Voices

i found myself agreeing with very few of the philosophies presented by this reading. The two that i found myself agreeing with the most closely were the philosophies of Pesalozzi and Piaget.

I like the philosophies of Piaget because they were results based. Philosophies are great but honestly i want to know what works in education. Piaget's insistance on scaffolding was inspiring and insightful. I don't see how someone could believe in classroom that did not include scaffolding and co-operation. All human beings are social creatures and so it just makes sense that interpersonal learning benefits children.

Pesalozzi appealed to me because of his belief in teaching the whole student. I do not think teachers can afford to overlook the importance of the loving, caring relationship that pesalozzi stresses between teachers and students. Also, i think students need to be engaged in a range of topics to create well rounded students.

Educational issue- NCLB

I really thought this presentation was going to be a complete waste of my time since i have looked over some of the details of NCLB in quite a few of my education classes. This did not turn out to be the case. In most of my classes, the level of depth with which NCLB is investigated remains shallow. I have talked various times about how the system does not work because it restricts funding from the schools that need it the most, and i have talked about the impossiblity of having 100 percent of students reaching the standards set in reading and math. That being said, i had not gone over the results in the detail that the group presented to the class. For example, i was not aware of the goals in aqequate yearly progress. It put me somewhat at odds to see the dispairity between the levels of students who did reach the benchmarks compared to the projected number of students. I did not know that NCLB set requirements for schools to have highly trained teachers but i was glad to see that the standards are being set.

Perhaps the most important part of the presentation was the short video of the president elect Barack Obama speaking about his views on NCLB. I have to admit, i was a little discouraged by the fact that he was refering to AYP as ANNUAL yearly progress, but overall, he did seem to understand the nature of NCLB and see the flaws in its constructs. The other video of people (senators maybe?) talking about NCLB was valuable also. It was good to see that Joe Biden was one of the people that talked about his view of the bill because it is important to me to see what is going to happen with NCLB. Also, i was glad to see that he was not in favor of the bill. On a side note, i liked the guy who said to completely scrap the bill and mandate a minimum salary of $40,000 for teachers. haha.

After watching the presentation, i feel like i have a knowledge of NCLB that allows me talk about it with enough knowledge to earnestly discuss the ways to fix the problem at hand. Personally, i think that NCLB should be scrapped. Even though some of the principals in NCLB are admirable, i think the system created by this expansive act is too flawed to justify spending time repairing it. The interesting thing to me though is that the question over to fix it or abandon it is really as big of a question as it is. Whether the act is kicked aside or heavily revised matters little when you realize that either way is little more than an interchangable method that will be used to try to create a new standard for our nations education. instead, the questions should be: what values do we want to see put into our nations education? Who should be present to help create a new act or revise the old one? and how can we avoid a failure such as been seen with NCLB.

abstract philosophy thing

Classroom organization- I will want to have a classroom setup that allows me to be near my students most of the time. Other elements that are needed are that the setup is good for discussion and easy to get into groups from. i like the setup our class has where the table groups form a horseshoe. i think it works well. also, i need to have plants in my room as well as a pleasing color for my walls.

Motivation: I like the motivation in a classroom to come from having the subject matter be relevant and engaging. I hope i can make english come to life by making personal connections with the material and students

Discipline: first of all, there need to be clear rules about the classroom. Also, i hope to be able to avoid discipline when possible; however, when needed, i will use discipline as a way to create a time when i can talk to the student earnestly. i believe showing students caring and involvement is the only way to truely reach students.

Assesment: I want to try to assess my students more frequently so as to avoid infrequent, high stakes assignments. also, i feel this shows me a more accurate representation of the students. another important element to me is to assess more than just the written material in classes.

classroom climate: I hope to have an open classroom. I also hope to have an energetic classroom at times. a classroom without some energy just bores me.

Learning focus: I'm not sure what this is getting at. I want to have a student centered classroom if that is what i am supposed to get at.

Teaching/leadership style : I believe in being part of the class. That is to say, i don't want to remove myself from the work of the students but at the same time i realize that i am the teacher, not another of the students. I think the teacher is in the classroom to help steer the students.

non-traditional schools

I found the presentation on non-traditional schools to be a very useful presentation. Since time remaining at UMF is depleting quickly, i've been spending more time lately thinking about where i might want to teach and i really appreciate anything that looks into the nature of schools that are out there. I was especially interested in the part of the presentation that focused on charter schools. As we discussed in class, there seems to be a high portion of our state that is not even aware of what charter schools are due to our states policies which don't allow the charter schools in our state. unfortunetly, I was one of these people until coming to UMF and i'm still learning about charter schools. From what i have seen, i would consider teaching at a charter school. I still want to look more into and figure out things like what the pay looks like for a teacher in charter schools as opposed to a traditional school. Also, i would be interested to see how well charter schools tend to do in terms of longevity. I know that i could never teach at a catholic school or any other religion based school for that matter. I just am personally not a religious person and i don't A. Feel that i would be comfortable in that school environment and B. think students in a school where religion is part of the schools focus should suffer the disservice of having a teacher who is not on page with the rest of the school. I thought the school that katie rose presented on was interesting but i don't quite know if i would want to teach at a school such as that. I feel like i would be willing to give it a try but i'm not sure that i would enjoy the school.

