think about their motives for teaching, and brings to light two different perspectives. The first is a person who goes into teaching and loves it, and the second is a person who goes into teaching and regrets it. The chapter also discusses and outlines the rewards that come with teaching. The rewards outlined in the chapter are divided into two separate groups: extrinsic and intrinsic. The extrinsic rewards of teaching are the salaries, status, power, and work schedule. The intrinsic rewards of teaching are performance, support from fellow teachers, and the process of teaching itself. Chapter one also discusses steps that one can take to gain experience in the teaching field, such as observing schools and participating in activities that give potential teachers time to communicate and interact with students. The chapter also notes that not all teaching takes place in the classroom, and such experiences can be relived through watching films that simulate real experiences and cause us to see them in a different light. Guidance and reflection are two other steps that can be taken to gain experience. The motivation to teach is the main idea of the chapter. One should be motivated and have that desire to teach before even entering the field. The chapter also discusses the opinions of teachers from  the point of view of the students, administrators, and potential teachers themselves. The chapter ends with the question posed at the beginning, "why teach?" Teachers teach because they love it, because it's a passion, because they are interested in bettering the education of their students, and because of the benefits that teaching reaps. The rewards that come with teaching are virtually limitless as long as the person teaching has that desire to make the education of their students a focal point in their lives.

Reflection Blog 1

"Describe the characteristics of your own most significant teacher."


     Over the course of my high school career, I had many teachers who I considered influential. However, none could compare to my tenth grade English teacher. Mrs. Odabashian pushed each and every one of her students towards excellent. She was compassionate, understanding, and had a very broad understanding of the English language. She was knowledgeable in the fields of literature and had a profound love of reading. It was in her class that I decided that I wanted to be an English teacher, so that I may inspire and motivate my students the same way that she did. While highly critical when it came to essays, it was that criticism that pushed her students towards being better writers. Mrs. Odabashian expected her students to apply themselves, and expected dedication when it came to her class. Without being overbearing or haughty, Mrs. Odabashian instilled a love of learning and literature in her students. I learned so much in her classroom. She was the one that told me I would do well in the field of English, and because of her encouragement, I am where I am today. It is my aspiration that one day I may be just as excellent a teacher as she was to me.