Teaching is like..

Teaching is like the universe. You are constantly discovering new ways to teach just like they keep discovering new things in the universe. Once it seems like you have settled on a certain something, something else that is new and interesting comes along. It is important to always discover and try new things because you never know what is out there that just might be the answer to everything! We are always curious and we want to know what is out there in our universe, just like we always want to keep learning in the classroom.

One thing I found very interesting was the international assessments and where the US stands. I found this interesting because I honestly had no idea that we were ranked that low when we are the country who spends the most money on education. It honestly blows my mind, and we clearly need to start making some changes. Other countries are setting the bar high and setting great examples so maybe we should start to do some more research.

Another things I found very interesting was when we talked about all of the different schools. For example; the outdoor kindergarten and Summerhill. I honestly had no idea that those types of schools even existed. I found this so interesting because I feel that schools are becoming less safe and I know that a lot of parents feel the same way so these types of schooling might become more and more popular throughout our future generations. I found these schools to be very intriguing.

I also found the factors influencing classroom attitudes to be very informative. As a beginning teacher, it is important to know how to respond to these students and how to develop relationships with these students in order to break the barrier. You have to form a bond and trust with your students so they feel comfortable in your classroom. If they are comfortable and they want to learn then your students will be successful.

Throughout this course, I have learned to see different perspectives. By reading and responding to others every week, I was able to get a different look at things and get insight to new information. I think it was very beneficial. Just like our students, every child is unique, and so is everyone in this course. It is about respecting others and their ideas and thoughts.

Social Justice

When teaching for social justice, it is important to make sure all groups of people receive equal treatment in order to succeed in the classroom, and that they all have the same rights and opportunities as one another. As each student is tended to, this will activate them to become a contributor in society and enable them to start to have a positive outlook  in order to fulfill their needs in life. Social justice is about reality, and really knowing what is happening in your surroundings. 

When it comes to social justice in the classroom, you want your students to be aware of every culture and to be positive about it as well. Each student has their own identity and they start to become more aware of human development and why certain things are important to educate yourself about. 

In the article Rethinking our Classrooms it states that "Unfortunately, too many schools are training grounds for boredom, alienation, and pessimism. Too many schools fail to confront the racial, class, and gender inequities woven into our social fabric. Teachers are often simultaneously perpetrators and victims, with little control over planning time, class size, or broader school policies".

I think this is true because I feel that so many children are actually being "hidden" or teachers are "sugar coating" reality more and more. This isn't good because it isn't helping our future generations because they are going to grow up being naive. Schools need to confront more issues and parents need to stop worrying as much. For example, I was a nanny for one family and these children were 10 and 12. She did not want me turning on the TV just in case there was anything on the news she didn't want them seeing. I understand they are young, but this stuff is going to be talked about throughout the schools the next day and these children will have no idea what went on. Parents and teachers need to take control and confront these situations because you don;t want your children being naive about the harsh realities of the world. It is only going to make it harder for them. It is a teachers job to really incorporate this stuff in the classroom while teaching so the children can have something to relate their lives to.  It is important that teachers discuss the similarities and differences of cultures, and although we are all equal and have equal opportunities, that is it okay to embrace the diversity in the classroom. That is what makes us so unique, it is because there are so many different cultures and backgrounds that we can learn from. We are all different, but we should all have equal opportunities in the classroom in order to succeed. It doesn't matter who you are, anyone can make positive changes.

Teachers, do not let funding stop you!

I decided I would like to discuss the topic of school funding and how teachers lets it prevent them from doing certain things such as environmental learning. Place Based Education and or environmental learning is so CRUCIAL to our schools systems now-a-days. Children of our current and future generations are becoming more and more materialistic and are relying on all of this technology. Although technology does have its benefits for sure, it does however have its downfalls. Students and teachers are loosing sight of how important our environment is and how important our students are to our environments as well. As teachers, it is our job to open our students' eyes to our surrounding environmental issues, so they are realizing what is as risk for them in the future. If our students realize these risks, they will WANT to learn because this now becomes relevant to them, therefore this provides them with a more hands-on approach to learn and become more engaged. We need to become more persistent with our school systems and making sure they provide at least some resources in order for our students to contribute to their communities in a positive way. 

