Reflection

“Here they come.
And I’m not ready.
How could I be?
I’m a new teacher and learning on the job.”(11)
So begins Frank McCourt’s novel Teacher Man, the story of an immigrant from Ireland who becomes a teacher in New York City. What I loved about this opening passage is that is describes probably what every single teacher thinks on their first day of classes. However, what I have learned in this class will make me much more prepared for this transition.
This class has opened my eyes to the different philosophies of education, as well as given me a lot of knowledge that will be extremely useful in my own classroom. There were several major historical events and philosophical trends that have had an impact on the development of American Education. By learning about the history if the American Education system, it is easier to understand where we are as a nation today and how we got there. Also, it is interesting to see how problems arise, are resolved, and then new problems arise.


“Teachers refuse to have Kevin Dunne in their classes. The kid is just a royal pain in the ass, troublemaker, out of control. If the principal insists on sticking him in their classes they’ll throw in their papers, demand their pensions, walk out. That kid belongs in a zoo, monkey section, not a school.” (95)
“David was black, bright and not a bit diffident…when I asked the class a question his hand would go up and if he gave the wrong answer he’d shake his head in exasperation and say, Oh spit. They tried to imitate him but no one could say, Oh, spit, like David… students changed their programs just to be in class with him…I wanted one big happy class of Davids saying, Oh, spit.” (248)
I plan to learn across cultures represented in the classroom and globally. One article that the class read that helped me in my knowledge and understanding of this issue was the article The Culture/ Learning Style Connection: Educating for Diversity by Pat Guild. This article focuses on the importance of diversity and the fact that as educators, we will face it everyday in the classroom. Some of the diversity issues are controversial, due to stereotyping or other “achievement differences” that have been presented in the past. There are several connections between culture and the way that a student learns, included how they were taught the basics by their parents, language, and their preferred method to learning something new. Culture is an important piece in explaining the different cognitive styles of students, as well as performance patterns. Classroom expectations, teaching lessons, and learning styles will all be influenced greatly by the culture and the diversities that are present in any given classroom. I found this article to be particularly helpful in reminding me that I need to be aware of the diversity that is present my own classroom; this comes in to play with designing performance tasks and other assessments. As educators, if we do not take diversity and culture into mind, certain students outside of the dominant culture may be left behind, feel left out, and their grades will suffer because of it. It is the educator’s responsibility to take every student into account. In this article, I especially liked the piece on how most researchers believe that learning styles are a function of both nature and nurture.


“This is the teacher talking. He represents authority: the office down the hall that issues passes for everything; the principal; the superintendent; the mayor; the president; the God. This is not the role I want. I’m here to teacher English, not to ask for passes.” (154)
“Formal” philosophies and ethics related to current educational events influence my personal philosophy of education by informing me of new ideas, or old ones, that work. My philosophy of education is a mix of a couple of different schools of thought. I agree with the humanist view, that instructional content should be based on the student’s abilities, interests, and needs. Humanists view education as being important to not force students to learn, and they encourage students to make their own choices about their own individual learning. I also agree with the Progressivism view. This philosophy believes that learning occurs through various questioning and experimentation by the individual learner. This view also values experience as the basis for all knowledge. Progressivism viewers believe that schools should prepare students for change, focusing on how to think instead of what to think.I think that my personal philosophy on education would also be closely aligned with existentialism. What I like about this philosophy is that the students learn to take responsibility for their actions, as well as the results. I believe that this is especially useful in the realm of social sciences, where we learn why people act the way they do, and why the world is the way that it is. Purpose and different people's ideas create the many types of diversity that are found in the world; when the students create their own personal views on the world, they can apply those views to other situations as well.


“On the first day of my teaching career, I was almost fired for eating the sandwich of a high school boy. On the second day I was almost fired for mentioning the possibility of friendship with a sheep. Otherwise, there was nothing remarkable about my thirty years in the high school classrooms of New York City. I often doubted if I should be there at all. At the end I wondered how I lasted that long.” (11)
In the next ten years, I hope that my professional development will grow exponentially. As of yet, I have not had a chance to work will students very much; the only real experience that I have so far is in practicum. During the next ten years, I hope that I will have been teaching for eight. I also hope that I will have obtained a master’s degree by then, and have a secure teaching position in a school that I am comfortable in. I want to keep taking classes in history as well as in education so that I will be up to date on the latest strategies and information that applies to my role as a teacher.
I know that my teacher career has just begun. I have no idea how it will unfold. But like Frank McCourt writes on page 258 of his book Teacher Man: “I’ll try.”

