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.”