TEACHERS! It is important to not let funding get in the way of incorporating environmental lessons and place based learning into your curriculum's. Unfortunately, especially in Urban areas, most schools will lack the necessary resources for this to be included because their first priorities , for example, are to make sure these children are being fed breakfast and to have the proper nutrition throughout the day. This is completely okay! Students like this NEED to be introduced to the issues in their environment because these are the students who want their neighborhoods to change. Do I mean take your students outside where they can be at risk to be harmed? Absolutely not. First step is to make sure that the environment you are in is safe. This even includes the smallest things such as, will there be glass in that area? Are there too many cars? Too many people? Things like this we need to take into consideration, and if that is the case, what about taking some of the environment into the classroom? As a teacher it is our job to be creative and to find different ways of learning. Personally, if my school could not provide my students and I with the proper funding or even a bus to a park/beach/etc near by, I would take this matters into my own hands and find ways to bring some of the material I wanted them to study into my classroom. I would have them research certain issues in their neighborhoods and communities so they can then become creative. Chances are, your students will have SO MANY ideas to make some positive changes in their communities. So why not let them have that opportunity just because your school does not have the proper funding? That is OKAY! No problem at all! Become creative because chances are your students will make the experience well worth it if you provide them with the opportunity.

http://clearingmagazine.org/archives/2087

Above is a link I found while I was pinning on Pinterest about Place Based Education, and provides ten different ways for developing environmental literacy. I think it is great and definitely well worth looking at.

Gardner vs. Freire

The Bank Concept by Paul Freire

"Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat. This is the “banking” concept of education. In which the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits" (1).

The Multiple Intelligence Theory by Howard Gardner 

This theory consists of seven different intelligence's. This means that every student has strengths and weaknesses and can learn, process, memorize, and understand in different ways. The seven intelligence's are visual/spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, linguistic, and logical/mathematical. 

I personally have always been a BIG fan of the multiple intelligence theory and that is why I chose to discuss about Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligence theory. Throughout my entire college education, Gardner and his theory of the seven different intelligence's have always been a great topic of discussion. When I become a teacher, I know that I will follow this theory because every child does learn in a different way, and every child does have their strengths and weaknesses. For instance, I am very hands on and I work well working with actual objects, so I am very bodily-kinesthetic. However when it comes to logical/mathematical, I am completely lost. I hate math and I always have. I never found easier ways for myself to learn in math UNLESS we were using blocks, or some sort of objects to help me visualize and play with. 

As for Gardner accepting Freire's theory? I don't think so. I think that they are complete OPPOSITE. Freire's banking concept is very strict and to the point. He says that education is basically teachers teaching this content, and the students are just memorizing the facts, but not actually going in depth. Freire uses the example "four times four is sixteen", and the students will memorize that the answer is sixteen, but they do not know why the answer is sixteen. I feel as if this theory is basically saying that students are becoming robots, just memorizing information and repeating it. They aren't actually going in depth as to why things are the way they are.

Gardner is completely different because he discusses so many different ways students can learn. If they use their strengths to learn, the information won't just be facts that they memorize and repeat. The information will be in depth because they will be learning the way they want to learn which will have the students more engaged. If a student is more engaged in their work they are willing to go more in depth with what they are learning. 

Overall, I agreed with Freire's theory because I think the school systems are becoming more like this with all the assessment testing and how they are teaching information. Do I like Freire's theory and do I hope this changes? Yes, of course. Schools should be more like Gardner's theory and they should be more open to theories and concepts like this. 

Educational Philosophy

As I started reading and doing the work for this module, I realized that there are so many philosophies of teaching that people go by. I took the self assessment test on my educational philosophy, and my scores ranged from 11 to 24. It turned out that my educational philosophy and the way I view the world is through Humanism. 

Humanism

 Where educators consider learning from the perspective of the human potential for growth, becoming the best one can be. The shift is to the study of effective as well as cognitive dimensions of learning. Beliefs include: human beings can control their own destiny; people are inherently good and will strive for a better world; people are free to act but must be responsible; behavior is the consequence of human choice; and people possess unlimited potential for growth and development. There is a natural tendency for people to learn, which will flourish if nourishing, encouraging environments are provided.

I was actually really happy that I scored this in Humanism because after doing some research, I really do view the world and education through this philosophy. I believe in the multiple intelligence's and how every person learns in their own way. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and EVERYONE has the potential to grow and become the best they can be. I am not religious, and I do believe that everyone controls their own destiny, and you are responsible for your own actions. I also believe that people have an unlimited amount of potential and that everyone can strive to become better. As a teacher, it is my job to nourish and encourage the student to want to learn. You can only teach a student so much if they do not want to learn. So by creating lessons that students can relate to and are interested in, I will be encouraging them to want to learn. My environment will be a safety net for them, and I want them to feel as comfortable as possible so they are able to grow and develop.

