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This particular meme illustrates the reality of teachers who assume that full control over a classroom is equal to them learning or behaving "correctly." The text specifically mentions that educators who focus too intently on punishments for adverse behaviors have the hardest time with student engagement. The classroom is a learning community, not a dictatorship. When you allow students the opportunity to ask questions and learn about what they are interested in, they will take action with their own education which will increase their intrinsic motivation levels. To quote the text, "Choice promotes compliance and minimizes misbehavior" (Kohn, pg. 81).

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This meme demonstrates how demanding someone to do something for you (like studying for a huge quiz) doesn't always mean that they will take it seriously or learn from it. This is called parroting, where students only give/say what the teacher wants to see/hear. Instead of stating what you want to hear from them, allow the students the opportunity to expand and explore that specific topic. The teacher may even learn something from their students in the process!

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I really appreciate Kohn's emphasis on student input and choice- “what students truly need: the chance to make real decisions about what happens in the classroom" (p.81) I couldn't agree with this statement more! Student input and choice, have a place within the classroom and should be encouraged every step of the way. What is a classroom without the input and voices of its students?

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"Kids tend to be more respectful when their need to make decisions is respected (p.81) Big emphasis on respect. As I read this chapter, I was appalled by the lack of respect towards the students of the teacher used in the first example of the text- a teacher who is so fixated on control and obedience- where is the respect? If we do not model respect towards our students, why would they respect us? Or each other?

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The ability to make decisions about the curriculum should not solely lie with the teacher. When students have no input on their education, they are trained to behave in a way that makes them blindly follow orders by authority figures. This meme shows the similarities between a traditional, teacher-focused classroom and a prison, which are more similar than I would have ever thought. My classroom will center around student choice within the curriculum, including repertoire that the students are particularly interested. In fact, as the text states, "students who are able to participate in making decisions at school are more committed to decision making and democracy in other contexts" (Kohn, pg. 85). It is my desire as a music educator to allow as much student choice as I possibly can into my classroom in order to keep students engaged and wanting to learn.

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Students will make bad decisions. And that's okay (as long as it is not harmful)! Often times, learning opportunities are best implemented after a student realizes the impact of their decisions. Simply telling students that their ideas won't work or will get them in trouble does not satiate them. The students need to experience the outcomes of their decisions in order to fully understand them. If the students were to agree that there should be no pencils in class, only pens, they would very shortly realize the implications of this decision. They wouldn't be able to erase anything and papers/notes would most likely be disorganized. But the students must figure this out for themselves and test their own theories, no matter how silly they may seem. As Kohn states later in this chapter, "The benefits of letting students decide far outweigh the disadvantages of implementing a silly proposal" (Kohn, pg. 98).

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The section of the chapter where Kohn discusses the importance of class meetings and how to facilitate them deeply resonated with me as I think about the ways that I have and the ways that I can use class meetings as a check in point for students and myself. While I am confident in my ability to use them when a pandemic isn't preventing me from physically being in a classroom, I have been thinking a lot about what class meetings look like in a virtual world. We began the term with reflection (p. 88) reflecting on the kind of place a classroom should be, or in this case how the virtual classroom should be. Students shared their thoughts, values, and opinions and it really helped me get a sense of where they were at in terms of their comfortability with virtual learning and feelings about the content covered throughout class (health).  I especially appreciate this quote: “Students are curriculum theorists and critics of schooling. If they are drawn into the conversation about the purposes and practices of schooling, we may all learn useful lessons” (p.89).

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I found this quote really sums up my feelings about this chapter and especially connects to my beliefs about teaching and learning: “misbehavior will diminish when children feel less controlled. Kids tend to be more respectful when their need to make decisions is respected; they are likely to be better behaved when there is no need for them to struggle to assert their autonomy. Specifically, students are more likely to go along with a request, all things being equal, when they have some choice about how to carry it out. (p. 81) I don't ever want to be the teacher mentioned in the first example or this teacher below.

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I felt very impacted by the emphasis on the necessity of student choice in this chapter. In my future classrooms, I intend on integrating student choice into our daily routine. "They are people whose current needs and rights and experiences must be taken seriously" (Kohn pg. 81).
I interpreted this as a reminder that our students are individuals with various backgrounds/needs/wants before they are our students. And further that their needs should be seen equally to an adults.
I chose this meme because I love Oprah. And because I think it emulates the idea of how I would like to be a supporter/cheerleader for my future learners.

