Sarah Gee TC 7

This chapter was all about KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program). This was developed by Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin, both of whom were fed up with the way things were working in their inner city school district. They develop the program and got all the best teachers in their district to help with the program. In this program the students not only learn to be good scholars but they also learn to be confident, to be excited to go to college, to be kind and friendly with other people. Those are just as important as good academia. Their motto was “Work hard, be nice.” They pay particular attention to the habits that their students are forming right from the very beginning. They stop and correct as soon as an error is made, for behavior as well as for important academic concepts. They don’t just gloss over them either they let the class learn all together, they discuss why the behavior was bad and what could be done in its stead. That way everybody is involved in learning what is acceptable and what is not. As the children progress and follow the rules they earn privileges. They earn desks after they learn keep their eyes on the teacher (track), clap in unison, and “act like KIPP students”. They learn right off the bat that their effort means something and will matter if they want to get those privileges.

Key Concepts:

Establishing good habits is easier than fixing bad habits; therefore, mistakes should be addressed as soon as they are made.

Talent is earned through effort that must be shown by the way we celebrate student’s hard work and attention to detail.

Signals must be fires quickly and accurately, especially signals coming from teachers. If a student doesn’t get quick feedback they won’t know about the mistakes or the progress they are making. They will know that you don’t really care about them or the success they may or may not have in the future. They may not understand it in those words exactly but they know.

Key Words:

Attention to detail

KIPP

Connections:

I just kept thing about my elementary experience. How I hated to go because I didn’t feel like was smart enough and was always being picked on by other kids. I loved to do homework though. I always loved feeling like I understood something after working on it hard.