Chapter+1

This is a place to share your reflections and practice for Chapter 1. We can add pictures and other visuals by clicking "EDIT" in the upper right part of the screen. Or, we can just share our comments, or respond to others', by using the "Discussion" button up top.

"...teachers should be enthusiastic regularly and intensive selectively" (5).
__**Journal for Chapters 1 and 2 from “The Highly Engaged Classroom”**__

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Charles Condello

(**Note**: For this particular course, I have chosen to “bullet” the information which I find interesting and useful. Normally, my style of journaling, writing and just taking notes is very much in a narrative style. However, I believe that using the “bulleted” method to indicate key points of interest will be most useful to me in the classroom and points that I can speak to (I hope) in our group. Of course, many of the points which I list will be obvious points that we all know are true and useful, but still need to be mentioned as a matter of course. Most of the bulleted items below are direct quotes from the text. Also, the bulleted items which are bolded are what I refer to as “take away” items, i.e., always useful and in the teacher’s “toolbox.”)

__**Chapter 1**__ “Research and Theory”


 * **When students feel enthusiastic, they are more disposed to engage in new behaviors and tasks.**
 * **Any classroom task that raises the level of activity in the classroom can help heighten students’ energy levels.**
 * **Pacing is key when transitioning from one activity to another.**
 * **Physical activity is connected to enhanced engagement.**
 * The part of the brain that processes movement is the same part of the brain that processes learning.
 * **Physical activity has been associated with improved cognitive functioning.**
 * **A positive demeanor on the part of the teacher is the second most general influence on emotional engagement. (I seemed to have missed the “most” important general influence. Help from anybody?)**
 * **Teacher enthusiasm facilitates student achievement.**
 * A teacher’s positive demeanor is also communicated by using humor, reduces stress in students and promotes creative thinking.
 * If students sense they are not welcome, accepted or supported in the classroom, it is unlikely that they will engage in classroom activities.
 * **The longer students are rejected by their peers, the less likely they are to participate in classroom activities.**
 * “Triggered situational interest” involves capturing a student’s interest.
 * “Maintained situational interest” involves holding a student’s interest over time.
 * **(My primary way of remembering is** __**Sensory Memory**__**.)**
 * (Discuss “The Self-System, p. 13. Very interesting.)
 * Students are more likely to engage in school goals that are linked to their personal goals.
 * (Seem to have found a glaring “oversight” in Self-Theories” on p. 16. Discuss with class. Very interesting.)
 * The model of “engagement” needs to be translated into both short-term and long-term strategies.