FIAE+B2+Chapter+15


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Nicholas
**Chapter 15:** This chapter covered thirty-six tips to support colleagues as the move toward successful practices for differentiated classrooms. There were several tips that really caught my eye. The first was updating parents and the community. Letting parents know what is going on is huge when trying to get students to become successful learners. Making the community aware of what your goals and aspirations are for students within your school is a great way to get outside resources involved in student learning. Being honest and letting the community become involved in education has many benefits. This may help when trying to decrease the challenges your school may face in the future. Another tip was use humor. Staying positive and using humor can make the journey for change seem a little less stressful. Risk-taking was another tip that caught my eye. You can’t be afraid to take a risk when it comes to education. That is where the most learning can occur for both the students and the teacher. The last tip that really caught my attention was staff health. We have to take care of ourselves as teachers in order to have the energy needed to take on something new. If we, as teachers, are not teaching at 100% than chances are our students are not learning at 100%. Health is important in everything that you do and you have to be aware of your personal health so that you are able to become a successful teacher.

Lizzie
This chapter was really about tips and ideas on how to support your fellow colleagues and friends as they continue to move forward toward practices and methods for differentiated classrooms. Being able to talk to those that you work with, means all the world to your success in the classroom and your students’ success in the classroom. You learn something new everyday from a number of people and this provides the opportunity to further your ideas and thinking on how to better the classroom and your personal teaching. Exploring together is always more beneficial than exploring alone. Some tips that I found within the chapter that would be especially helpful when dealing with fellow teachers/colleagues are: Beyond all of these ideas, this chapter really showing me how important it is to continuously keep learning. As a teacher you don’t stop being a student and become this morphed body, you are still a student but you are an example of educational ability. There is always an opportunity to learn from someone in your life and as I have learned, the students will teach you something new everyday. “It still takes a spark to get a fire going, and as colleagues, we can be both flint and kindling for one another.”
 * When disagreeing- assume that you are on the same side
 * Try to seek first, then to understand
 * If you are feeling stressed then most likely your colleagues are too
 * Reflect on the bigger questions as well as those at hand
 * If there are a majority of people who are embracing a new grading and assessment approach but a minority are not, focus on the majority
 * Create an atmosphere where there is a little pressure to re-examine grading and assessing ideas
 * Create opportunities to discuss ideas and story sharing/make use of communication using e-mail/mailboxes
 * Model, model, model
 * Find funding to accomplish those amazing ideas put forth by teachers/ pursuer additional training
 * Have multiple copies of books and materials
 * Use HUMOR
 * Establish your own core values and make yourself aware of others’
 * Staff health- physical, mental, and emotional