Morning Meeting Packet and Differentiation in Practice Part 1

Morning Meeting Packet

By reading the Morning Meeting Packet I have seen what creating a sense of community in the classroom is like. I see that it provides structure in the classroom, and promotes great learning and a safe environment for students. This is one of my goals as a teacher is to create this for my own classroom, and what better way than to do morning meetings for 15 a day to establish it. It will make us more of a family, and that is what some of these students are looking for.

The Components of Morning Meeting are:
* Greeting- I like how this brings a sense of belonging to the students, and helps them to practice verbal skills.
* Sharing- I like how sharing can be anything the student wants to share, and that it is not a "show-in-tell." I like how they can just share that they lost a tooth and students can ask questions about that or make a comment. I feel that this helps students to get to know one another very well, and it shows that other students have interest.
* Group Activity- I think this is a way to have fun before you go into the rest of the work day. For me as a teacher I would use this as a time to help bridge the gap between the students and make them more unified, just like the activity suggests on the Building Bridges. I think is is the time the students get to know me and I get to know them in return.

My overall feelings about Morning Meeting is that they are wonderful. I would like to learn more about them, I have seen them, but I would like to know more activities to do to help my class.


Differentiation in Practice Part 1

In this reading I got so much out of it. I would like to first start at the end of the chapter when it talks about Coach Mac, he I think is an amazing teacher. I think through this story it shows me that I must be a teacher that values the different styles of learning, skills, and students in my classroom. He to me shows what Differentiation in Practice is all about. My favorite quote that he has is, "Talent is what you bring. Effort is what you give"(pg 11). All of my students are going to have many talents, but I just need them to give their best effort to achieve success.

There is honestly so much in this chapter that I love and appeals to me.

* "The more fully she understands who she teaches, the more aware she is that she must adapt what she teaches to serve individual learners well" (pg 5). I feel that this is saying we need to as teachers really understand our students and how they learn, then we will understand the "who". Then we can adapt to what we need to help our students along the way and get what we need out of them.
* One of the most important things that I thought while reading this is that the learning environment makes or breaks a classroom. I feel that is so true. This is where the kids are most of their day and if they feel that someone is going to make fun of them for their differences then we as teachers have failed. I think it is important to let students know how the class will be and make sure they understand that everyone has something to contribute to the classroom.
* Find time in the Curriculum to show the students interest. If we do this then students will start to pick up what their similarities are with other students. Also it make the learning fun for the student who enjoys the certain topic.
* I also loved how it listed points of how to be an effective differentiation teacher and how to make you classroom a differentiated classroom. By assessing the students, learning their goals, grouping students flexibly, use time and space flexibly, and making the classroom work for everyone. These are great ways to look at what I want to do in my own teaching and classroom. By accomplishing these I feel that I can achieve the goals I set for me as a teacher and for my students as well.

To sum up all of what I learned is to helps students with their differences and make a classroom that works for everyone. Also one of my favorite quotes is "The best teachers also help students develop new interest and passions-breathing life and joy into otherwise"flat" curriculum" (pg 10). I believe that this is what being a teacher is all about, making learning fun and enjoyable. I think with the things I have listed above and my love and continuation for learning, these can be achieved in my career as a teacher.