Curriculum is important, focused & engaging....

in chapter 5 it gives two different scenarios about a student and his math and german teacher. it mentioned hos both the teachers were "solid with curriculum" and they both instructed that "there will be no messing around in here." the big difference in the classrooms he said was that his math teacher taught algebra. his german teacher taught him german. this child was asking for his teachers to invest in him. one responded by saying the information is here, i'll deliver it, you get it. the other teacher actually took the time to get to know the child. that teacher did whatever it took, and fully invested in that child to make sure that they were a better human being coming out of that classroom.
we can not expect our students in return to be fully invested in the instruction we are giving unless it is engaging. the reading this week mentioned a few things to consider when in the classroom:
1. the work is important
2. the work is focused
3. the work is engaging
4. the work is demanding
5. the work is scaffolded.
when we as teachers make the curriculum engaging students start to find meaning in the work, find it intriguing, see themselves and their world in their work, see value in others, provokes their curiosity and are finally absorbed in the work.
These two chapters to me, seemed to focus a lot on making the material we teach to the students relevant to them, and it gave many approaches on how to do this. i'm not going to go into the different approaches because i feel like that would make this blog more structed. and i would rather have it consist of my feelings about the reading.