promising futures synthesis

The class's view of the promising futures proposal had a few consistencies among the members of our class. For example, all of the students in the class see the need for changing our classes and agree that many of the practices proposed by promising futures are practices that would be beneficial for our classrooms. The main point that students found important about the promising futures model is that all students are given more of a voice within the school and we agree that students need to have their voices present. Some of the other elements of promising futures that our class liked were requirement for sufficient time and resources for teachers and the reduction of student loads. Megan pointed out that reducing the average number of students that a teacher has from 120 to 80 will greatly help the teachers produce more in depth relationship with their students. Some of the members of the class were skeptical about the proposal. That is not to say that they disliked the principals which promising futures attempts to create but rather that some members of the class fail to see how Promising Futures will change the state of schools in our state. I found the feeling of unease about promising futures was best summed up by Samantha when she said "I didn’t read this as the ground breaking movement it seems like it was meant to be, but as a booklet stating the obvious of what we need to do for our students to succeed. Obviously teachers need to respect and understand their student, obviously students need to be engaged on several levels and be an integral part of determining their own educations. What this booklet lacks however, is how they intend on carrying out these goals. I don’t think administrators and teachers start the day wondering how they cannot respect their students at this moment." My belief was that the principals were left open so that schools could have some flexibility to create their own ways to create this environment. The problem, however, is that I, like Samantha, feel that schools are trying to do all the things described in promising futures even before the proposal was created. So what is the difference that is going to be made by this little booklet?

http://www.ccsso.org/content/pdfs/DukeAlbanese_FridayPlenary_handout1.pdf

Discipline

Discipline is an aspect of education that i honestly have not spent a great deal of time focusing on in my academic career. I come from the perspective that if handled correctly, most behavior problems can be avoided in schools. simple techniques like creating proximity to students by adjusting the seating arrangement and moving around the room can help eliminate many small problems in classrooms. This can also be accomplished via techniques called classroom aesthetics. I found that link to be very interesting. In the event of larger problems, i do think there are times when it is needed to deliver detentions to students. That being said, i don't think detentions in the sense of simply having students come into your room and do homework for an hour after class really makes a difference to most students. I think the detention should to be used as a way to get the student into your room so you can talk to the student about things such as why they acted out, why you are disappointed in their action, and what both the student and teacher can do to remove this problem from the classroom. Basically, i don't see the effectiveness in punishing students in ways that may or may not teach them a lesson. I feel it is in the best interest of the student and the classroom environment to try to have both the teacher and the student understand the problem and resolve it.

promising futures

For the most part, i feel like the core concepts in the promising futures booklet are concepts so central to the nature of education that needing to type them out as a focus for schools seems almost silly. For example, that every student is respected by both students and teachers is a must for schools, but for some reason even this most basic concept needs to be expressed in print and evaluated. I think that concepts 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, and 14 are the types of fundamentals that seem like they should be unspoken. For example, practice 11 is "Every teacher has sufficient time and resources to learn, to plan, and to confer with individual students, colleagues, and families." How could a teacher be expected to do their job without the resources and time that are required for the job? that practice seems to be just common sense that functions to call attention to the fact that teachers don't always have the time and resources though all schools should be trying to provide them. The core practices that I really pay attention to are the practices that help make connections through education. I think that too often high school feels like fragmented classes that have nothing to do with each other or with life and that should not be the outcome of education. I especially take notice of practices 3 and 6. I think that goal six is important because having an education plan will make students more engaged and responsible for their education. I strongly believe in the power of having self-directed students and think having students putting thought into what they want to get from their education will help produce students that are more personally engaged in their education. The possible downside would be students who don't know how they want to focus their education, but for those students obtaining a general knowledge of different subject matters to inform their decisions for later in life could be an education plan. Practice number 3 seems so important to me because i think students need to understand how the subjects work together to create each other. I especially notice the importance in linking history with English. I think about this more because English is my concentration but still making connections across all subject matters is essential to education.

8 philosophies

Essentialism: This school of thought believes that education should function to teach students a core set of information rather than to transmit underlying truths and morals. The belief is that all individuals need a certain set of information to function in society and that learning this information along with learning mental discipline can give students the the keys to function in society. This school of thought borrows equally from idealism and realism.

Behaviorism: Behaviorists believe that learning is best understood through a close examination of environment, behaviors, and responses. In short, they believe that the environment a student exists in will impact their outcome rather than believing that heritage will pre-determine the behavior and ability of a student. This school of thought is mostly versed in realism.

Positivism: This philosophy of education disregards notions of the mind, spirit, or consciousness. The theory is that education can only be understood in terms of matter and motion. That is to say that the tangible and quantifiable components of our world are the focus of positivism.

