MMM 8

This chapter was about effective authentic assessments. Assessments should be used regularly throughout the unit and in different formats, such as quick weekly puzzles, to keep the students' brains engaged in the learning process. Authentic assessments should have clear goals, is motivating for the students, must focus on essential knoweldge, uses integration between classes, and clearly and effectively indicates the students' knowledge level. By giving assessments throughout the unit, rather than just at the end, students can stay focused on their learning and students with learning disabilities will be able to do better because they will have an idea of how the final assessment will be.
The important thing to remember about authentic assessments is that the students should learn from doing the assessment, rather than just learning in order to do the assessment. Like the lessons in the unit, the assessments should build on the students' knowledge so that they can be fully prepared for the final assessment. Also, in order for it to truly be considered effective authentic assessment, it should be modified so that the teacher is confident that the student is fully capable of doing well on that particular assessment.

MMM chapter 3

This chapter focused strongly on the ideas behind brain based teaching. It gave its correlation to middle school. The chapter gave many different ways to make information/knowledge stay with students. Students tend to memorize for tests and then forget it as soon as the test it over. Chunking is one way to help students learn information. Chunking helps students organize information by relationships, similarities, differences, functions, and classifications. Chunking is about understanding and thinking and producing your own ideas, not merely reciting or spitting information back out on tests. The chapter also talked about Bloom's Taxonomy and the "heirarchy of thinking." Another way to help students is to constantly reinforce concepts. Class periods are often set up incorrectly. This chapter states that the most learning happens at the beginning of the period. Unfortunatly, most of the time, teachers do not really start a lesson until the middle of the class. By then, students have lost interest and will not retain important concepts. The chapter also talks about the importance of water. The human body is composed primarily of water, so to keep hydrated, one should drink water more often. And finally, the chapter closes up with a section on teaching students to reason and another part on student misconceptions and how to avoid them.
Overall, the class really enjoyed the chapter. Many of us were really surprised to hear about the benefits of drinking more water. Again, this makes sense because the human body is mostly water. Many of us also enjoyed the chunking section. We agree that chunking is an effective way to learn rather than recite. Others of us were really interested in the misconceptions part. Many of us saw that we were guilty of some of the use of misconceptions. Teachers need to make sure that their students can argue effectively. All of us also agreed that teachers need to find different ways of teaching to help students learn rather than "parrot." Each of us recalled that throughout a lot of our middle school careers, we were "parrots." We all agreed that motivation was key to students learning. If it was something that was engaging to them, they will want to learn it. If they do not find the lesson engaging, it won't matter how the teacher teaches the lesson, that student will not want to learn. Students need to be motivated. The biggest message we have is that students need to learn rather than recite, and teachers need to make that change happen.

Meet Me In the Middle Chapter 1

Abstract: In Rick Wormeli's Meet Me In the Middle, the first chapter discusses the topic of communication with your students, most importantly, attitudes. First, the stereotypical thoughts of some teachers are "TGIF" or "The best three things about teaching, June, July and August." Our attitude towards teaching is one of the biggest things we need to remember when we walk into that classroom. If we walk in positive and upbeat then our students are going to perfer to learn from us, compared to someone that walks in complaining or rude. It is also a big deal, because at this time in their lives they are looking at someone to be a role model for them. They need someone that will lead them in the right direction, and if we have an attitude that discourages them from looking up to us then how will they ever learn from us? The author also mentions that what we put into teaching is what we will get out of teaching. If you go in with a poor attitude then you aren't going to get a whole lot out of your teaching experience. We also learn from this chapter that we need to remember the idea of perceptions, and that not everyone's are the same. One time you may crack a joke at a student, not thinking a big deal of it, but it could be one of the most hurtful comments in the student's eyes. Perception could also be based on the student- teacher relationship, because a student may take one comment from a teacher a totally different way than they would the same comment from a different teacher.
Reflection:
"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires," - William Author Ward

This was a quote that caught a lot of us as an awesome quote. This quote demonstrates what kind of teacher you are depending on your attitude towards teaching. If you go in there lazy and just reading from the book with no enthusiasim in what you are teaching, then you will be the mediocre teacher that tells. If you go into the classroom with great activties and a passion for what you are teaching and who you are teaching then you could be that superior teacher.
Another thing that caught much of the classes eye was the idea of touching your students. This was a ify topic because we have been told over and over again, limit physical contact with students. In the book, Wormeli discusses this idea, because that way, students can see that you are real, that you are human being too. If you touch their shoulder or their hand then they can see that you are person to. Now in some instances with students, they may not want you in their "bubble" or they maybe not want you to touch them at all.

Meet Me in the Middle: Chapter 2

Abstract:

Chapter two of Rick Wormeli’s Meet me in the Middle discusses different strategies we can use in the classroom to help motivate middle school students. Early in the chapter Wormeli states that “trying to get the students to pay attention is eighty percent of the battle.” This battle is one that some teachers spend their whole careers losing. The battle does not have to be that hard. All of us enjoy doing things that we’re good at and interests us. The classroom should not be any different. Educators who take the time to get to know and understand their students have half the battle already won. When you understand what makes the students go, you can apply that into the classroom and lessons. Lessons should be made around all the students’ interests, with a wide variety of activities that also allow them to use their strengths. Communication with the students is essential to create a great lesson, asking them for feedback and giving it back helps improve the classes drastically. The environment is also extremely important. Supplying a safe and comfortable atmosphere that encourages the students to learn and be themselves helps the students to open up their minds and abilities. The last and one of the most important concepts is to show enthusiasm for the material, and the students learning it. When you show enthusiasm, it opens the door for the students to be enthusiastic as well. If the students are excited about being in your classroom, then motivation becomes very simple.

Reflection:
As a class, we all agreed that the chapter was very beneficial. Some of us were reading this type of material for the first time, while others agreed that it was a good refresher from previous education courses. We all felt that to meet the students’ needs, and supply the best classroom possible, we needed to follow the themes and concepts of the chapter. We found it interesting that teachers spend more of their time dealing with classroom management then with actual teaching. There was no doubt that building a relationship and getting to know the students was the first and most important element, not only for helping the teachers spend less time with management, but motivation as well. Understanding all the students’ personality, strengths, learning styles, and interests helps design a lesson that will meet the whole classes needs. To go along with that, it is important to spice things up. Most of us agree that students get bored with the same outline and style everyday. It’s good to build up suspense, or do something completely out of the ordinary. The students should not be the only ones involved in these wacky ideas, but we ourselves need to back up our talk and show just how crazy we can be. That not only allows the students to relate with us, but it shows them how enthusiastic we are towards the material and their learning. Giving the students feedback and getting feedback from them was also a popular topic. Some of us remember how frustrating it was in school when teachers waited weeks to hand back a paper or never inform us of what we did wrong or right. To create a comfortable and safe classroom environment we all agreed that combining everything above will allow us to do that, and help prepare the students for a lifetime full of learning.

This is a Wiki on Motivation that Sean and I designed last semester for 402.