Voices of Educational Pioneers

I don't think that there was one philosopher that I did not find something to agree on. I'd say that my philosophy draws from each one in some way. One educator that I almost completely agreed with is Sappho. She believes in education of the whole student, including physical development. Teachers should be mentors and encourage students to develop and mature socially, mentally, and emotionally. I feel like this is most like my own view of what education should be. If Sappho was a teacher today, I think she would create real-life examples for her student and meet the multiple intelligences with her engaging lessons. She is a good example of a caring educator.

Technology in the Classroom

I enjoyed the creativity of this presentation and the fact that it was very engaging. I learned about many new websites and programs that I had not previously heard of. I would have liked to discuss more in depth ways that these sits can be used in the classroom. Still, it was an exciting and memorable presentation.

Classroom Discipline and Management

There are many different methods of classroom management style. They fall on a spectrum from laisse-faire, which involves little teacher involvement, to an authoritarian style where the teacher is the mighty authority in the class. I doubt that many teachers are far at either end of the spectrum and instead cluster in the middle. There are advantages and disadvantages to any learning style in part due to multiple intelligences. A teacher's style reflects that person's learning style, culture, etc. Students with different MI's or a different family life will have a difficult time learning from that teacher.

I enjoyed the scenario discussion at the end of the lesson. It was very thought-provoking to be placed in an uncomfortable situation and having to come up with the best plan possible to handle it. I definitely believe that it must be difficult to quickly process what to do when two students are fighting in the classroom. I think that the table discussions were very valuable.

Educational Philosophies

Essentialism focuses on a "core of information, hard work and mental discipline, and teacher-centered instruction." The goal of essentialists is to "transmit the cultural heritage and develop good citizens." Students are learners and teachers use lectures, memorization, repetition, and formal discipline to teach.

Behaviorism believes that behavior is determined by environment instead of family. Therefore, the teacher has much ability to control the class by controlling stimuli. A major goal of behavorism is to create an environment for learning that leads to desired behaviors. Teachers use reinforcement, both positive and negative, to teach which behaviors are good and which aren't.

Positivism looks at what is observable and measurable as truth and knowledge. A teacher should clearly identify what he/she is looking for and what students should know and be able to do. Repetition is stressed as a good way to teach students. Positivism carefully bases lessons on content standards,

Democracy is the main focus of progressivism. A major goal is to improve society and every person is included in the decision-making process. A learner in a progressive classroom is always learning, always thinking, and always exploring. The content of curriculum is always changing based on life events.

Humanism focuses on improving the individual. It avoids group work and is centered on student feeling. An individual relationship with students is emphasized and teachers strive to meet individual interests of students.

Contructivism employs hands on projects to teach. A teacher's role is not to lecture but to create "learning situations." Constructivists "encourage the development of critical thinking and the understanding of big ideas rather than the mastery of factual information."

Perennialists teach principles instead of facts. Vocational knowledge is less important than liberal topics. There is a focus on personal development and teacher-centered education.

Reconstructionists believe that there are many problems with society that need to be fixed. The goal of reconstructionism involves examining societal issues and discussing ways to fix them.

Out of all the methods, I feel that I agree most with progressivism. I think that it fits in well with a health curriculum and the way that I want to teach. Some reasons include the flexibility of content based on life experience, the emphasis on forever learning, and the focus on problem solving. I believe that these are all great techniques for teaching health. I also agree that learning should be a process. It is less about the outcome and more about the experience and the learning that took place before the end result.

Schools of Philosophy

There are four well-known philosophies in the education world. The first, idealism, believes that concepts are most important. It focuses on the spiritual world and absolute truths. Idealists teach about ideas or great works that existed before our time since values have remained unchanged from that time. The teacher acts as a leader and role model for students and prefers lectures and discussion

The second philosophy is realism. Realism focuses on what is real, such as "matter." These teachers are rational and their curriculum is subject-centered. Testing and experimenting are common teaching methods of realist teachers and the teacher is expected to have a broad scope of knowledge in order to assist students in making connections.

Pragmatism is the third philosophy and it stresses change. Everything is changing. There are not set values or universal laws. Pragmatists focus on knowing and believe that students will learn best through experience. Teachers use interdisciplinary methods to teach and learn through problem solving and interacting with the environment. School is viewed as a community of learners and therefor group projects are encouraged.

Existentialism believes that "reality is nothing more than lived experience." Absolutes don't exist and we all are responsible for creating our own meaning. Existentialism encourages personal reflection and empasizes the individual. The process of learning focuses on the feelings of students and the ultimate goal is to search for oneself.

