Chapter 10: Going Beyond The Classroom

Chapter 10 of Fires in the Bathroom looked at how a teacher can handle diversity outside the classroom too. The ideas in this chapter were really neat. One activity I liked was when one student explained that twice a week in science, they would go to clean up a park. The idea I liked the most, however, was guiding students to summer activities or camps.
The reason this activity really stuck out to me was because I work at an overnight summer camp based on Quaker values. The campers we get are very diverse, coming from as far away as Pakistan. A lot of children who I could imagine were overlooked in schools or acted out against authority figures gained a lot from the experience, and I gained a lot from working with them to resolve conflicts.

Chapter 9: When Things Go Wrong

Chapter 9 of Fires in the Bathroom focused on one of my greatest fears – what happens if something goes wrong in the classroom? The examples that the chapter gave ranged from school skipping to actual fires in the bathroom. The example that stuck out to me was when a conductor shouted to the drummers, who were playing too loud, “We’re not in Africa.”
I’m greatly interested in music, and may be interested in music education. I was shocked that this happened, and think that no matter what’s going wrong, the teacher always has to be on top of things and in control of his own emotions. Trying to make a racial joke to alleviate a situation is by no means a healthy response, and the conductor should have apologized right away.

Chapter 8: Teaching Teenagers Who Are Still Learning English

Chatper 8 of Fires in the Bathroom was all about students who are still learning the English Language, whether they are learning to speak it or read and write in it. A part of the chapter that jumped out to me was when one of the authors said that they learn best in a classroom that uses both their own language and English. Forcing students to jump directly into a language they are not comfortable with is bad for students’ learning, as it discourages them and makes them feel like outcasts. The students’ comfort should be the first priority – they won’t learn without it.
This section of the reading really jumped out at me because I only speak one language. If I hope to teach my students well, I recognize that I will need to study other languages such as Chinese or Spanish.

Chapter 7&8 Presentation

Our presentation was on the "Caring About Homework" section of the book.  We had a teacher who didn't care about the students' homework, even though he assigned it.  If the teacher is going to take up students' time with homework, then he should definitely be prepared to take the time to care about it.  Homework that doesn't even get checked is a total waste of students' time - it doesn't matter if they got things right or wrong.  It's very important to care about that sort of thing, or students will become discouraged with the class and the teacher.  Also, if the homework doesn't seem to be worth checking, then can it really be that helpful for the student?

Reaction to Behavior 101 Movie

What Would You Do?

If I were in Mr. Fecteau's situation, I would give the student a stern look and say adamantly that he must go to the principal's office and that I would walk him there.  I would, as Mr. Fecteau demonstrated, give the students work to do while I was out of the room for 3 minutes.  If the student physically resisted, I would let him go - a student so determined to leave the building is not going to make the classroom a safe environment - but I would make sure that administrators took the issue seriously.

Teaching Difficult Academic Material

This resource is incredibly helpful. Teaching different material, especially within my content area, is something that I always struggle with. What if the content is just too complex for my class, or more realistically, what if I become obsessed with the prejudice that my class is not ready for the difficult material? Looking at students’ comments, however, it’s pretty clear that students’ minds are pretty much able to take anything in and work with it if it is presented the right way. This paradigm that students have a point where they won’t learn anything should be abandoned, as it’s really detrimental to their learning. Challenging academic material is what I imagine a lot of students need to motivate them to learn. As long as they understand and are challenged, they should strive to learn the content.

Chapter 6: Motivation and Boredom

This chapter was one of my favorites. I have always wanted to be one of those crazy old coots that are wildly passionate about the content, but in a way that connects to the students. If I can show the students how much I care about English, maybe they will too. Keeping kids motivated is something that I think is going to be challenging and interesting. I know that I will have no problem showing pride in students’ good work and caring about their progress. The list of reading materials that many of the students cared about was handy – I may do a questionnaire asking what reading material my students care about.