This article mentions that this teacher, "...thought deeply about how to stretch her students, whose ceilings of possibility often go unexplored in heterogeneous classrooms. She was a good teacher in that setting."(p. 1) I was extremely impressed by her strengths and accomplishments, but it also made me wonder what her weaknesses were.
This article made me self-reflect and think about my strengths and weaknesses. I also realized that I don't differentiate much in my classrooms because I don't know how. I'd have to sit in someone's classroom to learn this, because reading a book about differentiation will not compare.

This stage was the easiest for me to understand. Though I have many things to learn about teaching, the ideas covered in this stage were simple to understand (compared to the other stage of course). I can't wait to take this knowledge and see how it works in a real classroom setting!

Lectures, Lectures, Lectures

"An understanding can never be 'covered' if it is to be understood" (pg. 229). This statement caught my attention because I've heard many teachers complain (including myself) about how the class is "not getting it" even though they have covered the material for over a week. This chapter goes on and talks about how teachers sometimes need to stop lecturing and let students unravel some important concepts and that "timing is everything".
On page 246 the question, "When should I state the purpose of the lecture and when should I let it be inferred?" gave me a few ideas as to how I will present fractions to my class. Instead of explaining the importance of knowing fractions, I will give them an assignment that will hopefully help them see it for themselves.

WHERETO

I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with the many high demands of being a teacher. There are thousands of issues teachers have to deal/think about on a daily basis; it's never ending. I want to be a perfect teacher (though I don't think it's possible for anyone to ever accomplish this), and after reading this chapter I realized that I have a LONG way of getting there. For example, if my lessons were tested using the "WHERETO elements in instructional planning", I would probably do poorly because I have yet to learn engaging activities for my students. I know I'm here to learn and grow, but I can't help but feel frustrated that some of my lessons may not "hook" my students.

Assessments

Wow, this stage has definitely changed my way of thinking. To me, assessing students used to mean giving a test after every chapter of the book. Assessments don't have to be an hour long, some are short like the "fist of five" for example.
I also realized that I do have different strategies of assessing, I just didn't know I was doing it. However, the nontraditional assessments I would conduct had many loop holes to them. As my students would exit class, I would ask every student to tell me where the numerator and denominator were located. "The numerator is on the top, and denominator is on the bottom", my students would answer, but I never thought of asking them questions such as, "What does a denominator/numerator/fraction represent?"

The Golden Ticket

My self-test went better than I thought. I didn't mark the "very unlikely" boxes, but I did have a few "somewhat likely" boxes marked. I had an assessment where I ask each student the same question as they exit the classroom (this is their ticket to leave), but the problem with this is they can repeat/"parrot" exactly what the student in front of them says. This is one of my favorite quick assessments, but I will have to alter it. I'm now thinking of creating about five questions and randomly choosing one for each student.

This chapter had a section that talked about self-tests to see if my assessments are "appropriate". To check whether my criteria and rubrics are appropriate I'm to consider the following questions: "Could the proposed criteria be met but the performer still not demonstrate deep understanding? Could the proposed criteria not be met but the performer nonetheless still show understanding?" (p. 188) If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then my criteria of not good enough yet.
So my question is what if I created an assessment where the answer would be yes for some students and no for others? What I'm trying to say is, what if my criteria worked for most of my students, but not all? What if I come across a student that wants to memorize the procedures and refuses to "think"?

I don't know if I made myself clear, but I'm just writing all these questions that come to mind :)