Best Practice - Chapters 8 & 9

I think that the most important concept I came away with after reading, Best Practices, Chapters 8 and 9 is the idea of balance. A teacher needs to find balance in the classroom. “Balance is the key.” As a teacher, and now a principal, this has always been my way of thinking. The seven structures of best practices was very helpful in putting the emphasis of a student-centered classroom in perspective. I think, as educators, it is most important to “make it real” for the students in our classrooms. Take the classroom’s curriculum and make it authentic, make it genuine and bring bits of the world into schools or bring the students out into the world. Students, whenever they hear that a field trip is scheduled, get very excited. The real world is waiting for them. Each year, at the school where I work, we take the 8th grade class to Washington, DC for the week. Each day is filled with authentic, exciting events that make real learning happen. The 8th graders also got to choose some of the activities that they would be involved in over this week, making them a real, responsible partner in the curriculum planning. Along with traveling out onto the fields at Gettysburg, they also wanted to visit the Spy Museum and learn about various espionage activities over the years. The pre visit activities, the research work that goes on during the trip and the follow-up work that concludes the trip, as well as, the events during the week’s stay in Washington make this a learning experience that could never be duplicated in the classroom.Chapter 9 dealt with making changes within the curriculum. I agree with the idea that change can be very difficult at times especially with teachers that have been at the job for many years. I have also watched as we attend inservices with wonderful ideas being presented, but if I did not require that a new idea needs to be practiced within the next few weeks, I am not sure that it would happen. We had an inservice on Classroom Management where the presented gave all kinds of very practical, wonderful ideas for management in the classroom. I had the faculty choose one idea that they especially connected with and try it in the classroom over the next two weeks. During this two week period, each teacher would journal their findings at the end of each day. At the end of the two week period, during the faculty meeting, we all shared the positive and negative that came from this experience. Many teachers found that what was tried worked wonderfully and it became a part of their classroom management techniques. Others asked for advice from faculty members to fine tune what they had experienced. All in all, this was a very positive experience for all at the school, both students and faculty members alike.