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.

Classroom Management

This educational issue was focused around classroom management. Some of the ideas that were presented were lesson planning techniques, tips for keeping organized, tips for keeping grades, ideas on how to set up classroom rules and the class was even given a link for creating their own classroom set-up. In that aspect, I liked that part of the lesson that was interactive. Meghan and Sarah also gave us a comprehensive list of resources that deal with classroom management issues. Several hyperlinks were available, leaving it up to us to find most resources that we might be interested it.

"Voices"

I agreed with Sappho's idea that teachers should be mentor for students. I also agreed with Plato on focusing on "the important role of those who must carefully choose the material to teach the future guardians of the state." I feel that issue applies specifically to social science, where we are molding the future citizen's of the world. Aristotle's philosophy on thinking and reflecting and then allowing practice of skills is also something that I agree with. Cicero believed that "history provided the young Roman with a perspective into his tradition and the lives of his ancestors, through the study of the past deeds of Roman greatness"; I think that this idea is very applicable to social science. I also agree with Charlemagne's belief that the methodology of instruction should emphasize accuracy. I liked Erasmus' philosophy of emphasizing understanding content more than style; it is not HOW you learn it, but rather THAT you learn it and understand it. Comenius believed in "universal education for all, no matter what their social background, religion, sex, or intellectual ability." I would agree, and think that everyone has the right to an education. I follow Locke's view that the subjects should be integrated, as well as Pestalozzi's idea that learning should be stimulated y motivation and interests. I like Dewey's belief that "there is no line of demarcation within facts themselves which classifies them as belonging to science, history, or geography, respectively" and that the students should see the relationship between the different content areas.

Teach With Your Heart pages 228 to 265

This section begins with Erin losing the Congressional election. She pretty depressed about the ordeal, and finds herself in a lot of debt. However, she starts giving speeches about the Freedom Writers and earns some more money by doing that. Erin begins a program to help other teachers become advocates to their students as well, and employs some of the Freedom Writers to help her do this. They identify the factors that contribute to at-risk students, and learn mentoring techniques. A studio also decides to do a documentary on the Freedom Writers, and Hollywood decides to take on the story as well. Hillary Swank calls her to tell her that she got the role of Erin in the upcoming film, and Erin felt like she was "talking to one of (her) girlfriends." (257).

This part of the book seemed a lot more surreal than the rest of the book; it was almost like it was the "Hollywood ending" to the book. However, I really liked the quote, "We're changing the world by changing education," (241).

Four philosophies: Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism, and Existentialism

Idealism is the first of the philosophies presented in the article. Idealism is based on the belief that the minds, ideas and reason is the primary role of education. Idealists view order as being very important, as well as classification and the idea that knowledge includes mentally understanding ideas and concepts in order to further intellect and development; this includes practices of reading, studying and reflecting.
Another philosophy on education is the view of Realism. This view emphasizes that knowledge comes through the experiences of natural senses, and by "existing" in nature, the mind will sort and classify the information that it recieves; it tends to follow the basics of natural law as well as morals. A realist would tend toward observation, deductive logic and the scientific method.
Pragmatism is the third philosophy presented in the article. Pragmatists believe in the experiences of "new truths" and that old truths can only be considered false until new evidence shows otherwise. Everything is supposed to be questioned, tested and experienced. THis follows the model of a democratic soceity, where something works until something better comes along; it incorportates all of the subject areas at once to try to piece them together. Learning by doing and experimentation are important keys to pragmatist thought.
The last educational philosophy in the article in that of Existentialism. This view focuses on the learner's inner thoughts, CHOICES and responsibilities; there is a focus to try to find meaning in the world. "The individual self must ultimately decide what is true and how we know...Because no absolutes, no authorities, and no single or correct way to the truth exist, the only authority is the self."

I think that my personal philosophy on education would be most closely alligned with existentialism. What I like about this philosophy is that the students learn to take responsibility for their 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 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.

Tracking

The first educational issue presentation was on tracking. Tracking is when students are placed with other students who are of the same ability achievement. There are pros and cons that can be presented in the subject of tracking. In some ways, I can see where it could be positive, when students can advance at their own pace rather than having to try to keep up with their peers, and being intimidated by the environment around them. However, it can also have negative effects,such as making the students feel bad about themselves as well as making them set lower goals or expectations of themselves.

