Chapter 12

I thought the opening statement of the chapter was interesting because teachers are introduced to numerous teaching techniques, but the real job is to find one that works for your students. I can think of at least two different writing techniques (power writing and 6 + 1 traits of writing), but what works the best? Most importantly I think it is important to give the student choice. Just like Fay said, "I would give kids lots of opportunities to use their individual abilities, interests, and learning styles in their academic learning." If we give the kids more control over their learning then they will be more excited to learn. If we limit their choices then we are taking away their ability to use creativity and might see more reluctant learners.

I also found it interesting when they were talking about consequences of students actions. Students need to learn that there is a relationship between when they do and what happens to them as a result. However, when teachers use reward or punishments for student performance students tend to take the easy route so they can achieve a high score and get their reward (which might be an A). They mentioned in the book that this affects students risk taking because they want to achieve the rewards, whatever they might be. I know in my classroom students use grades as rewards and punishments. The students who do well use them as rewards, but there are always a couple of students who are devastated when they receive an B on an assignment. Then there are the students who use grades as a punishment. I have two students in my class who sometimes don't do an assignment because they figure they are going to get an F anyway. They figure why put the effort into the assignment that I am going to fail anyway.

In response to the grades as rewards and punishments the book talked about the point system that helps eliminate the problem of rewards and punishments. I thought this was interesting and it would be neat to try it in the classroom to see if there is a difference. However, it would be impossible to do that while I am student teaching because I can't change the current grading system.

I think the most important thing that teachers can do is to instill upon the students the sense of accomplishment. Students need to believe that they can do it by themselves and a positive classroom atmosphere is the first step to attaining this goal.