Celebrating Failure in Rm 613

In June, I spent twelve days traveling across western Europe with a group of students. We started in Barcelona, Spain and slowly made our way north, ending in London, United Kingdom and it was a whirlwind of exhaustion, excitement, stress, blisters. Like any great travel adventure, I gained a new perspective on the world and a better understanding of new culture, but most of all I understood the benefit of traveling with your students. During those twelve days, I got to witness a whole new side to my students. I was used to seeing them in my classroom or in the hallways at school surrounded by their peers, but on the trip I got to see them away from their friends in a new environment, experiencing a foreign culture. Within the first 24 hours, one student had a meltdown because the Coke in Spain did not taste the same as the Coke in the United States; it was mostly the jet lag talking, but it became a running joke and we made him try Coke in every country, just to be sure. There w...

The teacher myth buster, aka Aaron Hogan , continues on in Chapter 2 by busting the myth that the best teachers effortlessly earn compliance from their students . Unlike the "no behavior problem" myth, this was one that I believed as a new teacher, but I no longer believe. Before any teaching experience, I envied teachers that seemed to quickly build strong and positive relationships with students. Eventually, I learned that student rapport is like any other relationship; it takes time and effort to build a positive relationship. Hogan's recommendation to thrive is to hook your students throughout the entire year and I appreciated that his solution wasn't do-this-and-your-classroom-will-be-instantly-awesome . He encourages you to reflect and "take time to identify those core values that will set the right tone for your school year." He also suggests redesigning one aspect of your classroom and reflecting on it every few weeks. At the Model Scho...