GOODBYE

Goodbye EDU100! I took this class as an elective, and I can say that I have learned a lot in this class. I enjoyed the way this class was organized, and even though it was an online class, our professor has made it very open for us to connect with one another about our ideas and thoughts! One thing that I learned a lot about was the importance of inclusion in a classroom. I never realized how important it was for children with special needs to learn social skills from other peers and students learn their social skills from inside the classroom. Another important topic that I took away from this class was diversity and culture and how important both are while teaching in a classroom! It is very important for a teacher to be culturally informed, especially when teaching in a diverse school.

Social Justice in Education

The topic I chose was culturally sensitive. It is very important for a teacher to watch his or her boundaries when teaching in a classroom. There are many things that they need to watch their opinion on especially, politics, religion, and culture. Culture is something that many people are very controversial about and tend to have a lot of pride in. I think it is very important for teachers to take time out for them to learn more about a student’s culture. Learning about culture is not only helpful for the teacher and student’s relationship, but the peer to peer relationship as well because they are learning about another culture hands on, instead of just reading about it. As the article says, critical teaching is admitting that we do not know it all. I liked this quote and to be able to think critically, you need to be open to learning new ideas. “Critical teaching requires vision, support, and resources, not magic. We hope the stories, critiques, and lesson ideas here will offer useful examples which can be adapted in classrooms of all levels and disciplines and in diverse social milieus.” In order to teach a child from another culture, it is very important to ask help from parents and other colleagues. Learning about different cultures is very important for a teacher, and all successful teachers should be culturally sensitive.

John Dewey

John Dewey was born on October 20, 1859 in Vermont and died on June 1, 1952. He was an American philosopher and an education reformer. Dewey came up with the philosophy of pragmatism. Pragmatism is a “philosophical tradition centered on the linking of practice and theory.” It describes the process of how theory is distracted from practice, which then goes back to form what he called, “intelligent practice.” Dewey was also known for being one of the founders for functional psychology. He was a major representative for two philosophies of schooling during the first half of the 20th century in the US. Functional psychology, also known as functionalism refers to, “a general psychological philosophy that considers mental life and behavior in terms of active adaption to the person’s environment.” Dewey believed that education and learning are social and interactive processes. Therefore he thought that school should be based more on the social aspect, and follow with the success of students. He also felt successful education comes with the proper classroom environment. He said students should be able to successfully interact with students and the curriculum, and every student has the opportunity to take part in their way of learning. I chose Dewey's philosophy because I agree that in order for students to be successful, they must be comfortable with their classroom environment. If a student does not feel like they can speak up and discuss the work, then they will not be successful. A child is only capable of learning as much as they choose to learn. We cannot force our students to sit down and read a book, as well as remember it if they do not want to. Like Neill said in the Idea of Summerhill, "My view is that a child is innately wise and realistic... he will develop as far as he is capable of developing." Like Dewey, I feel children will learn best if they are comfortable in their environment and can successfully interact with others about their views towards their education. 

Realism: Aristotle

Aristotle (384-322BC), a Greek philosopher is famous for his belief that the study of matter would lead to a better understanding of ideas. He and his students provided much work for the later ideas from Mendel, and Darwin.  His philosophy of realism states that reality is observable events, objects, and matter independent of human knowing. Aristotle believed that truth was founded from investigation the real world around you. “Realism suggests that the objects we sense or perceive exist independently of the mind. In other words, whether or not we perceive these objects, they exist in the world.” He also believed that humans learn through their senses. My question is how can people relate this philosophy to education? When related to education, realists believe that the purpose of education is to teach students about the world in which they live. People learn through happiness, and Aristotle believes that happiness is the ultimate goal in a human’s life. 

Inclusion

The woman whose blog I read is a special needs teacher. She has mainstreamed her children in a normal classroom setting and said that it was very successful. By doing this, she has helped her students succeed academically and socially. Studies show that many students with disabilities learn from behaviors of others in the classroom. Kids always want to fit in with their peers and want to learn from them, students with a disability are no different. Inclusion in a normal classroom setting helps students with disabilities not only academically, but it introduces them to new techniques and teachers, new social settings, and increases their learning on how to work with others. According to Hill, the only downside to inclusion of children with a disability in a normal classroom setting is the overwhelming increase in classroom size. Hill describes this as a large issue especially in middle school and high school, where many states do not have a max on how large a classroom size is. The advice she gives parents, is to help their child with their homework. She also believes that inclusion is a great idea for students with disabilities, but at the same time looks away from it because of classroom size, and the possibility that students may not be getting enough attention in the classroom.


http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/oct/23/students-learning-disabilities-succeed-regular-cla/

DISCUSSION 6A

I chose this first image to represent inquiry; the way people are left when they are alone. To be a successful teacher, you need to be able to not only teach the material and answer questions, but you need to be able to determine whether or not a student understands. The teacher could have taught the students, and then went on to ask them to do an assignment and this student clearly does not understand. 

This second image I chose was to represent inclusion. This picture includes all different people, different colors, different shapes, and different disabilities. This picture represents the idea of full inclusion or mainstreaming movement. Almost ten years ago, it was said that half of all students with disabilities spend almost all of their school day in a normal classroom setting. I can only imagine this statistic going up, now that inclusion is becoming more popular throughout the school systems. 