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This section "A tale of two Teachers" went into a more detailed retelling of teacher two. In their retelling, they highlighted the moment when they recognized their lining up methods were not working. This is huge. I especially enjoyed the sentiment, "We then decided to define our needs" (Kohn pg. 80). This required a larger conversation where the students got to share their questions and concerns about a current method, and the teacher got to share their intended goals/ideas as well. This created a sense of open communication wherein both parties got to participate in creating classroom norms!

I chose this meme because it's a good example of what is unfortunately (probably) more common; students identifying their needs and being disregarded because of pre-existing norms and methods.

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I really enjoyed reading this section of the chapter because of how it emphasizes that students should have choice in what decisions are made regarding how the classroom should operate. I have always wanted to distance myself from an authoritarian style of classroom as I see it as another way of treating students as less than a person. How can we expect students to become successful adults as far as decision making skills go if we do not lend them a voice inside the classroom? A benefit of allowing for student decision making is that it does seem to give them more investment in following through with decisions (Kohn pg. 81). Bribing or threatening students with recourse comes off as inhumane and deconstructs the democracy of a learning environment.

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During this reading, I was reflecting on how sometimes, teachers' attempts to assert discipline in class are due to pressure put on them by administrators to meet testing standards set at the state and national level. The ascendency of standardized testing as the key measure of student success (and therefore teacher success) can make it difficult to be feel able and willing to build student choice into designing curricula. How do we justify that to ourselves when the way we will justify our work to our superiors depends upon testing results?
As Kohn pointed out, "Sure enough, researchers have discovered that when students are pressured to improve students' performance on tests, they tend to act in more controlling ways." (p. 100.)

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I remember being particularly vexed by teachers who would make you stay after the bell rang for any reason, because it would make you late for your next class and that would potentially get you in trouble with your next teacher. What a crock! This to me gets back to the issue that is often focused on order rather than actual student feedback. If the point of an exit slip is to check in on student understanding of the material or get feedback from students on how they feel the class is going, give them sufficient time to get it done before the bell!
I also have been thinking lately that maybe as teachers, we might sometimes need to accept that we won't get 100 percent participation/100 percent timely turning in of assignments, no matter how good we are. Students have full, complex lives, and sometimes the specific tasks we're asking of them (even if they were able to participate in designing those tasks!) might fall further down their priority list. If you've built a safe environment and a strong rapport with your students, then hopefully they'll let you know if something else is making it hard for them prioritize some of the work for your class. But sometimes, you might have to just let some things go.

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I was really struck by the first anecdote shared in the Kohn chapter, about the teacher who supposedly implemented school choice, but really just had a classroom full of students competing and struggling to guess what suggestion or answer she wanted to hear. There was no actual process of consulting the students, or implementing their ideas or input. The presumption was still that the teacher knew best and had all the information, and the students were trying to prove that they had listened properly and internalized what she had probably previously laid out, or at least hinted at, for them, not provide input that was original and equally valuable. It was choice so starkly circumscribed that it was meaningless except for the veneer of progressivism that it provided the teacher.

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Another thing I've been thinking about a lot as I'm working my way through this program is the importance of social development for our students at this point in their lives, and how we as teachers can support them going through that process. Sometimes,  maybe that can be served well by pushing students a bit out of their comfort zones, but looking back on my own adolescence, when I had undiagnosed social anxiety and for a variety of reasons put all of my self-esteem into my performance at school, the right to work with people I was comfortable with and who I trusted to do their share of the work fairly was huge to me.
I think there can be a strong impulse towards limiting or channeling student choices, both in terms of things like who they work with on projects and basically everything else about how the classroom is run, for the sake of preserving a preconceived notion of order and a methodology that can serve some students but alienate others. I think one of the best things we can do as teachers is be open to risk.

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As I was reading the section under the heading, Reflections on Decision Making, I was thinking to myself, "this is all fine, but what if the students make a really bad decision?" After all, I am used to trying to help my own kids avoid pitfalls in life by talking to them about bad decisions and attempting to get them to change their minds. But in the next section, Kohn suggests setting specific decisions that aren't allowed up front, then letting the kids experiment with bad ideas to see why they may not work first hand. "The benefits of letting students decide far outweigh the disadvantages of implementing a silly proposal." (p 98).

