Few things are more important to classroom success than good planning. What did you learn from today's class session and/or the reading assignment that you think is particularly important to remember when attempting to plan effective classes/courses?By the way, comments on the last post were particularly good. I think Jason's last point is a good one: a teacher must have solid subject area knowledge, but they need the relationship stuff too. My guess is that some of you have seen the pendulum swing too much to the "affective" stuff in some of your classes and sense a need for a more content-based approach. It would be a good idea to talk to the Central teachers to see what they think about this issue.
Eric's point on the bad kids from stable families and great kids from not-so-stable families is a good one. There's some interesting research on this. One study tried to measure the effects on divorce on students. It concluded that what really matters is the community as a whole, not an individual family break up. In neighborhoods where families were generally stable, a divorce didn't have a measurable effect on the kids directly involved. In neighborhoods where divorce rates were high, kids exhibited all sorts of negative behaviors whether their own parents' marriage was stable or not.
How did you like the Guy Doud video? What did you think particularly useful in his advice/comments on teaching? What about his teaching makes him an appropriate "teacher of the year?"