The last image I chose was to represent students with disabilities and why they need constructive classrooms. There are a lot of things going on in this picture, group work, individual work, computer learning, one on one teacher assistance, and a student teaching the classroom. Students with disabilities need to have more appealing and rewarding ways of learning. Having a disability is a great challenge to begin with when entering a classroom, it is the responsibility of the teacher to engage all students and have the classroom be more appealing. 

Social Reconstructive Approach to Diversity

The last general approach to multicultural education listed is Education that is multicultural and social reconstructionist. The goal of this approach is social reform and cultural change. In other words, to successfully teach students in a diverse classroom. The goal is not only to successfully teach diverse students, but also to look at the bigger picture and change social inequality in ways to change society. By introducing social inequalities such as racism, sexism, and classism, students can learn alternative point of views in the classroom, in hopes to achieve social justice for all people. In the article that I found, an approach for teaching diversity, the author suggested a dozen approaches to teaching diversity. The first was, become increasingly aware of our own identities, fears, and biases as well as teach about diversity issues. In order for a teacher to teach in a multicultural classroom, they need to be aware of their own diversity issues, and become comfortable before discussing these issues in a classroom. Another approach was the fourth approach; create a safe and engaging classroom climate. Students should never feel like they cannot fully express their feelings, and engage in conversation about any topic. If there are not secure ground rules, then the classroom climate will not be stable. Another approach was the 6^th approach; structure the course so that the students learn form interaction with course material, not relying on minority students to educate their peers. I felt this was the most important approach. In a classroom where you are trying to have every student understand the issues of prejudice, exclusion, and discrimination, it should be the teacher’s responsibility to teach the issue, rather than look to the minorities in the classroom to open the conversation. By setting up a lecture versus and open discussion, students of all diversities will learn at the same rate. 

http://www.uww.edu/learn/diversity/dozensuggestions.php

Do Uniforms Make Schools Better?

The topic I chose was whether or not uniforms are ideal in school. The article I chose went into great detail as to whether or not uniforms help improve a students education experience. Uniforms take away a students' freedom of speech and their decision to dress however they want. The pros and cons in this article were listed as: Pros; Help prevent gangs from forming on campus, encourage discipline, help students resist peer pressure to buy trendy clothes, help identify intruders in the school, diminish economic and social barriers between students, increase a sense of belonging and school pride, and improve attendance. The cons were listed as, Violate a student's right to freedom of expression, are simply a band-aid on the issue of school violence, make students a target for bullying from other schools, are a financial burden for poor families, are an unfair additional expense for parents who pay taxes for a free public education, and are difficult to enforce in public schools. In my opinion I think that uniforms should not be a requirement in public schools. Yes I agree with many of the pros and cons but I went to public schools my whole life and only one of the years I was required to wear a uniform. This was a testing year at my middle school, and my last year before we moved. The uniforms were a burden to my family and me because the uniforms were pricy and more expensive than my normal clothes. Also if I had continued with this school for the next year, I would need to buy all new clothes since I grew out of them the previous year. I think there should never be a uniform requirement in high school; high school is can be the last few years of peoples' education. If a kid decides to further their education, they will not be at a college where they need a uniform. Why should we train our kids to dress a certain way all the way up until they are eighteen and then send them off to college in one of the most diverse atmospheres! I think that uniforms are not a good idea, because we are taking away our students chance to be independent, think about it, what freedom does a 12 year old really have? One is they can dress how they want, and express themselves how they want, if we take that freedom away from them, not only is it a burden to the child's family, it is also not giving them a chance to grow into their own identity.  

http://www.greatschools.org/find-a-school/defining-your-ideal/121-school-uniforms.gs

WHY TEACH?

Why do people chose to become teachers? Reasons vary from wanting to teach for personal reasons to wanting to teach strictly for a career. I feel most teachers teach for more than one reason. Not only is teaching a rewarding job financially, it is rewarding emotionally. Knowing that you are teaching children something that they will remember for the rest of their lives is something that is more rewarding to me than a pay check. I think people chose to teach in the United States because of the freedom and rights we have. Teachers are in a union, and they are protected. I am not sure if other countries have teacher unions.  The U.S. has the greatest education systems in the world, and I think most people would want to teach here from other countries to become more globally aware, and to prepare for the future. The website that I found is:


http://www.teacherssupportnetwork.com/corporate/KnowledgeCenterArticle.do?id=5.

This website goes on to to describe why and how teachers decide to teach, and the steps need to be a teacher.

Hello Class

Hello!  My name is Jess and I am a soon to be graduate. I recently walked in graduation, but I still need to complete a few credits. I am a psychology major, and I hope to one day be a guidance counselor. I want to work in a high school, although I do admit working with young children must be very interesting. I live in Salem and I work full time as a bartender. This is an elective for me, I have always thought of teaching as a rewarding career, and I have taken some interesting education courses. I look forward to the observation hours in this class, and I hope to learn what it is like to work in a school environment.