After reading this, I believe that I can identify most with the pragmatic philosophy. I applied each one to my ideal health class and pragmatism was the best fit for what I would want to teach. I believe that interdisciplinary lessons are the most effective because they prove that there is purpose for school and there is a connection to the real world. Many of my health lessons involve a group projects, create an interaction to the environment, and promote lifelong health knowledge.

Empowerment

Out of all the stories, the single part of this chapter that stood out to me was the opening line of the introduction to the chapter. It said: "In the end, the sole purpose of teaching is to empower students to learn and excel on their own." As a health teacher, this is my goal as well. I remember from my own time in high school that I rarely (I can't actually remember a single time but I don't like the work never) saw a connection between what I was learning and the relevance to my life. I want my health students to not only understand how to be healthy right now but also to learn skills to remain healthy for the rest of their lives. I don't want students to think health class is a joke or a waste of time (right now I believe that is the general idea). I want each student to share my view of the importance of health and I want them to take this belief out into the real world.

Multicultural Issues Presentation

The biggest lesson that I learned in relation to diversity is to not just do it...do it everyday. Celebrating diversity doesn't mean having a special day to acknowledge everyone's differences. We should be doing this every day. Why does every author students learn about in English class have to be white? Why do history classes focus on the history of our ancestors from Europe? Education and curriculum should offer a variety of roles to learn about.

Gender roles can be such a difficult subject to discuss because I know that even I buy into the idea. I loved my barbies and dolls when I was a girl. I also adored my brother's hot wheels and train sets and played video games, which is something I always felt was weird and set me apart from most girls. Still, I enjoy the domestic, nurturing role that I have created for myself (or has been created for me...not sure which it is) and don't see anything wrong with washing my future family's laundry and cooking the meals. That said, there is no way that I will cook, clean, and put the kids to bed while my husband puts his feet up in front of the television. I do believe that gender roles have (almost) no place in schools because I don't think that gender correlates to intelligence, effort, or capability. On a side note, do schools really need to provide separate bathrooms for transgendered individuals? Can't they just choose?

The Story of School Part IV: 1980 to Present

Schools in the present day seem to be very business-like. There is much competition and meeting content standards is necessary. From my personal experience as a student, I have seen some thrive on being compared to classmates using test scores and academic level. My senior year, class ranking was a major topic of discussion. I don't remember how we all even learned that information. On the other hand, I have seen students, such as my sister, crumble from feeling pressured to conform. She ended up missing too much school to graduate with the rest of us and had to take Summer classes to make up the credits. In my opinion, she was not being challenged enough and her multiple intelligences were not being met. She saw right through the importance placed on standardized tests when I and other students did not. Why should a number that supposedly represents my intelligence in math and reading determine whether or not I go to college? Grades don't determine intelligence, they determine effort.

Rejuvenation

I am excited that this chapter of Teaching Hope is full of upbeat, inspiring stories. I was not disappointed with previous chapters because I only want to hear happy stories about teaching where nothing goes wrong. I just want to hear stories told with optimism. The stories in this chapter featured situations where things didn't go right but it was not the end of the world. One teacher talked about having a class that never behaved for subs. She walked into school dreading the note she'd inevitably find about her class's terrible behavior. She also found a positive note about the thoughtfulness of her students when they invited a special ed. student to play basketball with them. Instead on focusing on the negative, she instead rewarded their kindness. I think that being positive will get anyone a lot farther in work/school life. I believe that this chapter could also be called "attitude" because each teacher demonstrates a positive attitude and a willingness to manifest this in the classroom. Teachers in this chapter encouraged, motivated, listened, cared for, tried, fund-raised, planned trips, and understood. And I think these teachers are a heck of a lot more inspirational and admirable than the teachers who wrote about classes that they could not manage and students they lost. This is negativity.

The Story of School Part 1: 1770-1890

Education was not free or public when schools were first established. Most schools were connected with religion. I assume that going to school was viewed as a privilege since poorer kids had to stay home and help with the farm or younger children. The evolution of schools from this time (average lifetime school attendance was less than 82 days) to the present is amazing. Religion is not required anymore, it is a taboo topic. Schools today tiptoe around sensitive issues, but I believe that all opinions should be represented in schools. Why is it shameful to believe in creationism instead of evolution? Another major difference between schools now is that teachers actually are trained to teach. Of course, this doesn't automatically make some of them effective teachers.