Progressivism: This philosophy favors answers and information based on the students experience of life to rooted facts. The idea is that students are taught how to think rather than what to think. This theory of learning naturally requires a flexible classroom environment.

Humanism: Humanism is essentially an existential frame of thought. Humanists believe that schools downplay the relationship between students and teachers and think this is wrong. Humanists believe in creating a self-actualizing person. The belief is that by centering education around the self, students become capable of better understanding academics.

Constructivism: this school of thought is based around hands-on, activity-based education. The idea behind constructivism is that by being allowed to explore, students are capable of creating their own frames of thought. Because the focus of the discipline is centered around helping students create their own frame of thought, this school of thought is primary considered an expression of existentialism.

I know the project was to find the eight philosophies but these six were the only ones that i found in the book and i don't know what the other two might be. I hope to bring this up in class.

For myself, i found that i mostly believed a combination of humanism and progressivism. I think that students are best taught by validating their thoughts and emotions. approaching the student as a complete individual rather than as just as a student allows students to become self-actualized. Self-actualization is something that i am increasingly noticing the importance of lately. I think that part of my inclination to these schools of philosophy is that my subject matter inherently leans towards expression.

classroom management

there were some aspects of the classroom management presentation that i really liked. I thought it was refreshing for Katie and Megan to discuss the importance of communicating with parents. Also, i liked the on-line program that they showed us as a way to communicate grades to both students and parents. I also liked that they spent some time talking about the physical setup of a classroom. This is an aspect of the classroom environment that i have taken quite a bit of interest in over the past few years. One reason for this is that when i was doing practicum i realized that proximity to the students makes a huge difference. based on this, i was glad that Katie and Megan presented the class with a task that will get the class starting to think of how they are going to lay out their classroom. I did wish that they looked a little more into classroom aesthetics. In the past i have run into some interesting articles about elements to the classrooms physical composition such as the role that the color of the walls can play and also about the importance of natural lighting in the classroom. That being said, i know that the time to present was limited and the information in the presentation was all valuable and engaging.

Teach with your heart 228-end

Like the last section of the book, this section was packed with changes in Erin's life. following the failed attempt to be nominated to political office, Erin was in some serious debt. I'm glad that Erin chose not to attempt another run at office. I just don't think it would have been a good move for her. Education is where her allegiance should lie. creating the non-profit, scholarship, freedom writers program sounds exactly like the kind of thing Erin should be doing with her life. I think she would be more successful in a role such as this than she would have been as a conventional english teacher. The other exciting thing that happened for her in this section was getting the movie about the freedom writers made. This must have seemed like a type of surreal extacy to Erin. Especially to have herself played by Hillary Swank. to have yourself represented by such an extraordinary person would have seemed jaw dropping I'm sure. Oh and meeting Hank Aaron! i don't even know if i could have made words talking to that man. He was just such an inspiration to a peoples and a nation. I think the greatest moment was in the end of the memoir though. For Sharuad to stand in front of the audience and speak to them like he did, For Erin to have changed the life of this young man from somebody who was bound to repeat the mistakes of the society he was born into to somebody who was changing the lives of others himself, well that's monumental. It really was too bad she couldn't have shared this success with her father. The passing of her father was hard to deal with even just in reading about it. I was a little surprised that she didn't talk more about the death of her father actually. I suppose maybe she thought it was best to honor him by sharing the story he would have cared about rather than by talking about her grief.

the four philosophies

Before i talk about the four philosophies, let me first outline what the major components of each of the philosophies are. They are broken up into three major units that come together to form the whole of these philosophies. these are metaphysics, epistemology, and axiology. they are defined as such:

Metaphysics: Metaphysics is the investigation into reality. this is the part of the philosophy that questions what is reality. the metaphysical piece of the philosophy asks questions such as: "what is existence?", "how can you define human nature?", or "how do we perceive reality?" These questions are vague but essential to defining a philosophy of education.

Epistemology: This is investigation into the nature of knowledge. Epistemology wonders about the limits of knowledge, the source of knowledge, and the cognitive process. This area thinks about the ways of knowing and how that translates into a classroom

Axiology: The final branch of philosophies probes a basic human question, what is of value. Axiology seeks to answer questions about morals (ie. what is good, bad, right or wrong) and also to answer the nature of beauty.

now we are armed to begin discussing the philosophies.

Idealism: Idealists believe in the absolute. They believe that all things exist with a perfect form that can only be understood but can never truly be expressed in the physical limitations of our world. To them, only the concept of universal truth is real. let me give the example of a chair. To an idealist, a chair that we sit in is not the pinnacle of chair, but rather a physical expression of the ultimate truth that is "chair". Idealists search for truth believing that universal truth does exist and is the zenith of knowledge. because they believe in ultimate truths, they think that concepts such as beauty and morality are universal and can be realized for all rather than believing that these concepts are inherently in flux due to changes in social environment. Mostly, they value discussion and lecture since they believe that knowledge is absolute and does not need to be discussed once discovered. they value all students as capable of obtaining what is called the "Absolute Mind".

