I thought I should begin with the general and then read the more specifically geared books. Day One and Beyond is an all encompassing book for middle level teachers. There are tips and tricks along with some thought provoking questions of how do I want my classroom to work. Reading this now was great because I have already had a classroom and I have an idea of what works for me and what doesn’t. As the title would suggest Wormeli begins at day one. He gives suggestions on ways to successfully start out the year: get to know you activities, the ever present paper work and even “gasp” school work. I think that Wormeli has taught most subjects but it seems that he is primarily an English teacher. Many of his suggestions are geared towards the English classroom.
One of his first pieces of advices is to teach subject material on the first day of class. He states that children are excited for school that first day, but the endless forms and hoops that we jump through kill the excitement. We need to balance the hoops and academics. He also suggests that you give academic homework the first day of class; this sets the tone for the rest of the year and gives them responsibility.
Surprisingly Wormeli suggests that you do not introduce yourself first thing. He says he usually waits till the second or third week to go into any real details about himself. He states that this puts the focus of the classroom on the students, not on the teacher. However, it is very important that you do tell the students about yourself early in the year. They need to be able to relate to you.
He also suggests that you ask the student how they learn best. This can help you plan your lessons. The students are getting to know their learning styles, but more importantly it can teach them to advocate for themselves. Along with this he suggests that you have your students complete learner profiles. Kimberly had the students do this, but I never really payed attention to it. I should have studied the way my students learn so I could learn to use that to my advantage. My 7th hour was probably very body kinesthetic, If I would have incorporated more movement into every day learning, I probably would not have had so much trouble keeping them under control. Wormeli stresses that you need to incorporate this information in your lesson planning.
A problem that I had with one of my classes what that they didn’t like each other very much. That could have been due to a lack of a community feeling. Wormeli suggests that you give the class group problem solving tasks. Let the students explore their roles in the group, let them depend on each other to get something done.
One big theme throughout the book is to put as much responsibility as possible on the students. One issue my colleagues and I saw at our high school was that the students are very dependent on the adults in their learning. The students are needy and have a sense of entitlement. They don’t like to think on their own; getting them to do this is like pulling teeth. What Wormeli suggests make sense, put as much responsibility on the students as possible, and they will step up. It makes them feel as if they have a voice in their education. Let the class come up with the classroom rules; it’s their classroom. Give the students choices as much as possible, This will make them independent and allow them to be leaders, especially in their own education.
Next Wormeli focuses on Discipline. He suggests that you make the student tell you what he/she did wrong. He says that students begin with denial, stating that the did nothing wrong or they try to distract you with what others have done wrong, but you need to redirect them to what they were doing when you pulled them aside or out of the room. Get the student to reveal all of the details to you, then give the student a summary of all they did and ask if it is correct. piece by piece the student my not realize what they did was wrong, but the big picture may help them understand. Make the students take responsibility for their actions. Wormeli also makes the student think about how their actions affected their or their peers’ learning.
Wormeli also states that we should be able to prevent misbehavior by planning ahead, making sure that the lessons are geared towards adolescent minds and keep them busy. This is where I think I had problems with behavior, not that my lesson plans weren’t at the students’ level, but that I didn’t have enough going on to occupy them. It will probably be exhausting at first but I need to keep the pace up, while still making sure that all of my students are on board with me. If I keep the students moving, physically and or mentally then they have less time to create problems. Also making sure that the lesson is geared towards every student will keep students from feeling left out, left behind or ahead of the group. I think that student choice is one of the best ways to do this, offering assignments/lessons that include student choice, where the choices are of varying levels assessing the same thing.
Wormeli
Overall I really like this book and I can see myself referring back to it time after time in the future.
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