Learner Centered

This article focused on the idea of giving the students in your classroom so degree of responsibility in the classroom. The ideas provided included: giving them choices about different types of assessments, coming up with their own classroom rules, and allowing them options as to where they would like to work. By doing this, the teacher is giving the student some of the responsibility for their own learning practices; this idea is important because when students are involved more with decisions in their education, than it will give them ownership and responsibility and they tend to reach higher and farther because they WANT to. Another important piece of this article is the idea that the students in turn must accept the consequences of their actions and the decisions that they make.

I think that the idea of a learner-centered classroom is very important; a lot of these ideas are things that I had already thought of, but I didn't realize that this was a specific "type" of classroom environment. I think that it will be very effective and will prevent a lot of problems and lack of motivation.

Abstract and reflection on how philosophies of education will impact classrooms

My philosophy of education is a mix of a couple of different schools of thought. I agree with the humanist view, that instructional content should be based on the students abilities, interests, and needs. Humanists view education as being important to not force students to learn, and they encourage students to make their own choices about their own individual learning.

I also agree with the Progressivism view. This philosophy believes that learning occurs through various questioning and experimentation by the individual learner. This view also values experience as the basis for all knowledge. Progressivism viewers believe that schools should prepare students for change, focusing on how to think instead of what to think.

I think that my personal philosophy on education would also be closely aligned with existentialism. What I like about this philosophy is that the students learn to take responsibility for their actions, as well as the results. I believe that this is especially useful in the realm of social sciences, where we learn why people act the way they do, and why the world is the way that it is. Purpose and different people's ideas create the much diversities that are found in the world; when the students create their own personal views on the world, they can apply those views to other situations as well.

My philosophy of education will impact my classroom in several different areas. In classroom organization, I think that the class will work best when they learn from each other, and this could include a lot of group work as well as learning through different activities and presentations. I think that the students should be able to experiment with different ideas without having to worry about being made fun of or other peers thinking that they are stupid.

For motivating my students, I feel that students should have input into what the curriculum is so that they have an interest in their learning. By teaching students what they are interested in and what they want to learn about (such as current events and things that are happening in their lives in the area of Social Science) than students will be motivated to learn and will be more apt to do the work.

Discipline presents a separate sort of challenge as a teacher. In aligning with my educational philosophy, I believe that the students should have a say in what the discipline structure of the classroom is. I think that it would be a good idea for the entire class to come up with a list of classroom rules and regulations on the first day so that it is a team effort rather than me seeming like I am the only one deciding what the rules are. I also believe that their should be a system of rewards and consequences, with the consequence being the reward being taken away.

Assessment aligns with motivation. Students should be able to decide from a variety of different types of assessments, from a list that they can choose their own learning style or educational preference from. While the amount of effort and knowledge for each project needs to be equal, the presentation and method of the assessment should be up for the student to decide. When the student has a say in the type of assessment they want to do, then the student will be more willing to do it, and will probably learn more from it.

Classroom climate aligns a lot with my view of classroom organization. I hope that the climate of my classroom is very democratic, with me not being the one to delegate all of the knowledge to let them sort through. I also feel that students should be able to learn from each other, through group activities and presentation. I want my classroom climate to be warm and accepting to new ideas, thought and the different diversities of every student background that is present in the classroom. By learning from each other, different experiences can be related to and other people can learn from other people's experiences.

Learning focus should concentrate on stuff that is relevant to the student's lives, and should be individualized to meet each students' interests. I think that in the area of social science, this may be easier to do than in other subjects. I think that learning can involve relevant stuff, such as the important ideas behind being a citizen of the United States and understanding how their government works and why the United States does the things that it does.

Teacher styles should involve a variety of different instructional methods in order to reach a variety of different learning styles. I think that teachers should incorportate as many of the different learning styles as they can into each lesson, including artistic, musical, spatial, kinestethic, lingual or math-based. Teachers should try to interest the students through a variety of different ways, and by having the students experience what they are learning about.

Leadership styles should be more democratic than authoritarian. Superintendents and other school leaders should get as much input from everyone in the school (including the students) to make decisions. There is no reason why the students shouldn't have a say in what rules and policies are adopted by school leaders.

Alternative Schools

The first part of this presentation was on charter schools. Charter schools are innovative and "outside-of-the-box" teaching that usually centers around some type of theme or program, such as performing arts or math and sciences. It was very interesting going onto the different charter school websites and looking at the different information. I think that it would be interesting to teach at a charter school, and I really like the idea that students are the center of educational structuring and that there are less students per teacher than a normal public school; less student numbers allows for complete student-centered approaches toward topics, and the faculty being able to do things that might not be able to get done in a public school. I could see there being funding issues as well as difficulties in students transferring or moving to other school districts from one of these schools.

Another type of alternative school is religious schools. This was much more common in the early part of the 1900's, when religion was a steadfast part of education and was a vital part of the curriculum. One religious school in Maine is Catherine McAuley High School, which is a Catholic school.