Realism: Realism is the polar opposite of Idealism. Realists believe that a chair is a chair rather than a manifestation of the concept of chair. To them, the tangible is more relevant than the idea. To a realist, the world around them relays knowledge and they believe that value is derived from nature. realists are more concrete than the vague idealists and believe that natural laws determine knowledge and morality. Realists favor the scientific method of investigation since they think knowledge can be gained by observing the real.

Pragmatism: To pragmatists, reality is determined by experience and interaction with ones environment. Reality is not absolute but a fluid perception of the world. In this school of philosophy, truth is not viewed as concrete. Truth is considered the version of truth that best fits a situation. This branch of philosophy focuses mostly on values rather than truth. The goal of the investigation of value is to determine what works for society. But to pragmatists, even these values cannot be determined universally. all things are in flux and the aim of pragmatism is to prepare individuals to navigate the changes and inconsistencies of truth.

Existentialism: Existentialists believe that meaning and purpose are not a part of the world in which we live. To the existentialist, the only meaning and purpose that surrounds a person is the one which we create. reality is a construct of the human and because they view all components of life as meaningless, existentialists hold as central to their belief that one should never stop questioning. The individual must decide what is reality for them. The individual must decide what is truth. The individual must decide what values to hold dear. To the existentialist, there is not ultimate means of deriving knowledge. logic, intuition, scientific method, it means nothing. what matters is questioning and introspectively creating a set of truths, values, and realities. this belief is unsettling since the individual is asked to derive meaning in an unstable environment that believes that there can never be a true "right" answer.

I find myself to be a little bit of a mix of pragmatism and existentialism. I do understand, to an extent the way in which concepts of truth are created by a social context but ultimately i find myself leaning to the belief that all human beings need to create for themselves their own sense of truth and beauty. reality i guess i look at differently. I think reality is concrete and can be understood by looking hard at a situation from an objective standpoint. I believe in universal truths that are different for all individuals. i know that nearly sounds like an oxymoron but allow me to attempt to explain. the central concept to my philosophy for life is balance. I find that i am happiest when i find myself centered, reflective, and peaceful. For me, this involves a combination of social involvement, personal reflectiveness (mostly through yoga and personal writing), and varying levels of devotion to all aspects of my life. That being said, i know that the balance that works for me is not the balance that would work for all individuals. i think everyone needs to find their own sense of balance. I think i have come to answer to this question over the course of writing about it and i think that answer is that i mostly align myself with existentialism

school 1980-present (ish)

This section of the video series highlighted some of the best and worst moments for education. In this era, schools were more inclusive and taught a higher majority of the American Public than ever before. The flip side to this is that while our schools were arguable performing better than they have ever performed before, the schools were used as a scapegoat. Perhaps this is based on my opinion rather than fact, but i believe the school system was unfairly blamed for our countries economic hardships as a way to shift the blame from the parties it belonged to to parties the American Public would be more likely to look at as dis-favorable given the level of authority the President wields in comparison to the power given to schools. Also, this period saw a number of scholastic peculiarities rise. For example, trying to use an outside company to govern the practices in a school was attempted and thankfully rejected by the American Public. Charter schools became a bigger issue in this period of Education (and are increasingly an issue today). The combination of this controversy and the blame pointed on education from the "nation at risk" resulted, eventually, in the formulation of the No Child Left Behind Act. The act, though attempting to achieve something all educators want to see, all children taught adequately, fails in its practice. The act has two main problems in my opinion. For one, it allocates funds in a manner that makes no sense. To remove funding from schools that are "at risk" is simply irresponsible and will only result in a decline for those schools. Secondly, the act focuses too much on a few subject areas and deprives students of a well rounded education.

teach with your heart 177-227

This section of the book showed a lot happening in Erin's life. Some of the things that happened were just inevitable consequences of the life decisions that she made in the previous years (such as her moving to a new house) but some of the endeavors that Erin set out on were not a continuation of her experience with the school. The first example of this was when Erin decided to take a position teaching in a college setting. I question if she was qualified to do this, and i disliked that her answer to making the classroom a success was once again bringing in her prized freedom writers, but i was still glad to see Erin attempt to move out of the all consuming cycle she had entered into in the classroom. I also thought it was good to see her run for political office. Well, i thought it was good and bad simultaniously. I do not think that Erin would have made a good member of congress but i was impressed that she attempted to do something that was so removed from the field of education. still though, i question her inability to balance her life. running for office was such a removal from education that she was no longer involved in an aspect of her life that she saw as central to her life. I thought the trip that the freedom writers took across Europe was meaningful and engaging to read about. The part about seeing the excavation site was disturbing in a way that portrayed the honest, vile nature that is at times inherent in human nature. I was glad to see such a reaction from both Erin and her students.

