Contracts: Reply to Yvette Kelsey

I appreciate your sharing of your personal experiences regarding contracts, Yvette. I agree with your observation that students that had been on contracts for a long time tended to revert to the undesired behavior after a while. I have observed the same thing, and obviously, it is expected of all teachers to keep revising and updating the contract, but who really has time to keep doing that? At some point, you have to say that the contract approach isn't working. Also, it is true that unless all teachers are "on board" with an individual's student's contract, enforcing the contract may break down along the way. The only time I have really seen this work effectively is in the "small schools" approach, where 4-5 teachers share the same 100 kids and they rotate classrooms throughout the day. If the contract originates from the teachers, the student and the parents, and all are committed to the terms, then it may be very effective, and the opportunity to keep tabs on the behavior is not lost. Lots of questions. Good paper!

Assertive Discipline: Reply to Mark Foley

Mark, I totally agree that AD provides a good solid foundation on which to build your classroom discipline plan. New teachers, as you pointed out, may be especially thankful for the simplicity of AD because it does emphasize clear, basic rules, reinforcements and consequences. When you are first starting out as a teacher, there are so many other concerns that you need to minimize the hassle of managing a classroom. Once you have developed a strong personal teaching style, you may begin tweaking your plan and adding new techniques. I don't know of anyone that relies staunchly with one plan or another. Very well-written paper, by the way!

Kounin and Jones: Reply to Kena Clark

I agree with you that the Jones model, if implemented in its entirety and as Jones recommends, can take time out of teaching and instruction. I try not to stop my instruction and direct all of my attention on one student, primarily because I find that while I'm doing this, other students are taking the opportunity to go off-task, or are giving peer support to the student I am trying to discipline. Howvever, I do not agree that it may not work with high school students. I do successfully use some of the Jones recommendations in my high school classes, particularly proximity and eye contact. These things work for the occasional off-task behavior. Of course, for more chronic or serious misbehavior, other techniques are more appropriate. I believe that one has to judge the situation, and decide which action, or model, to use. Every discipline plan is not "one size fits all."

Forgetting: Reply to Heidi Adreon

You mentioned in your paper that you have the kids write down the questions they have and ask them after you have finished lecture. While this is a method you have devised to keep your own memory on track, you may have also found a great method to deepen and improve your student’s understanding of the subject. I was wondering if you encourage your kids to journal their questions and your responses? Journaling the questions on a regular basis may have two important benefits: 1)This will help them to remember their own concerns, ideas and thoughts regarding your lecture and possibly their reading and 2) Provides a written record of the answer (if they actually write it down). Writing , I have found, seems to improve retention, and as you pointed out, retention occurs best when meaning has been assigned to the information learned. The Question/Response technique may be a good way to assist in the information processing process. This exercise could be expanded to cooperative learning strategies, as well. Each group drills another with their questions, allowing the group being drilled to respond. By the time the first round is done, some of the information may have been reviewed at least twice. The more exposure to the information the students have, the more chances there are there will be retention. Also, it may be beneficial to journal questions during their silent reading sessions, which you could then collect and respond to. By journaling the questions, they are linking their understanding of the subject being covered with the reading, thus stimulating the learning that is taking place. It takes more understanding of a subject, I think, to ask a good question than it does to simply fill out a workbook and provide answers to questions already formulated. These questions may also assist during study and review. I remember one of my teachers in middle school required us to compose five questions at the end of each unit we would most like to have answered. He would then take the five questions from each of us, Xerox them into packets, and return them to us. These questions were then used for review. At first, we were a little unsure of how to ask “good” questions, but as he coached us and we became more familiar with the technique, the questions became more sophisticated and easier to write. Eventually, we were encouraged to find our own answers, which I believe really deepened our understanding. Today, I have the kids use a similar method to create a research web: The kids choose a topic, perform some preliminary research, compose the five questions, and then research the questions. After the research is finished, they develop a research web using Inspiration, which I grade. I also generate some of the questions on the unit test from the questions given to me by the kids. Very effective, and they have done most of work themselves and guided their own learning and understanding.

Mnemonics: Reply to Kena Clark

Kena, that's the first time I ever heard the mnemonic for remembering the port side of a boat. Now I am certain that I will never forget it. I have always had trouble remembering which was port and which was starboard. Now I know! Thanks.

Webtexts: Reply to Heidi Adreon

The reading and literacy program advocated by your school seems interesting. I am curious to know more about the self-selected reading portion of the program however. At what age/grade-level is this program initiated? Is the primary goal to achieve reading level or to go beyond the student's reading/grade level? I would be interested to know how many of your students are reading at or above grade level due to this program. I think that too often, we struggle, especially in inner city schools, to just get the kids to read at or near their grade level. Do you find that the students in your district are performing better because of this approach? I also feel that a mixed approach that combines phonics-based instruction with the "whole language" instructional model is best. Because phonics fell out of favor for so many years, we now have hundreds of high school kids that can't spell well at all, or have trouble decoding new words. On the other hand, if the conceptual model is abandoned, students often have difficulty in deciphering words from context, which I do see quite often. I feel that I am somewhat at a loss in critiqueing the reading programs of our public schools, however, because I do not teach reading or elementary school. I do see the results at the high school level, and it seems that something has been missed along the way. Perhaps your district's reading program has some of the answers. I would love it if you could share some of the data your school has compiled since implementing the program.

Story Analysis: Reply to Kerry Rodeffer

Kerry, I had forgotten how this story went, and that the main character kills Zaroff in the end. It is a great story, and I'm glad you chose it to analyze. I am wondering if there isn't also Inter-group conflict as well. I'm referring to the implied conflict between the enthusiasts of wild-game hunting (the ethics of hunting animals) vs. those that hold the sanctity of human life above all else. I believe that there are many people that are avid game hunters, and see nothing wrong with killing innocent animals, but vilify and even terrorize pro-choice and euthanasia supporters. Maybe I'm way off base here, but I always felt that there was a hidden agenda in this story: to reveal the hypocrisy of big-game hunting. Also, I think that there may be a class issue at work here as well. Zaroff was clearly aristocracy and extremely wealthy, whereas the main character and the other ship-wrecked unfortunates were not.

Gangs: Reply to Anne Catey

Anne, a very well-written and informative paper. I wonder if you would mind if I share your paper with our police liason officer? He seems a bit unclear on the structure of gangs. I asked him about party crews and he did not know what those were. I also find it ironic that the FOLKS six pointed star has the LLLWKU motto (Life, Loyalty, Love, Wisdom, Knowledge and Understanding). These values are ones that all of us would agree are essential to leading a good life, but when gangs adopt them into their sub-culture, they mean something completely different. I am sure they are not referring to academic knowledge or cultural understanding.

Topic of Choice: Reply to Kim Baker

Kim, A beautifully written and intuitive paper. I completely concur with your findings. I also strive to maintain a nurturing yet structured atmosphere in my classroom, and every year I get a litle better at balancing the structure with the warmth. I remember the warning from my student-teacher days: "Don't smile until December." I think that this is so the wrong attitude to have. It's good to show that you have humor, warmth and charisma to the students. Of course, like you pointed out, there has to be clear and firm base-line rules established at the first, and that these rules have to be modeled and taught for the students to understand them, but once you have done that, the rest of the year should go quite well. I have not tried formal class meetings yet in my classes, but after reading your paper, I would like to give it a try. Did you run across any data concerning the effects of class meetings in the high school classroom? I wonder how this might work, when the kids are in so many different classrooms throughout the day. Do class meetings positively impact the student's behavior in general, or only while he/she is in the class that has the meetings? I'd be interested in knowing that.