Running head: ASSIGNMENT 2 1

Assignment 2

Cayenne Gabaylo

Chaminade University Education Division

EDUC 632: Learning Environments

Dr. Brina Ganigan

January 22, 2023

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After reading chapter 3 of Teach Like a Champion 2.0: 62 Techniques That Put Students

on the Path to College, I learned that teaching “without apology” is to teach every subject with

the same enthusiasm and enjoyment as you would with your most favored subject. Negativity

within the classroom can drain students in morale and willingness to learn. By holding yourself

accountable for the success of the classroom, it’s necessary to also master (or be proficient) any

subject you teach. Maybe that’s a standard that I personally hold myself to, but as a teacher, my

biggest concern is providing students with the knowledge necessary to succeed. I would want

students to be able to challenge themselves and feel a bit of frustration before being elated when

they finally understand the content. The book suggests that if a teacher were to constantly

apologize for rigorous content, the student would assume either the teacher or themselves are to

blame for the level of difficulty (Lemov, 2015). Additionally, they might see the content itself as

too difficult and would lose interest in the subject or class as a whole. My personal note is that

the attitude a teacher brings to each class is what the student reflects on when learning said

subject. If the student were to see an unenthusiastic teacher boorishly lecturing about slopes the

student would assume slopes are boring and wouldn’t want to pay attention to the lesson.

However, if students were to see an enthusiastic teacher teaching them about slopes in various

rigorous ways, they might enjoy that a lot better than the previous example.

Within the text, Chapter 3 discusses the benefits and dangers of making content “accessible.” I

believe what the text describes is a method in which teachers avoid unwanted subjects by

ultimately replacing the material with favorable substitutes that actually don’t connect/expand on

the actual content. I relate this back to what I said at the beginning, accountability. As an

educator, we should know what we are supposed to be teaching and what we want to teach.
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When we replace rigor with substitutions it’s important to ensure that the substitutions are of the

same rigor, and will connect or expand on the actual content being taught. In relation to the

technique of teaching “without apology” I think it’s a great reminder for all teachers, especially

ones who feel a bit burnt out and need to motivate themselves (because we all feel that way at

some point in our careers.)

In fact, I actually use this approach in my current classroom teaching birth to five. The program I

teach in made a big shift in their curriculum, at first focusing on school readiness, but now has

shifted to Hawaiian culture. This shift has caused a divide in determining whether HIDOE school

readiness and Hawaiian culture can meld together in unison. As such, we strictly teach Hawaiian

culture now, leaving out the school readiness portion that we used to offer. Instead of learning

their alphabet and how to count, students are learning about the legends of Maui and wa’a

(canoe) making. Of course, the level of rigor has changed, especially for the type of age group I

teach. In order to accommodate this change in content while also providing the best education I

can provide, I follow the rules set by admin while also expanding upon the content. For example,

before singing the Hawaiian moon phases song I’ll sing a song counting down the spaceship to

head to the moon in English (that way students can practice their counting and the content still

correlates to the lesson. To recap, I believe that teaching “without apology” consists of having a

positive attitude towards the taught material, being able to master and teach the content well, and

lastly to encourage engagement and rigor through positive follow-ups, and accessible content

(when done right).

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References

Lemov, D., & Atkins, N. (2015). Teach like a Champion 2.0: 62 techniques that put

students on the path to college. Jossey-Bass, a Wiley brand.