A Nation at Risk

A Nation at Risk is a report that brings to attention the problem faced by the American school system. The problem which the report speaks of is a general decline in the effectiveness and perception of the American education system. The article realizes that over the years, the US has begun to be outperformed scholastically by other countries that have taken the educational principals which our nation was founded upon and maximized them to a degree which we have failed to accomplish. The article highlights such indicators of the fall of the American Education as increases in remedial class and a lack of higher cognitive skills in adolescents and American adults. One of the problems realized by the article is that the American public recognizes the short comings of the educational system in place and feels as though one of the fundamental principals this nation was built upon is not being delivered in a satisfactory fashion. Increasingly the average American views the educational enterprise with a cynicism that debunks the success of curriculum goals to an even greater degree than would have otherwise taken place. The ray of hope in this deluge is that the American populous is not complacent with the status of learning received by it's youth; however, the true problems arises in the fundamental disconnect between the echoed cry for greater educational reform and the true level of interest our society invests to its schools as is shown by the delayed, and in certain cases ignored, adherence to the guidelines set forth by the Nation at Risk report. In truth, much of this report could be republished with the simple amendment of changing the date and remain just as accurate, poignant, and relevant as its initial publication 27 years ago.

TWYH pages 141-176

This sections stood out to for two reasons, both of which are tied into personal experience. The first thing that stood out to me was the profound experience of going to DC. I went to our nations capitol for the first time last spring during spring break. It was a quick trip, a spur of the moment trip. When the group of people that I went with and myself learned that a round-trip bus ticket from new york (where we were actually going on the break) to DC was only $30 we decided we should take advantage of the opportunity to see our nations capitol. I don't think i will ever forget that trip. true, the weather was miserable, but even though it was cold, rainy and windy and i didn't even have an umbrella with me the trip was awe inspiring. I have never really been somebody with a deep sense of patriotism but that trip made me realize the beautiful principals our nation was built around and stands for. I left that day thinking that even if our country wasn't perfect we did attempt to build a country as perfect and liberated as possible. I thought maybe Keith at least had a similar experience. The second thing that really stood out to me was the notion of the buttons worn for the people they knew that had died. When i was 16 i suffered the unspeakable pain of having my cousin, my best friend, take his own life. To this day i still have on my car dashboard a sticker with the number 27 (Jason's number from football),as well as a green and white ribbons pinned to the ceiling in my car (green and white are the colors of winthrop school system which is kind of like a second home to me.) . The idea of the buttons being worn in remembrance reminded me so much of my own means of holding the memory of a passed loved one that at points the section of reading was almost impossible. Also, I thought Erin was more the teacher that she should be in this chapter. I highly respected her for taking Henry aside and telling her an F was a "fuck you" and unless he could say that her she would not fail him. I respected her willingness to engage her students in a non-traditional project and trust them to produce earnest material.

School episode 1

This section of the school series is kind of interesting because it shows the start of the American educational system. The idea that everyone is the united states should be entitled to an education just makes sense based on the beliefs that our country is founded on. To create a country that aims to have no nobility and to have equal opportunity for all doesn't seem possible without there being a chance for everyone to learn. I also found it interesting that many of the same issues that the school systems faced at the time are still issues that we face now, even if not in the same capacity that those in the past dealt with them. We still find ourselves wondering how to combat the issue of inequality of facilities and materials though with a higher degree of support from both federal and local funds schools are more uniform than they would have otherwise been. Our schools see the biggest differences based on which state they are in as opposed to simply being in a town that has a higher SES but still SES plays into the state of the schools also. One of the big issues that we still deal with is wondering what the role of languages other than English will play in our school system. Our school systems are inundated with an increasing number of English language leaners and have to decide weather the way to handle this situation is to simply attempt to mainstream these students by increasing their english proficiency or if they should be allowed to work in, and honor, their native language. Also, there is some debate about how important it is for students to be learning a second language in schools. There is some movement to see students learning a second language at a younger age and I personally could not be more enthusiastic about it. For one, i think it is incredibly ignorant of the US to have our citizens only learning one language. most countries have their citizens learn more than one language and simply look at it as a chance to enrich thier population but for some reason we seem to look at learning any language aside from English as a sort of attempt to rob our society of its identity even though English isn't even the official language of the US! also, it is widely documented that learning a second language also helps individuals have greater proficiency in English. taking all this into consideration and remembering that alternate languages are on the rise in the US (most notably spanish) it seems irresponsible not to have our students learning another language at an early age where their brains are more apt to truely comprehend a new language.

