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Sam Leal
Chapter 2 What Really Matters in Teaching?

In this chapter “What Really Matters in Teaching?” I read through many examples of different student, different challenges a teacher will face, and how many of these students are much the same. In teaching the most important thing is the student. All else aside it really is all about the student and he/she learning, growing, maturing, and becoming ready for adulthood. I learned a lot in this chapter, it brings up a lot of cases about students that as a young and inexperienced professor who is thinking so much about the material he/she is trying to teach, that getting to know the students is overlooked. This chapter highlights how important it is to know your students, to communicate with them. Students in all grades are going to have millions of distractions and obstacles thrown at them, and they may not be able to hurdle them all. So you have to catch and help a student when you see that they’re falling behind. This chapter makes me think so much about the importance of learning. There is a curriculum that’s important and need to be understood, but the students must be put first. It makes me want to think that in my classroom I will be able to effectively communicate with my students and to be able to develop a relationship with each student where they feel comfortable communicating with me.

Emily Haskell
UbD Chapter 2 In a future classroom there is much to be taken from the section labeled “Why it Matters to Teach Responsively.” Many of the points presented seem to be interrelated. For example, strong student-teacher relationships go hand in hand with creating a strong learning environment. Likewise, both of these are closely related to student motivation. As the authors say “when students feel affirmation, affiliation, a sense of contribution, growing autonomy, accomplishment, and shared responsibility for the welfare of the group, the ‘climate’ for learning is good” (18). When the climate for learning is good, students tend to be more intrinsically motivated to do well and to participate in and out of classes.

Another thing that I look to take from the reading (and hopefully one day successfully utilize) is the idea of informal assessment. In some cases students feel as though they are under too much pressure to perform well on a test or exam. Providing them with an informal assessment enables the teacher to see where the students are without having the added pressure of an exam. Informal assessment is also helpful because there are some students who are better at explaining themselves orally (as opposed to wring an essay or answering multiple choice questions). I also find that with things like multiple choice questions and some forms of short answer questions on tests and quizzes, it is very easy for the student to simply guess and get lucky or make something up and just happen to be right.

Karina Sprague
This chapter was mainly about the importance of students. The book talked about how important it is to listen to your students and get to know them. If you do not know about your students, you cannot help them. This point was pretty obvious to me, and I am looking forward to the relationships that I have with my students. One thing that stood out to me in this chapter was the example of the girl with divorced parents. The teacher’s tried to help her succeed when she was struggling, but nothing worked. It turns out that her parents were divorced and she was trying to get them back together by doing poorly in school. This example stood out to me because I have never thought of a situation like this. I typically think, “If I have a student that isn’t doing well, I will adjust the assignments and talk to them and eventually they will do better”. It never occurred to me that sometimes the student might be performing poorly on purpose. In a case like this, I would be afraid that people would judge me and assume that I am doing a poor job as a teacher because my student is not performing well. However, the teacher did nothing wrong in this situation. The student did not share important information that could help her because she wanted to do poorly on purpose. This example made me think about what I would do in this situation. I think that if I knew the student was normally a good student, I would try to accommodate them in a different way, by altering the assignment to fit them, or by asking them what I could do to help. If these two things did not work, I would probably suggest that the student talk to a counselor, or talk to me in private so I could figure out the root of the problem.

Ethan Guthrie Herrell
Understanding by Design: Chapter 2

One piece of advice that really had me thinking in this chapter was “Regularly use informal assessments.” The idea of note cards at the end of every class where the students can write what worked for them and what did not, and what they may still be confused about. I will definitely use that when I get out the field. “Cultivating a taste for diversity” is another piece I am excited about. I am imagining a unit of early American history, and talking about the conquest of Mexico. I can first introduce the students to some important pieces of Mexican tradition, such as the Dias de Muertos, costumes and other festivals, then give a very short talk about the coming of the conquistadors who they were, who the Aztecs were (a few gory details about how violent they two groups could be, to get the attention of the students) before having them act out the big confrontation between the conquistadors and Montezuma (they will have to write the script collaboratively based on a reading). Then, of course, I can use the informal assessment to see if it worked for them.

The explanation of “Teach in Multiple Ways” said, “Use examples, stories, analogies, and illustrations derived from students’ experiences.” This made me think that one of the most important lessons I can give in history is to explain how ancient people thought differently than we do today. The Aztecs and Spaniards put family and regional relations at the center of their individual identities, and ask them to list a situation in their everyday lives that has a conflict between what’s good for the group an what’s good for the individual, and then to list how they would respond and how they think the Aztecs and Spaniards would respond. “We before me” would be a catch phrase I would ask them to memorize.

Colby Hill
UbD Chapter 2

Throughout the past EDU class, and from the beginnings of the readings here, there have been many good things to say about individualized attention. In almost all of the “cases in point” (starting on page 13), there is a happy ending, and I hope that it will be like that for me. The individualized teaching can really boost a student’s confidence: yes they are noticed and no they are not alone. Another thing I like about this chapter is, once again, how it mentions that a teacher must be able to sacrifice their plans for new ones. “Each year, students reinforce for those teachers that the journey is a shared endeavor and that the best-laid plans of the best teachers are just that—plans, subject to change” (13). Tomlinson and McTighe mention later that “A student’s personal crisis eclipsed the teacher’s well-developed plans” (13). I keep mentioning this because I have had teachers that stick to their lesson plans so tight that it was almost ridiculous. Things change, and I believe that I will be 100% ready to alter any plans I make for the better. I hope that I will have a strong teacher-student relationship with all the students I have—if that’s possible. It really helped me in high school, and I want to be able to help the students as much as I can. If a student likes me, I believe they will have an easier time doing their work and be more inclined to do it as well.