Teach With Your Heart Pages 177-227

During this part of the book, Erin feels the need to shelter her students from the media attention that some of them are receiving. She also understands that some of her students may be jealous because only a handful of the students are receiving attention. Erin nominates her students for the Spirit of Anne Frank Award in order to show her appreciation for the Freedom Writer's Diary effort. While interviewing in New York for the award, she gets her foot in the door at a publishing house, interested in her students' book (this eventually ends up in a book deal). Her students end up winning the Spirit of Anne Frank Award. Erin also begins contemplating a new teaching position in another school, partly because of the frustration that she feels at Wilson. Come graduation time, many of her students started finding it difficult breaking away from the pack; it is often hard in these situations to stay connected, and I understand what Erin is talking about when she writes, "It was a challenge to stay connected while the Freedom Writers and I were dispersing to different colleges. While they were trying to find their way in college courses, I was trying to re-create my unorthodox methodology on future educators at California State University" (190). She pairs up her Freedom Writers with her new graduate students, and this benefits both sides. Her and her students travel to Warsaw, Poland to see some of the remnants of the holocaust, such as Auschwitz. Her students get very emotional during the trip; one even finds a bone.
I am astonished with the pure luck that Erin has...it almost seems surreal. On page 182, when she is trying to figure out how to get her kids to New York, she writes: " I returned to California...got an unsolicited call from GUESS? Inc., ...(and they) donated forty-five alrline tickets for a third of my class to attend the ceremony." I can related to Erin's fear of change as she thinks about the new teaching position in the other school; often change can be very scary and difficult to voluntarily do. I liked her idea about pairing up her Freedom Writers with her new graduate students. I can only hope that I get some of the same opportunities as Erin, such as her bring her students on a tour through Europe.

Episode 4

"Children may only be about 20 percent of the population, but they are 100 percent of the future." This episode focused on the educational system from the 1980's to the present. During this time, there was a push for standardized testing and educational reforms in order to make education more productive and successful for the business world. There was also a push for choices in school, as far as class go, which I think was a move in the right direction. President Bush vowed to "make America's schools the best in the world." This included vouchers to help students in low income areas attended private schools. Some of these vouchers included vouchers for religious schools, and this was highly controversial; it is hard to draw the line between separation of church and state. I think that this was a negative effort, because it took money away from funding public schools; that money could have been used to make the schools better rather than paying for public schools. The privatization of schools, while it seemed good at first, failed and the money was lost. During this time, the number of students being home schooled also rose dramatically, which I can relate to because that is what my sister chooses to do with her children for religious reasons. It was very interesting to listen to the part about the media giving equipment to the schools but they had to watch 12 minutes of channel 1 advertising. The piece about charter schools was very interesting, because the two Presidential candidates currently have very different views on these schools, and I never completely understood what they were; President Bill Clinton believed that competition would improve the school systems. Most of these charter schools were non-profit. Bill Clinton was also an enforcer of raising achievement levels through standardized testing in the areas of math and reading. I love the quote, "You can't teach a child to think in must you have something for him to think about."

Teach With Your Heart pages 141-176

This section begins with Erin continuing to struggle in her personal life because of the attention that she is giving to school. She writes, "Maybe if I had poured my passion into being the perfect wife instead of the perfect teacher, we'd be admiring the Dutch canals together," (142). They separate, and Erin finds out that he has another girlfriend already. Erin also discovers that one of her students is dyslexic. She also starts the Freedom Writer's diary project, to help her students express their lives and emotion.
I understand the difficulty that Erin is feeling in her personal life; it must be really hard to learn how to properly balance everything, but her husband is not helping the situation at all and it is appalling that he already has another girlfriend. I think that Erin once again crosses the line when she grabs one of her students by the collar when she is upset with him (page 152). She probably could have gotten fired for that!

A Nation At Risk

Abstract: This article argues that the United States of America is at risk of falling behind the rest of the industrialized nations in the areas of commerce, industry, technology and other sciences. This is due to the lack of skill that Americans possess the skills and training in order to surpass other workers from other nations. This is partly because of the attitude that “education means doing the minimum work necessary for the moment, then coasting through life on what may have been learned in its first quarter” (4). The article recommends that in response to this "risk", graduation requirements be strengthened, standards and expectations be raised of graduates, or that more time should be required to be spent in school (such as extending the school day.) Other suggestions are: Teachers be required to meet high standards, and other leadership and fiscal reforms take place.

Reflection: I thought that, in a lot of ways, this article seems to mimic No Child Left Behind, with the standards being put across the board in order to achieve a certain level of education. I think that a lot of the information and statistics in this article are interesting, however some of the ideas are a little bit absurd (extending the school day, for more homework than is now the case?) As a high school student, I had around 4 hours of homework a night! However, some of the ideas made a lot of sense; I liked the idea about better classroom management ideas, along with firm and fair codes of student conduct that are enforced CONSISTENTLY.

