Mindset Presentation Reflection

I think that Laura and Lydia did a great job with their book talk presentation. One thing that I really enjoyed about it was the activities they chose to use throughout. Not only were there plenty to keep us engaged, but they really got us thinking. I thought the brain teaser in the beginning were interesting. Even though I did not do particularly well with the riddles it got me thinking about how I felt and how I responded when something didn't come easy to me. On top of feeling frustrated I would also say that I felt kind of anxious when I couldn't figure them out. As a I sat there reading them it was like I had a mental block and I wasn't able to solve any of them, meanwhile my classmates seemed to be solving some of them. Another part that I liked about Laura and Lydia's presentation was the fact that they gave a breakdown of actions of fixed and growth mindsets, then towards the end they gave us some examples of the application of growth mindset. Overall, I think this was a well thought out and well executed presentation. I was left with no questions by the end of the presentation.

Turning Points 2000 Chapter 9

Chapter 9 of Turning Points 2000 talks about how parent involvement in schools can help improve student learning, as well as how to get parents more involved in schools. It is proven that families that support their child’s learning tend to be more successful in school. Schools also benefit from parent involvement in their schools. One thing that I found interesting from this chapter was the data that was found regarding the involvement of parents in at higher levels. I think it is interesting that as students begin middle school and high school parents tend to become less involved. This change occurs because parents think it is important to allow their children to mature and advocate for themselves as they get older. Many parents also become less comfortable with the high level of work and as a result they tend to help their children less with homework. However, middle school and high school are the times when parents should be most involved. I think that in order for a young adolescent to learn how to be successful and disciplined in school and in life they need the support from their families. This chapter also suggested ways in which schools can increase parent involvement. One of those strategies involved teaming and splitting up family outreach. From personal experience from student teaching I can say that this strategy is very successful. You learn more about your students when you are in contact with their parents than you would ever learn about them normally.

Meet Me in the Middle Chapter 15

Similar to chapter 9 of Turning Point 2000, chapter 15 of Meet Me in the Middle discusses the importance of involving parents in the school community. The author starts off by explaining the resources that he has used to get parents involved in his classroom. One thing that stood out to me is that me points out that online tools are not only useful for parents and students who have been absent, but it is also useful for students with learning disabilities. I thought that this was interesting because I never really thought about using an online homework tool to accommodate a students with a learning disability. However, I think it is a great way to give extra time to respond to information and for processing information for students that need it. I also think that online homework tools are great for improving communication between parents, teachers, and students. As the author says in the chapter it eliminates the “he said, she said”. I think that better communication between parent and teachers gives students more support, but also encourages them to take more responsible when it comes to their school work. One of the other techniques to help get parents involved that stood out to me was the index card inquiries. I think it is a really neat idea to reach out to parents and ask them what they think their children need to be successful in school. Parents know their children better than anyone, so to gain their perspective on things is really important.

"A Whole New Mind" Book Talk Response

This presentation was very informative regarding how to incorporate the right brain into the classroom. I liked that Kally, Jordan, and Marissa began by giving a quick overview of the book. I was a good starting place and gave us as an audience an idea of where the presentation would be going. I also enjoyed the different quizzes and activities throughout. They really required you to think creatively to complete them. I think I enjoyed the drawing activity the most because they seemed like the most challenging and I loved the meaning behind the activity. I think it is so important to make connections to the real world and other subject areas when it comes to any content. I also liked the idea of making connections between topics that don't seem to go together. The only question that I had throughout the presentation was what purpose the story served in regards to the presentation. I was unaware that we would be revisiting it. So, that is my only suggestion for this presentation. I would have just made it clear that we would be revisiting the story later on so that it doesn't seem like there is a connection missing.

Meet Me in the Middle Chapter 7 Synthesis

Chapter 7 of Meet Me in the Middle discussed the topic of differentiated instruction in the classroom. This is a concept that many of us are familiar with, so it was interesting to see what each of us found important in this chapter. Many of us touched on the point that students have a multitude of interests, strengths, weakness, abilities, and experiences that they are bringing with them when they enter a classroom. Knowing that as a teacher you are responsible for engaging every single one of those students is definitely a daunting task. However, in many of the reflections I found that my peers found this chapter incredibly helpful in providing some strategies and advice to help them in the future. Some strategies that were discussed were using a variety of instructional strategies, giving students more choice on projects, using real world examples, and integrating the multiple intelligences throughout different lessons. In addition to the strategies, one of the key pieces of advice that most of us seemed to pick out from the chapter is that as an educator you need to be flexible. If students are struggling with assignments or are dealing with family issues, you as teacher need to be accommodating to those students. Many of my peers also found comfort in Wormeli admitting that he doesn't always teach the most engaging lessons, and sometimes lessons don’t always go as planned the first time. The important thing is that you are taking risks in your instructional strategies and you are differentiating your instruction throughout your lessons as much as they allow.

Turning Points 2000 Chapter 8

Chapter 8 of Turning Points 2000 discusses how to promote a healthy school environment for students. For schools this includes things like classroom management and discipline, and even helping students lead healthy lifestyles. The chapter began by addressing classroom management and discipline. One of the key factors to having a good discipline plan for your school is being consistent. I could not agree with this point more. I think it is incredibly important that all staff is responsible for consistent discipline. If not, students will start to determine which rules need to be followed and which ones might be okay to break. Another subject that was discussed in this chapter was conflict resolution. I found this section to be pretty interesting because it involved peer mediation. I have never heard of this concept before and I find it pretty intriguing. Part of me thinks that students may not take a responsibility like this very seriously, but the other part of me thinks that this could be a very powerful experiences for all students involved. I think that the students that become the mediators gain so very meaningful experience and skills that can be used later on in life. The last topic from the chapter that I want to touch on is school-based health services. I have actually done work in a school that offered this. At times it seemed inconvenient when a students was pulled out of class to go down to the dentist, but I also think that it is an amazing resource that they are offering to students and their families. Ultimately I think it keeps more engaged in the classroom because they are less likely to be sick or missing days of school to attend appointments.

Turning Points 2000 Chapter 4

Chapter 4 of Turning Points 2000 explains the process of designing instruction to better meet the needs of diverse groups of students. The chapter begins by laying out instruction’s key connections. Overall, instruction must connect to the curriculum, to the assessments that you will give students to evaluate their progress, and to the students themselves. A quote on page 65 concerning how to connect instruction to your students really jumped out at me. The quote reads, “teachers must also become students of their students”. I think this quote really explains how well teachers need to know their students in order to make their instruction meaningful and engaging. The chapter goes on to discuss a few methods of designing instruction. I am familiar with WHERE, but the one that I seemed to be most familiar with was differentiated instruction. Differentiated instruction is really focused around the students, and how the teacher can cater to all students’ interests and needs. It made me pretty happy to read this section and see how much of this I was already doing in the classroom with students. However, one thing that stood out to me as something I would like to incorporate is the concept of having an anchor activity. I like the idea of having some free time to work with students independently that need extra help, without restricting those who don’t need as much assistance. Another thing that I noticed that came up a lot in this chapter was the idea of tracking. I liked that they stressed throughout the chapter that grouping strategies are okay as long as it does not mean the students stays there forever. Grouping must be fluid as students improve, and as the author says on page 91, “initial ability need not destine a student to permanent placement".