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"The kind of teach you will become is directly related to the kind of teachers you associate with. Teaching is a profession where misery does more than just love company- it recruits, seduces, and romances it." (p. 208)

This is so important for us to remember as we go further into the program and grow to be teachers in the classroom. Always remember why you wanted to teach. Remember these moments when we are so excited to get into the classrooms and work with students. It can be a hard job and it is easy to get run down. We much always try to stay positive, for the students and for ourselves. If we are miserable in the classroom, our students will be too. We set the mood for our rooms and the learning, so we must do our best to stay positive and remember why we want to do this each and everyday.

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"The effectiveness of the teacher can be traced directly back to what the teacher thinks of the student." (p. 207)

the firs thing this book brought attention to is that you need cannot go into the year thinking that your students will fail or do not care. you ache to get to know your students. You need to make your students feel safe and cared for in your classroom. The second you feel like they care not going to make it, you have given up on your student. If you think they are not going to make it, they aren't going to make it. The students can tell when you think this. They can see when you have given up on them or do not want to teach them anymore. They understand what you are thinking and if you are thinking they are not good enough, that is what they are going to be thinking to. It is so important that we are constantly encouraging and working with all students so they can reach every goal we set for them.

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"Consequently, I argue that one of the most powerful ways for the educator to gain insight int o the world of the neoindigenous is to develop an understanding of the online communities of which they are a part." (p. 188)

We are using twitter in our classes to see how twitter can be used for professional purposes. We have looked at online education conferences, different authors tweeting, international dot day, etc. Yet, we can also use twitter to get closer to our students. Kids now a days have twitter and Instagram accounts at such a young age. To better know what they are seeing and better relate to their cultures, follow some of the same people they do. See some of the some things they do on their timelines. Do not follow your actual students, but maybe address the issue and say "I just made a ___ account, who are cool people y'all are following?" The world of school media can give you such in sight into many different kinds of people and you can learn so much about different communities. A tweet by Steph Harvey may be followed by a tweet from Gucci Mane, both of which may be beneficial to your classroom.

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"Without explicitly saying it, I was telling students that I didn't believe their issue with my yelling was a genuine one." (p.186)

As teachers, it is easy to think we are doing a great job and that if students are not learning, it is them not paying attention. It is important for us to be constantly listening to our students and hearing what they have to say about our teaching and lessons. We are teaching for the students, so if they are having a problem with our lessons, we need to address it and fix the problem. This may be hard to hear, but it is important to constantly check in with students and make sure we are teaching for them.

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"To validate the codes of young people in the classroom and then fail to arm them with the tools they need to be successful across social fields is irresponsible; students must use what emerges from the enactment of their culture in schools to help navigate worlds beyond the classroom that have traditionally excluded the neoindigenous." (p.176-177)

The book talks about bringing students' culture into the classroom to help gain their trust and to let them feel safe in the classroom. You want that space to be a safe place for them where they can be open and not have to worry about the struggles of their lives while in school. Beyond this, once you have gained this trust, you want to have an open conversation with them. The purpose of teaching them is that you want them to succeed and be able to go do whatever they want to go do after they leave your room. You need to teach these students to code-switch. They need to know that even though they may be able to talk that they do at him in your classroom, when they go for a job interview or to another school, they need to know how to code-switch and speak differently. If you have tried to bring their slang into your classroom, give that as an example to let them see that you are code-switching to better resonate with them. If you, as a teacher, do not give them this tool to be able to go out into the world and speak differently when needed, nothing else you are doing matters.

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"The role of the educator is to utilize artifacts like graffiti and phenomena like fashion consciousness to invoke an emotional connection in the classroom." (p.167)

To bring a personal connection from your students to their work, make the work meaningful by incorporating things from your student's lives. Create a project that must be presented, but artistically in the form of a rap, mural, o fashion statement. have your students think outside of the box, and they will bring in so much of their lives into their work. This is also an amazing way to get to learn more about your students and what they are interested in and do.

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"For example, a person who does not understand the significance of a designer belt worth hundreds of dollars being worn with an inexpensive who t-shirt could not possibly comprehend how the person who is wearing this outfit sees the world or learns in school." (p.163)

This ties back into the fact that if you do not know your students, you cannot teach them. If you miss something so big within the culture of your students, how do you think that you are going to be able to reach them. Students in these areas try to demonstrate a culturally-aware fashion sense, even when the funds are not there to go along with this. I have never understood the sneaker craze until I have read this book. These shoes are a big part foothill culture, and if you want to let your students thrive and feel comfortable your classroom, you need to embrace the parts of their culture. Bring the conversation into your classroom, like the teacher in the book. Ask students why they are wearing what they are or what piece of clothing they are most proud to won. Showing interest in this part of your students' culture can open their minds to you.

