Teacher Advisories - A Proposal for Change (Ch.12)

Abstract
This chapter begins with a beautifully written story of a teacher advisory adventure had by a middle school classroom. The experience was shared to reflect the different lessons learned by students in that single day of outside adventure that involved community and physical activity. The students gave some examples of what they received from the experience and the general consensus was a vast benefit for the students, especially with learning something about themselves. The chapter then moves into an explanation of advisory programs and how they have evolved in recent years. Full-day advisory has taken the place of separated advisory meetings only scarcely throughout the weeks with the students and only amounting to about an hour or so of time. The newest idea of full-day advisory gives the students, volunteers, and teachers a chance to have a real experience that most likely involves service, physical activity, reflection, and a social aspect. This is very beneficial to the relationships of those involved as well as the personal triumphs that can be achieved in that single day. A chance to learn something about oneself and those surrounding you should be taken advantage of, and this experience allows that opportunity.

Reflection
I have always loved the idea of learning outside of the classroom. I think it is such a cool thing when students and teachers get to share an experience like the one described in the text. Some kids simply need a little bit of a lifeline, a group of people that they can work on relationships with and get to know. The students benefits out of these advisory days extend beyond some of the things they can learn in a classroom. In the case in the book the students learned a little bit of survival, a lot about themselves, and even more about their classmates. Those connections and realizations sometimes need outside forces to make an impact, which makes perfect sense with these types of days. The chapter provided a lot of helpful hints for these kind of activities that I will be checking back on to come up with my own similar adventures. My classroom will always be a place for comfort and positive experience, but these types of trips will help me show the students they can find that everywhere if they work at it.