Christensen ch 8

I never experienced tracking in my high school and so this chapter was pretty interesting to me. If I wanted to take an AP course, that was my choice. We didn't need to take another class or get a certain score or get a recomendation from another teacher to get into any class at all. I never thought I was that great in English until I decided to take an AP english class. I really don't know why I ever thought I could take the class, because in a way, only certain students took AP classes and I was one of those students that wasnt exactly the greatest in the school. I did notice, just as Christensen said, that the students who have not succeeded were the most creative.

It was interesting that she talks about teaching to untracked students and the activites that she has done with them. The ones that that had no real self confidence in the subject, or were the "bad readers". Motivating these students to WANT to read will probably be the hardest thing, but making reading come to life, such as using the tea party, could help. I think the hardest thing for me will be answering "WHY!? why do I have to read? I hate it.." its hard to share motivation with other students that just have been beaten down with "you're just not good at reading and writing."