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"Rather than employing the traditional model that
makes learning a passive process where the student learns in a sanitized way that is hyper-focused on writing or studying, I suggest that educators implement a teaching and learning model that positions novices as no different from experts." (p.157)

When these students try to compete with each other in the academic sense, its not familiar to them. Trying to compete with classmates about GPAs and test scores puts pressure on students. When school is already a pressure-filled place for these students, the game of academics can be so much pressure added that it amens these students not want to have anything to do with the classroom. If you make the work fun, engaging, and competitive in a way that will help everyone, these students are much morel likely to stay and listen. Class games like Jeopardy create a class sense of empowerment. The whole class is learning from the questions, no matte who ends up winning the game. Everyone is put on the same level because everyone is learning and reviewing together.

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"To raise the level of rigor in the exercise, students should always be encouraged to ask questions not only that they want answered, but also that can stump the teacher." (p.149)

When students feel they are able to speak up in a class and ask questions, it makes for a positive, inclusive atmosphere in the classroom. You want your students to be comfortable enough in your room that they can ask questions when they are stumped or are thinking a little further. I love the idea of the "w board" because its a place for these questions, even if there is not time in class to address them. Then, I would even have part of the class at the endive the week be for students to share some of the questions or answers they have figured out. The idea of extra credit for these things is also a great idea to me. This would encourage even more students to write down their questions, or be thinking harder to find questions they may have just to put them the board. Not only would this teach students how to research, it is an amazing tie into group discussions and a sense of togetherness.

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"There was certainly some improvement in how prepared I felt, and the teaching quality of my lessons had improved tremendously, but I still had to fight students to get them engaged with these well-planned lessons. Somehow, I hadn't convinced them to put as much effort into learning as I had put into preparing to teach." (p. 134)

This statement struck me. After coming in so early and staying so late to work on lessons and classroom management, the author eventually grows sick from lack of sleep and "too much yelling". Then tells the reader that he feels his students are not even that much more engaged within the lessons that he worked so hard to get just right. No matter how long you work at your lesson plans and no matter how hard you try to arrange your classroom the right way and have the perfect discipline plan set up, if you are not connecting with yours students and making them feel appreciated, it will never make a difference. For these lessons to mean anything to these students, they need to feel like a part of the whole. They need to feel like you appreciate that they are in your class. Why would they listen to your lesson, as perfect as it may be, if they think you wouldn't listen to them? After realizing this, and making his classroom seem as connected at the students' neighborhoods, he say an amazing difference in how his lessons went. This photo represents how many of those late nights may have gone, trying to figure out how to create perfect lessons that may reach these kids.

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"The use of humor at this early phase is supported by research in education that shows that humor in the classroom creates less threatening social scenarios and makes the students more comfortable communicating with the teacher" (p. 70)

I have always felt it is easier to approach the teacher or classmate that cracks jokes or that is simply smiling at me. I always feet more confident and comfortable approaching those people. When any of my teachers use humor within a classroom, I always feel better about speaking out in class because I feel like I'm in a fun and interacting environment. That is exactly what Edmin talks about tin the book. This is also one of the things the teacher talks about in the video below. I chose this video, because the teacher talks about when humor is brought into a classroom, it can facilitate more interactions. He also talks about how humor maximizes your learning. If a teacher is in front of the classroom strictly teaching the lesson with no emotion, sly jokes, or etc., students are more likely to doze off and be bored of the lecture. This teacher says that if an educator uses humor within a day to day basis, students would be able to retain the information better, because they will remember what was being taught. In the video, he says humor can be used with games, telling jokes, or funny gestures and actions. For someone who is feign to school or thinks all teachers are there to get them, humor in the classroom can be that ice breaker that can get them comfortable in the classroom.

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Presentation given by University of Wisconsin-River Falls teacher candidate Nick Weninger on the topic of "Humor in the Classroom." Presentation given as part of the Best Teaching Practices lecture series at UWRF, Fall 2013.

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"However, because of their shared neoindigeneity, they found a platform for engaging with each other through the cypher. In this space, they were able to use the same mechanism (the cypher) to describe very different realities" (p. 63)

In chapter 4, Edmin talks about how he noticed three students he would have never pictured together, working with each other to create cyphers He talks about how amazing it was to witness those students so actively engaged and enjoying the cypher rap battles. In this video, Dr. Edmin and another person are rapping about education while 2 others beatbox. He is giving us an example of how a traditional cypher may go, while talking bout education. The cyphers he describes having with students don't actually involve rapping, mostly just taking the rules of the cypher. But, it is still a good example about having "one mic" and how everyone not speaking gives reassurance and admiration.

