Reflective Journal 4
1.
Distractions
p. 124 “Students who truly were interested in learning had difficulty staying interested and retaining skills and concepts because of distractions created by the other students.”
This quote is one of my biggest fears: not being able to keep the good kids because of the “bad” kids.
Several years ago, I had a student in orchestra. She was a good musician, but ended up quitting because many students were in the class to goof off. It was my first year teaching, and a lot of time was spent on discipline instead of music. I could tell this girl was frustrated and we both felt powerless in the face of the students who were distractions from the music. At the end of the year, I discovered she had not signed up to take orchestra again. I was very disappointed. She said it was because of the distractions and behavior problems of the class. I understood where she was coming from, but was disappointed in the outcome.
2.
Constant reminders are a good thing
p. 125 “I frequently announced when certain habits of mind were being modeled.”
I often forget that most people need to hear a direction or bit of information more than once. The teacher featured in this chapter made sure to reinforce the habits by reminding the students of what they were experiencing in class.
This reminds me of a commercial I saw the other day. It was for a car. The announcer kept repeating the car’s highlights because it would help the viewer remember at a later time. I find that my students do better when I frequently remind them of why we are going over a certain section (for rhythm or C-naturals).
3.
“IDK”
p. 126 “The phrase ‘I don’t know’ no longer was permitted in class. Students now had strategies to use when an answer was not obvious to them.”
I would rather a student tell me “I don’t know” than “I can’t.” The former implies a lack of knowledge or inability to bridge the knowledge to the question, while the latter implies an unwillingness to do the task.
Most of my students have learned that answering with “I don’t know” gets them involved in a long “let’s figure this out together” session in front of the whole class. Now they try to come up with an answer independently. Of course, the amount of think time they have factors into how well thought out that answer is. Correct answer, we move on. Incorrect answer, we go back over their logic process to see where the mistake was made.
4.
No one has all the answers
p. 128 “Using habits of mind doesn’t necessarily mean you know all of the answers, but it means you know what to do when you don’t know the answer.”
I chose this quote because no one has all the answers. Several people I know will just make up answers if they don’t really have one.
One of my college professors exemplified this quote. He was a brass player, but had to teach woodwinds one semester. A friend of mine was on her oboe week and couldn’t figure out the fingering for a couple notes. The professor didn’t have the answer off the top of his head since he was a trombonist. He told her he didn’t know, but knew where they could look it up. Together they found the answer.
1.
Distractions
p. 124 “Students who truly were interested in learning had difficulty staying interested and retaining skills and concepts because of distractions created by the other students.”
This quote is one of my biggest fears: not being able to keep the good kids because of the “bad” kids.
Several years ago, I had a student in orchestra. She was a good musician, but ended up quitting because many students were in the class to goof off. It was my first year teaching, and a lot of time was spent on discipline instead of music. I could tell this girl was frustrated and we both felt powerless in the face of the students who were distractions from the music. At the end of the year, I discovered she had not signed up to take orchestra again. I was very disappointed. She said it was because of the distractions and behavior problems of the class. I understood where she was coming from, but was disappointed in the outcome.
2.
Constant reminders are a good thing
p. 125 “I frequently announced when certain habits of mind were being modeled.”
I often forget that most people need to hear a direction or bit of information more than once. The teacher featured in this chapter made sure to reinforce the habits by reminding the students of what they were experiencing in class.
This reminds me of a commercial I saw the other day. It was for a car. The announcer kept repeating the car’s highlights because it would help the viewer remember at a later time. I find that my students do better when I frequently remind them of why we are going over a certain section (for rhythm or C-naturals).
3.
“IDK”
p. 126 “The phrase ‘I don’t know’ no longer was permitted in class. Students now had strategies to use when an answer was not obvious to them.”
I would rather a student tell me “I don’t know” than “I can’t.” The former implies a lack of knowledge or inability to bridge the knowledge to the question, while the latter implies an unwillingness to do the task.
Most of my students have learned that answering with “I don’t know” gets them involved in a long “let’s figure this out together” session in front of the whole class. Now they try to come up with an answer independently. Of course, the amount of think time they have factors into how well thought out that answer is. Correct answer, we move on. Incorrect answer, we go back over their logic process to see where the mistake was made.
4.
No one has all the answers
p. 128 “Using habits of mind doesn’t necessarily mean you know all of the answers, but it means you know what to do when you don’t know the answer.”
I chose this quote because no one has all the answers. Several people I know will just make up answers if they don’t really have one.
One of my college professors exemplified this quote. He was a brass player, but had to teach woodwinds one semester. A friend of mine was on her oboe week and couldn’t figure out the fingering for a couple notes. The professor didn’t have the answer off the top of his head since he was a trombonist. He told her he didn’t know, but knew where they could look it up. Together they found the answer.