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.