Teach Like a Champion Strategy Reflection Journal

ENTRY #1 Technique # 3 Stretch It Description: Learning should not end with just the correct answer. Teachers should challenge students to go further than what they think they know. Praise students for answering the question correctly, but ask follow up questions to assure they know what they are talking about and get them past having one memorized answer. Observation/Implementation: I see my teacher ask these questions all of the time. The class often participates in group discussion on the carpet. After a student gets a question right, discussion does not end there. The teacher will ask how it applies to different things or asks things that focus on a bigger picture or something even more specific than the answer already given. It gets students brains thinking harder and beyond one, memorized, concrete answer.

Technique # 25 Wait Time Description: Wait Time is the strategic pause you take after asking a question. It takes place after you finished a question and before you ask students to begin answering it. This gives all students a fair chance to answer and time to understand the question. Observation/Implementation: This is a technique I got to try in the classroom. After reading a book outlaid to the class, I began asking questions to review. I quickly observed that the 3 same hands would shoot up after every question. I decided to try this technique to give everyone time to think about their answers. After Wait Time, I saw multiple different hands go up and saw this method as effective.

ENTRY #2 Technique # 47 Emotional Constancy Description: In a classroom environment where everything can seem chaotic and stressful, it is important to keep an emotional constancy. It is key to modulate your emotions and be careful about the language you use in the classroom. Even when a students behaviors begin to anger or upset you, tray and take your emotion out of the conversation. This will help keep tempers from

flaring or having random outburst. It is curtail for students to have a constant relationship with the teacher and have productive behaviors. Observation/Implementation: This is something that my second grade teacher has seemed to mastered. In the past classrooms I have visited, emotions of the teachers have not been constant in the least bit. But no matter what it going on in the classroom, my teacher keeps her cool and handles the situation with the appropriate tone and response. Her moods to do change constantly and this helps students have a better relationship with her. In the past, with teachers that do let their emotions get the best of them, the students never know what is expected of them or how to act because their teachers emotions are flaring and constantly changing.

Technique #6 Begin with the End Description: An important question to ask yourself when planning a lesson is "What do I want students to know or be able to do by the end of the lesson?" Without a specific goal in mind, students can end up doing random task that have no specific outcome. The objective needs to be clear in the teachers mind and also for the students to know. The book recommends utilizing planning as you prepare lessons. Observation/Implementation: In my classroom the teacher always makes it clear to the students what the end objective is. For whatever subject they are in they know what will be expected of them by the end of the lesson. She usually states it before the students begin the lesson and also encourages them with reminding them of it throughout the lesson so they know they are moving closer to their goal. I have seen students in my class get so excited over working to get to the final objective and work hard and stay motivated throughout the entire lesson and see the importance of beginning with the end.

ENTRY #3 Technique #9 Shortest Path Description: Sometimes concepts and lessons can be overcomplicated. This normally ends with both the teachers and the students being frustrated. Most of the time the shortest path, or the simplest explanation, is the best. Students often get lost in the "wordy" complicated instruction and lessons. Even switching between methods will help keep students motivated, but don't always choose the long route. Observation/Implementation: This is something I was able to personally experience in the classroom. When helping a table with a math lesson, I saw that most of them were confused on how to solve a certain type of problem. I began to explain and over-complicate the answer and

strategy to use. I was too wordy and it took to long to where by the time I was done, the students seemed even more confused. Back-tracking over my mistake, I put it into the simplest terms I could think of. Immediately the students starting connecting to the lesson they could finally understand.

Technique #15 Circulate Description: Teachers are not supposed to just go back and sit at their desk after a lesson, but to circulate. Instead of retreating back to the desk, hold students accountable by walking round the classroom and engage students. This ensures that students don't sit back an waste time, but since the teacher is watching, they are actively participating and thinking about the task that needs to be done. Observation/Implementation: My teacher and I both implement this strategy in our second grade classroom. After the students are all together on the carpet learning a lesson, they go back to their table groups to do a worksheet or some type of activity on the matter. When we are at the table, students immediately start their best work and make sure they show us that they understand what they are doing.

ENTRY #4 Technique #49 Normalize Error Description: There are many joys that come from first getting a question wrong but then discovering the right answer. That is also just a normal part of school. As a teacher you must address but the wrong and the right answer, but you must do it in such a way to make both seem completely normal. A student who gets a right answer should not be overpraised and a student that answers incorrectly should not be reprimanded. This creates an atmosphere great for learning. Observation/Implementation: I have never heard my teacher say "that is a wrong answer." She is always encouraging to the students even if the answer isn't correct. If a student gives an incorrect answer she always leads them in a discussion that will led to the correct answer. That way the students gets to experience the joy of getting an answer correct. Also, when a student answers a question correctly, she never over-praises them to make the other students feel inadequate. Her classroom environment is a safe zone for all answers.

Technique #45 Warm/Strict

Description: The author suggest that teachers seek to be both warm and strict. The warm part of it is having a personality that is positive, enthusiastic, caring, and thoughtful. But a teacher cannot successfully run a class on that only, they also need a healthy balance of being strict. This means you are clear, consistent, firm, and unrelenting. This helps the classroom have structure and know that there are high expectations for the students but also with a teacher that cares and respects them. Observation/Implementation: This is a method I have adopted. For me, it is easy to just be the "warm" side and want them to like me and have fun with me, but there is so much more to teaching than that. I want them to have high expectations and be a well behaved and focused class, this requires the strict side. I have come to a point where my students know I can be nice, friendly, funny, and supportive but they also know I expect them to get their work done and work hard to understand the concepts of the lesson.

ENTRY #5 Technique #39 Do it Again Description: Repetition is key. To do it again and doing it right helps engrain it in students minds. As teachers, we do not want to encourage our students to settle. We must push them to continue to try harder and harder until excellence is achieved. Observation/Implementation: My teacher is not afraid to send a student back to retry an assignment. If the student does a problem incorrectly, she instructs them on what to do to make it correct. Even if student is correct, but the work is not their best, she sends them to do it again. I really admire this in her because it is pushing her students to be the best they can be. And even if a students work is well-done, they will continue to practice the concept just to ensure they truly know the materials.

Technique #34 Seat Signals Description: Seat signals is a simple hand gesture that represents an action the student is wanting to do. This can include things like going to the bathroom or sharpening their pencils. This signal should not be distracting to other students and be something subtle they can do from their seats. The benefits of this is that a student is not disrupting class but asking the question out loud and takes the focus away from questions pertaining to the subject matter. Observation/Implementation: My teacher has a bathroom seat signal. It is simply the student raising their hand with their fingers crossed. When a child raises the signal, she will make eye contact with the student and give a nod. From there the students knows it is ok to go to the

bathroom and gets up without much distraction, gets a bathroom pass, and goes. This is a beneficial strategy because it helps minimize distractions while still addressing the need.