Chapter 6

What Isa stated in her Chapter 4 post, that allowing students to feel a degree of ownership in class assignments it helps prepare them to make meaningful choices for themselves in the future, directly relates to both the why and how we do things, as well as, the use of pronouns.  While teachers wear many hats sometimes we spend more time explaining how to do a specific assignment (or learn a specific skill) without explaining to the student why it is important to learn it.  I have heard teachers give the excuses “you’re at school to learn” or “it’s part of the curriculum I didn’t make it up” instead of giving the actual reason why the assignment/subject or skill is important.  

That directly ties into the use of pronouns in the classroom.  I have heard during both my high school career and during my practicums, “This is my classroom if you don’t like it get out!”  That statement makes it very clear that the students have very little ownership of their learning environment, which often results in lack of interest.  If students had ownership over their classroom (even for just the class period) it helps create a productive environment and contagious positive behavior.  This also helps create mutual respect in the classroom, which again aids with desired behavior.