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There are a few times in chapter six when Kohn emphasizes the importance of student autonomy. "The ultimate reason to give children a say is that it can help them to make their own good decisions, to grow into ethical and compassionate people -- not because it will make them internalize what we want them to do." (p 83) I believe this is at the root of using autonomy to inspire students rather than fear and external punishments or material rewards. If students develop the ability to self motivate and keep themselves interested and on track, it will serve them well throughout their lives in many endeavours. Pressuring them to follow orders and do as they're told will only teach them to follow the path of least resistance, which is why rivers run crooked.

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I like the suggestions Kohn made concerning class meetings. I like the idea of taking them seriously and not separating them from the rest of class, but making them an regular part of the classroom experience. I do wonder if I can maintain the creativity and patience he describes when explaining what successful class meetings look like. But, I strongly agree that, if class meetings are not going according to plan, it is important the teacher figure out what it is they are doing wrong rather than shoulder the responsibility onto their students. This meme specifically addresses the idea the usual interpretation of disruptive behaviour is that "children are really asking for limits and discipline." (p 96)

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I thought a lot about this passage in the book: "The point throughout the meeting was to be the first to guess what was on the teacher's mind, with the predictable result that students periodically accused one another of stealing their answers." (p 92) I have done this before and not really thought twice about it. Pretending like you are asking children for their ideas, but are really fishing for a "right" answer is an easy and instinctual way to, in my mind, help kids feel like they are coming to correct conclusions on their own. While this kind of approach may work with something like math, where there is a definitive, correct answer, for more complex questions it directly contradicts the idea of giving students as much autonomy as possible. Further, it teaches them that thinking for themselves isn't as important as providing a "correct" answer.

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Why Students Should Have a Say
I chose the meme below because I think it is a response children might have when they are presented with more freedom to make choices for themselves.  What specifically stood out to me was that that the author pointed out that "children are not just adults in the making" (Kohn, pg 81) Children have opinions and ideas and are fully capable of making and being involved in important designs that directly involve their lives.  Showing our learners that we trust them can build self confidence and a strong community where everyone feels valued and supported.

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Meetings For Better Or Worse
I really appreciated reading about classroom meetings and believe that it is an excellent way to allow your students discuss whatever they need to. They are learning how to communicate with one another, listen to each other and cooperate. A classroom meeting in which the teacher runs the show defeats the purpose and demonstrates to the students that they are not trusted to work out issues among themselves. I chose this meme because it is a good example of what will happen if teachers model that they are the only one in charge and have a restrictive classroom environment.

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Discipline
I feel like a lot of the discipline that is imposed in classrooms was learned from teachers past experiences. I am so disappointed that teachers feel so pressured by administrators or standardized testing and as a result resort to punishment as a mean to manage their classrooms.  As an adult, I still fear "getting in trouble" for not doing something right and do not want to pass that on to my future learners.  Although there may be times when the classroom culture may not be going exactly as I want it to, I plan on being patient and acknowledging that humans are not perfect and should not be expected to be.

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Structure Vs. Control
My opinion about classroom control has shifted a great deal in the last several years.  I used to believe that the teacher had to set the rules and hold students accountable to following them. However, I never asked myself why the students couldn't be involved in this process. If students are the ones who are directly affected, then they should, without a doubt have a say in how the classroom they are a student in is operated. One quote that specifically stood out and resonated with me was "Each aspect of life in a classroom offers an invitation to think about what designs might be turned over to students - or negotiated with students, individually or collectively". (Kohn, pg 86) Although it is simply put, I believe it is a good way to approach creating a classroom environment. I selected this particular meme because it reminds me of when I was a kid and how some of my teachers would respond to our input as students.

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My meme is coming out weirdly and I apologize. This chapter talks about the idea of "assertive discipline" this idea is centered around the teacher having full control and students blindly following direction. The text talks about how it helps develop responsibility and self esteem. However, if a teachers goal is ultimate control, I feel like they are missing the point. Teachers should have control of their classroom, but there should still be room for student pushback and ideas. This idea seems like it might work for elementary school, but perhaps not high school. I don't see myself using this method.

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You Dont Control Me You Cant Control Me GIF - YouDontControlMe YouCantControlMe Uncontrollable - Discover & Share GIFs

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The perfect YouDontControlMe YouCantControlMe Uncontrollable Animated GIF for your conversation. Discover and Share the best GIFs on Tenor.

