"The most important thing I've learned about my students in the past term/year is . . . "

The most important thing I've learned about my students in the past year is that they need and want to learn. I've noticed a significant increase in the day-to-day attendance in my classes this year versus last year. There are less students skipping my class this year than last year. From what I learned at NTI last summer, coupled with the growth of the students, this year's instruction time has been more productive and pleasant. The discipline issues have been almost non-existent as far as my classroom is concerned. I've noticed that once things are set in place and there is order within the instructional environment the students thrive and look forward to that type of environment being maintained. When they enter the classroom before they say hi, they ask me "Are we building today?" Depending on my answer I either get a pleasing gesture or I get a frown and they ask why. This year I have Incorporated writing across the curriculum on Fridays. The students either summarize a current event associated with construction or they do some type of free form writing that deals with the project that we are working on.

I have learned that the students won't verbally tell you that they enjoy learning or that certain projects are teaching them something new. When I put them on special projects that cause them to take the same consideration into account as if they were working on a class project, I find that they are able to make the connection and recall pertinent information to complete the project. Once they realize that they were able to make those connections and they are praised for it, it then we both realize the value of the learning environment we created.