Fires in the Bathroom Chapter 1

The part of this chapter that struck me the most was the exemplary questionnaire for teachers to hand out to their students on the first day of classes. It suggested a simple survey of the students basic information (name, age, family info) as well some questions about their activities and the way they feel they learn best. The author recommends this as a useful tool for breaking the ice and beginning to know your students in order to better plan how to reach them, and I whole heartedly agree with this approach.

I liked this part of the chapter because I've had a lot of experience with it as a student and have found it really successful. It's nice to enter a classroom and see right away that a teacher cares about getting to know you both generally and specifically about your learning style. Most of my teachers utilized a survey that looked a lot like the one offered in the chapter but the ones who chose not to "break the ice" like this always stuck out to me as not caring as much about me or their other students. I think I will really take advantage of this because it is simple and a fast way to collect basic clues to my student's lives that will help understand why they function the way they do in class. I would not want to start right into my curriculum without having taken the time to let my students know that their lives are relevant and important to me.