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The text talks about democracy and democratic practices within the classroom, referencing Dreikurs book. While I do agree with Dreikurs about the idea of status, me being the teacher and you being the student. I think that the way he describes going about it can work but is also problematic if done incorrectly. The text mentions how an example of a democratic practice would be to "drive a wedge between participants, splitting them up to weaken their power." (page 60). I don't think this idea of taking power is a good one. I think that if you were to do this, as a teacher you can ask focused or guided questions to push or challenge the students way of thinking, but not with the goal being to take away power. The goal is always learning, and shouldn't ever be power.

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The text talks about compliance and the idea of a compliance oriented classroom. This idea of compliance and the need for it, is an interesting one. As a future teacher I do not know how I feel about that. Do I want my students to comply? Yes. However I do not want to feel like a dictator in my classroom. The text mentions that in a compliance oriented classroom, students may do whatever they want and go off the rails. While I think this is a risk, I like to think that most kids actually care about learning and in my limited experience student teaching, I have found this to be true. So the key is to have balance. I want to create an environment in my classroom that students feel they have a choice in learning and how they learn.

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The perfect Whatever Southpark Animated GIF for your conversation. Discover and Share the best GIFs on Tenor.

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I was blown away by the descriptions of the class meetings, and I absolutely loved the procedures and processes that they students went through to make their decisions. I chose this image, because I feel like I have a wildly optimistic and idealistic view of these meetings and of how they impact students, which, according to the text at least, may not be far from the truth. It seems like simply holding space for students to process issues and brainstorm and implement solutions creates a beautiful utopia of responsible, autonomous, and critical thinking rainbows. That's all I could ever ask for!!

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This chapter talks about making moral meaning for your students. I connected with this very much as a future history teacher. I think that history is a great place to teach ethics and how to make morally right decisions. Many history teachers tend to lean heavily on the textbook and memorizing facts and dates. That is not real learning in my mind. Student need to be able to learn from history, or else it is doomed to repeat, as someone famous once said. I think that teaching how to act, behave, become moral, is a great thing to do. As teachers our goal should also be to help students become the best versions of themselves that they can be and that includes acting morally.

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Right Your Wrongs Help Others Do The Same Carl Gallagher GIF - RightYourWrongs HelpOthersDoTheSameCarlGallagher EthanCutkosky - Discover & Share GIFs

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I chose this meme because I can personally relate to the content. Some days I need to re-read chapters multiple times because I feel I have truly grasped the concepts-that's okay! Sometimes I'm distracted by what is happened in my personal life or even my physical space. When reading the passage, "A teacher once told me how much her students' morale had improved when she started letting them read or write in any position...anywhere in the room. This struck me as a little bit depressing because it pointed up how the norm is to deny students even the most basic control over their own bodies" (Kohn pg. 85). To me, this is a red flag because I now know that restricting learners to the parameters of their desk is not conducive for learning. Learners should be allowed to move and be active as much as possible & this seems especially important in the art classroom.

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One super simple option for students to feel an increase in autonomy is letting them choose where and how they would like sit and do their work in a classroom. The textbook talked about desk arrangement, but, as mentioned in a reading for a different class, this could also mean allowing students to stand or lay down while reading or doing work (especially virtually, we literally have no control over that!). It communicates to students that they have control over their own body and allows them to attune to what their body is asking for and what would be most comfortable, even if it's a pretzel like the child pictured below.

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When students are provided with opportunities and prompts to inquire deeper into the things they believe or the information they are receiving from the teacher or textbooks, it can be really interesting and entertaining to hear the answers and solutions they come up with, and they can often come up with answers that the teacher may have never thought of!

This image also connects to the possibility of "bad decisions" on part of students when allowed full autonomy is classroom decision-making. Sometime the solutions that are brought up in meetings and agreed upon may not serve to actually meet the needs of the problem, and I am interested to continue exploring how this challenge can be met when I encounter it.

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Because I plan on working with high school aged students, I am a little bit nervous that my enthusiasm for getting them to participate will be met with apathy, silence, and/or resistance, as the textbook outlined as a few of the possible outcomes for students who are used to strict control and discipline from teachers. I will definitely have to test the waters and slowly wade my way in, giving students more responsibility and autonomy as they feel more comfortable.

