Chapter 2: Respect, Liking, Trust, and Fairness

Students respect good teachers even though they hate the subject or dislike the teacher on a personal level. This jumped out at me because this seemed way too mature to be coming from most of the kids I went to high school with.

I must admit, I was not this mature. I had biases and hated certain teachers whether they were good teachers or not. I learned ALOT in my chemistry class. I still to this day hate that teacher because of who he is as a person. He's not a bad man or anything like that. We just don't see eye to eye on a lot of issues. I think that the above statement is true only on a very small scale or on a superficial level.

Chapter 1: Knowing Students Well

Something that stood out to me was one of things that "Tiffany" said about a chemistry teacher she had. She said that the teacher never asked the class if they were understanding or if they were confused. The teacher kept on talking, "teaching to the whiteboard" so to speak.

This jumped out to me because I have had a few teachers more interested in covering the curriculum or getting through the lesson plan than if we were understanding it. One particular teacher I had was doing this when she realized how quiet the room was. My teacher turned around and looked at us. We all just stared at her with blank looks. So she asked, "does anyone have any questions?" This was definitely a speak now or forever hold your peace kind of question. When no one else even moved, I raised my hand and said, "I don't have a question, I'm so confused that I can't even think of one. All I know is that I don't get it." The teacher looked at me, rolled her eyes, and then continued teaching more material. I guess she thought I was being a smart Alec. I really don't know.