The Excellent 11- In Closing

I agree with Ron that passion is such an important part in teaching. Passion is what gets you out of bed in the morning. Passion is what gets you out the door in the morning. Passion is what keeps you looking and searching for things to better help your students. Without passion, teaching is just a job. But with passion, teaching can be your life's mission work. Like Ron said, changing the world IS possible. I hope I can keep my passion stirred up as I enter into my own classroom.

The Excellent 11- Chapter 11- Reselience

I think this chapter was a really good reminder that we should take care of ourselves, both physically and mentally, in order to take care of our classroom full of students. When we get knocked down, we should be resilient and over comers.It's important to believe in what you're doing even when no one else does. I think that's one thing that makes Ron Clark such an outstanding teacher. He doesn't let anything deter him. If he belives in something he and his students are doing, he puts his all into it no matter what anyone else says. I hope, as a teacher, I can have the same determination, drive, and reselience as Ron Clark. When people told him he was crazy, he just smiled and continued with what he was doing. He knew it was to better his students and to better them as a class. I hope I can do much of the same with my future students.

Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire- Epilogue- Rest in Peace

Rafe's epilogue was very touching. Teaching really can be a thankless job at times. It's definitely a position that people take for granted. Children will always be required to be in school, therefore there will always be teachers. But it's up to us to decide what kind of teacher we want to be. Do we want to be a teacher who is just there to receive a pay check and walk out the door? Or do we want to be a teacher who makes a difference in the lives of our students? Do we want to be a teacher that provides an environment that acts as a safe haven or a second home to our students facing tough times? That's the kind of teacher I want to be. Hopefully somewhere down the road, some of my former students will write essays and letters much like the ones Rafe's students wrote. I want them to be able to think back on being in my classroom and smile because I made a difference in their life.

Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire- Chapter 17- Will Power

I think it's really important that students gain respect for theater and the fine arts. Having them listen to plays and watch television adaptations of plays is a great way to help students gain an appreciation for plays and their authors. I remember we did a lot of this during high school. We would read the play all the way through and then watch a version of it. It was always interesting to see the differences between them. I think what Rafe did with his classes is nothing short of outstanding. I can't imagine taking on something of that magnitude and STILL being a full time teacher. He must have no life outside of his classroom. Perhaps he should read what Ron Clark says about balance.

The Excellent 11- Chapter 10- Appreciation

Appreciation is definitely something that is lacking in this generation and the coming generations.It is so important that we show appreciation for others and also set a good example for our students to follow in showing appreciation for others. No matter what position a person may hold in a school or a community, each person is important and it is up to us as teachers and parents to help these students understand this. I really like that Ron addressed the different ways different people in different positions in a child's life can appreciate one another. One thing I really liked was when he was talking about how teachers can appreciate parents. A lot of times, showing appreciation will earn you appreciation. I think this is a key to the teacher/parent relationship.

Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire- Chapter 16- Do They Know It's Christmas?

This chapter was so insightful and interesting. I think all students and classrooms should be involved in some kind of community service, and helping the needy, poor, and homeless is a wonderful service to give. Many children are not aware of how incredibly blessed they are to live in such a wonderful country and have so many of the things we are blessed with. Some students complain if they have too much homework or too much to study. They never take into account that there are many grown men and women who cannot read or write. They are blessed to be able to read their homework and write the answers to it. Do community service and projects like the ones Rafe does with his students is an excellent way to expose students to the real world and the real things that are going on. It also shows the students that they can make a difference in someone's life. I think that's so important for students to understand. They don't have to become presidents, or pop stars, or authors, or even teachers. By lending a helping hand and showing care and concern for others, there's no telling how many lives one child can impact.

Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire- Chapter 15- It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (but I Like It)

I really enjoyed this chapter because I really enjoy music. Music is definitely one of the major loves of my life. Whether I'm playing the piano, singing, or just listening to music, I love being around music. Being able to incorporate it into my classroom is a really exciting thing to think about. I doubt I could do all that Rafe did and continues to do, but I will definitely incorporate music into my classroom. Music can reach children in a way that not many other things can. It's something they can identify with. It's something that always makes sense to them. By using music with lessons, lectures, and study aids, students will take a lot more from these things because of the music. I was very excited to use music in my lesson plan about the Underground Railroad. By using the song "Follow the Drinking Gourd", the students were able to take away a better understanding of the slaves' suffering as well as some of the hidden meanings behind the Underground Railroad. I really think it made them more excited about what could have been an otherwise boring lecture. Music changes things, even in the classroom.

The Excellent 11- Chapter 9- Common Sense

Common sense is a very important part of teaching. It's definitely apparent that what is common sense to an adult or teacher may not be common sense to a student. Sometimes, it is best to go into great detail when you're dealing with young students. They may or may not understand exactly what you are asking for even though it may seem pretty black and white to you. I love what Ron did with his classroom materials list and the organization of the materials. Organization was always difficult for me in elementary school. No one had ever shown me how to organize my notebooks, binders, or my locker. I think it is so important to show your students how to be organized so they can quickly find their pencils, homework, books, etc... Using common sense while you're teaching can really help you stay on your toes, as well. It can help you make split-second decisions and ultimately decisions that will benefit your classroom the most.

Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire- Chapter 14- Goin' Mobile

Chapter 14- Goin' Mobile
This chapter was pretty neat, also. When I think about taking my future classroom on a field trip, my mind begins to spin. I just can't comprehend how I'm going to go about keeping 20+ students under control long enough for them to gain some kind of knowledge from the field trip. Rafe's class trips served many different purposes, and the preparation they went through before-hand was very impressive. Learning the history behind the places you are going is a great way to get the students to respect and appreciate the trip even more. Still, it seems too good to be true and very unrealistic. I can't imagine teaching my future students all the things Rafe teaches his students, let alone having them act upon all of that in a real life situation such as a hotel room or an airplane. But small class trips are a great idea. It gets the students out of the cramped, cluttered classroom and into the real world. I know as a student I thoroughly enjoyed field trips, even if it was just to the local high school to watch their choir perform. Class trips are a great way for students to spend time together and bond, as well. Not only will they bond with each other but with their teacher, as well.

The Excellent 11- Chapter 8- Humor

This is something I used to not think anything about. Humor? In a classroom? I never put the two together. Upon thinking about it further and reading this chapter, I realize now that it is incredibly important to have humor in the classroom. As adults and teachers, we can look at situations far too seriously. If we take a step back and try to see things from the students' point of view, chances are we will find humor in it and not take the situation so seriously. On the other hand, there have been several times in my field study that I have watched the students (mostly girls) freak out and stress out about such small things. I watch this and think back to a time when I was their age and I was stressing out about the exact situations they were. I have to laugh because I know now how small and minuscule those things are in the long run. That's one thing that I find humor in. Finding humor in these situations, both serious and not-so-serious, can help us relate to and understand our students a little better. One thing to remember (and I have a hard time with this sometimes) is knowing that there is a time to be humorous and a time to be serious. Knowing the difference is the key to successfully using humor in the classroom.

Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire- Chapter 13- Celluloid Heroes

Chapter 13- Celluloid Heroes
This chapter was pretty cool. We live in a world today where kids (and adults) are watching TV and movies more and more. It can be such a powerful tool if we learn to use it to our advantage. Students can get things out of a movie that they would never have gotten out of a textbook or a lecture. I think if a teacher is gifted enough to be able to use movies to teach and can use them successfully like Rafe did, it would be a tremendous tool in his or her classroom. I, however, don't think I would be able to successfully use them as Rafe did. A lot of things he does, including the movies, seem a little too good to be true. He has to really have a handle on his classroom in order for things like that to work properly. But a couple movies every year seems pretty reasonable and will seem special to the students.