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The text continues with providing suggestions on how to swiftly integrate more student choice into the classroom. I liked the of the idea of allowing students to vote in the classroom. This can be used with course content, classroom norms, displaying comprehension, etc. rather than having instructors providing a single option for students. This sense of ownership and process of coming to a class-wide consensus also teaches communication and compromise which can be utilized in life after school.
I chose this meme because it relates to this section content, where Vader is in place of he authoritarian teacher, telling students what to do. And Luke is in place of the students-who is holding on for dear life still resisting the writing prompt.

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“Perhaps the most common, and persistent, question faced by teachers who facilitate class meetings is when to speak up and when to shut up, when to pose a question or offer an

observation and when to let the students do it themselves.” This is something that I need to work on. Band classes often rely heavily on direction from the teacher, as most programs require a traditional concert to validate the existence of the program. While this is a problem to grapple with outside of classroom management, I have observed many Directors take total control of the class to meet these standards. As a teacher I would like to avoid creating stress driven atmospheres by allowing students to realize the timeline of rehearsals/concerts, and to be able to create goals for their ensemble.

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A theme in this chapter is recognizing children as individuals, with individual needs and desires. Even in my student teaching I have experienced teachers talking down to students. In one instance a student was expressing disinterest in the activity and being somewhat sassy with the teacher, the teacher expressed to the class that the student was “stuck in middle school.” The student has not shown up for any classes since. Obviously the student and teacher were out of line, but it is the teachers responsibility to treat the student with respect, or they may lose the respect of the student. This meme represents the lack of respect leading to an undesirable outcome.

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A great conclusion to this chapter; “But we might well ask about the long-term implications of denying people a role in the decisions that affect them.” We are seeing this play out in so many ways. Teaching decision making, morals, and community involvement in public education will undoubtedly affect the community down the line. We can compare this to a recent lack in teaching home economics. Many people leave high school with little knowledge of our tax system, how to change a flat tire, open a bank account, etc. As subject area teachers it is easy to focus solely on our subjects, but we are in the position to influence our communities through the values that we teach as well.

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“Everything in this classroom changed when the teacher stopped commanding and started listening.” This quote reminded me of some of my early teaching experience. My first teaching gig was a small band at a private school. The student’s were fairly tight knit, and extremely excited to have a teacher that did not subscribe to their school’s religious philosophy. The band was composed of beginners and intermediate students, which led to a fair amount of vibeiness from the older students, and timidness from the young students. Initially my management system was leaning towards the reward based system, using bagels for good behavior. However, I was not bringing cream cheese, and eventually the students did not care too much about the bagels. If I had started listening to the students more, and never implemented a reward system, then I think my first year would have been more successful.

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I picked this meme because I have spent a lot of time working with preschoolers as well as elementary schoolers, and circle time has always been a challenge. The amount of time that it would take to get students to focus or to be quiet at the beginning of the circle, or even any other time, was sometimes so stressful I would lose my cool!

When I would lose my cool, I would eventually realize that I did not create the right structure for my students. As they say in the book, "Notice that these are not mutually  exclusive goals, provided that the structures or limits are reasonable. The less reasonable they are, the more they come to resemble old-fashioned control. (p. 86)

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The beginning section of this chapter was a great example of how students self monitor and solve challenges independently (Kohn pg. 84). I feel like often as adults we feel the need to interject or lead kids to the "correct answer" instead of letting them explore these options on their own. This is something I have struggled with in the past with classes I have taught but am making a conscious effort to change. These skills that they build by being autonomous can be translated into so many different aspect of life and should be fostered inside the classroom at an early age.

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I had a teacher who used to let our class do our daily individual readings on various couches and chairs spread around our classroom. I always felt like this allowed for us to break away from our typical classroom structure and created a more relaxed atmosphere that translated to us being more engaged in our own space. This less restrictive environment was conducive to keeping a quiet classroom focused on reading (Kohn pg. 86). I hope to be able to use this train of thought in my own future classroom by give students choice in how they engage in assignments to meet the needs of a diverse student population. The need of autonomy for students is point that this section of the chapter really hammered home for me.

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"A classroom cannot foster the development of autonomy in the intellectual realm while suppressing it in the social and moral realms" (Kohn pg. 92). This quote really resonated with me, and while I couldn't really find a meme that fit with it, this meme sort of made me think of not allowing for student's to have autonomy in relation to when and how they can show their learning. Allowing flexibility in how homework can be done is something that I have not experienced until joining this GTEP program. I cannot express how much it has helped me to have professors who do not place rigid timelines or structures on assignments because it shows that they are giving us more than one way of showing our comprehension of content. With classrooms at all levels having a wide range of learning styles, I really hope to be able to meet the needs of future students. The idea of classroom meeting being utilized as a full day of democratic activity really makes sense to me.

