Chapters 5 and 6

The first part of chapter five is talking about letting students know that they are important and that as teachers we need to do what we can to let the students learn. There were five main points also talked about. The first was curriculum that is important. The idea of this to me was that we need to focus on teaching students how to learn. One example that came to mind is something that has been discussed in my math class. It is the idea of guiding the students through learning instead of trying to get them to memorize the information. We need to teach them how to learn because of the fact we can not get through all the information we need to and have it be useful to the students. By keeping our curriculum and instruction focused we let our students know that their time is important and we don't want to waist that time. We also need to make sure that what is being taught does not put the students to sleep. We need to look at how the students are motivated and try to use these ideas in the lesson. Motivating the students will help to keep them focused and liking school. With the curriculum and instruction we need to make sure we are keeping the difficulty level up where it is manageable for each student. We do not want to keep them from learning but we want to make sure they are not bored. By making sure they are all working in their zone of proximal development we can keep them engaged and learning. This is not an easy task for teachers but can be done. We need to get to know our students so we can reach each one or at least as many as possible. To me scaffolding is one of the most important things a teacher can learn. We need to support and guide our students through the learning process. Each students needs will be different but we want all of our students to learn and not just some of them.
I loved the quote at the beginning of chapter 6 that read "All children can learn" does not mean "all children are the same". I love this quote because it is so true. Everybody can learn but that doesn't mean they learn the same way. I believe that I need to use all different types of learning strategies in order to reach all students. By capturing our students attention when first teaching a subject is vital. By telling them to turn to a page in the book we lose the students. Opening a lesson with personal stories (yours or the students can provide these)gives them a chance to talk and listen to what is going on. The students then can make personal connections to something they are learning and that makes it more likely that they will remember the lesson later. That is just one way of engaging the students. There are endless possibilities for getting students interested. I bleieve that as a teacher I need to move away from lecturing and get the students involved in the class through other means such as disscussions, or group work. I think that subjects should apply to real life. I hated math because I never saw real life application until I was in college. I think by using ideas that apply to a students life we help them to learn more and remember more. When we provide rubrics for whatever assignment students are working on we ensure that we are going to get what is needed. When rubrics are provided students know what is expected and what they need to do. This also gives them focus on what they are doing. We need to guide students and encourage them to learn. This also means that teachers have to be up to date on information and technology. We can hlep our students best when we are keeping up with the new ideas and technology.