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Introduction
The two books that were fascinating to me were Teach like Your Hair’s on Fire (2007) and Cries from the Corridors (1980). Both books were very enlightening and very powerful in their ideas. However, I decided to narrow down my topic to review the book Teach like Your Hair’s on Fire (2007).
Rafe Esquith is the author and a veteran teacher who wrote a very inspiring and motivating text that is not only dedicated to leisure readers, but to teachers, prospective teachers, as well as parents! It is a step-by-step manual that is great for all educators of life. Having taught for over 25 years, Esquith wrote the book based on first-hand experiences, knowledge, and mistakes. He maintains a civilized fifth grade class each year that consists of various backgrounds and capability. These students speak English as a second language in a poverty-stricken society.
Esquith’s book is about practical methods of inspiring students morally and educationally. By the end of each year, every single student of Rafe Esquith fluently reads, writes and speaks in English beyond his/her grade levels. Additionally, they conquer Shakespearean English and manage to host a play based on one of Shakespeare’s plays. Apart from secular education, these astounding fifth graders take on the challenge to learn to play instruments and learn everything from “a-z” about baseball. The thesis is stated in the prologue and it is the title of the book as well: “Teach like your hair’s on fire.”
While reading the book, I realized that each chapter has a valuable lesson for all educators. Below are some of the points which I found quite inspiring and motivational.
Trust and Respect:
I think that Rafe’s best methodology yet is replacing the fear within the childr...
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...imply force the book in their hands; he provides an array of books of different genres, length, and tastes. This way, the students have not one, not two, but many options of choosing books and how to choose books. Rafe’s students love to learn and so the doors of his classroom open around 6 am and close around 5 pm for young learners. During this time, every second is very precious and utilized for learning and educating, although before and after school is voluntary attendance.
Logical discipline
Rafe did an amazing job at delivering the strong message of logical discipline. He gives a classical example of what usually happens in a classroom: “A child is acting up in class; the teacher decides the entire class will miss playing baseball that afternoon.” The important message he is trying to portray here is that children should not be given an unfair punishment.
What are the important themes of the book? What questions or issues about teaching and learning does it address?
This book is a study of the personal tales of many single mothers, with intentions to understand why single mothers from poor urban neighborhoods are increasingly having children out of wedlock at a young age and without promise of marrying their fathers. The authors chose to research their study in Philadelphia’s eight most devastated neighborhoods, where oppression and danger are high and substantial job opportunities are rare. They provide an excellent education against the myth that poor young urban women are having children due to a lack of education on birth control or because they intend to work the welfare system. Instead, having children is their best and perhaps only means of obtaining the purpose, validation and companionship that is otherwise difficult to find in the areas in which they live. For many of them, their child is the biggest promise they have to a better future. They also believe that though their life may not have been what they want, they want their child to have more and better opportunities and make it their life’s work to provide that.
Gatto begins his article by explaining that boredom is an everyday issue in modern schooling. Teachers struggle with boredom due to the attitudes and behavior of students and find it exhausting to teach kids when they behave in an immature manner. However, students also become frustrated with the repetition of useless information, as well as being forced to fit society’s standards. Gatto shifts the focus to his thoughts on the importance of mandatory schooling. He thinks that the lengthy school days are completely unnecessary.
He further stated that with all sincerity in themselves and colleagues, public school is now regarded as outmoded and barbarous. This thought, according to him is both observable to students and the teachers alike, but the students inhabit in it for a short period, while the teachers are condemned to it. Pursuant to teachers being condemned, they live and work as intellectual guerrillas strong-minded to stimulate students, ignite their inquisitiveness, and to open their minds, yet reluctant to stay behind in their profession. Together with this, teachers...
