Fires Chapter 3

I took two major lessons from this chapter, and one came from a quote from a student named Maribel. At the very beginning of the chapter, on page 36, Maribel expressed how uncomfortable it makes her to be in a classroom where students are misbehaving, and where it seems that the teacher has lost all control. The other lesson was toward the middle of the chapter, on page 44, when the author suggests that we should look at students as partners in the learning process.

I felt that these two things were important because the first I have experienced myself in schools, and the second I wish I had seen more of. I was always that student that tried to make sure that everybody was doing what they should be doing. It is extremely uncomfortable because you feel bad for the teacher, and when the teacher gets upset with the whole class for their behavior you feel responsible for it somehow. The important lesson that you should take away from this is that you need to create a comfortable and controlled environment for everyone, so you’re not leaving it to your students to feel responsible for other people’s behavior. I felt the second was important because if you have a student who has behavior problems it doesn’t necessarily mean its all their fault. That's where the teamwork comes in, to figure out what is going on and work together to create a plan.