Forgive me if this is wordy.  I found so many great quotes within this chapter and wanted to utilize them in my reflection.  I hope you enjoy reading it.  J

 “Good schools have cultures where it makes sense for faculty to teach all students well and for all students to learn well.” (p. 341)  Doesn’t this quote sum it up?  I don’t really know.  I tend to look at wording and opinions of others a little more critically since taking Rhina’s class this year.  What makes a school a “good school”?  Shouldn’t it just say “schools” and not “good schools”?  I think maybe so.  School culture should foster community among staff and the staff should take pride in educating the students well.  At least that’s how I feel.  I believe that to be an educator means that you take pride in educating each child to the best of your ability.  “…There is a strong likelihood that highly trained and experienced teachers are valuable resources.” (p. 351), which I firmly believe.  They are the ones responsible for the school culture.  However it cannot be done by teachers alone.  Administration is the backbone of school culture and if the backbone is missing, nothing else matters.  “All students at a school—not just the highest achieving ones—need access to the best teachers available.” (p.351)  Shouldn’t the best teachers available be the best trained and most experienced?  I think not.  As it states in this chapter experience is great and it helps us become better if not our best, but it is not everything.  I think that to be a well trained teacher you have to use every opportunity to learn from your experience and most importantly your students.  However, if the school administration is not supporting these experienced and well trained teachers, high rates of teacher turnover happens and the “good ones” go elsewhere.  “All schools say they are committed to all of their students’ learning; and some schools do translate this spoken value into a school-defining theme.  When schools offer all students an intellectually rich curriculum and expect all of them to perform well, students get the message, “We believe you can do it”. (p. 345)  To sum it all up, I believe that it simply goes back to school culture beginning with and being fostered by the faculty and staff of that school.  The administration is the role models for the teachers, who are in return role models for the students who then set standards for learning based on their students and their needs.