TWYH pages 104-140

This section of the book honestly made me feel simultaneously optimistic and pessimistic about the impact that I will be able to have on students as an English teacher. It made me feel good to see Erin's students having such a profound reaction to the books that she has assigned for them to read. It gives me a touch of hope to see her students read these fantastic literary triumphs and walk away from them with sentiments such as having sections of the book written just for them. Reading this makes me feel like i might be able to get my students involved with reading by finding books for them to read that will be relevent to their lives. For example, i could use books that relate to the issues that all young adults face such as the catcher in the rye or newer material such as speak. At the same time, I feel like i will never be able to create as authentic an experience as Erin did for her students. I don't have any idea how i could ever create situations for my class like Erin did. In just this last year she has managed to introduce them to two incredibly inspiring individuals. I know that she more or less stumbled across these opportunities but at the same time she created incredible meetings for her students that i just don't think i could ever match. I can't help but wonder, "would these students respond to me like they have for Erin?" Sure, i could step into her classroom and understand how i can use powerful books to attempt to reach my students but would these texts translate when the inevidible truth that i could never bring the authors into the classroom surfaced? I guess that is a question that I will have to take a look at head on but to be as truthful as i can be, that question scares me. Part of me thinks i should do something else with my life first to try to gain experiences before i become a teacher with the hopes that maybe the people i meet along the way and the events that take place in my life can help me better reach my students.

TWYH 62-103

This section in the book shows Erin moving from a student teacher to a full time teacher at her school. The ending of her student teaching semester shows her bringing her students to meet Steven Speilberg. She gets her students to write a brief story of their lives and brings these letters to the director. He reads them and is moved by the stories. The following academic year, Erin returns to the school as a freshman english teacher. Though her group of students is as rough around the edges as her former students (if not more so), she begins some of the same approaches to understanding her students on a personal level and again she begins to connect.


In this section , i was proud of manny for being accepted to berkly. That was a tremendous feat and truely a feather in Erin's cap. I felt it was innapropriate for Erin to have her students over for a BBQ. Even though she shares a closeness with her students and they need someone to look to for support, i feel this blurs the lines between professional and personal at too high of a level. I also felt this section was presented in an overly cheary, non-realistic fashion. I would like to believe Erin's account, but the cynic in me remains dominant when encountering Erin's sweeping tails of student reform. I did however like Erin's use of Romeo and Juliet in relation to the lives of her students

generations video episode 3

this video dealt mostly with the civil rights movements that took place across america from the 50's through the early 80's. The short, abbreviated version of what took place was that once the brown v board of education decision was reached, members of other discriminated minorities perused their own civil rights. Some of these groups included mexican americans, women, and individuals with handicaps. The video struck a chord with me in that i have seen discrimination against individuals for things such as gender, handicap, and sexual orientation. For me, one of the hardest examples of this came when my father, who is gay, was fired from a job that he held for nearly 10 years when his boss discovered his lifestyle choice. Though this was clearly the case for his being fired, there was not concrete evidence to prove this so his boss was never brought to justice for his act of bigotry . Sadly, this type of discrimination still exists within our school systems. Our job as educators is to see past these foolish prejudices and give all of our students a chance at education

Video PBS - Episode 2 – “The Story of Schools” 1900-1950

Though there were some things in this video that seemed outright foolish to most educators today, what struck me was that many of the issues that were trying to be addressed in the video are the same issues that our school systems struggle to deal with today. For example, though we do not instantly place students who come from different ethnic backgrounds into classes where they are seen as only fit to learn certain trade skills we do still have questions over to the degree of vocational programs in schools and though less blatant, racism is still present in our school. As the book Teach With Your Heart shows us, prejudice is still a major factor in the schools we have today. One of the biggest concerns in the video that is also a huge concern for us today is the issue of what language to speak in school. The video showed a progression towards having more school systems teaching entirely in English, but in today's school systems there is an increase in ESL (English as a Second Language) programs. With our school systems becoming saturated with students who don't speak English, or have limited proficiency, we are turning towards assisting these students with the language barrier to help give more students a good chance at a successful education.

TWYH pages 36-61

This section of reading mostly focuses around Erin taking her class of students to her neighborhood to see the movie Schindler's list. When her students enter her neighborhood they are met with blatant prejudices from the inhabitants of this community. The students take the small mindedness of these individuals in a stoic fashion claiming that they are used to it. The students watch the movie and are respectful while watching the movie and are also quite moved by its contents. This experience powder kegs when the students are interviewed for a newspaper and they report how unwelcome they felt in the presence of Erin's neighbors. Erin receives rude and even threatening responses from many of her neighbors. Positive experiences also came out of the events though as Erin is allowed to introduce her class to the author of Schindler's list and also by allowing her and introduction to Steven Spielberg

This portion of the reading was quite interesting for me. I've really only encountered racism in very few situations and i understand the sense of shock that Erin would feel by bringing her students to her neighborhood and watching as everyone gawked at these kids as though they were some abomination. But what might be more shocking is the steller performance by her students throughout the whole event. For these students, whom others consider to be inferior, to show a reaction that is offended but polite about it is truely something to note. Also, it was impressive to see how involved these students became with the rich experiences of a phenominal movie. One section that really spoke to the change that has been seen in her students was their meeting with Ron. When they understand the horrors that he saw and see that he is telling them that education and hard work is the way out of the ghetto, the students don't look at him like he is telling them lies but rather digest the knowledge that a wise and friendly man is relaying to them. It really shows that through the interaction with Erin these students have developed hope that they can be something more than the environment they live in

