Book Study: Working the Crowd and Room Arrangement (Chapters 1-4)

For a link to the prompt click here.

Chapter One:
"... teacher quality is the single most important in-school factor influencing student learning and achievement."  Do you agree or disagree with this statement.  Support your answer with statistics, research, or personal experiences and observations (must give specific examples for experiences and observations).

-I do agree with this statement. If someone has a teacher that doesn't have the passion for teaching, then the students won't learn. I have had teachers who were amazing, cared about teaching, and I did very well in my class. Then I had teachers who didn't care about teaching, and I did poorly in their class.

Chapter Two:
According to Jones, what is the best way (3 steps) to give corrective feedback to a student who is stuck?  Give an example of how you can do this with a student in your field site classroom.  Write the dialogue of what you would say.

-The best way to give corrective feedback is: Praise, Prompt, and Leave. In my classroom this would look like:
Me: Good job! These first two problems were done exactly the way they were supposed to be! On the third problem, instead of doing "x" what should you do?
Then let the student correct the problem themselves.

Chapter Three:
Look at the room arrangement in your field site classroom.  What obstacle or obstacles prevent you from "working the crowd?"  Describe how they hinder the teacher. 

-In my middle school field site classroom, the desks are arranged in rows with the teacher desk at the front of the classroom. This prevents me/the teacher from "working the crowd" because it allows for there to be a large 'green zone', and the teacher cannot be near the majority of the class at all times.

Chapter Four:
According to Jones, where should the teacher's desk go?  Where would you position the teacher desk in your field site classroom?  Why would you select that location?  Give reasons supported in your reading.

-The teacher's desk should go 8ft within the students' desks. I would keep my desk towards the back of the classroom. I would do that because I feel like that way it is easier to see what everyone is doing when your students think that you're not looking.