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I created this first meme based on the beginning of the Kohn chapter. The chapter begins by going over the importance of allowing students to choose and make decisions. The chapter talks about how it is common for a teacher to force their beliefs and ideas on the students. This type of teaching is wrong because kids need to be able to think and decide for themselves. More importantly, they need to be able to have control over their own learning. The chapter explains that learning is more successful when the child has a say in it rather than what is thrust upon them. Even though kids are young, they are human and have human emotions and feelings too.

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The second meme I created has to do with the need for teachers to listen to their students more. The meme was inspired by the story about the students lining up for recess. The teacher was so distracted by the 'status quo' of the school expectations of making the kids line up, that she neglected to ask the students why they didn't follow the rules.
I think once again this is something that is so common when it comes to teacher. Teachers want to quickly move on or follow the rules of the school that they don't take moments to question or listen to the needs of the students first.

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This meme targets the importance of teachers teaching self discipline. I like how a classroom can self regulate itself and take care of issues within a community. This meme illustrates that good teaching doesn't have to come from the teacher or the teacher having control. It comes from the teacher being willing to loose their control to their students.

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For my last meme I created one that has to do with something that I feel like I will struggle with. Timing! As a music teacher it is so easy to obsess over a song or a concert that time just flies. It is also easy to spend your entire class time rehearsing rather than listening to your students. The Kohn chapter emphasizes how important it is to take time to have class meetings and talking to your students as a community. The chapter claims that even though it takes time, talking and listening to your students is always going to be worth the time at the end of the day. I really want to implement this time to talk in my class in the future.

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This meme pokes fun at how some teachers and administrators use heavy handed discipline solutions that not only dot correct behavior but  they may help the students behavior and situation worse. Hense no discipline prople if the child isn't in school

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I chose this meme because it is a perfect representation of what staff meetings look like in this Zoom environment. I have even heard other staff members pointing out that we look like a giant Brady Bunch. While this is not the most helpful way for a new teacher to be introduced to the teaching community, I am grateful that we are able to meet at least on this level. I have the opportunity to be in the school building and meet some teachers in person. It is always funny to see someone in real life that has been, up until that point, just a few pixels. This meme also reminds me of how much I look forward to seeing my students in real life

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Acquisition of new knowledge:

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There was an interesting bit that I enjoyed from the reading. It was about the effect of how when students are abruptly freed from control that they are going to require time to get used to that new freedom. It resonates with me a lot for teaching because it is something that reminds us that as we are trying to implement and create these environments we will most likely have to be patient with it and not try to dismiss it when it doesn't work right of the bat. We have to be invested in it as an ideology and be ready to ride the waves that may be created by it. It was referred to in the book as ones eyes adjusting to the light after coming out of the dark....so please do excuse the more spooky meme.

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There was a lot of talk in this chapter about choice being shown to the students that were never really choices in the first place. The example of the 3rd grade class in New Jersey really resonated because it seems so horrible to masquerade something like authority as choice. It is very manipulative and disgusting to be quite honest. It also does a great job of making those examples of true collaborative choice seem that even more awesome. So for me it was a good reminder that if choice is something we want to give to students then it has to be actual choice (within reason of course)

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I thought there were multiple times in this chapter that gave some alternatives to complete freedom and one of them I would like to highlight. The chapter gave the example of if we aren't ready to just let two warring students take the initiative to make peace then we can structure it in a choice driven guided session. Simply by asking what they think they could do to solve this problem, and if they come up with nothing then we can help by posing some possible solutions that they can think about or even use to develop their own. It if it really does have to involve us then using a we statement will involve all of us in the solution.

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For me I know I have visions of what my class will look like and how it will work and ect. But there was a scenario where a teacher allowed her students to read and write in any position that was most comfortable for them. It seemed like such a small thing as I read it but then as I went on the authors statement of how depressing it was that the norm of classes were controlling either their most basic control over their physical bodies really started to stick. I can't believe that something as simple as the students being able to be comfortable to read and write is something that had never crossed my mind in all the times I thought how my classroom would look and operate. But it is a great reminder of how dangerous control will can be, and served as a reminder to me that control isn't something I want to be the spotlight of any class I teach.

