A new trend in education has been flexible seating.  Students are given multiple options and layouts to attend class in.  Do you see a place for this in your classroom?  Do you see any pros or cons to this? Do you think this would work with your content area? 

On page 110 the 7 things students are concerned about on the first day of school are listed.  One that stood out to me was “will my teacher treat me fairly?” This is a question that seems obviously present, but one that I had never considered my students having come into the classroom.  Reflecting on your own schooling and your knowledge gained in our teacher preparation program:  how do you think this concern can be alleviated?  Do you worry about demonstrating favoritism in your teaching career (especially in those crucial first few days)? 

What are a few ways that you can address the main concerns of students in your classroom?

Discussion: Based on our authors choice of seating assignment examples, how would you use seating arrangement as a strategy to meet AMLE Standard one element? For example: Element A says, ‘They [teachers] use this understanding of the intellectual, physical, social, emotional, and moral characteristics, needs, and interests of young adolescents to create healthy, respectful, supportive, and challenging learning environments for all young adolescents, including those whose language and cultures are different from their own.’

I personally have been in many classrooms where this is used. But, reflecting over my time here at the College of Education and my own pedagogy beliefs, I wonder if students get something out of this method. I understand that it is used to get students on task quickly, so that instruction can begin. But I wonder how I can make these starting assignments valuable to my students because it is important for students to realize that they’re not simply doing busy work in order to truly be engaged. 

After reading this I thought it was interesting that they deemed these two chapters very important and further expressed how these two words are different. I then began to think about what influences the conflation of the two. My guesses is either previous teaching and maybe it was not taught that there was a difference or there is the assumption that it is the same.

 

            Page 133 and 134 in chapter fourteen of Wong and Wong The First Days of School talks about the first assignment for every day of class. It talks about how you should use the beginning of class to show what is going to happen the rest of class. It gives an example of starting with the schedule for the day, opening assignments, and present the learning objectives. It also talks about your assignment should not be grade, but a way to get the students mind going. What kind of a question or bell ringer would be found to be the best way to start class, but not be too much for students? Should it be a review question or something that will be answered during class that day?