Chapter 9

I loved the example were the math teacher gave the students the option of doing the even or the odds, by assigning twice as many problems.Then when she wanted them to do the whole page she gave them the option of writing their answers on the front or back.
Another valid point this chapter made, was if you give students choices they will be more excepting when they don't have a choice. I seen this when one of my teacher's I'm working with had a substitute teacher. The regular teacher never gives her student's a choices. As a result, when the sub came in the students made the choice that they were not going to be controlled today like they had been all year. There was more noise coming out of that room in one day then I had heard all year combined.

Chapter 8

This chapter makes me think of an interesting situation I observed this week. One of my student's got an A on their math test.Usually this student fails their math test. When the student recieves the failing grade he announces it proudly to the class. This week when I handed the test back, he went to his sit and had a big smile on his face. However, he didn't announce his grade to anyone. For some reason, he didn't want the class to know he had done well, even though his facial expressions showed he was very proud.

Chapter 7

When this chapter talked about the school with 324 rules I thought it was South Range Elementary. One of the hardest things for me to this point, has been trying to learn all the rules and the consequences that go with them. Sometimes it feels like no matter what the kids are doing their breaking one of the rules. I loved the one rule idea."You can do anything you want in this class,provided it doesn't cause a problem for someone else. I think most students would see this as fair and reasonable.

Chapter 6

I like how the teacher handled Johnny and is playground behavior. I have a student in my class that always tries to put the blame on something else when were discussing his behavior. I've used this exact approach, I telling him that we are not here to discuss Joe's behavior. This student is now on a behavior plan so after every class period, I have to give him a score based on his behavior. He often wants to argue with me, but I always answer," I'm not going to argue with you now, but if you want to discuss it at recess or after school I would be glad to.
Another thing that open my eyes was the sexually abused girl's situation. As a teacher you perceive education as very important, but some students see education as pointless. It is these differences in perception that leads to a lot of altercations between teachers and students. It is this perceptiion that I'm working on changing with my student's. No matter what they want to do with their lives, education is an important part of that dream.

chapter 5

The begining of this chapter makes several valid points. The first being that kids have rights. At the begining of the semester when I was observing, I heard a student say, "You can't talk to me like that.I have rights." The second point I think that speaks to why some kids are a challenge, is the home environment.We had a 1st grader come to school this week with a shirt that said," I'm a virgin and you are not getting any." What kind of of home environment does this child have? The last point that caught my attention was Mr. Fowler. He reminds me of the math teacher I'm working with. She is very much like a drill sergent. As soon as she leaves the room her students' lose their halos over their heads.

Chapter 4

I loved how the teacher handled the picture day situation. One problem I see at South Range, is a large portion of the day is spent on disciplining the students. This takes time away from teaching, and makes the school feel like a boot camp at times. The other protion of this chapter taked about how to deal with students that feed off each other. I do not agree with the divide and conquer idea. I think if you start sending students to other classrooms, they become a distraction to the class you sent them to.

Chapter 3

One method this chapter suggested, that I've tried on the problem child in my class, was to give the student choices. The other day we were working on a science project and this student was not on task. He asked me if he could move to the back of the room. At first I thought no, but decided to make him a deal. If he worked quietly, I would let him work in the back. He worked very efficiently and quietly for the rest of the hour.
Another point this chapter makes that I feel is important is, " You cannot make a withdrawal when there is nothing in the account." I've been working with all my students on building this account. One student, in particular, has a hard time completing his work. I found out that he is a Red Wing fan. Every night that the Wings play, we discuss the game the following day. Due to this, he always gets his assignments done for the classes I'm teaching.