Reading Response chapter 3-4

2. Share 3 (three) exact quotes that are meaningful to you (from across these two chapters), and explain why they matter to you.

Quote #1:
"(some teachers) are not remarkable because they are more gifted than other teachers or because they have taught longer or because they went to more exclusive colleges. They are remarkable because they live what they believe. "

I love this quote because it proves that just because we didn't go to Harvard for an expensive degree, the biggest influence on how good of a teacher we want to become is our ATTITUDE. It also shows equality in advancement for teachers, where first year teachers and 50th year teachers are on the same playing ground.

Quote #2: following the first quote
"Such teachers are surely aware of the constraints and imperfections of schools. Somehow, they see the possibilities more clearly than the impossibilities. They look beyond those things they cannot change toward the young people, learning environments, curricula, and instruction they can change."

I put this as two separate quotes, because I love them both, but they have the same underlying meaning, that your effort to recognize each student's needs which may seem impossible to meet can be viewed in the opposite manner of "possibilities" in many areas (your classroom, curriculum, and your instruction). We may be told what and who to teach each year, but HOW is what we choose.

Quote #3:
"Thus, if the student says, "I need affirmation, contribution, power, purpose, and challenge," such a teacher replies, "I will respond to those needs. Otherwise, how would I assume I could truly teach you? Otherwise, how would I assume we could build together a place in which we can all become what we are meant to be?"

This is also a very great quote. How can we as teachers really teach each student if we are not looking for the different ways in which they learn? The classroom is really a community of teachers and learners, teacher included. The better the teacher does at trying to use various methods of teaching and assessing, the more the she and the students will learn about and from each other.

Reading Response #3

Reflect on what you learned about creating community in your classroom from our visitor, Sylvia Allan.

It was really quite a treat being able to hear how Sylvia talk about morning meetings and the impact they have had with her career in teaching and now being a principal. I love how her morning meeting is centered around having students be responsible and take charge for their own lives and education, the teacher is merely someone there to help mediate and guide the students. The part that really stuck out was when she said "morning meeting is the only half and hour that 100% of students are 100% successful." It is so necessary for them to feel success, its what drives and motivates them not only through school but life in general. I especially loved the part about storms and the classification of them. I bet the kids feel so empowered when they can go home and teach their parents to classify their storm. It really seems like a great means for students to really assess which events are worth being upset over and which are "light cloud cover".

Reading Response 2: seize the remarkable opportunity of a teacher to shape lives...

2d. On page 22, Tomlinson says, “The truth is, we will never really do all each child needs us to do.” Later on this page she says, “The point is not to entertain guilt. The point is to relentlessly seize the remarkable opportunity of a teacher to shape lives – to do the best we can to ensure that we are better at reaching children today than yesterday, better at it this year than last.”

I really loved this quote. I think everyone in the cohort as we go through the program and we learn all of these great strategies and other helpful information we set our expectations high. I know I do at least. The things I work the hardest for and strive for perfection in is my marriage, spiritual growth, and in school work--becoming an awesome teacher! It's not an unachievable goal, being a great teacher, but even the greatest teacher ever is not perfect and will not do what every child needs them to do. The great teacher realizes this, does his/her best, and strives to reach even further the next year. Never reaching perfection, but always doing more the next year. This was a GREAT quote!