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Dr. Chris Emdin vs.Baba Israel freestyle #HipHopEd

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Dr. Chris Emdin and MC Baba Israel rap battle over education at the 8th Annual Hip Hop in the Heartland #HipHopEd

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"The teacher's task is to let students know how important they are and how essential their jobs and roles are to the functioning of the classroom" (p. 106)

I wholeheartedly believe all students need to feel valued in the classroom through extra little things, like roles in the classroom. This video focuses on how it helps the teacher. However, I like to see how it helps the students. Each student feels important and has a responsibility to their classroom family. The video does show how roles can be more meaningful than just "Hey can so and so walk this to the office for me." It's less about getting errands done for the teacher and more about giving the student's the assurance they are needed to the classroom's survival. It is obvious when you watch children in their jobs that they feel amazing when they get to help out and when a job is only theirs. They take pride in that job and i makes them feel a sense of accomplishment when they do their job.

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Differentiated Instruction: Assigning Jobs in the Classroom

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"I argue that an educator who has created a special handshake to share with students when they get an answer right can genertate positive emotions because of the significance of the handshake in neoindigenous culture" (p. 127)

This is a video of an educator, Mr. Barry White, Jr., who created different handshakes for each of his students. Just by him taking the time to do this with his students, you can tell how much he appreciates them, and I think it is obvious to them that he does care. It showed them that he is there for them, and he wants to understand their culture and be a part of their lives. I think that creating handshakes with your students would definitely make them more excited to learn, especially if the teacher was willing to do it with them whenever they got an answer right. I plan on incorporating handshakes like these with my own students in my future classroom.

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Teacher Has Incredible Handshakes With Each Student | ABC News

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"Once students recognize that they are valued, they welcome the opportunity to engage in the dialogue" (p.71).

Cogens are dialogues between different groups that are structured and give everyone involved an opportunity to speak and share. It is believed that people who participate in cogens are extremely important for the dialogue. Everyone will get a turn and if there is one person dominating the conversation, it will be addressed and fixed. This makes everyone a part of the coven feel like they have a value in the conversation. When you make students feel valued and comfortable in a classroom environment like this, then students normally perform better and engage more. This video talks about ways to value your students and making sure they know they are valued. She talks about having snacks, and breaking bread, which was also talked about in the book. She also talks about having conversations with your students to make them feel valued, with is a point of the cogen.

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Uploaded by UQInclusivePractice on 2010-06-27.

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"The best classroom teachers develop ways to make the classroom feel like a family that has its own distinct rules, ways of speaking, and power dynamics." (p.60)

Quote Explained:
The classroom should be an inviting place, where everyone feels welcome. As a teacher you should want it to be a place where students can be open and comfortable enough to be themselves. The classroom should feel like a second home where the student can come and leave worries at the door because they are going have a great time learning and experiencing school. This should be every teacher's goal when setting up a classroom's environment and structure.

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"Without teachers recognizing the biases they hold and how these biases impact the ways they see and teach students, there is no starting point to changing the dismal statistics related to the academic underperformance of urban youth." (p. 43)

Quote Explained:
Teachers have to go into a classroom and let go of their biases so they can treat every student equal. This requires them to first determine their biases. Once they determine their biases, they can work on them and get better about their biases and help them go away. The only way the teachers of urban students can make their students feel at home and ready to learn is to get rid of any bias that may be effecting them, and go into the classroom with open eyes.

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"Teachers become adept at creating high-pressure classrooms focused more on testing than teaching. Teachers are reduced to test-prep machines." (p.37)

Quote Explained:
In the worlds of standardized testing and funding off of tests, teachers often get too caught up in only "teaching to the test". Children can get left behind when there is so much to get crammed into the school year. Taking time to get to know your studs can fall to the bottom of the to-do list, but it needs to be at the top. To be the best teacher you can be, you need to know what your students need before anything else.

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"First, the belief that students are in need of "cleaning up" presumes that they are dirty. Second, the aim of "giving them a better life" indicates that their present life has little or no value." (p.20)

Quote Explained:
Teachers in urban schools have to realize that the students they teach have a life outside of the classroom. That life is what it is. It is a meaningful life because it is theirs. We as teachers are not there to "clean up" these students' lives. We are there to give them other opportunities to add onto their lives. If we see a kid playing in the dirt, we don't scold them and make them go inside and clean off. We ask them what they found and what they are seeing. We need to ask these Urban students what they are seeing and doing in their lives outside of the classroom so we can better understand them.

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"My classmates and I are different
In the words of Dr. King our elbows are together yet our hearts are
apart" (p.25)

Quote Explained:
Teachers will have many different kinds of students together in a classroom. Even though they share a classroom and have to learn the same things, it does not mean that they are the same.These students will have all different backgrounds, home-lives, academic levels, etc. It is important that teachers incorporate cultures into classrooms and celebrate them so that the other children can see the diversity of their classroom. Because if students can't see who their classmates are, they will never understand them. Just as you, as a teacher, are aware of cultural diversity, so should your students be.