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.