Week 6 Response

1.

-Teachers who create a warm and supportive classroom environment tend to be more effective with all students.

I believe that everyone learns better in a place that feels safe and calm. A supportive environment leads to confident students.

-Effective teachers carefully establish classroom routines that enable them and their students to work flexibly and efficiently.

Every time I hear or see the word routine, I think of my daughter whom I am trying to get on a nightly routine so she can fall right asleep. Like this routine I am trying to establish, routines take a little time to be effective. But, once they are set in place they work wonders.

-Effective teachers are more concerned with student understanding of meaning than memorization of facts.

Who cares if your students can memorize something, but have no idea of the meaning behind it? Memorization without content knowledge will soon be forgotten.

-Students achieve at higher rates when instruction focuses on meaningful conceptualization and builds on their knowledge of the world.

I believe the more the students can relate and find interesting the curriculum, the more motivated and successful they are at learning it.

2.

The metaphor of McNulty and his mother's gravy makes sense to me. I would however change the metaphor just a bit (I think I changed it...)

How comes it seems that when Mom makes a sandwich, or anything for that matter, it tastes a lot better than when you make it on your own? Is it because there is love behind the making. A love for being a mother and doing things for her children. The same is with a teacher and his/her students. When a teacher teaches with "love" behind it, it "tastes" more appetizing to the students.