Background Statement

I was put into school a little young. I had not turned five when I took my test to see how I would do in Kindergarten. I passed the small examination and because my parents, mostly my father, placed importance on education, I was entered at a young age.
I came into my educational experience with high standards from my parents and a healthy dose of self created curiosity. I entered a classroom that let my curiosity run as free as it could. We had a room full of colors and creativity (including such wonders as a bath tub filled with pillows to read in) and under this environment I blossomed. My teachers quickly realized that I was an intelligent, good natured child but that I might not always do things the way that all the other children did.
My first years had little consistency in classroom structure or style of teacher transmission but they did have one thing in common, caring teachers who were willing to have a little patience with me. With these teachers I was able to perform well no matter if classroom was structured seating or desks anywhere they wanted to be. I performed in classes that had the teacher relaying more information to the students and in classes that let the students explore their subject in a more hands on sense. I came to class each day wanting to learn and left each class happy to report to my parents that school was going well for me.
It seemed like my early educational experiences involved teachers who were allowed to teach the class how they saw fit, but that quickly changed for me as I entered our middle school. My experience in education quickly became summed up in rows. Our classes were all lined up in grids or columns. It seemed almost as though the point of this new school environment was to create easily recognizable geometric patterns rather than to foster an environment for learning. The entire class was devoted structure. From the homework assignment sheets that we had to fill out every night and were in fact graded on to the detentions received for talking without raising our hands when talking life became a struggle to create a more organized version of myself.
This was only a partially successful mission for me. Though I understood the material and was placed in our schools gifted and talented program I never quite adhered to my schools ideal notion of an organized student. My backpacks and notebooks were always a mess of papers and my homework, though done correctly, might have a section missing or the order of the information reversed. More than once my report cards had comments along the lines of “bright student, would benefit from more organization”.
I disliked many of my teachers during these years. There were a few shining exceptions but generally I thought my teachers cared more about creating order than about learning or the students. I was never a bad kid but always found myself in just a little bit of trouble mostly just for looking at the classroom differently than my teachers did.
High school was a more enjoyable experience for me. Erskine academy was a school slightly more akin to my elementary school in that our teachers all seemed to run their classes in their own unique ways instead of by all comparing how precisely their class ran. Each class seemed like it’s own small world and with few exceptions the teaching staff showed that they truly did care about the school and the performance of the students. One teacher in particular struck me like a teacher never had before. My English teacher sophomore year, Ryan Nored, was also my theatre director. In both domains he showed an aptitude and passion that absorbed me completely. He also showed that he cared about me beyond the classroom. He was the first teacher who could tell that I needed to get more organized and have me listen. True, I never really did stop being a different type of student (and I doubt I ever will) but I did alter my habits in education because of this fantastic teacher.
I felt like this teacher expected so much from me because he cared about me rather than about making sure his class was run smoothly. When class was over, I could talk to Mr. Nored and his sense of humor and willingness to talk to me about anything made me unable to do anything but like this man. More importantly, I respected him. When I was acting out, he took me aside and rather than playing by the school rules and giving me detention he told me about how he expected better from me and how he never wanted to see that behavior from me again. It impacted me greatly. Of all the good teachers I had experienced never before had one been able to effect me in such a way. Ryan Nored is the reason I want to become a teacher.
My attitude about school had changed slightly over these years. I was no longer in these classes with my main goal being to return home to show my parents how many good grades I had received. I was doing these classes with more personal goals in mind but at times this led to difficulty. When I failed to see the importance of a class to my life or experienced a teacher I did not see eye to eye with my attitude became obstinate at times and apathetic at others. In the end my desire for good grades made me buckle down and produce good grades but at times the little letter I would receive at the end of that class was the only reason I worked. Even this would begin to fade though as over time I would begin to question the importance of grades.
Overall, my experience in my own school system taught me a great deal about being a teacher. I learned that motivators such as a fear of acting out or a pressure to obtain high grades will eventually fail. It seems as though after you receive enough As and Bs the letters all run together into an indecipherable string of alphabet garbage. Eventually students realize that getting a detention will not change your life. They realize that after they serve their hour or so in the school they have left truly unpunished and continue their life like it may as well have been another student stuck in the seat.
Over the course of my education there has been one constant, successful method for student growth, care about the student. This may not have been the goal for my school, but in my opinion, it may as well have been. These teachers that followed this principle were my true concept of what school was. These were the teachers who shaped me and made me realize the joy that could come from teaching. I hope to be this kind of teacher myself. I realize that much in the vein that I am a different type of student I will also be a different type of teacher. I wouldn’t want this any other way. I believe that if I can bring both my passion for the subject as well as a caring persona to the classroom my students will thrive.
One of the principals that this entails is paying attention to the ways in which my students work well. This may require me to pay a closer attention to detail and structure myself more so that my students are aware of the requirements of the class. Knowing this, I can approach my classroom with a genuine attempt to help both myself and my students.

