punishment

For awhile, today was like any other observation day. We went over some homework and read a little bit in the social studies book. Then one of the girls, one that usually causes problems, started acting up. She was having problems sitting correctly in her chair and so my Co-op told her that she lost her chair priveledges and she had to sit on the floor. Then the student started laying down. My Co-op teacher waited until the class was coping down notes from the board before she talked to the "problem student". It was interesting to watch her interact with the student. She tried to make sure she talked to her in a less obvious way. She didn't want to pinpoint her in front of the class but yet, my co-op had to make her point. I was glad to see that she waited because she was still respecting the student. She didn't want to embarass her and so she waited. All these little things are going to help me when it is my turn to deal with a difficult student.

minorities

Alright, so we are supposed to be honest both in class and outside. We talked about minorites today and here is my real opinion. I think a lot of minorites, especially blacks, play the "minority card". Whenever the road gets tough, they throw that card out there so that it looks like discrimination is going on. Actually, a lot of the time, they are the ones that put that on themselves. They think less of themselves and therefore do less... it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. There. I said it. It may be right, it may be wrong, but that is how I feel.

Values - obsevation and class

So it was quite interesting today between my observation and class. In class, we went through the 5 elements of philosophy and we talked about axiology, about values. Several people pointed out that it was important not force your values on the students, and yet, we always want to portray "good" values. I got to experience that today while talking to my Co-op teacher. She was telling me about a student who had said that they "forgot" their reading log at home. Later, she comes to hand it to my Co-op with a parent's signature (they need to get it signed). However, my Co-op was looking at it and noticed that the signature was in pencil and had been erased a couple of times and so my Co-op teacher was a little suspicous. Since she had all the parents sign a letter in the beginning of the year she knew what the signature was supposed to be. She compared the two and turns out that the sudent had forged the signature. Now, not only did the student have a detention for turning it in late, my Co- op had to figure out what to do with the student. She wasn't entirely sure what she was going to do but she did tell me that she is going to stress the severity of the situation. In a way, my Co-op was going to stress her values and even though it was a bad thing that the student did, it made me realize how easy it is to stress your own values onto others, even though you may not be realizing it.

Class was really good today because it gave me a lot of avenues to look at to start my Philosophy of Education paper. I like the more discussion based classes like this one.

Spring Discussion and a little more

Ok, so I know I forgot to write about Tuesday's class and I need to write about my observation as well as class today, so forgive me if it's a long one.

Tuesday's class was another time for us to develop our idea about our philosophy of education. We looked at our past packets and our own personal experiences. As I was listening to Professor Evans-Winters reading us her blog entry, I remembered when I had an experience similiar to hers. It was back in my AP Calc class in high school. Ok, so it's calculus, when are we ever going to need it? Who actually uses it? Well, my teacher was discribing to us the Intermediate Value Theorem and actually began to relate it to us. He was explaining that it is actually used on the streets but no one ever looks at it. You know those lines on the highway that go horizontal (perpendicular to the lines that are dividing the lanes), well they are actually used by the cops to track your speed when driving, well mainly by a helicopter. A helicopter can track how long it takes to get from one line to the other and if you cross the second line quicker than the time it should take getting there going the speed limit, then they know you sped at one point. Well, the formula of the Intermediate Value Thm can be applied to show exactly that u were speeding and you know what? It made more sense. I still remember it today. If we, as educators, can try to apply what we are trying to teach to the real world, it is so much easier to understand and students actually are then interested in learning. Learning becomes fun, and shouldn't it? If it is fun, then we remember more and it actually comes easier to us. As an educator, I am going to try and figure out as many real life situations that I can to hopefully connect better with my students.

Alright, onto my observation. They again started with workbooks, and they actually do calm down more than I thought they did initally. It is amazing what a routine can do to help focus students. This time, they were learning how to make an outline since they had a test coming up. My co-op teacher feels it to be necessary to teach them different ways to study. She recognizes that not everyone learns the same way. She is going to work on outlines, flashcards, taking notes, and a few others. I was glad to know that she is embracing different types of learning instead of forcing her best way onto the students. While they were going over the chapter that the test is going to be on, I noticed something pretty interesting. It was really funny to see how many students got excited when they knew the answer to the question. They would shoot their hand up and wave it frantically. It was really funny! I guess, everyone loves the feeling of being right as well as feeling that sense of pride that they knew the answer, that they are smart. Since they were still focusing on culture, my co-op shared her story on different cultures. She shared about a family vacation to her native land (even though she was born in the US, her parents weren't) and the differences between here and there. She then asked the other students to share stories if they had anything similar to her story. She wanted to learn from them as they were learning from her. I recognized it as being a form of Giroux's philosophy. It was really cool to see Giroux's view being put into action in a classroom. All the students seemed to be more involved then they would have been otherwise. I look forward to seeing more from my co-op.