Cidney's
Reflection

“What Really Matters in Teaching? (The Students)” focuses on how the different needs of students shapes how a teacher teaches. It is important to remember when catering to the needs of students that lesson plans will change and evolve over time, and will need to be tailored to fit the needs of students. Students’ personal lives and their struggles may become more important than schoolwork and cloud an instructor’s plans. The teacher and student may need to tackle one specific problem in order to help the student progress in the class and master the material. It is important to accept all students’ styles of learning, and meet their needs for “affirmation, affiliation, accomplishment, and autonomy” (Tomlinson, 16). Keeping all of these things in mind and teaching to the needs of students will increase energy for learning, and create a welcome learning environment. Giving attention to the backgrounds and interests of students will allow them to make connections in context and find motivation for learning. It is important to remember, though, that teaching to the needs of students does not require the individualization of course material, but rather requires that patterns of instruction be diverse and accessible to a diverse group of students. This is why it is so important to know your students. By knowing how they learn, what interests them, what motivates them, what struggles they are facing, a teacher can create an environment in which all students can learn.

Jordan Hale
Chapter two helped clarify what obstructions could be between your students and their connection to your curriculum. Things like a personal barrier, identity, a learning problem and an idiosyncratic learning need all could be infringing upon the students learning. One story that stuck out was the story of an idiosyncratic learning need by a student named Noah. In his early life, he was deemed “bad” as a student because he couldn’t sit still. One day he realized that when he gets up and moves around, paces almost, is when he is thinking the best. Now that he knows that, teachers have embraced it and allow him to get up and move around. This story was a perfect example of how your curriculum could be fantastic, but if the student who learns and thinks best by pacing cant pace then you are wasting your time. Later on in the chapter the authors discuss basic approaches to responsive teaching. One approach that caught my eye was to incorporate small-group teaching into daily or weekly teaching routines. The fact that you could have three small student-lead small groups so you could give some struggling students some one on one time makes so much sense. It was one of those times I like to call a ‘Duh Moment’. A ‘Duh Moment’ is a moment when after you do or read something, you say to yourself //duh.// This student-lead group teaching idea was so simple yet, if used correctly, sounds like it could be really beneficial to both the student and the teacher.

Spencer Hodge
In chapter two of Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design, many examples of how to make students successful are given. Essentially it is all about the students; “…to affirm our belief that students should always be in the forefront of our thinking as we make, implement, and reflect on our professional plans” (13). A method that jumped out at me while reading this chapter was the use of informal assessments in order to look at student understanding. It got me thinking about different ways I could use this to evaluate how well my students know the material I am teaching them without it hurting their grade. Tomlinson and McTighe suggest, “have students answer one or two key questions on an index card as a class period ends and turn the card in to the teacher at the end of the class period” (21). I believe that this is an effective way of the students demonstrating their knowledge, or lack of knowledge of what I am teaching them. If my students can prove to me that they know the certain branches of the government and their applications, then I could move on to a new subject. However, if not everyone can answer the question correctly, or if they are slightly unsure to how they work, then I would spend a little more time on that section making sure everyone understands what I’m telling them before moving on to a new section.

Elizabeth Sargent
UbD Chapter 2 As I was reading the second chapter from //Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design//, I found myself agreeing with what really matters in teaching. The students are the most important aspect of anything a teacher does. What students need, what they like, what they do, what motivates them is all critical to their learning. As a teacher, I need to realize that I cannot just teach required curriculum without a care for my students needs. I need to realize that the way I teach the curriculum must be altered for the benefit of the student. After reading through the different problems students have in this chapter it occurred to me that it is not always the teacher’s fault if a child is not motivated to learn. There may be outside forces at work such as: a child troubled by his/her parents divorce, learning disabilities, maintaining and control hormone changes and energy, and dealing with racial differences. It seems to me that even though I will be trying to create the most effective and efficient lesson plans, that there will always be some students that will not learn. In the classroom, it will be helpful to have my students input on effective tools that motivate them. Giving them surveys or talking with them about what they like will be extremely helpful because I will get to know my students and therefore there backgrounds better. Monitoring journals, taking observational notes, and saying a students name as they come in the door are just some of the ways I can get to know my students better. Knowing my students is a good thing because it establishes a responsive, caring, beneficial relationship that helps my students and I improve.

Alex Randall
UbD/DI Chapter 2 This chapter is //far // more interesting to me than the first. I’ve always understood the importance of a strong curriculum, but this chapter really talks about how fluid even the best of curriculum can be, depending on the students it’s used to teach. The chapter gives several examples of different situations where a teacher and their curriculum have to be flexible to meet everyone’s needs all at once. I really liked one sentence that read “In truth, far more students would be successful in school if we understood it to be our jobs to craft circumstances that lead to success rather than letting circumstance take its course” (18). The chapter goes on to talk about why it’s important to teach responsively (which makes perfect sense) and addresses the importance of positive student-teacher relationships, keeping students interested in what they’re learning, etc. I’m glad that one line in particular was in here, “Differentiation does not advocate ‘individualization’” (19). Everything that I’ve been reading seems to emphasize adjusting things to meet the needs of the needy, but doesn’t really seem to talk about the middle ground. This sentence makes everything a little clearer. Basically, the rest of the chapter discusses pretty much everything we’re learning about Dr. Michael Muir’s M.E.L. Method.