PBS The Story of School Episode 1

During the history of the United States from the time of pre-revolutionary ideas to 1900, education was very different than what it is today. It is interesting to think that public education was basically a form of Sunday school, where many schools were closely linked to the Protestant Bible. By the time of the Revolutionary War, most Americans could read newspapers and the Bible, as well as figure their own taxes. However, education was very unequal; I found it appalling that girls only got the chance to go to school for three years! Along those lines, their was no education provided for slaves. Education was also limited among the poor and rural schools were dilapidated. The schools were focused around discipline, which connects to the education interviews that I conducted with my father and grandmother. When they went to public schools, discipline was a very important feature. I also thought that the piece on how teaching was seen as strictly a woman's profession was very intriguing; while there are still more female teachers today, I feel like male teachers have begun making a huge impact on this frontier. I liked the piece on how it was a woman's "moral responsibility" to teach. While many of the teaching techniques and what was in the textbooks seems ridiculous now, I understand the era and the culture of the time.

TTWY pages 104-140

This section of Teach With Your Heart by Erin Gruwell focused on the third years of her students. She begins the school year with the "Toast for Change" into order to try to wipe the slates of her students clean. She taken back with some of the open and honest things that her students say. For example, Maria says, "I don't want to be pregnant by the time I'm fifteen like my mother," (107). Erin introducesd the Anne Frank diaries to her students, and gets mixed reactions; Erin felt that the book might be something that her students would be able to relate to. During this section, the class put the effort in to getting two guest speakers to come and visit them, Miep Gies and Zlata (a ethnic cleansing refugee from Bosnia). Erin is surprised at the enthusiasm that her students put into the visits.
One thing that stood out in this chapter was the growing and almost too-close of a relationship that Erin has with her students. On page 115, she calls a student "sweetie", a word of endearment that could make others perceive that she favors him. She even gets sick from the stress that she feels at school- I understand taking your work home with you, but you can't forget to take care of yourself for the sake of others.

Pages 62-103

In this section of Teach With Your Heart by Erin Gruwell, she feels the struggles of being a teacher as well as an adult. She writes, "In the past, when I felt such a void, I could turn to my siblings for support. Unfortunately, in my new marriage, my husband didn't understand my feelings of emptiness or my attachment to my students. When I was teaching, my life seemed to make sense. I felt fulfilled. In the classroom I felt useful, but at home I felt inadequate." (75.) When the new school year begins again, Erin once again has a classroom full of the unwanted "B-A-D" students. She starts the school year off dealing with a lot of the same struggles that she had faced the previous year. She also helps some of her former students apply for college.
I absolutely love the part about the "ten former students crammed into two cars and made the pilgrimage to my apartment," (75.) When writing this novel, Erin has a way with words that makes you laugh. This act showed the attachment and dedication that these students had to the one teacher who gave them a chance; they appreciated everything that she did for them. I think that it was a really good idea for Erin to invite her brother to the class as a guest speaker, because the students seemed to really enjoy it and Erin finally got the response out of her new class that she was looking for. Her decision to deal with "real issues" was a good one, because she finally was able to connect to her new class in a way that she hadn't been able to before.

PBS Episode 3

In this episode of the PBS "School" series, it traced some of the reforms in the school systems that took place from 1950 to 1980. One of the things that I knew never was that the books that the African Americans were using were usually a couple of years behind; I had never realized that before. I also never realized that many African American teachers lost their jobs after integrating the schools. I was also really impressed with the views and stands that Lyndon Johnson took; I had never recognized him as the educational advocate that he was. He implemented the Bilingual Education Act, The Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Civil Rights Act. He also started Head Start and low cost college loans. Another section of this episode that was interesting to me was the piece on the Hispanics in the Southwest; their struggles is an area of the civil rights struggle that I had never really learned about. I really liked the part about the School Board being voted out and four new Hispanic members being voted in and the School Board meetings on Monday nights being "better than football."

