Dec+4-+Marzano+Ch+14

Please post your summaries, opinions, and connections to personal experience here: In chapter 14 by Robert Marzano and Jana Marzano the chapter addresses the "inner world" of teaching. "In the field of education, one finds direct and indirect support for the inner world/outer world connect (p.345)." Meaning that a teacher's inner world effects how she/he controls their outer world. I found the situated goals portion of the chapter to be very interesting. How they compare situated goals to a script that the teacher presents to his/her students. The script in turn is the actual lesson because they say what the script includes near the end of the section. The script or situated goals contains all of the components of a good lesson. The idea of a presenting event was a new concept for me. Having two students in my classroom talking the using my "inner world" to figure out how I should deal with it on the "outer world". The four questions Marzano and Marzano give actually make you think about how you would/should deal with a situation in your classroom appropriately. "She might then consider a more useful interpretation, such as the students' talking, while bothersome, can be viewed as an opportunity to practice some classroom-management strategies she saw modeled in a workshop (pg. 356)." I thought that this scenario modeled a good way to handle a situation such as talking in the classroom rather than calling the students out in front of the whole class. Overall, I found some parts of this chapter a bit confusing but mostly very helpful. The idea of the teacher's "inner world" effecting their "outer world" is something I had never really considered as a pre-service teacher. ** -AK ** Chapter 14 by Marzano and Marzano was a bit confusing to me, however, some good points were made. This chapter basically outlines the thought process which a teacher should go through given an un-planned event in the classroom, and the chapter also goes over internal scripts that we mold into our metacognitive processes. On page 350, Marzano and Marzano mention, "...how we interpret a presenting event dictates how we respond to it." I think this statement is part of the reason why many of us jump to conclusions frequently. If I was lecturing, and I saw students talking in my class, I would immediately think that they were causing a disrupting. I would not take the time to think that they could be discussing something that I was lecturing about, or something relevant to the class. I automatically assume that they are doing something negative and therefore proceed to handle the situation as if they were misbehaving, rather than investigating what they were actually doing. I think that the chapter makes a good statement about jumping to conclusions and assuming things too quickely; atleast that is what I took away from it. The reflexive response mentioned on page 352 is also a good reasoning behind our jumping to conclusions and immediate thought process. As a teacher now, I am going to try and take the time to fully evaluate a situation before mentally deciding what desired goal outcome I would like. I think my students would appreciate it as well, because they won't get in trouble for doing good things in class... I guess it is something I never really considered or took the time to think about before, but now after reading this chapter I will take the time to investigate behaviors more. -- **Caitlin Unterman**

I find chapter 14 to be an interesting change in the readings for student achievement by discussing the effect of teacher efficacy. The discussion on basic operating principals and situated goals could be described a bit clearer, but the fact that each goal stems from a higher, broader goal is kind of obvious. This hierarchical aspect is seen frequently, however I have never seen it explained in this way. Her example of interpreting and event is something that teacher inevitably run into during their teaching careers and you never really think about how you will respond, you just do. You might think about it later, but the outcome of the situation is dependent upon your positive or negative response and as teachers we guide the atmosphere of our classroom, which according to the authors is dependent upon out attitudes. The discussion of metacognitive responses is helpful in understanding the authors point in this chapter, because as I said earlier, people are constantly weighing their reactions and emotions to events throughout their lives whether they are consciously thinking about it or not. This chapter has provided several good examples to her you understand the concepts that are being discussed, but after several confusing sections with a lot of psychological jargon. Their argument of the "inner world" affecting the "outer world" is very logical. I have felt since the first day of teaching that whatever I exude on the outside will affect the atmosphere of my classroom and I have aimed to avoid any negative outcomes.-Helen Phillips

I was heartened to read this after being confronted by some depressing scenes in my practicums of teachers who have very negative attitudes towards their students--one actually said to the entire class that "Jimmy has learned nothing this year!" Teachers have a lot of hats to wear, so to have the decision making process that runs through our head explicated is helpful enough when one is already juggling, but I appreciate the tips to almost "hack" our thinking into more positive patterns and processes. While the research shows teachers with high self-efficacy belief systems lead to beneficial school environments, personally I find this a benefit for my own well-being. In a stressful environment, remaining positive is always helpful, even if it does take some effort. (I say this as a somewhat pessimistic person who has to take steps to do this already!) While I don't think all teachers need therapy anymore than the average man on the street needs therapy, I was impressed with Marzano and Marzano's calling attention to the primary negative events and their continuing influence on future events. By paying attention to these, as teachers we can do our best to keep from perpetuating negative reactions and assumptions in our classrooms, and by being aware of the long-term effects of these situations, we have good reason to be as constructive and positive as we can in our classrooms. Just as we can be seriously changed by an event, so can our students--these same processes play out in their heads, at a much younger and more impressionable age. This means we need to be sensitive to how our students may experience our actions or our classroom environments. I know if I had been the student in my practicum, I would have been very upset about my teacher's statement. I think the boy in question--he's been in self-contained SPED for years--is so hardened to school that it did not have a huge impact, but then, I suspect he's checked out due to so many negative events in earlier years.--Noren Bonner

I really enjoyed this chapter because for the first time in this book, and the first time in this program, I think, someone is addressing the psychology of the //teacher // and not just of the students. On a personal level, I really liked learning about this because I have a great interest in psychology and it's sometimes easy to forget that the psychology of the teacher affects the psychology of the students every single day. How a teacher feels about learning, feels about teaching, the curriculum, the students themselves, affects not only the day to day classroom but their overall approach to teaching (which is why those certain teachers who clearly and vocally do not enjoy teaching always annoyed me). When teachers have a positive approach to their curriculum, the students will most likely recognize that and have a more positive outlook on the subject too.