Our Nation at Risk

These articles reflect on a report on education done by a commission in the early 1980’s. The study found that American students do not test as well compared to students their age in other countries. Test scores of American students were even lower than of American students twenty-six years ago. The commission reported “For the first time in the history of our country, the educational skills of one generation will not surpass, will not equal, will not even approach, those of their parents. “ The report detailed the dire circumstances of the educational system and its goal was to create reform. This report eventually inspired the No Children Left Behind movement, although the success of this program is debatable. Many praise A Nation at Risk because “the tough talk was just what the doctor ordered.”
I agree that we are a nation at risk. There is a major problem with the educational system and something needs to be done. The lack of importance placed on education saddens me, and unfortunately this is (in my opinion) often the fault of parents. Students who are not motivated to do well at home are not going to try as hard in schools. I believe that teachers must hold students to higher standards and expect more from them. But if a student goes home and isn’t encouraged to complete his/her schoolwork, a teacher cannot be 100% effective. I think schools should adopt an individualized “survival of the fittest” mentality. This means students would be encouraged to meet their own highest potential. Less than that would not be tolerated. What I disagree with is that schools should offer more math and science classes and less “undemanding and superfluous” classes. I completely believe that all students should receive more health education. Health classes cover nutrition, contraceptives and safe sex, stress management, and physical activity, all of which have an impact on education. Studies show that students who eat breakfast and are active test higher and have fewer absences. A student who gets pregnant is going to have to miss school and stress management teaches students how to handle an intense workload. For this reason and many others, health needs to be a cornerstone of education.

Dillusionment

Is this book supposed to make me hate teaching? Is it's goal to make me believe that I will never succeed in all aspects of life? Am I never going to get married or have a family? Will I even find a job???

Maybe I need to give up reading this book. I don't think that I have received one positive lesson from this book. If teaching/students/administrators/family life is as bad as many of these teachers make it out to be, maybe I need to change my major and do something safe. Something with job security. I am worried enough as it is not being able to find a job and these excerpts don't exactly help me feel less stressed. The overall themes of this chapter included failure as a teacher, a person, and a parent. The prevalence of ineffective coworkers, injustice, and racism. The stupidity of standardized tests. And the difficulty of teaching students with a terrible home life. Is that what I want for my life? I hope that teaching is a lot less negative than this book makes it out to be or else I am doomed to die an early death.

The Story of Schools from the 1950s to the 1980s

In this time period, schools were making great strides in education for middle class white Americans. African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asians, and disabled students were still not receiving the education that they deserved. A high school in Topeka, praised for having integrated classrooms, still segregated students in school activities, sports, and after school programs. One quote in the video that really stood out to me was a young African American girl who stated that she was excited that segregation was overturned but refused to go to a school where she was not wanted. Evidently legal action was not sufficient enough to end racism in schools. Even when African American students were allowed in schools that had once been all-white, most of the faculty was still Caucasian. Intelligent, educated African Americans lost their jobs due to integration. Students all over the United States wanted (and deserved) "quality and equality" in Education. This is exactly what former school teacher Lyndon Johnson wanted too. Finally, women have their own sports teams and scholarships. Disabled children are now welcome in schools and many even are learning to function in mainstream classes. The changes in education today are noticeable and exciting.

Engagement

This section really focused on the struggle and importance of getting students to open up. I think that having an understanding of student's backround and life outside of school is important because it can explain why a student acts the way he or she does. On page 110. a student tells her teacher that she feels safe in his classroom. She can tell that he cares about what she has to say, so she can let her guard down and apply herself in the class. It is important to create an open and safe environment where students can come with problems. In story 54, a teacher has to deal with a student who has strong feelings about African Americans. She handles it seriously but respectfully. She does not belittle the student but lets him know that he was wrong. Maintaining a respectful attitude toward students is important because it helps them feel safe. In story 48, the teacher learns about a particular student through her journal. I believe that journals are a great way to get students to open up, especially those that are less talkative. This way, teachers can find out what interests that student and what makes he/she tick and this can help them teach.

The Story of School Part II: 1900-1950

It was very interesting to see what schools were like in the 1900’s. While I was watching the movie, I found myself thinking back to my own students from my practicum class. The different between students in the early 1900’s and now, in my mind, is discipline. Students were expected to sit still in their seats, pay attention, and do their work. Consequences were much different too. I have a feeling that many students were motivated in school to avoid disappointment from their parents. Now, many parents are not very concerned with their child’s performance in school. It’s amazing how teaching techniques have improved drastically while the expectations have, in my opinion, decreased. I was also interested to see how the history of schools has shaped today’s schools. Schools now seem like a mixture of many different teaching ideas. For instance, physical activity, interest-based classes are still in schools today, but so are standardized tests and ranking students. I think that all the improvements that have been made are wonderful, I believe that one of the biggest change that still needs to be made is an improved attitude toward education.