Learning Exceptionalities

Every environment in a school should enhance student's learning. Although we have curriculum standards, it is a teacher's job to adapt curricula for every student's needs so that they are able to learn to the best of their ability. Providing a flexible curriculum for your students provides them with different opportunities to bring out their strengths. Every students has strengths and weaknesses, and as a teacher it is our job to really get to know our students and help them excel in their areas of strength, and to improve on their areas of weakness. We have discussed multicultural education and some of the certain things a teacher needs to do in order to have a responsive multicultural classroom. The same goes for special education. We as teachers need to become more knowledgeable and make sure that we know their and adapt to their accommodations. While doing some research, I came across this AWESOME website that gives us a little insight and makes us see things in a different perspective.

http://sped.wikidot.com/exceptionalities

For example, the author writes:

"We all have strengths in some areas and weaknesses in others. A student may have severe problems in math and science but be a gifted public speaker with a talent for learning foreign languages. A student may be an intelligent, creative learner in all academic areas, but may be hampered by a wheelchair that makes many locations and activities inaccessible. You may, for example, have students like these in your classroom".

"Jason, a tall fifth grader, can throw a baseball at eighty miles per hour yet cannot hear".

"Michael, an excellent mountain climber, cannot see".

"Susan, whose drawings and paintings show a sophisticated understanding of composition and color, reads two years beneath her grade level."

I thought that these were great examples of children who can excel in one thing, but may not be so strong in another thing. All because someone is restricted to a wheel chair, doesn't mean that they shouldn't have access to a general education classroom. It is the school's job to make sure that a student in a wheel chair is able to access a classroom with either an elevator or a ramp. Schools have to be handicap accessible now. No one is perfect, and us as teachers really need to take a step back and really assess our students. It will only benefit our students and us as well. By us assessing our students, it will help us become more knowledgeable on what the student's strengths and weaknesses are. We then can use the flexible curriculum so the students can learn in a way that is appropriate to their learning style. This goes for every students whether they are a special needs students, or they have a multicultural background, or if they are gifted/talented students. Every student should have the opportunity to shine and show off their strengths. I think that is what school is about; it is where we come to find out and bring out our strong side, and to learn and work on things that we aren't so strong with.

Multicultural Education

Being responsive to multicultural education will always be a challenge for teachers. I think teachers will forever be faced with diversity and obstacles that they will have to overcome. There are many different ways to approach multicultural education, but there are also many ways that you should avoid. When you need a multicultural curriculum transformation, you first need to ask yourself a few questions. What are the necessary steps should I take? What is the issue at hand? How do I need to make myself more knowledgeable in order to have a different perspective? It is important to educate oneself about a culture before diving into a lesson. It will not only benefit you as a teacher, but for the student as well. The student will see that you are trying to understand things from their point of view, therefore they will have more respect for you as well. I realized throughout my field work experience in college that the curriculum are becoming more and more diverse, but I feel as if they are not fully including diversity. Since schools are becoming so diverse, the students need a deep understanding of the world around them in order for them to understand their peers. If students don't understand their peers, they will not feel comfortable, causing them to segregate themselves to stay in their comfort zone. One topic I would like to focus on is discussing differences. One thing that teachers often mistaken while teaching multicultural education is that they focus on the differences between cultures more than the similarities between cultures. Obviously there is differences between the cultures, and the students have figured that out. It is important to discuss the main differences, but it is also MORE important to discuss the similarities between cultures so the students have something to relate to. Students are more understanding and are more willing to engage themselves if it is something they can relate themselves too. For example; holidays. Most classrooms aren't allowed to just discuss one holiday anymore because students and parents are more sensitive to their religions and cultures. For instance; during Christmas time, it is important to talk about holidays such as Kwanzaa and Hanukkah as well, and it is important to discuss the differences AND similarities. Discussing these holidays to a group of students in the U.S. "All of these holidays are celebrations like Christmas, so depending on what culture you are from, that is the holiday you will celebrate around Christmas time. Each holiday has certain traditions that they do everyone year. Does anyone know of any of these traditions?" The students can then raise their hands and take guesses like "All of these holidays include presents, and family parties". This way the students can relate and see the difference perspectives of the difference cultures. Teachers should not shy away from teaching multicultural lessons. There are so many ways to make it fun and exciting for the students!