Meet Me in the Middle Chapter 1

Chapter 1 of Meet Me in the Middle starts to explain how teachers can create a good learning environment for their students. It begins by discussing teachers’ motivations for teaching, as well as teachers’ attitudes. In addition, the chapter also stresses the importance of listening to students. There were a few ideas that stood out to me throughout this chapter. The first idea was that teachers should be going to work everyday prepared to enlighten their students. Although to most of us this seems like it should be a given, this is an important thing for teachers to remember. It is a teacher’s job to go to school everyday prepared with meaningful and effective lessons, not just a lesson to fill the time. Another idea that stood out to me was the idea of teachers with “high” egos versus “low” egos. This is another important thing to be aware of as a teacher, especially when it comes to students making mistakes. It is important to for students to know that it is okay for them to make mistakes in your classroom, and if you are constantly reminding them that they have made a mistake they are not going to want to participate in your classroom. Finally, the chapter brings up one final idea that I think is incredibly important, and that is teachers should be listening to their students. By listening to students, teachers are not only learning about their students, but what they could be doing to better support their students in their classroom. I really enjoyed the example given by the author because it shows that miscommunications can happen, but in the end the student and the teacher each learned something about each other.