AVReading

As a young teacher, I remember visiting the classrooms of my mentors and being awed by their ability to lead the group rather effortlessly through a learning experience.  On a superficial level, I was impressed by the attentiveness and orderliness of the group.  Students did not talk out of turn, they had their materials ready, they had thoughtful things to say. It felt just like a scene from Dead Poets Society or even Harry Potter where nearly all of the classroom scenes reflected a very eager or (at the very least) a very compliant collection of students.              Unfortunately, my observations were entirely misguided.  For starters, my data set was limited to fictional classrooms or-- in the event of my mentors-- Honors and AP classes where the level of participation  is different from the average on-level or intervention class, which I was much more likely to teach.  Furthe...