For this weeks post on Tompkins chapter 7 I really liked Rachel's format and also found this chapter to be rather beneficial in laying out the key elements that work together to build students' comprehension of texts; however, I feel like she did an excellent job in explaining these eight components and her experiences with them in her collaborating classroom; therefore, I am going to focus on a few other aspects of the chapter in an attempt to avoid redundancy and bring some other aspects (which I believe to be equally important) to the surface.

Besides the eight components of comprehension I really liked that Tompkins pointed out some different teacher and student factors which contribute to the students' attitudes and overall attention and motivation. In regards to the teacher's role, some of the factors that were pointed out were the teacher's attitude, the community which they create within their classrooms, the instructional approaches they choose to use, and the system of rewards which they use (236-237). In my collaborating classroom I have been paying special attention to these factors in regards to the pedagogy of my CT. My CT, pretty much on a daily basis, is very positive and enthusiastic in regards to her teaching attitude. She shows her interest in the curriculum, therefore causing her students to become interested in what they are learning. This is an additional part of creating a good community within the classroom. I think that building such a community requires the teacher to be enthusiastic and excited about coming to school and engaging within each lesson.

One aspect of my CT's pedagogy that I have noticed her struggling with is her use of a rewards system. Throughout my participation and experience within her classroom she has always struggled (not excessively, but noticeably) with her classroom management, as they are a group of very, very social first graders. In an attempt to improve this classroom management she has tried many different things. One reward system that has been pretty effective is her "points for rows" system in which the students' desks are organized in rows, those rows who are collectively working hard and well-behaved earn tally marks and earn things from extra recess time to candy; those rows who are not acting accordingly will not get points or may lose points. This strategy seems to work some of the time but sometimes students will not listen eventhough they know it results in the whole row losing points. One newer reward system she has been trying out is what she refers to as "special buddies". This involved her drawing two mystery names from a mug; if those students are well-behaved throughout the lesson they are then rewarded with a prize of some sort. This seems to be more successful because the students do not know who the "special buddy" is and therefore most of them are trying to earn that prize. Being in her classroom I have seen how her instruction strategies and her use of different rewards systems play such a large role in her students' learning and the overall management of the classroom. Especially at such a young age (I would say K-2) I feel that these teaching factors are very important and really do make a difference in their attitudes towards their education and as a result affect their overall digestion of the curriculum and material.

Tompkins teacher factors directly relate to the student factors that she points out. One factor that contributes to student attention and motivation is whether or not the teacher clearly lays out her/his expectations for students learning; when teachers set high expectations for their students, and believe that they will succeed then "it is more likely they will" (236). Another factor that Tompkins points out as contributing to students' interest and level of engagement within the content of the curriculum, and actually learning that content, is the use of collaboration within the classroom (236). Collaboration can be so beneficial because working in pairs and small groups puts a completely new spin on learning. Students are not just sitting at desks doing individual work but they are actually striving towards goals with their classmates, many times with their friends.

The final factor Tompkins points out that I wanted to highlight, as I believe it plays a huge role in getting students excited about learning, is providing them with the ability to make their own choices in regards to their learning. When students are able to make their own choices they "develop more responsibility for their work and ownership of their accomplishments", this leads to them becoming more interested in what they are learning because, after all, it is something they chose to learn about! (237). Many times in my corresponding classroom students are given the opportunity to make choices in regards to their learning. Some specific examples I have observed are choosing their own books to read, choosing prompts that they can write about, and in mathematics sometimes creating their own problems, something that can be fun and additionally very beneficial to their mathematical comprehension.