Generations

This article describes the differences of generations in the workplace. Right now there are four different generations all working together. There are veterans, who are born before 1945. Then there are the baby boomers, like my mom. I fit into the generation Y category since I was born in 1989. Each generation has its own set of personal and lifestyle characteristics and also uses different skills and methods in the workplace. The challenge for any business is to learn how to use each generation to its full potential and also how to help them work together with each other. This can be challenging when each generation is predisposed to do the same task in different ways.
While I think that these characteristics may hold true in a broad sense, I don’t think that every person fits perfectly into any one category. For instance, my mom was born in 1962, is very technological and would probably prefer to send an email than to communicate in person. What I would like to know is how this article applies to teaching. While I understand that I will have colleagues who fit in each generational group and that collaboration among teachers occurs, I feel that a school environment is a lot different that an office building with rows upon rows of cubicles. Also, how am I supposed to use this information in regards to my professional interactions? I personally don’t see the relevance of this article.

Challenges

At first, I thought that I can't relate to these stories because many of them are about gang violence and I don't plan on teaching in an area like that. But then I thought back on my experience at Mount Blue High School and realized that if one of my students came out and told me that he gets beaten at home or if a girl confided in me that she was pregnant, I would not be the least bit surprised. The question I still have is how to handle it. One teacher was too afraid to open up to a student out of fear of being unprofessional. Another one was completely open about his alcoholism and her childhood in the projects or an unintended pregnancy. What is the balance of professionalism and helping the students? Because I believe that having a teacher or trusted adult that a student with a crisis can relate to is very valuable. While I didn't grow up in the projects and I've never been the victim of gang violence, I know what it is like to grow up in a split household and to be a latch key kid and I know what it is like to have a parent struggle with depression. Maybe someday I will be able to relate to a student who is struggling with divorce like I did in high school.

Cultural Identity Shield

Anticipation

I put myself in the shoes of the authors when reading the stories about first day nerves and excitement. To this day I still get nervous on the first day of school, mostly due to a fear of the unknown. I feel that this day must be even more nerve-wracking for teachers than students. The first day of class is a first impression. Kids will either leave feeling excited for what is in store for the year or dreading the semester. That is a lot of pressure!

It is interesting to read about diversity in schools because I have grown up in a place where most people are white middle class Americans. I haven’t witnessed firsthand someone get beat up based on religion or the color of his or her skin. A friend of mine did her student teaching only twenty minutes away in Portland and had eight kids in her class named Muhammad.

The story that I could most relate to was the story when a teacher inadvertently became a sex education teacher. Answering the questions that the students asked of her was way out of the teacher’s comfort zone, but she was able to determine that this was valuable knowledge for the students. She was able to put her own discomfort aside and be open with the students with a subject that was important. I have struggled with saying words I previously had thought were inappropriate to say in school when I was working at Mt. Blue high school for practicum. I definitely had to leave my comfort zone for classes such as the reproductive systems and contraceptives, but it definitely was a valuable experience.

Diversity, Learning Style, and Culture

In this article, Pat Burke Guild identifies the contradiction of being aware that every student learns and thinks and does in his or her own unique way, and yet schools promote uniformity. The challenge is to have student achieve a “common mission” while supporting various learning and thinking styles. To create a valuable learning experience, teachers must have an understanding of every student’s style. Just as students have one or a few dominant learning styles, so do teachers tend to favor one type of teaching. Along with an awareness of how students learn, a teacher needs to be aware of how he or she tends to teach. This knowledge will provide “greater opportunities for success” for both students and teachers.
I learned last year that I am a very strong visual learner. I learn best by being able to see something in front of me, such as a diagram or picture. As a teacher, it is easy to try and teach in the same way that I learn. If I am aware and observant of my students’ strengths, I can then improve my own teaching strategies to meet the needs of my students. I look back on my own experience in elementary and high school and see signs of uniformity. No teacher ever made it evident that he or she had noticed my learning strengths. Instead, everyone was given the same assignment with the same parameters. If I didn’t do as well as my straight A classmates, I assumed I just wasn’t as smart. I have always noticed that I learn well when I can see something in front of me, but I never thought much about how we all learn differently. I believe that when a teacher cares enough to try to reach every student by using the various teaching and learning styles, it shows that the teacher cares about the student and wants that student to learn and to succeed.