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The story about the elementary teacher and their class coming back from recess and how to create consequences for not getting seated back in time. I think it is a great idea to have the students create their own classroom punishment for a few reasons. First, it puts the kids the responsibility onto the kids in order to keep them accountable for their mistakes. Second, it makes the kids responsible for creating their classroom social norms which teachers them how to be people as oppose to sheep going what they are told. I picked this comic because we all have the means of how we are going to react to something so we need teach how to react to circumstances.

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"Children misbehave when their needs are not met." (pg. 81) I like this quote because it shows that students have needs that need to be met. This shows that a part of having a successful environment is to have the basic needs of a student to be met. For example a part of that could be having one's classroom organized so that students know when assignments are due and that way they are not feeling like they are left in the dark. If the students environment is created to fill their needs then they will be more likely to not misbehave. I picked this meme because it shows that when things in the environment are not set up well then the students will misbehave.

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"A restriction would be more legitimate if, for example, its objective were to protect children from hurting themselves as opposed to imposing order for its own sake." (pg. 86)  I really like this quote because it shows that students want to explore things. We should not limit our students in every possible way because if we did there would be no environment for the kids to have creativity in their classroom. This meme shows that one needs to be able to have an environment to come up with creative solutions.

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"How do you find the time for these meetings when they cut into the already scarce hours allotted to academics? You make the time." (pg. 90) I connected with this quote  because as a band teacher I have to wear several hats. Band director, teacher, secretary, chaperon, and more... because of this there are a dozen things I need to be doing all the time. So the need to make meetings with students, parents, and other professionals is extremely important. By speaking with all interested parties one will be able to connect with the environment and hear the needs of the students in order to make a good classroom environment. I picked this meme because it shows how the band teacher has to do tons of things.

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The reading reminds us that students like any other person wants to have autonomy and control over things in their life. Especially simple things like where they sit in the room. Allowing choice and autonomy even comes with the reward of being liked and appreciated by your students😊

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This meme reminds me of how some of the teachers in chapter 6 thought they were give the children choices but the reality was they were only giving the students choices between the teacher's choices. This isn't teaching responsibility or prepare students for make good choices.

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This Meme reminds me of how the reading discussed that teachers that felt controlled and not given choices by their district often display the same behavior with their students. So this is an example of the pressure a teacher is under when they feel they have no autonomy to run their class

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I chose this meme to represent the value of the kinds of class meetings discussed in the chapter. Class meetings are a vital part of my classes, and once every week or two I set aside some time at the end of class to talk about what's working, what's not, and to ask for suggestions from my students. The truth is that no one knows better than they do the things that are connecting with them and the things that aren't. Sure, some students make impossible suggestions, but I never treat any of them as not worthy of consideration.

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This meme represents the examples put forth in chapter 6 about giving students genuine options that give them real control over their learning journey. I feel that this is especially relevant when talking about world language classrooms, because there are so many ways to demonstrate proficiency and because students have such varying goals when it comes to what they want to do with the language they are learning. Unlike many subjects, we have a lot of flexibility in how we assess the proficiency of our students. Since we don't have to teach toward a standardized test, why not give students the freedom to decide what their priorities are and how they plan to reach them?

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I chose this meme to echo what Ian had to say about the description of students being forced to sit still, in one particular way, for extended periods of time. I remember never questioning it as a kid, but the more I think about it the more obvious it is that things don't have to be that way. if the goal of school is to give young people the tools to be contributing members of society as adults, then what kind of society are we preparing them for? It's worth considering.

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This meme is intended to represent the assumption that many teachers have that students owe them respect and resort to punitive measures when students violate their rules. Adolescents are different from adults in many ways, and it's important to remember what a complex time this is for them, but it's also important to remember that they have the same need to feel respected that any human being of any age has. I keep saying it this term, and I said it a lot last term: students who are treated as though they are valuable will start to believe it.

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“The ultimate reason to give children a say is that it can help them to make their own good decisions, to grow into ethical and compassionate people—not because it will make them internalize what we want them to do. Our decisions about how we involve them in making decisions should be guided by what helps that to happen.” This reminds me of a specific situation I dealt with in October.  The kids I tutor “dab” (like this) all the time. Often out of place and as a method of interruption. I told them that they could dictate up to 3 dance parties or dab breaks a few times during our time together, and they stopped doing it so much and instead used it as a way to consciously take a break or joke around during appropriate times, rather than as an interruption. I don’t get the need to dab, but I don’t need to. What they needed was to feel like they had choice and control, and they made better decisions because of it.