One thing that teachers must overcome psychologically is putting "bad" students in the "bad" category forever. It is all too simple to write off students who are disruptive or inattentive instead of figuring out why they are doing what they do - one bad instance does not make a student bad forever. It is also easy to put every similar instance in the same category without finding out the facts first. It is easy to yell at a student for talking to a neighbor during class because students have talked aimlessly in the past, without finding out that the student in question was merely finding out what page the class is on. Categorizing events is key to human psychology, but it is important to pay attention to the exceptions to the rule as well. This chapter specifically highlights the many ways our brain takes in and analyzes information, breaking down what the mind does mostly on it's own. At least for a good teacher who wishes to do well in his or her classroom, taking events that happen in the class and analyzing them is something they do naturally, wishing to create the most positive environment possible. Teachers use their thought process, ruling out whether an event is important enough to be bothered with or if it will only create more of a distraction, relatively quickly in order to keep the learning environment as stable as possible. **~Erin Caracappa**

Robert and Jana Marzano’s chapter 14 delves into the teacher’s psyche (interesting territory). It is stated that this chapter is designed to, “help teachers exert more control over their behavior as a consequence of their understanding and control of their thoughts and emotions” (346). Claiming responsibility for why I respond to situations they way I do and being committed to understanding my own responses so that I can make changes where they are needed is a huge undertaking, but a necessary one. As teachers, do we not expect the same from our students when we exercise our own brands of classroom management? I think the Marzanos have a great point. As teachers, we have the power to influence our students, for good or bad, even when we are not conscious of that influence. It is our duty to be metacognitively aware of how we behave in the classroom and respond to classroom situations because, as teachers, we are called to a higher standard—we are the example. When we walk into another teacher’s room, we immediately make connections between that one and our past experiences. Those past experiences are what set the stage for liking or disliking the teacher who belongs to that room. We have lasting effects upon our students, and our students have parents who have also known teachers. Our responsibilities do not end at the last pages of our texts and lesson plans. Whether we like it or not, once we choose to walk into a classroom as the teacher, we choose to partially mold our students into whatever our own shapes are. This is why we must always be striving to improve our minds and our perspectives. I like what my Art practicum instructor, Mr. Roark, has said, “There are students who come in here who have been through more in one night than I have in my whole life, we cannot judge them, and we cannot understand them until we have walked a mile in their shoes.” Cliché, a bit, but quite true. What I take away from this chapter is this: it is important to know myself and my students; and when I find myself in a new situation (good or bad) to take all the time I need to respond instead of react. These words of wisdom are not my own, but both my husband’s and my Great Uncle Whinny’s. They are smart men. ---Holly L. Tucker

Considering the Marzanos’ chapter concerning teacher efficacy, I feel I need to develop strategies to begin developing dealing with presenting situations and my interpretations of them. As my goals drive my behavior, interpretations, and responses it seems fair that I fully understand what my goals are and what other factors influence my behavior. After reading the chapter, I thought back to my time in class observing how the clinical teacher deals with students and distractions and I believe she deals with them negatively. A student who is facing the wrong direction or students chatting in the back of the room are immediately called out with the same harsh tone of voice and expression. This occurs in every class and I feel that there are better ways to deal with these situations. The Marzanos’ explain that there are three questions you should ask yourself before responding to a situation: What is it? Is it positive or negative? How important is it? How do I feel about it? The clinical teacher has expressed to me that she deals with a lot of discipline problems and that kids today lack respect and manners. Drawing from the chapter, I think this biases her towards any distraction that occurs in her class and she immediately believes that students are purposely being disrespectful, so she deals with it negatively. I haven’t seen any attempt to walk around the room to make her presence known, or ask if students are talking because they have a question about the lesson, or ask a student if they are feeling well because they aren’t focusing, or ask a student a surprise question to get them back on task. She also hasn’t assigned seats to keep chatty friends away from eachother, or rearrange the room environment. In life, I usually try to discern what a person’s motivation is before jumping to conclusions, and it only makes sense to do this with my students. When I was teaching my first lesson with her, a few students were quietly talking and I don’t know if I was just too nervous to notice or if it didn’t bother me, but the teacher jumped in and yelled at them to be respectful and to be quiet. While I appreciate her trying to help me out, I would have preferred she let me deal with it in my own way because I did not find it to be too big of a deal and I wasn’t all that concerned; I would have attempted to manage the situation if it became a concern. However, the Marzanos’ suggestion to manage control over my interpretation, control over outcome selection, and control over my response on the spot while in the middle of a lesson seems a bit impossible. I think after teaching for a few years and gaining more experience with the types of situations that might occur will help me prepare to manage them effectively. _Joanna Bourque