Another type of alternative schools are Expeditionary Learning Schools- Outward Bound. These schools focus on smaller school settings, goal setting, and looping in grades 9 and 10. One of these schools is Casco Bay High School in Portland, Maine.

Another school that Katie Rose talked about was the Summer Hill school, which is an independent holistic private boarding school in England. Basically, it is a completely democratic society where the students are allowed to do how they choose and be completely free as long as their actions do not harm anyone else's rights. They have laws that protect the rights of the other people around them; they are not even required to attend lessons. The students who graduated from the school are usually very independent and free thinking.

Discipline

This educational issue was on discipline. There are several different types of discipline strategies. Assertive Discipline is the most common form of discipline in public schools today.This strategy is based on a set of teacher made rules and standards and the teacher is in complete control. Teacher Effectiveness Training distinguishes between teacher-owned and student-owned problems, and can often play a huge role in the effectiveness of the teacher's discipline strategies. I liked the idea of Student Team Learning, which focuses more on instructional rather than disciplinary strategies. Good discipline skills involve having a classroom where students remain on task, behave responsibly, and show good human relations. One interesting piece of this issue was that Corporal Punishment is still legal in twenty-one states.

Promising Futures

Maine's Promising Futures Program is a challenge for schools to rise up to the idea of making school achievements higher, graduating more students and cover knowledge and subject areas with greater depth and comprehension. One of the core principals of the Promising Futures program that I like is the safe,caring and respectful learning environment; I think that this IS one of the very first important steps in improving education because students must feel free to express their ideas without being judged, and students must feel respected and valued from everyone around them.

Another one of the core principals that I hope to have in a school that I teach in is the principal of specialized and integrated learning. This is particularly designed to help teachers challenge their students in several different areas, while integrating the skills that they are learning in other classes. I think that this will help students retain and be apply to apply the information that they are learning.

I also like valuing student choices. Rather than forcing students to learn everything, teachers should allow some flexibility and options in order to enable students to pursue personal interests and abilities. By allowing students to make choices, they must take responsibility for the choices they make, and they will be more informed on the decisions that they make. I hope that the school in which I teach is "organized for learning" as the Promising Futures book promotes. I feel that with learning organization, then certain issues
can be prevented, and the learning environment will be more productive for everyone.

One last thing that I really liked about the Promising Futures plan was the idea about promoting a positive and knowledgeable staff base; without this base, I feel that the school environment can give way to negative feelings which can inhibit learning. Students sense if there is bickering or disagreement among staff members, and can exploit these issues even further. By having a positive staff base, students will feel positive about their school as well.

Educational Philosophies

Teacher-Centered Locus-of-Control:

Perennialsim: Classical thought, core values. Tries to create good citizens by looking at landmark thinkers. Schools need to be structured and organized to properly facilitate learning. Idealist

Essentialist belief is that there is a common core of information and skills that everyone should know. "Universal truths" are learned by repetition, examination, reading, lectures, memorization.This includes creating good citizens by learning various subject matters including literate, history, foreign language, religion,math and sciences. Idealist

Behaviorism is the theory that behavior represents the being of an individual and that behaviors are responses to various stimuli. This view also believes that the school should create a learning environment that develops wanted behaviors in students. Looking at the effects of environment on individual behaviors, much can be learned about the student. This view values high organizational skills, as well as empirical evidence and the scientific method. Realist

Positivism rejects essences, intuition and inner causes because they cannot always be measured. The teacher is expected to directly state what each student is to learn and master through clear, precise expectations. They focus on empirical verification, valuing information that is based on experimental/observable evidence. Students are viewed as being able to develop their information by studying experts and observing.Realist


Student-Centered Locus-of-Control:

Progressivism believes that learning occurs through various questioning and experimentation by the individual learner. This view also values experience as the basis for all knowledge. Progressivists believe that schools should prepare students for change, focusing on how to think instead of what to think. Pragmatist

Humanism is the belief that human nature is generally good; this involves creating a "free and self-actualizing person." Instructional content should be based on the students abilities, interests, and needs. Humanists view education as being important to not force students to learn, and they encourage students to make their own choices about their own individual learning. Pragmatist

Constructivism believes that learning allows the student to develop their own thoughts. Curriculum is based on student questions.Students need to be given multiple and ample opportunities to develop their own individual thoughts and discover answers their own questions. Constructivist thought believes learning to be the student developing individual personal meaning. The teacher gives situations that allow the student the think and develop their own questions.
existentialism

Reconstructionsim: Experiences that you have had.

Reflection:
As a future teacher, I consider myself most aligned with two of these theories, the Progressivism and Constructivism. I like the parts about questioning and experimenting, as well as focusing on experiences and problems. One part that I like about Progressivism is learning how to think instead of what to think. I like Constructivism because of the individuality that is associated with the student's own learning.