Ok, today's class...
As a class, we had a really good discussion going on about what is education? Which is better: public or private? What are the views on public schools? Well, I was really interested in this so afterwards, when I went to work, I asked my co-worker these questions. It was really interesting to hear his views. He is a business/econ major and so he approached things very differently. Everything he said had to deal with hypothetically speaking or ideally what should happen. It wasn't based on what is happening now in schools. One of the things he pointed out that really caught my eye was about public vs. private school teachers. He talked about how private schools should be better because the teachers there should be teaching what they want to teach instead of having the bureaucracy says they have to teach. In a private school, the teachers don't have to worry about what the union or the government says. They can teach however they want and that should make it better for the students. He continued to say that in a public school, the teachers have to answer the bureaucracy and so they basically walk around with "their hands tied behind their backs". It was an interesting concept to think about since in my view, I would imagine it to the be the other way. A public school would be more flexible with their teachers instead of a private school being strict with their teachers. It was an interesting argument but definitly valid. Something else that was interesting is that he mainly focused on colleges and universities as where I was looking at mainly high schools but also middle and elementary schools. It was a really interesting conversation, I only wish that I was able to record it. There was more that was said, but I forget his exact points and I wouldn't want to mis-represent him. So that is it for today. Kinda long, but hopefully it was interesting! See you guys next week.

Day 1 of Observations

So I went today to meet my Co-Op teacher and actually ended talking to her for over an hour! I ended up staying and meeting the class for 30 mins or so. It was a lot of fun. I go right after lunch so they are extremely hyper but my co-op found a way to help settle them down. She writes on the board their assignments for the class period and they always start with their geography packets. By giving them something to do, she thinks it will help them to focus and settle down. It seemed to work a little bit, but I'm not sure. It was the first day I was there so they were all a little antsy to see who I was. (By the way, I'm in a 6th grade social studies class) My co-op is really nice and we get along great. I am really looking forward to Tuesday when I get to go again for a full hour! I'm really excited to work with this teacher and she actually works with another one on their team at the same time occasionally so I will be able to see 2 teachers! Just thought I would jot down some notes. I'll have more next time. See you guys later!

Reaction to Packets

It was interesting to read all 3 packets and to see different perspectives on education. I agreed a lot with Dewey on how an educator should integrate the home and community life into the classroom. I would imagine that it would make things easier for the student to have the same type of responibilities and value of the student in both home and classroom. I think Giroux had a good idea about education but I'm not sure that I believe it full heartly. I think education should help you to learn things that will help you through your life, but education shouldn't focus on the future. It is important to teach things that can be applied right now but that can also be used for the future. For example, in elementary school teachers help to teach students how to build relationships and that is something that will be used throughout life, no matter what age. If we only focus on the future, we will only turn out machines and not people. Our schools have already been focusing on test scores way too much and that decreases the ability to develop a person and creativity. Test scores don't say much other than a child can memorize and spit information back out. What happens to all the common sense a student might know? What happens to skills such as sewing or baking? Just because a child may not score the highest on a standardized test doesn't mean that they aren't smart. There are mulitple intelligences and each should be regconized and valued just as much as the next one. Like Giroux said, "how can you speak to people if you don't celebrate their voices". As educators (or future educators) we should value the differences and celebrate the diversities in classrooms today. This idea semi relates to Friere's ideology on education. If we can celebrate the diversity, then maybe we can learn something along the way. The students get the chance to be the teacher and the teacher gets to become the student. By having the student teach something, it helps the student to initially feel special but it also helps to have a purpose behind the topic of discussion. It makes learning more enjoyable and therefore, more worthwhile. Teachers can learn just as much from the student. We should look forward to learning, otherwise you should not be an educator. If we can learn from the student, it will make the atmosphere better and it helps to make us better educators and isn't that what we are striving for? To be better teachers? Dewey, Giroux, and Friere all have ideas that intermingle with each other, it just depends on how much of each one we choose to include in our classroom. I hope I can become a better teacher every year as I learn from my mistakes and I learn from the students. Guess those are my views, see you guys later!

field observations

Hey! So we had our field orientation and I really wasn't surprised by many things. It reminded me of my junior high school back home. The jr. high school is slightly bigger than my jr. high but not by that much. It was so weird to be back in a jr. high though. I didn't really know what to expect when I went in originally. I had passed it several times while driving but that's all I knew about the school. It looked pretty normal and I just assumed it would be. With all of the new extentions, it reminded me of my schools at home. Our town keeps growing and so we have to add onto all of our schools, jr. high schools as well as high schools. We actually just added onto my high school during last summer. It's interesting to see how so many other towns are expanding just like mine. The main thing that caught me off guard were the students. There were so many girls with make-up on and wearing "teen-age" clothing that it threw me off. I've known that everyone is growing up quicker because my brother is in jr. high and I see all of his friends, but it is amazing that almost the whole school is like that. I wasn't ready for everyone to look so "grown-up" already. I just hope they still enjoy their childhoods before it's too late. I guess thats about it! See you guys in class!

first entry!

Hey guys! Alright, first one up and running. Let's see how it goes.

I've wanted to be a teacher every since I was little, even since elementary school. It's just the job that seemed perfect to me. I love the idea of helping people out with something I'm good at. I know how to explain things in smaller terms and I think teaching would be the perfect way to do it. I also want to teach to be able to motivate kids to find their true potential. I want to show them how special they are, not how special I think they are. I want to give them the tools to be able to solve problems, not just homework problems, but to be able to work through life's problems as well. I really want them to be excited about learning no matter what subject it is. I really hope I can help them so that they value themselves and not just by what everyone else says, but by what they see themself as. I know it's a big idea and a huge goal to take on but I'm up for the challenge. I want to push myself to be able to touch as many students as possible. I know I won't be able to reach them all, no teacher can, but hopefully, I will be able to reach a majority of them.

See you guys in class!