Christensen Chapter 8

I think this was an excellent chapter, and one that most of us could easily relate to in regard to our own high school experiences. As a student who took honors and AP courses all through high school I perhaps was on the other end of the spectrum. For instance, throughout my entire education I took advanced classes, was used to having hours upon hours of homework each time, and learned to adapt to a fairly rigorous schedule. However, my senior year I began to get burnt out with taking advanced classes in all my core subjects. My last semester I dropped my AP English class (ironic right, now that I'm becoming an English teacher) and took a general untracked class in its placement. Also, that semester I became a teacher's assistant for a remedial chemistry class and this really opened my eyes to the difference that teachers and students interacted between AP classes, and untracked general courses. For instance, I was surprised at the lack of effort, particiapation, and motivation that students in untracked classes which in my experience had a direct result with the teacher at hand. Ultimately, the teacher didnt enjoy the class and didn't find a need to encourage students that were labeled as average and the students behavior reflected this. Likewise as the teacher aid I saw students in some of these classes that had the potential to do great things, and could succeed if they were given the opportunity to  be placed into other classes. I recognize why tracking is used, but feel that there are many cases where students fall between the cracks, and that as teachers we should treat each class with the same level of motivation, and not be afraid to push students a bit harder. Just because a student is in English 10A instead of AP Composition, does not mean that they do not have the potential to do great things. It is our personal responsibility to be knowledgeable about English, and pass on our love, our passion, our ideas onto students. If we do not show students that we believe in them, and that they have the potential to do great things, who will?