PBS The Story of School

I thought that the episode was really interesting in the way that it described how schools responded to the flood of immigrants that came to the United States during the early 1900s. One of the ways that this occurred was in the banning of child laborers, taught vocational skills that would be useful for factory jobs, and focusing on teaching them the English language. I thought that it was really interesting in the way that the teachers tried to "Americanize" these children, trying to teach them American holidays and the American way of life. One of the things that was different was how they tried to increase health and hygiene in the students, including introducing swimming pools in order to help bath the students; along those same lines, teachers tried to teach behavior by have afternoon tea. I liked the fact that the schools opened up at night in order to help reach the community as well; this shows that the school system and community leaders cared about the entire well-being of the community.
The piece about the Life Adjustment Education was a riot; to think that young students were actually educated on things such as when to kiss and how late to stay out is baffling. I can only imagine what I would have thought as a young student sitting through one of those movies.
Along these same lines, it is sad that the immigrant school systems quickly became discriminatory and tracked by nationality and race. The piece about the IQ testing was extremely shocking: the tests were extremely subjective, and caused students to be tracked into lower levels without having any say in the matter.

Teach With Your Heart pages 36-61

In this section of the book, Erin deals with the media coverage of her bringing her class to Long Beach in order to view the movie Schindler's List. The media attention toward the field trip brings negative feelings toward the new teacher, both in the community and at school. In fact, this causes problems when she tries to organize another field trip to a symposium featuring the author of Schindler's List. However, Erin faces financial difficulties in raising the money to bring her students places, because the school is not willing to fund her efforts. However, her friend Thomas Keneally helps her find the support she needs, and even contacts Steven Spielberg about her student's stories. In fact Steven Spielberg even asks her to meet her students.

I thought that this piece of reading really illustrated the struggles that Erin begins to face and the resistance that she feels from the other staff. One of her biggest struggles at this point is the finacial struggle, because she can not get any backing from her school. I think that it is scary how alone and isolated Erin feels at this point.

Talking About Their Generations, Harnessing the Power of Millennials

Abstract: This article identifies the different generations: the G.I. Generation, born from 1901-1924; the Silent Generation, born 1925-1942; the Boom Generation, born 1943-1960; Generation X, born 1961-1981; and the Millennial Generation, born since 1982. There are several differences between the generations, such as the ways they were raised, what values were important, and the emphasis put on education. As each generation gets older, the generation produces new types of ideas (as well as educators) who are very different than the people before them. When the last of the boomers retire, which will be in about 10 years, the educational system staff will be consist completely of Generation X and Millennial teachers and administrators. Newer education strategies must be put into place in order to reach the younger generations coming up.

Reflection: I thought that this article was helpful in my understanding of the different generations. I never actually knew where one began and the other one ended. I think that it is very important to promote respect across the generations, because newer people can learn a lot from a more experienced person. However, many times there will be situations where the newer person might feel held back or restricted because of their lack of experience.

Diversity Synthesized

Abstract: This article focuses on the importance of diversity, the need to teach tolerance for diversity, and the fact that as educators, we will face it everyday in the classroom; it expresses the theory that culture may influence a student’s learning style. The article expressed these ideas through research done to examine the similarities and differences between cultures and learning styles. The research was done in three ways: through observation, data and discussion. This information was then simplified and presented to make educators aware of these findings and how this information impacts students in our classrooms. Some of the diversity issues and research 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. However, whether the culture and learning style connection theory is accepted or not, teachers from all backgrounds and cultures will have to work consistently to provide equal opportunities to learn for all students.
Reflection: One useful piece of this article was the reminder that it is important to understand our students and their learning styles if we want them to succeed in school and life; by getting to know our students and their learning styles, we understand that not everyone learns the same way, so it is our job as teachers to figure out how to help our students learn. The fact that most researchers believe that learning styles are a function of BOTH nature and nurture reminds us that steps to accommodate must be taken; 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. However, we must be careful because the information could be useful in some cases, but it may allow stereotypes (even unnoticed ones) to enter the classroom.

Diversity

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 very useful in reminding us that we need to be aware of the diversity that is present our 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.

Teach With Your Heart pages 1-35

This first section of Teach With Your Heart by Erin Gruwell began the introduction into her establishment into the classroom. It illustrates her shock on the first day, as well as her self-struggles with herself as a teacher and why she chose the profession. Erin was shocked with the visible segregation in the school as well as the lack of attention and labels that her students have received, and recalls her idealism in her young life. Erin starts to try to bring her subject to life to her students, such as bringing them to the Holocaust museum. However, she struggles with resistance from the administration as well as from more experienced teachers.

I thought that some of the tactics that Erin uses are very good ideas, such as moving the problem students to the front of the classroom and trying to separate the cliques. As an inexperienced teacher, I can understand her struggle on the first day of class and well as her longing to connect to her students. It is hard to read this and understand why the older and more experienced teachers act the way that they do, such as the resistance that you see in the piece about Erin trying to bring her student's to the Holocaust museum.