The movie, Dead Poets Society truly captures the essence of the conformities that children are facing. The difference is letting the hourglass run out of time, or making the best of time, facing tough challenges along the way. Todd Anderson makes the best out of his time thanks to the teaching of Mr. Keating, his beloved English teacher. From a misunderstood adolescent to a courageous man, Todd shows his true colors and releases the inferior thoughts stirring up in his developing, young body. In the end, romanticism crushes idealism with power and envy, showing the eye-opening ways that a teacher can contribute to such a tightly wound academy such as Welton.
Calderón, M., Slavin, R., & Sánchez, M. (2011). Effective Instruction for English . Future Of Children, 21(1), 103-127.
Reading Mike Rose’s book Lives on the Boundary one can benefit from his efforts as a student and educator. It is a tool that can be used to motivate teachers to produce interesting lesson plans and to be aware of their students in all aspects. The book provides concrete examples of good and bad teaching all related through the author’s personal history. Finally, the book-as an account of one man’s personal struggle – reflects on the inner psyche of the marginal student and prompts the reader to be more attentive to each and every learner.
In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Education”, he uses various diction to create tones to establish that the education is flawed and it revisions need to be made to fix it.
After reading a few of the chapters in "Psychology Through the Eyes of Faith", I feel as if I have learned more in one sitting than many in years of my life. The chapters were not life altering, but simply stated things that I have overlooked. The topics that affected me most were on living with the mysteries of faith, benefits of true rest, and the emotion of happiness. Yes, they are really in no way related, but each of these topics impacted me in a different way, and made me think about what was being presented.
The purpose of this assignment is to explain the impact of English language learners in the classroom. As a foreign student, English language learner in the United States faces multiple challenges for achieving academic success. To successfully complete a task, they need to master both English as a language and how it is used in core content classes especially when they are an adult. When trying to assist in instructing English language learners, they usually have many concepts and language abilities that they need to master, as do the teachers that are trying to teach them. With the incorporation of the concepts and approaches to identify and assess the issues and concerns that we have learned in our classroom instruction, such as lesson preparation,
Esquith, R. (2007) . Teach like your hair's on fire: The methods and madness inside Room 56. New York: Viking.
...l survival in our society. I work as a counselor each summer at a sports camp in Philadelphia, and each summer I encounter very intelligent students who are placed in lower tracks or labeled as ìlearning deficientî because of their language. This disturbs me because as a speaker of both Black Vernacular speech and Standard English, I know that students can learn to use Standard English just as I have. Unfortunately, many students are not privileged enough to have the same educational opportunities that I was given by my parents, therefore, it is my responsibility to teach these students Standard English the way that I have been taught. But I must learn more about teaching students and dealing with the issues that plague the educational system, and I am looking forward to receiving more of this knowledge during my pre-student teaching and student teaching experiences.
Each year, as a new group of students enter my classroom, I will encourage them to be expressive of their imaginations in their favorite subjects, whether it will be art, literature, math or music. We all have rules and regulations to follow, and each student will know that there is no exception in the school or the classroom. Another goal in my classroom will be to keep the students excited about learning, not to treat school as a game or a social event, but to encourage a unique and fun atmosphere to learn.
I can honestly say that Bruce Wilkinson’s “The Seven Laws of the Leaner” has changed my life; at least the way that I look at and process my role as someone who teaches others. Wilkinson’s writing style was down to earth and very applicable to everyday life. The book concentrates on teaching you to be a better teacher, which means you are “causing your students to learn”. Wilkinson breaks this book down into seven principles of teaching; the law of the learner, the law of expectation, the law of application, the law of retention, the law of need, the law of equipping and the law of revival. He clearly understands that students learn best when teachers take the responsibility of the students learning. The laws are broken into two chapters each: the first chapter aims at changing your beliefs about teaching and the next, your actions .
When I was growing up, I remember attending elementary school, learning a new language seems to be difficult at first, but I was able to learn the English language because of the dedication of one of my teachers. Now, as I reflect on this experience, it is obvious that she was dedicated and enjoyed teaching her students to be successful. I know today that she made a difference in my life as I navigated through my education experience and high school years to present.