Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire

Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire:
The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56

True excellence takes sacrifice, mistakes,
and enormous amounts of effort.
After all, there are no shortcuts.

---Rafe esquith  

What I've learned from the book:

• 1. Lawrence Kohlberg's Six Levels of Moral Development

The author of this book, Rafe Esquith, incorporated the six level into his class, thus creating a classroom of fun, interaction, and trust. What's more splendid is that his classroom, Room 56, is void of fear.

The following are the six levels of Moral Development as mentioned in the book:

Level 1: Don't Want to Get in Trouble      

Level 2: I Want a Reward
(Proper behavior is expected, not rewarded.)

Level 3: I Want to Please Somebody

Level 4: I Follow the Rules

Level 5: I Am Considerate of Other People

      (You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.)

      (Kindness really is contagious.)

Level 6: I Have a Personal Code of Behavior and I Follow It

       (Level 6 behavior is the most difficult to attain and just as difficult to teach.)

• 2. While reading the chapter, "Reading for Fun", I cannot agree with Rafe Esquith more as to his view of reading.
  (1) Teaching our children to read well and helping them develop a love of reading should be our top priorities.
  (That's what I endeavor to do in my own classroom.)

(2) Reading is not a subject. Reading is a foundation of life....If a child is going to grow into a truly special adult - someone who thinks, considers other points of view, has an open mind, and possesses the ability to discuss great ideas with other people - a love of reading is an essential foundation.

(Reading is arguably a habit that connotes thoughtfulness, education, and even high-mindedness.)  

• (3) Our children need to have adults constantly reading and discussing books with them. We need to be the people we want our children to become.

   (A teacher should act as a model to his/her students by being an avid/a voracious reader.)

• (4) In the end we must measure a child's reading ability by the amount of laughter exhaled and tears shed as the written word is devoured.

(Part of the fun of reading is in the joining our own experience to that of a story or a character. We feel, think, and understand. We develop empathy and compassion and become a better person.)

• 3. In reading the chapter "Writing", I came across the sentence:

     Writing might just be the key that unlocks a child's heart.

     We should encourage our students to write their thoughts down so that they can keep track of what is happening in their lives. Writing enables students to become better thinkers and learners. It also helps them share their experience and ideas.

      There's a lot more to learn from this book. It's worth reading again and again.