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“Perhaps the most common, and persistent, question faced by teachers who facilitate class meetings is when to speak up and when to shut up, when to pose a question or offer an observation and when to let the students do it themselves….It is much easier to specify what not to do: don’t run the whole show.”

This can be a challenge for me, so putting the students in groups is a method I have started using a LOT. or having them work independently and then talking to them one on one. Keeping my “lectures” short helps, but I need to practice asking open-ended-questions instead of seeking a specific chapter, and the text warns.

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“a curriculum that urges problem solving and critical thinking and a management system that requires compliance and narrow obedience.” But it is more than a paradox: it is ultimately an “oxymoron,” because classroom management of this type “dilutes, if not obstructs, the potential power of the curriculum for many of our students”

Luckily I embrace chaos, sometimes too much honestly, as many kids need structure, however this has been a strength for me when teaching in the past. I expect students to be thinking, reasoning, and intuitive beings. When issues have arisen I have often employed the “separate to cool off, and then talk to each other and bring me a solution” method. This allows my kids to think on the issue and eventually work together, and it allows me to focus on work other students are doing without interruption. By putting the problem solving onus on kids, and letting them then grapple with those issues toward solutions, instead of just giving them a solution, utilizes the potential of a collaborative and self-directed classroom. It shouldn’t be rocket science, and yet, like the author recounts, sometimes it seems to be for people who prefer punitive discipline.

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I chose this meme because it makes me think of being around little ones, and remembering what it was like to be a little one. Sometimes students are hilarious, and it becomes difficult to not laugh with them about whatever they’ve just done, even as a teacher. However, if the student’s action warrants response then, you’re only identifying what made the whole class laugh or get distracted in front of them. Some students might take that as an invitation or challenge to replicate. Which in a situation like the one described by Kohn about the students lining up after recess, it only takes a few students to make that task very difficult especially when what they were doing was probably really fun for them. Who can blame them for not wanting to settle down in an instant?

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Like most, I gravitated a lot to the section in the chapter about giving the students more opportunities to choose. Kohn says this, Major premise: children misbehave when their basic needs have not been met. Minor premise: children (like adults) have a basic need to experience themselves as “origins” of their own behavior as opposed to “pawns” (de Charms 1968, 1977)

(Kohn, 82) I love this quote because it is so true. Students have to be able to have a say in aspects of their lives, as it is quintessential for their development as human beings. We all think of musical prodigies from their younger years, and there is no doubt that someone who was focussed and driven in a certain area from such a young age would be able to perform at an expert level by the time they are 18, as they already have 10-13 years of experience. All humans are virtuoso disscicion makers from an early age, and expertise comes from practice, so why not help students gain that experience for use beyond the classroom?

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I chose this meme because I feel it speaks to how much “control” we really have over the classroom. The more we try to control student's the more they don’t respect us, simply because we aren’t respecting them. Kohn speaks later in the chapter about the difference between structure and control. With structure there is guidance from the teacher and the students use the structure to pull themselves up to where they want to be, control is like a teacher throwing kids over a wall whether they want to be on the other side of it or not. Only students can make their brains want to learn, and it is paramount that they are given the opportunity to decide that for themselves. If there is structure in place then they can grab the bars and start climbing, instead of being tossed over the wall.

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I chose this meme because it reminds me that there are people in the world who think this is an easy gig. Even people who recognise the difficulties of relaying information in a way that motivates people to want to know it, still underestimate how difficult it is to be able to create a classroom environment that is accessible to everyone's interests. Some think that being an authoritarian will gain respect from a class. Poppycock, I say! That’s the easy way out. Some choose to believe that putting faith in your students and constantly asking them to share their voice, and make decisions about their own lives, and putting stock in their own beliefs and ideas and challenging them to grow… While that approach takes more time and effort, it is well worth it. I was reading the section where Kohn talks about the teacher who saw students talking at a table after getting back from recess and having a class meeting about an issue that came up during recess. He tells, that she just walked across the classroom and finished her coffee while they finished their discussion. I would choose to live in a world where people can sort things out for themselves and don’t rely solely on the authority of others.