From Daniels and Bizar's, "Methods That Matter"

These are my thoughts and beliefs on what Daniels and Bizar wrote in their book "Methods that Matter."

What is your understanding of Best Practice teaching?

To my understanding Best Practice teaching is a term that I hope to live by every time I enter the classroom. To me it demonstrates a teachers devotion to expressing ideas that are current, respectable, and worthwhile to their students not only for their academic benefit but for their development as a person and member of a community.


What are the tenet's of Best Practice teaching?

To me the tenet's of Best Practice teaching are devoting yourself to learning along with your students. This means listening to what they have to say and reacting to them. Teaching should be student centered, meaning the students are the main focus of the material presented in a classroom. This may include hands on learning or inductive lessons, collaborative group discussions, reflective lessons, democratic classroom descisions. The students should feel responsibility for their work by goal setting and expressing options for students when it comes to picking their own books, writing topics, or research projects to gain their interests and motivation.


What is NOT Best Practice teaching?

In my opinion there are many things that distract students from learning and developing that do not constitute as Best Practice teaching. For example, whole class directed discussion or lecturing really doesn't help students retain the information present, they need to be able to voice their opinions or thoughts. Silence also is not to be rewarded in the classroom, because if students are given an opportunity to voice their opinions then they are actively participating. Another aspect that is not Best Practice teaching is devoting time to "fill in the blank" worksheets or work that is stationary to their seat. Students need an opportunity to move around the classroom and to think critically about the material not just know what happened or specific dates or characters.


How might you use Best Practice teaching in your classroom?

In my classroom I would hope to incorporate new research and new findings into lessons where students would have to think critically and form their own opinions about what a novel or character is feeling in a story. Simply knowing the plot is not enough, students should indentify with one or more of the characters in a book and relate their experiences to that of the key players in the story. I am a firm believer in options for my students; if students are given choices in a rubric for instance they can choose their grade for an assignment or even personalize their projects by choosing a topic that best suits their interests. By doing this students can feel a sense of accomplishment that they tried their best and learned something that they personally were interested in. In an a classroom enviroment such as this I would hope that my students would get a great experience that benifits them as learners but people as well.