Katherine Graff
MYTH Session
8, Page 06, Activity 04
EDUC 5329
M.Ed.T, Secondary, Foreign Languages (Arabic)
ACTFL, NCPTS (
Content practice test NOT TAKEN
TExES content exam NOT TAKEN
PPR practice test NOT TAKEN
TExES PPR 8-12 NOT TAKEN
“A Great, Well-Planned Curriculum is the key to Success
in a Student’s Academic and Social Performance”
This is exactly what I
thought when I began teaching, and at the time it became a public embarrassment. I thought, “If I just make great plans and
worksheets and activities, students will embrace Arabic as I do, see the
relevance of the language and how great it is, and be amazed by my skills as
teacher and class will be smooth sailing!”
I could not have been more incorrect!
My first lesson totally bombed. I
started my first Arabic course with an English grammar lesson, thinking it
would make learning the Arabic grammar concepts easier to learn. My students were expecting to learn Arabic,
so they were totally turned off by my instruction and were bored, and that set
the tone for the rest of the day. They
did not pay attention and had no interest in any of my witty anecdotes or
knowledge. I recovered by the second day
and started over from square 1, but that was a slap in the face that I needed! I am certainly more in tune with my students’
individual needs, and that is a hard lesson that many new teachers face in
their first assignment. Teachers need to
remember that what works for the “majority” of students will not work for some,
and that flexibility is the key to a happy and successful student.
“Just Be Consistent”
I disagree with Powell, et al, on page 154, 2nd
paragraph. I think that there needs to
be a certain level of consistency because children perform better when there is
a structured environment. Be consistent,
but be prepared to take other steps if the needs of the student do not respond
to the consistency. Maybe you deviate a
little, like giving demerits for not turning in homework, but if the student is
SES and has to work until midnight and fell asleep when he got home, maybe give
him alternative assignment instead of giving him a zero as you normally
would. What do you guys think?
MYTH - Buddy
Response A
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Message
no. 1877 |
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Author: Erica Bensik |
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Date: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 5:25pm |
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Katherine, I think you
raised such an important point in the second part of your post and I am so glad someone said
this because I was thinking it! Of course it is important to treat each student with the
same fairness and I don't think there is any exception for that. However, I really don't
think we can say that we should treat every student the same and every situation with
the same strategy. Also, one teacher who I imagine is very effective in her classroom
has expressed the same sentiments. She said to me that maybe some teachers would
disagree with her but she does not treat each situation the exact same and she finds that to
be the most effective way to manage her classroom. Thank you for being honest
and sharing these thoughts. |
MYTH - *My
Response* to Buddy Response A
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Message
no. 2175 |
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Author: Katherine Graff |
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Date: Thursday, November 1, 2007
7:48pm |
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Erica, Thank you for your
response! I appreciate you sharing the
feelings of your trusted teacher. I am so glad someone feels the same way
about the consistency theory! I almost did not write that because
I was not sure if I would be in trouble with you guys. Thank you for being
honest-I value that about your commentary past and present! |
MYTH - Buddy
Response B
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Message
no. 1965 |
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Author: Cassie Essary |
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Date: Wednesday, October 31, 2007
4:06pm |
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Cassie Essary EDUC 5329 Initial Teacher
Certification, M.M. All-Level Music TExES Music EC-12, TExES PPR EC-12 I think it is great that
you were able to create a myth that is so strongly based on your own personal experiences. I agree that although teachers may have a
tendency to focus on the curriculum and
content of what they are teaching and expect discipline to not be a problem as long as the students
are kept busy, this is not a realistic approach to take. As you mentioned with your
students being bored, this will always be a possibility in any classroom situation. I subbed a junior high choir recently in
which, although most of the students were activiely engaged in our activities, there was one
student in particular who kept saying, "This
worksheet is annoying! I hate
this!" and so forth. Clearly the instruction and curriculum
was beyond being able to solve the problem of this boy's apparent disinterest in learning
anything at all. I agree
wholeheartedly with your myth. |
MYTH - *My
Response* to Buddy Response B
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Message
no. 2177 |
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Author: Katherine Graff |
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Date: Thursday, November 1, 2007
7:51pm |
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Hi Cassie, Your student in choir is
the classic example that students can see through the busy work. They can tell whether or not tasks are
meaningful no matter how well we try to fake it. Sometimes they are too smart for their own
good ; ) Creating work with meaning and relevancy to
the current student body, not the classic student body, is definitely the way to go! Thank you for sharing your
sub experience and reinforcing my fight!
