Fires In The Bathroom Analysis

After reading the Fires books, they had raised interesting questions, and contained new and unique insights to, teaching, the classroom, and the field of pedagogy as a whole. In Cushman’s Fires in the Mind (2010), we observed the delicate dichotomy of teaching to students one on one, and as a class. On top of that, what it meant for someone to become a “master” in specific subject areas and how to maintain motivation to get there. In Cushman’s Fires in the Middle School Bathrooms (2008), we felt it discovered the insights to communication in the classroom and the relationship between teacher and student that it brought. Finally, in Cushman’s Fires in the Bathroom (2003), we came to the conclusion that the main focus was twofold, first a sociological …show more content…
The first part, the deal, is as follows: if the teacher will make the knowledge worth learning, and that the students will pay attention in class (Cushman, 2003). Cushman recommends multiple things to keep in mind for motivating learners: Making learning a social experience, care about learner’s progress, and model good work (2003). Students are conditioned to ignore a teacher droning on, but, if a pedagogue has students engage their peers in group discovery the desire to fit in will keep their attention (Cushman, 2003). Direct positive encouragement from a pedagogue often does a much better job at encouraging students then grades (Cushman, 2003). Modeling is something every teacher does, and, if a teacher models with good intentions they will model self-regulation, organization, and motivation (Cushman 2003). The next theme Fires in the Bathroom is the assertion that teachers have to be fair, and respected in order to build trust with students (Cushman, 2003). Fairness in the eyes of the students requires the teacher to do two things: explain at the beginning of class what is expected, and prove to the students that they will be treated with consideration (Cushman, 2003). Respect requires the teacher to take themselves, their work, and the classroom seriously (Cushman, 2003). When students trust a teacher it means they are trusting that the information they are being taught is correct and valuable, it also means they can trust that teacher to make fair decisions (Cushman, 2003). The third theme in the book is the creation of a classroom community. Cushman has two things in mind when classroom as a community: the perspective of each individual learner, and, the perspective from the classroom as a whole. To understand individuals teachers need an understanding what makes the students