Chapter 7

The simple, hard truth about teaching is...
that every day isn't going to be a break through success with each student,
that there are factors outside of your students lives, and yours that influence how your day goes,
that every day isn't always going to be a good one,
and being a teacher that is dedicated to differentiation takes a lot of time.
I hope that as I become a teacher of my own classroom that I can take the time to be a dedicated differentiated teacher. I know that every day isn't always going to be success, but the hard work and determination will make the successful days that much better.
Today I am making it a goal to work on a couple of the research findings of Stronge each month as I am a teacher until I can be a little bit of all of them. Here are some that stuck out to me first.

Students consistently want teachers who respect them, listen to them, show empathy towards them, help them work out problems, and become human by sharing their own lives and ideas with their students.

Caring teachers who create relationships with their students enhance student learning.

Effective teachers emphasize hands-on learning, conceptual understanding, and links with the work beyond the classroom.

Effective teachers reteach material to students who need additional help.

Student engagement is higher when they take part in authentic activities link to the content under study.

I like how this chapter wrapped up nicely reminding us that in "The Little Prince" we are not sure who is the teacher and who is the learner. We have been talking a lot this semester in several classes that we aren't always "in-charge" of a classroom, we are the facilitator of the learning that goes on in the classroom. I love this line "our best lesson plans evaporate in the face of a riveting question from a child whose age is not a quarter of our own." Isn't that so true? I remember in the first semester of field we were studying ancient civilizations and the students were in groups studying different areas. The group who was doing Ancient Rome really took off with it and had quality work. They found out extra things that I hadn't specified and when they would find something interesting they would say "Mrs. Ames, look what we just found!" Even though their end of unit project was totally different, it was awesome to see their faces light up with excitement. I hope that when I am a teacher, I can differentiate in a way that students will light up and really take off. With the metaphor of the teacher whose mom cooked really good gravy, I hope that I can put that type of love into my classroom gravy by starting with working on a little bit at a time the research of Stronge. I hope my ceiling never has a roof, as the hallmark states: students never have a way out, but only a way up.