Chapter #1: Organizing your classroom and materials

This chapter talks about the setup of a teachers classroom. They talk about the importance of placement of desk, bookcase, computers, etc. It also talks about the importance of different aspects of classroom management like plants/ pets, bulletin boards, work areas, and placement of materials. These are all aspects of teaching that can easily be overlooked but are very important.

I think that all this is very important to keep in mind. One part that I thought was really important besides room placement is putting plants in a classroom. The teachers in my classes that had plants made their rooms less like classrooms. Plants add a home aspect and make the classroom more comfortable.

Chapter #10 Going Beyond the Classroom

This chapter talks about things that students can do outside of the classroom while still learning. It makes learning different and usually fun at the same time. Some of the ideas for activities outside the classroom were internships, summer programs, and classwork outside. These all allow students to learn but not in the same boring classroom way.

I liked the mock trial that was suggested as an activity in this chapter. My high school did a mock trial that the whole school was invited to. I liked the mock trial that the book talked about because they had a real judge and court typist and the class went down to the city center to preform the trial. It makes it more realistic and I think the students would learn more about court justice by putting it into a real life situation.

Chapter #9 When Things Go Wrong

Chapter nine of Fires in the Bathroom discusses difficulties in the classroom like grades and students skipping class. These things can discourage both student and teacher but if the teacher stays positive and supportive the student is less likely to be discouraged. This chapter also talks about teachers confidence and not showing that they are scared in the classroom.

I think my favorite part of this chapter was "we're like dogs, we can sense fear and sniff it out" (p168). I think that this is so true and I had first hand experience with it when I was substitute teaching (9/15/08). I was really nervous at first and I started to notice that the students were taking advantage of that and not doing what they were suppose to be doing. I then realized that I have nothing to be scared of and I put a foot down and had to separate students so that they would do their work. Once I did that the students actually listened to me the rest of the class and did their work. After my first day substitute teaching I was actually proud of myself and how I handled them.

Chapter #8 Teaching Teenagers Who Are Still Learning English

This chapter talks about the difficulties that students learning English face. It talks about the things are help and not so helpful for their learning. Teachers should challenge them but also help them along. They are just as eager to learn as other student and teachers have to realize that.

I think that being a history teacher opens up the door for different activities with English learning students. I think that I can make connections with where they come from and the history of America. It would be beneficial to both English speaking students and English learning students to learn about each others countries and cultures.

Chapter #7 Teaching Difficult Academic Material

This chapter discusses how to get students learning and thinking. The chapter talks about pre-assessing, linking material, and trying different approaches to get a class started. To get students thinking use open-ended questions and ask what the students assume something means (like the word ghetto). This chapter also talks about what is affective learning/ teaching methods for different subjects. Lastly the chapter makes it clear that it is alright for a teacher to show that they might not know something.

I think that it is important that a teacher shows that they might not know something. I feel like it might connect the students with the teacher because they are both learning something. It will also show the students that the teacher is not perfect and not better than them. No one can know everything about a subject. I also feel that if a teacher can not answer a question that both the student and teacher should look up the answers and come back and share the answer with the class. I believe that this will allow the students to learn the answer themselves because the teacher is also looking for the answer it will make the student feel less like it was busy work.

Chapter #6 Motivation and Boredom

This chapter talks about what motivates students and how to keep them interested in the classroom. It seems that the co-authors agreed that a passionate teacher that appreciates them motivates them. Keeping students motivated is the key to avoiding boredom. Real world applications, collaborative learning, and purposeful homework are some things that can keep students motivated and away from boredom.

The section where it talks about "making learning a social thing" connects to things that I have learned so far from being at Mt. Blue High School. Collaborative learning allows students to work in groups, but gives everyone in the group a job so that everyone is doing work. While in the classroom I learned that it can be very difficult to use collaborative learning. The class that did this got extremely off task. My mentor teacher said that that group of students learn better when they have desk work, but it is also nice to give them the opportunity to work together (even if it does not work that well).

Chapter # 5: Teaching to the Individual, Working with the Group

This chapter talks about why some students may or may not participate in the class. It also talks about group work and how you can actively engage students that may not always participate. It is important to remember that even in group work students are individuals and need to be graded accordingly. Assigning roles in a group helps so that all students pull their own weight.

We actually just talked about cooperative learning in Beth's class today. Cooperative learning assigns roles to each student so that they are actively engaged in the task at hand. I liked it because it allows students to discuss ideas without feeling slighted. I was the facilitator and had to make sure that the whole group was actively engaged in the conversation. I think this is a great way to make group work successful so that it is not just one person doing the work.