Pleasure chatting with you : ) |
MYTH - Buddy
Response C
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Message
no. 2076 |
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Author: Stephanie Bohn |
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Date: Thursday, November 1, 2007
3:03pm |
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Name: Stephanie Bohn Courses enrolled in: LIST 5326, EDUC 5329 Program: Initial Teacher Certification Only Seeking Certification:
Secondary English National Standards: NCTE State Competencies: TExES English
Language Arts/Reading, Grades 8-12 Content practice test: not yet taken TExES Content exam: not yet
taken PPR Practice test: not yet
taken TExES PPR: not yet taken Katherine, Since I have not taught in
a school setting yet, I had not actually thought of this myth. I think it was very important to
have poitned it out and you did so in such a great
way! I do agree the idea that you
proposed that "what works for the “majority” of students
will not work for some, and that flexibility is the key to a happy and successful student and a
good student/teacher relationship."
For the longest time, I had thought that
consistency and preparation are the key to structuring the perfect curriculum! Maybe I should think things over! haha! Great paper!! |
MYTH - *My
Response* to Buddy Response C
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Message
no. 2179 |
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Author: Katherine Graff |
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Date: Thursday, November 1, 2007
7:54pm |
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Stephanie, Thank you for your
honesty! I was just like you when I
started teaching! Structure is good, don't forget that. But there are just some days when my
beautiful, full color lesson plans get "chucked out the
window" because of various reasons.
Do create and be prepared, but be accepting
of the fact that you will need a certain amount of flexibility for the benefit of the classroom
dynamic. Excellent points-I
appreciate you sharing with me : ) |
MYTH - Buddy
Response D
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Message
no. 2093 |
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Author: Wenyung
Chung |
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Date: Thursday, November 1, 2007
3:34pm |
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You made an interesting
point regarding being consistent to provide a structural environment. I certainly agree to this
because I personally like it when things are organized and structured which allow
me to know what to expect from the class. |
MYTH - *My
Response* to Buddy Response D
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Message
no. 2183 |
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Author: Katherine Graff |
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Date: Thursday, November 1, 2007
8:01pm |
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Frankie, I am the same way-I need
structure and organization for most subjects.
If I do not have clear expectations from a
teacher, I get angry because I have a ridiculously high grading standard for myself-but that is a
different story for a different section ;)
I admit that not all
students learn well this way, so I can lean a little to the left or right of my straight curriculum path,
but this all goes back to the social contract theory. If you are going to make a
contract and a discipline plan and you want to students to acquire certain lesssons
at a predetermined level, you have to follow the steps of the contract in the same way every time for
each scenario and then flex after you have followed the rules unless it is an incredibly
extreme circumstance. Students WILL
take note if you deviate and do not have a good
reason, and then they will rebel. Thanks again for your
responses to my off the wall thoughts!
I appreciate your input : ) |
MYTH,
Response 1 to a Classmate’s Work
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Message
no. 1891 |
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Author: Katherine Graff |
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Date: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 8:44pm |
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Katherine Graff MYTH Session 8, Page 06, Activity
04 EDUC 5329 M.Ed.T, Secondary, Foreign
Languages (Arabic) ACTFL, NCPTS ( Content practice test NOT
TAKEN TExES content exam NOT TAKEN PPR practice test NOT TAKEN TExES PPR 8-12 NOT TAKEN Hi Frankie! Your myth is absolutely
true-you cannot rely on parents to keep up your end of the threat with the current trend of
family dynamics. This is an aspect of
management that I have not thought about in a
while. Do you think if parents signed
a behavioral contract requiring them to hold their end of
the discipline bargain? Thank you for sharing your
views-great job : ) |
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Message
no. 1892 |
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Author: Katherine Graff |
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Date: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 8:45pm |
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Ok, I didnt
finish my question....Do you think if parents signed a behavioral contract requiring them to hold
their end of the discipline bargain it would help curb unacceptable behavior? Just wondering...Sorry about that. |
MYTH,
*Classmate’s Follow-Up* Response
1 to a Classmate’s Work
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Message
no. 2089 |
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Author: Wenyung
Chung |
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Date: Thursday, November 1, 2007
3:31pm |
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Teachers can use the
contract as a threat agaisnt the parents but i do not agree with using threat. |
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Message
no. 2088 |
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Author: Wenyung
Chung |
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Date: Thursday, November 1, 2007
3:30pm |
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I do not think most parents
take signing the contract of abiding by the school policy seriously. They just signed it to
agree with whatever school requires to get their children in the school. |
MYTH,
Response 2 to a Classmate’s Work
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Message
no. 1927 |
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Author: Katherine Graff |
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Date: Wednesday, October 31, 2007
12:22pm |
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Katherine Graff MYTH Session 8, Page 06, Activity
04 EDUC 5329 M.Ed.T, Secondary, Foreign
Languages (Arabic) ACTFL, NCPTS ( Content practice test NOT
TAKEN TExES content exam NOT TAKEN PPR practice test NOT TAKEN TExES PPR 8-12 NOT TAKEN Hi Erica! Fantastic myth-you really
put some thought into this! This is
so, absolutely true! I was at a parent-teacher
conference yesterday, and my son's teacher said that there had been so many referrals to
the office in the months of September/October, they awarded pizza and ice cream parties
to the classrooms that sent the least number of referrals to the office. They picked 2 rooms from the K-2 category
and 2 rooms grades 3-5. She said the reason for most of
the referrals was petty and that those teachers did not know how to manage their
classrooms, just as stated in our book!
