Fecho Ch. 1-3 Key Points

In the first chapter of Teaching for the Students, Bob Fecho laments that our education system often views students one-dimensionally and treats them according to their perceived ability based on test scores. In the chapter he states, “If we perceive Marisol to be a good student, then she is most always viewed in terms of the strengths she brings to learning. However, if we perceive her as a struggling student, then the focus becomes what she is incapable of doing (12)” This quote really resonated with me because of how students are viewed at Miami Central. Recently, a selection of students in the 9th and 10th grade were labeled the “Hot 30” meaning that their interim scores in reading project that they are the most likely to pass the FCAT in the spring. These students have been given extra attention by interventionists, are being sent to reading camps, and even got specially designed t-shirts to pump them up before the FCAT. This type of blatant categorization makes the group of selected students assume that they are better than their peers and causes the students who were not selected to assume that they will fail the test no matter how hard they work. In my brief experience as a teacher at Central, I have found that this type of labeling students as a “good student” or a “bad student” severely affects students’ performance and attitude towards learning. For example, I have noticed that students who have always been labeled as “gifted” assume that every time they raise their hand they will have the “right” answer. This makes them less likely to consider other students’ perspectives who are not in the same “gifted” category as they are. In addition, students who are made to believe that they are “low” do not want to contribute their opinions in class. This is unfortunate because it creates a learning environment in which students are not willing to make themselves uncomfortable in order to grow intellectually. Sometimes those students who are labeled as “gifted” have just learned to follow the patterns of the curriculum and regurgitate information on tests. On the other hand, some of the students who have been labeled as “low” think unconventionally and may have a unique perspective to share in class. Ultimately, this simplistic view of students that Fecho criticizes discourages the dialogue that is necessary for students to think critically.

In chapter two of this book, Fecho calls into question the current tendency of teachers to merely transmit information to students. He describes the transformation of his classroom into an environment in which students were, “producing and acting upon our own ideas- not consuming those of others (22)”. Especially in underperforming schools, there seems to be an emphasis on catching students up and making sure that they are being fed the same information as students in high-performing schools. While it is important to teach the canon so that students are not lost when they find themselves competing against students at higher performing schools, there is often a lack of acknowledgement of these students’ unique experiences that would help them to interpret content from new perspectives. For example, the meaning that students from low-income communities generate from The Great Gatsby may be entirely different from the meaning that students from wealthier communities create because there is a great contrast in their cultures and life experiences. However, both groups of students can make meaningful connections to the themes in the book and can produce and act upon their own ideas in the process of reading and interpreting the novel.

In the third chapter, Fecho explains that he views writing as interconnected, meaning that what he writes today is a reflection of what he has written in the past and what he will write in the future. This view on writing made me think of the value of having students do a portfolio as a form of assessment. Traditionally, each writing piece in school is seen as a separate entity, and we often don’t look to a writing piece from our past to help us with a writing piece that is due in the future. This is because writing pieces are often seen as assessments of our understanding rather than something from which we can also generate meaning. I think that having students make a portfolio of their writing and reflecting on the pieces that they include in it provides an opportunity for students to view their writing as a more fluid process from which they can draw conclusions about themselves and the commonalities of the varied texts that they have read throughout the year.