The Excellent 11- Chapter 7- Confidence

Confidence is such an important issue for kids growing up. Students will perform better in class and in life if they are confident. Recognizing students' achievements can boost their confidence greatly. I learned a lot from this chapter. I struggle with a lack of confidence when I am in front of a group of people, including students. I've been pretty worried about doing lessons in front of the students in my placement class. After reading this chapter, I know I need to just practice my lesson over and over again until I become comfortable with it. I need to practice until it become second nature to me and I don't have to second guess what comes next. Hopefully when I get up in front of the class to do my lessons, I will have confidence and will be able to execute the lessons effectively. I love the part of the chapter where Ron talks about the mock interviews preparing the 5th graders for their middle school interviews. That was such an inventive idea and a wonderful way to help the students build confidence before their big interview. Confidence is such a key component in school and in life.

Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire- Chapter 11 and 12- Taxman and Think for Yourself

Chapter 11- Taxman
This chapter was so interesting. The economic system in Room 56 seems a little complicated, but I'm sure it really teaches the students the value of money and how to save it appropriately. I'm not sure I could implement something like that in my classroom, but it seems like a wonderful idea. It really teaches the students responsibility and money management as well as other life-long lessons they need. It's never too early to begin learning important life lessons like how to manage money and spend it wisely. It was really interesting to read about these kids growing up and owning their own homes when their parents didn't own their own homes. Some students grew up, bought their own home, and even saved up enough money to buy homes for their parents. It's amazing what skills these students learn at early ages can do for them when they grow up.

Chapter 12- Think for Yourself
I have a love/hate relationship with problem solving. If there's a problem to be solved and I can figure out how to do it, I love doing it. If I can't figure out how to go about solving the problem, I get frustrated and hate it. I really like "The Bible" Rafe talked about giving his students. It would've really helped me when I was learning how to problem solve. "The Bible" not only works for homework but for real life problems as well. His story about the break-in was a very great story. I hope I can instill those kinds of traits into my students.

The Excellent 11- Chapter 6- Compassion

I think compassion is a really important part of teaching. As teachers, we must keep in mind that we may be the only people some students will ever witness having compassion for them. We must remember to set an example for the students. In this chapter, Ron talks about being picked on in elementary school. As I was reading, I could totally relate. In elementary school, I was pretty overweight. Not only that, but I had crazy, curly hair that was definitely not normal-looking. Looking back, I was actually not teased as much as other students. At least not to my face. But whenever I was teased, it hurt. Bad. However, it did cause me to make some important, helpful decisions when I grew up, and I'm a better person for it. But no child should have to put on a brave face at school, deal with the teasing and the bullying, and run home to his or her room and cry about it after school. Because I dealt with teasing growing up, I'm very compassionate towards others who are bullied or teased. There will be none of it in my classroom if I have anything to say about it. My classroom will be a bully-free zone. I want to instill respect, dignity, self-esteem, and pride in my students. I want them to feel confident in who they are so they don't feel the need to bring someone down. Ron's ideas for controlling and preventing bullying and teasing in the classroom were awesome and very helpful. Not only should the students have respect for one another, but they should learn respect for adults, authority figures, and the elderly. I hope I can instill all of this in my classroom.

Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire- Chapter 9 Art Lover- Chapter 10 Put Me In, Coach

Chapter 9- Art Lover
I really enjoyed this chapter because I really enjoy creative activities. In school, I always loved arts and crafts because there was no limit to what I could create. There were no boundaries. I could express myself however I wanted to. Unfortunately, I can barely draw a stick person with the help of a ruler. That's one reason why I liked this chapter on incorporating art into the classroom. You don't have to be the best artist in the world to open your students' eyes to their own creativity. Using simple activities like the ones Rafe mentioned are wonderful ideas to make your students feel like professional artists. The classroom shouldn't just be about shoving all kinds of information into the students' heads. The classroom should be a place where the students can express themselves, both academically and artistically. Arts and crafts, music, and drama all allow the students to take a break from cramming information into their brains. Activities like these allow them to have fun and show a different side of themselves. Who knows? You may have the next Picasso or Mozart in your class. How else will you know if you don't allow your students to explore their creative side?