Proudly, my son's teacher was the first winner of the
ice cream party, and she should have sent my son to the office for some of his
shenanigans! Yay
for her-she is a great teacher-30 years teaching K and 1st grades. Excellent post-I really
enjoyed reading it. Thanks for
sharing! |
MYTH, *Classmates
Follow-Up* to My Response 2
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Message
no. 2052 |
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Author: Erica Bensik |
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Date: Thursday, November 1, 2007
2:15pm |
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What a great story! That is
a very interesting idea to award those classrooms with ice cream and pizza parties but
I completely understand why the administration decided to do it. I think it must get so
out of hand if teachers are sending students to the office left and right! It seems like
incentives like this really can be helpful and while some may say that this is like
"bribing" children to behave, are there not similar incentive
programs in the "real world?"
And if it reduces the number of referrals and allows teachers more time to focus on productive
things, I think it is a great idea! Thanks for sharing! |
MYTH,
Response 3 to a Classmate’s Work
Katherine Graff MYTH Session 8, Page 06, Activity 04 EDUC 5329M.Ed.T, Secondary, Foreign Languages (Arabic)
ACTFL, NCPTS (North Carolina Content practice test NOT TAKENTExES content exam NOT TAKEN
PPR practice test NOT TAKENTExES PPR 8-12 NOT TAKEN
Hi Cassie, Excellent myth! I remember the same from my high school days, and I also remember how disorganized and how little learning occurred in those classes. Do you think that the
students hanging out in the teacher's room was borderline unprofessional? I am not sure
since I do not teach high school how this would be perceived. I teach adults, and I make
it a point to make a valid excuse not to hang out with my students so that certain
boundaries are not crossed.
Thanks for sharing and nice job!
MYTH,
*Classmate’s Follow-Up* Response
3 to a Classmate’s Work
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Message
no. 1919 |
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Author: Cassie Essary |
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Date: Tuesday, October 30, 2007
11:20pm |
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Cassie Essary EDUC 5329 Initial Teacher Certification,
M.M. All-Level Music TExES Music EC-12, TExES PPR EC-12 I have mixed feelings about
the students hanging out in the teacher's classroom. This might seem more
unprofessional to a teacher of a regular academic subject, but to a choir teacher, I think it
is less so, simply because (in most cases) the students who are there in your class are
students who are there by choice and who have a clear interest in what we're doing. And it's fun! I think the very nature of a classroom such
as this makes it easier for personal
relationships to flourish between teachers and students. I spent plenty of
after-school hours in my high school choir room with my choir teacher; I certainly never considered doing
that with any other teacher! She is a
great lady and I am still friends with her to
this day. The downside to this nature
of hers was that the students felt so
comfortable around her that we didn't think she even had it in her to punish us much for
misbehaving. So there are pros and
cons. I suppose it is up to each of us to weigh them and
decide what balance works best for us in our respective classroom situations. |
MYTH RUBRIC
Created the perfect Classroom Management Myth
“A Great, Well-Planned
Curriculum is the key to Success in a Student’s Academic and Social Performance” Teachers
need to remember that what works for the “majority” of students will not work
for some, and that flexibility
is the key to a happy and successful student.
I explained my personal experience with the myth that I believed in when I began
my first day teaching (that totally bombed!)
10
Responded to three members
of your learning team and replied to all responses to your original post.
I initiated discussions
with Cassie Essary, Wenyung Chung
and Erica Bensik
and I received original
commentary about my paper from Stephanie
Bohn, Cassie
Essary, Erica Bensik and Wenyung Chung. 10
Total Possible 20
points My score 20 My percentage 100%