Teaching with your Heart

Abstract: When Erin (the memoirs main character and author) begins her time as a student teacher, she finds herself in a classroom that could only be described as every teachers greatest dread. Her class is full of students who are both alien and intimidating. They take bets on how quickly they can drive her out of the school. They segregate themselves and appear to disregard any and all of the beliefs that Erin would consider societal or educational norms. She finds a way to get these students to respond to her by investigating what these students care about and trying to show that she understand things such as football as well. By showing to her students that she cares more about the students than about just getting through her teaching experience she begins to see alterations to their willingness in class. By the end of this section, her students are even excited to go on a trip to a holocaust museum. Her students also decide to take her into their world and give her a taste of the world they come from.

Reaction: The description of the events in the first section of this book seems too picture perfect, too black and white to be accurate; however, the principals that are expressed in this section are true and proven. Students will respond to teachers who show that they care about their students. I think that for Erin to come into a classroom such as this and challenge the ideas of a school system (for example to effectively say that her students can learn material that the school believes they can not) is incredibly brave. Though i do question the authenticity of her report of how miraculous the transformation was, i do recognize this as a possible story

Talking About their Generation / Harnessing the Power of the Millennials

Abstact: This series of Articles looks into generational gaps that are present in the school system today. While a small amount of attention is payed to the "silent" generation (those aged roughly from 65-80) the majority of the information focuses on the Boomers, the Gen-xers, and the Millenials. The article gives a general overview of how each of these generations are represented in the school system. The Boomers are (with a few leftovers from the Silent Generation) the older teachers in the school system as well as the majority of the administration. Currently, their influence over the school system has hit it's peak and is now beggining to wane. Gen xers represent the school in two primary ways. They comprise a vast amount of the teacher force in schools and are beggining to gain controll of administrative positions. This age set also impacts the school system by being the parents of todays students. The Millenials are the students we have today. Also, the oldest set of the Millenials (an age group perhaps considered a narrow gap somewhere between the gen xers and the Millenials) are just beggining to make their way into the classroom as teachers. The result is a stacking of generations that may not understand their relation to each other or even many of the truths about the other generations present in the school system. This is because each of these generations are a reaction to the generation before them. The boomers tend to be fonder of their experience as a student and they believe they received a proper education. Another characteristic of this generation is that they believed in a "parent centered" child rearing. That is to say they believed that it was best to take the desires of the parent into consideration than the wants of the child or student. The Gen xers, in response to this mindset, have become more skeptical of the world around them. They tend to question education and see the position of a teacher with less esteem than the Boomers. Individuals from this generation do in fact generally consider themselves individuals and shy away from talking about their generation as a whole. They also tend to be more insistant on a "is this best for the children" approach to decision making. The Millenials are, by contrast, a much more socially oriented generation than either of their predacesors. This group feels comfortable talking about themselves as a generation. They are also warmer about their scholastic experience than the Gen xers. They take their education seriously and think it is cool to recieve high marks. They differ from the Boomers view of education in that though they can appreciate some of the "likes" of their parents such as music and movies, they want their education to be the newest material rather than a retreival of classic knowledge. The Millenials desire a synthesis of the school system and the increasingly present technology explosion.

Reaction: This article shows the importance of remembering who we ourselves are as educators as well as who are the fellow educators around us and who our students are. Many have the perception that the current students are simply mindless, technology obsessed slackers when in fact the truth is that these youth are invested in their education but require a few alterations to traditional education. Because these youth are so inundated with technology, they know how to use it and they know how to use it well. Because of this, and their sense of identification as a generation, these students tend to be more communicative. They also excell in alternative or "e-communication" methods. For these students to perform well, they need a socioculturally structured classroom that uses the technology they are so gifted with to investigate topics that seem relevent and current.

The Culture/ Learning Style Connection Educating for Diversity:

Abstract: This article by Pat Guild seeks to explain patterns between development within a culture and learning styles. The article notes that most experts agree that the culture a student grows up in will have an impact on their strengths in styles of learning as well as their academic success. For example, many agree that students from Mexican backgrounds are more likely to seek out a personal relationship with their teacher and tend to be more inclined to broad concepts rather than specifics. The article points out that though there are general patterns in learning style based on cultural background it can be difficult to find any generalizations that don't contain exceptions to these rules. Because of this, some experts believe that further research into these matters simply contributes to stereotyping the groups it attempts to understand. There are however many who believe that research into cultural learning styles could help tease out the debate about whether nature or nurture plays a greater role in determining how a student will learn.

Reaction: Personally, i do think that investigation into these topics could be used to help understand the relationship between nature and nurture in regard to individual learning. However, I think the impact that this information could have on successful education would be minimal. As the article points out in it's closing moments, there are many students who do well scholastically despite difficulties such as difference in style between the students learning style and the teachers transmission. Though understanding student learning can always be beneficial what we already know seems to have the most weight. We know that students tend to perform best for competent, caring and passionate teachers.