Chapter 10- Put Me In, Coach
This was a really interesting chapter. I really liked Rafe's approach to incorporating physical education in his classroom. I especially liked his "World Series Night" idea. It was a really cool way to cross math and physical education. Throughout this book, Rafe has talked about how he marries different subjects together. Physical education and math are no different. If you think about it, they go hand-in-hand. You could really see Rafe's passion behind teaching his students how to score a baseball game correctly, and I could see his frustration when he realized how difficult it would be to take all of those kids to an actual ballgame and help them score the game successfully. But I loved his solution to that problem. "World Series Night" was a wonderful idea. It was an activity the classroom could participate in outside of school, they could work on their scoring skills, and they probably bonded a lot because of it.

The Excellent 11- Chapter 5- Balance

I really enjoyed this chapter on balance. As long as I can remember, I've always wanted people, kids included, to like me. My feelings were always hurt if they didn't. I'm glad Ron addressed the balance between the teacher/student relationship. If the students like you and think of you as a friend, chances are they won't respect you. However, if they fear you and worry about what you're going to say or do next, they won't respect you either. I've always been afraid of disciplining my future students. I don't want them to fear me, but I don't want them to feel like I'm a doormat they can just walk all over. I want them to see me as a friend, a confidant, someone that cares for them and wants them to succeed. But I don't want them to take advantage of that relationship. I want them to see me as their teacher, someone who demands respect from them but will also respect them in return. Children need respect just as much as adults do. I hope, through experience and a better understanding of my future students, I will be able to find that happy balance in the teacher/student relationship. I also really liked how Ron addressed the balance in a teacher's own life. It's very important to take care of yourself and deal with things going on in your life in order to take care of your students and the needs they have in the classroom. If you go into the day stressed with your mind boggled by other distractions, you're not going to have a very productive teaching day. But if you take some time to step back and evaluate what's going on in your life and deal with it accordingly, you can find that balance and be a successful teacher and person in all aspects.

Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire- Chapter 8- Rocket Man

I remember how boring science class was, for the most part, in elementary school. We mostly just read from the text, took notes, studied those notes, and took tests over the text and the notes we took. I remember the only times we would ever get really excited in our science classes were when we occasionally got to use our notes or the book on a test. That was the highlight of our science class. My 7th grade science teacher was probably the most influential science teacher I had growing up. She always tried to make things interesting and understandable. She never really used new technology or expensive kits to help us learn. But you could tell she was interested in the students actually learning and taking something away from the class instead of just memorizing facts out of the book in order to pass a test. That's what this chapter reminded me of. You don't have to spend thousands and thousands of dollars in order to help your students learn. You just have to be creative and interested in helping your students learn. I really liked it when he mentioned letting the students learn on their own. I think too many teachers scold their students for getting things wrong or failing. I don't see wrong answers as failures. I see them as opportunities to learn and discover things. Those "failures" can lead to open class discussions, and the students may learn something through those failures and discussions that they many not have otherwise learned.

The Excellent 11- Chapter 4- Reflection

Reflection is a very important part of teaching, as well as learning. It's exciting at the end of the year to look back and realize how much you've accomplished since you began. My mother is the cheerleading coach for our local high school, and one thing they do is create scrapbooks for all the senior sports players. It's not just a scrapbook of the previous year, but of their entire high school career. That made me think about creating a class scrapbook every year I teach. Creating it through the year, with the students' help of course, will be so much fun for everyone involved. It will help us remember all the fun activities we did, the field trips we took, and the holiday parties we had. It will also help all of us remember how much we've accomplished throughout the year. I will probably also do what Ron did at the beginning of the year. I'll start the year off with an informal assessment, just to get an idea of different things the students may or may not know. Then at the end of the year, after we have covered all the material, I will give them the assessment again. This will allow them to see just how much they have learned over the course of the year. I think it's also a wonderful idea to have your students write letters to the incoming students about what they should expect and learn, just like in Mrs. Jones' class.

Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire- Chapter 6 and 7- We Won't Get Fooled Again and What a Wonderful World

Chapter 6- We Won't Get Fooled Again
This chapter was really interesting since it dealt with standardized testing. Pretty much the only thing students do in school now is take test after test after test. They are being tested on everything. It can be incredibly stressful and exhausting for them. I'm sure many students get so tired and burned out on tests that they just give up and don't even try to do well on them. A lot of them don't really know how to prepare for those tests, either. So, I'm sure that can be very disheartening too. My favorite part of this chapter was when Rafe talked about his conversation with the students at the end of the day before the test. His students knew what they were supposed to do and how they were supposed to study. His activity with the practice multiple choice questions was really interesting. I think it's a great idea to teach students the reasoning behind the right answers and the wrong answers and how to tell the difference between them. I loved that his students would laugh out loud when they recognized a wrong answer on a test and the knew reasoning behind it. I hope I can help my students do that.

Chapter 7- What a Wonderful World
This chapter was very interesting. When I was in elementary school, history and social studies were always kind of boring. The teachers never really did anything to spice it up or make it interesting. Yes, we would watch films about historic events, but they were always during class and were always boring and uninteresting. I really like Rafe's ideas about showing films after school. I think that would be a really great thing to incorporate into my classroom, if I am allowed to. His geography game, Table Points, was really interesting as well. It really made the students think about what they were learning. They weren't just memorizing the positions of the countries on a map. They could do more than just label the countries. They could talk about the individual country and also the surrounding countries. It was really neat. They weren't just memorizing. They were actually attaining a vast knowledge of the countries. That would have been so fun to play in school. I really think activities like these could make social studies and history a lot more fun and interesting for the students.

Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire- Chapter 4 and 5- Writing and Add It Up

Chapter 4-Writing
In today's society, many people are losing the ability to write. Whether it is through texting, email, computer software, or anything else technological, we have found other ways to "write". Society has lost the ability to write because of the dependency on technology to do the writing for us. I remember my 8th grade math teacher saying he had lost the ability to write in cursive over the years because he always chose to write in print. That has stayed with me for a long time. There is also something I have found kind of disturbing when I'm writing an essay or paper in Microsoft Word. If I make a mistake such as forgetting to capitalize the first letter of a sentence or get the letters in a word mixed up, the computer program will automatically fix my mistake even without me noticing. That's one thing about writing that I think is so important. If you make a mistake writing, you have no choice but to fix it yourself. Writing is a very important skill to master. It's how you express yourself on paper. It's how you convey your thoughts in an essay. It's another way of communicating with people. It's a vital part of our lives that is easily being thrown away. I think as a teacher, it will be very important to keep my students interested and excited about writing.

Chapter 5- Add It Up
Math has always been a subject I wanted to like, but I never have. In fact, I've been quoted on many occasions as saying "I hate math!" I think it's like that for many students. I know as a child growing up, I saw how other students grasped the math concepts and I wanted to understand it like they did. I really liked Rafe's game "Buzz". It seems like a really good game to get kids to pay attention when they are counting and to really understand the meaning of the numbers. The mental math warm ups were neat too. Games like this would've been really helpful when I was in school. They seem fun and exciting. They really seem like games that would help students get excited about math. The games would be great bell-ringers to start the day off with. That would help keep the activity stress-free. Math activities used to be very stressful for me, but whenever we did a bell-ringer activity like these games could be, I always felt better about it. It was a chance to work on math and learn something new (if I didn't know how to work the problem) without being tested or graded on it. I hope I can help my students stay enthusiastic about math by using games like the "Buzz" game and the mental math warm ups.

The Excellent 11- Chapter 3- Creativity

This chapter was definitely one of the most helpful things I've ever read. It was so full of ideas and new ways to help the students learn but still keep things creative and fun. Creativity in the classroom has always been a concern of mine. How will I teach my students in a way that will be fun and exciting for them? This chapter has really opened my eyes to a lot of things I could possibly do to help the students have fun at the same time they're learning. My favorite part was when Mr. Clark talked about his class reading "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" and the hunt for the witch in their school. My third grade class did a similar thing to that. It was a lot of fun to go room to room, teacher to teacher, looking for clues. I also loved his idea about the vocabulary and the classroom dictionaries. This chapter has made me very excited about teaching and being creative with the different content areas I will be teaching.

The Excellent 11- Chapter 2- Adventure

I was really excited when I started reading this chapter and saw that it mentioned field trips. Field trips were always fun and exciting when I was in school. One thing that I liked about them was they did seem to bring our class closer together, which Ron also mentioned in this chapter. Field trips can be educational, but they are also bonding times. I really liked all the advice and little tidbits Ron gave about planning field trips. It's nice to have things like that to go by once you're teaching and trying to plan things like that. Honestly if I was teaching right now, I wouldn't have any idea where to start in planning for a field trip. However, I loved his idea for a mini-field trip- going outside to review for a test the last 10 minutes of class. That's the kind of thing that could break up the monotany of the day and really encourage the students to participate and really take an interest in the review. I also like Ron's ideas about preparing for the field trip. The students will appreciate where they are going more if they know a little about it beforehand. Having them write papers, look up information on the internet, and read books about it will really get them intrigued about the trip.

Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire- Chapter 3- Reading for Life

I really enjoyed reading this chapter. Reading is a very important part in the curriculum as well as in every day life. I mean, just think about it. How hard would our lives be if we couldn't read? Growing up, I loved reading. It was a way to take my mind somewhere else. I loved reading classics like "Mary Poppins" and "Alice in Wonderland", partly because I had the movies and would compare the books to the movies. That was one thing I really liked about this chapter. Rafe noted that one way you could get students more excited about what they're reading is to show a movie or play adapted from the book after the students finish reading the book. My elementary school teachers didn't do that much, but my high school teachers did that a lot. It always helped, especially with the more complex books. My favorite part of the whole chapter was when Rafe talked about Luis. The fact that a young boy could appreciate literature at such a level that it made him so emotional was really astounding. I hope I can somehow encourage my students to become that emotionally invested in literature. Reading is such a powerful tool that students will carry with them forever. They might as well learn to love it and enjoy it since it will benefit them for the rest of their lives. I really hope I can help them get on the right track with literature and help them develop a love for it.

Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire- Chapter 1- Gimme Some Truth

Whenever I talk to teachers about what it was like their first year of teaching, they always say it was rough, but "I had to show them who was really in charge". I remember whenever I would be in a class with a teacher who had either just started teaching or had only been teaching a few short years. The first part of the year was really rough. The teacher always seemed so strict and angry. Eventually, once he or she had gained our respect (which was really fear), he or she would lighten up and have fun with us. Yes, it was effective in the end, but what about those first few weeks when we were all so fearful of the teacher? Isn't the teacher supposed to be someone who supports you and encourages you? Someone you respect and not fear? A teacher shouldn't be someone who instills fear into students. There has to be a better way to gain respect from the classroom and not scare your students into respecting you. Teachers sometimes think that just because a student doesn't understand something, it means they weren't respecting them enough to pay attention and listen to the instructions. In most cases, that's not it at all. As teachers, we have to be sensitive to the fact that some kids take a little longer to grasp concepts than others. We all learn on different levels. I hope that's something I can take into my classroom and apply it on a daily basis.

The Excellent 11- Chapter 1- Enthusiasm

This chapter was absolutely amazing. I've always said that when I become a teacher, my goal is to make my students excited about learning and getting involved. If I'm excited about what I'm teaching and can go about it in an effective manner, my students will become much more involved in the learning process and be excited about learning. When I was in school, I could always tell a difference in the teachers that were excited about teaching and those that just considered it a way to put food on the table. The teachers that were enthusiastic about teaching always got the students excited about what kinds of things we were going to learn next. We couldn't wait to see what kind of project or experiment we were going to have the next day. However, those that were just there to get paid always made us feel uncomfortable, almost like we were walking on eggshells. Those are the teachers that made me feel like I couldn't ask questions or make statements in class. A teacher's outlook on learning and teaching can affect students a lot more than many people understand. If can literally make or break a student's ability and desire to learn. Ron Clark has many excellent ideas to make learning fun and exciting for students. I definitely plan on taking some of his ideas and incorporating them into my classroom.