Education is like....

            

Education is like a ship, or should be!  An old ship, one of those that has been restored in the 21st Century.  It has the bones and structure from the past and all of its history.  It is moving forward towards the horizon to new, bigger, and better things.  It is push by changes in society, new technology, and the ever changing world (this would be the wind in the sails).  It is rocked around by new educational policies and changes (the waves), but keeps moving forward.  And it has had a variety of passengers and continues to have a variety of passengers on board...all of which contribute in different ways to making the ship change and move.

Education is something that cannot ignore anything.  Education cannot ignore policy changes, changes in the economy, changes in technology.  Education cannot not just close its eyes to new ideas or new opportunities.  Education cannot hid in the closet from students coming from other countries, low income families, language learners, or special education.  Education needs to embrace it all, make it work as one system and keep moving forward.


    From this class the biggest thing that struck me and I will take with me moving forward is that understanding of differing ideas.  This was the underlining theme in all of the readings, assignments, and my fellow classmate's blogs.  Education is a world were almost no one sees things the same way.  Education is not black and white, teachers live their lives in the grey (or gray as some might say).  Whether is be a debate of how best to teach special needs students or how to teacher students about social justice...no one fully agrees.  And they don't have to.  Each teacher can create his or his own classroom environment around their own beliefs and ideas.  The common denominator in all of this is to help form students into understanding learners.  Expose students to different things, the best way that we can and in the best way that they learn.  Expose them to the many different aspects of this world.  Teach them how to learn, where to learn, and where to turn when they need help learning.    

How does a teacher create a social justice classroom?

What a strange question and one with no true clear answer. There are many sides to this debate and not only sides but very strong sides.

Many people believe that the classroom is a place for black and white thoughts. As in...2+2=4. The teacher teaches it, you practice it, there is a test...the end. You follow the required standards and curriculum maps, no going off the path.  Others believe you still need to have conversation and explanations that dig deeper. However, how to you create an environment in the middle of all of this that fosters social just and aware students.

It would be easy to empower students to be activist or academically rigorous or even culturally sensitive. But to be a true social just teacher you need to give student the tools to become anyone of this things. Teachers need to be examples of and give students the tools to go out into the world and create a society that us just for all. Teach students both side to an argument and then the patience to tolerate and hear an side they do not agree with. To new aware of other cultures, backgrounds, and people and how to work together with them in the world....whether they like or agree with them!

Why so many theories on Education?

There are many theories of learning and teaching about how people learn the best out there.  After doing some research I kept coming back to the same theory.....the theory of Multiple Intelligence.  Created by Howard Gardner and is backed by the idea of eight different types of intelligence.  These believes that all student are intelligent in various ways.  The basis for this theory is that all people have intelligence, it is just expressed in various manners.

The areas of this theory are musical–rhythmic, visual–spatial, verbal–linguistic, logical–mathematical, bodily–kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic.  This theory is not just for the area of special education either.  This theory involves all learners.  That is the great part about it!  These ideas go right along with differentiated instruction.  Meaning all students can be working on the same topic and similar projects'assignments but in different manners.  I truly believe that this is wonderful!  This is tapping into different parts of students brains to get the most out of them and getting them to think in different ways.

 

 

How does someone create an Educational Philosophy?

              When sitting down to think about how someone goes about create an educational philosophy, I kept going back to the idea that it is ever changing.  The more you learn and actual teach, the more your beliefs behind education change, for the better.  Once I took the Educational Philosophies Self-Assessment and went back to score it....my answers were already changing.  Mostly, because so many things in teaching are not black and white.  Teachers live in the grey.  Every part of a situation comes into play when dealing with students; every piece of the student's background comes into play when teaching that student and responding to that student.  While my self-assessment lead me to be on the side of progressivism and reconstructionism/critical theory, the following is my philosophy of education...as it stand today....however I hope as I learn and teach it will develop further.....  

          My overall philosophy of education is to inspire all students to become lifelong learners.  To do this, students need to have an understanding of how they are going to use what they are learning in their lives and in the future.  If students have an understanding of how and why they are going to math, language arts and other subjects in their future they will be more interest, motivated and empowered to truly learn and know these various subject matters.

            In addition, students need to discover their own learning styles.  If he/she know how they learn best and work most efficiently then he/she will be more likely to enjoy their educational journey.  This will help students to become engaged within their own learning.   Students should know that they have a say in their learning process.  That they own it and that their teachers are guiding them from start to finish.  That how they learn and grow is important to their educators.   One of the most important aspects to teaching is for students to know that they, the student, are the most important thing in the eyes of their teachers. 

            Finally, students should be held to their own personal excellent.  Every grade a student begins; he/she should have the chance to grow from wherever he/she stands academically to the highest academic step the they personally can achieve.  He/She should have the opportunity to be challenged and explore a wide range of the education.    

Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers.
                                                                                                                -- Josef Albers

Why Special Education??

Special education in public schools is a fairly new thing. Sounds strange huh? However, it is both a very true and scary facts.  It wasn't that long ago that special education students were turned away from public schools and sent away to "special schools that could better serve their needs". Many people forget that the horror stories of Danvers State Hospital were not that far in the past of our states history. 

So why special education now? Why is special education become part of the general educators life? It is a true and unavoidable fact that even if you are not studying to become a special education teacher, you need to have some background knowledge about how to work with these students. No matter where you teach or what grade you end up in, public school teacher's realities are that they will find students in their classrooms that will be on IEPs and 504s.  These teachers will be required to modify for these student and make accommodations for them.  It is important that as country, state, city, and school community we can support and guide these students to success. Better supporting ours students helps not only the individual students but our society as a whole move forward. 

As important as special education is, it is also a challenge. It is an ever changing and ever difficult challenge to meet the needs of all of our learners and future learners. To be frank it is a scary idea standing in front of new teachers in the field. How does one teacher challenger his or her gifted and talented students and met all the needs of all the special needs students from across the spectrum of learning abilities? Hopefully with continued education, training, understanding, and flexibility this a challenge all teachers will be able to meet!

How do the experiences of immigrants shape how they are in the classroom?

It is easy for people to believe that the only differences for immigrant students is language.  Mostly because it is the normally the most noticeable and heavily impacting for students.  How could it not?  Families coming to this country, who speak a different language struggle from the moment education is mentioned.  How do they register their children in school when they are unable to speak or read the language?  How do they go to parents nights or sign permission slips without being able to speak and read English?  Since this is such a stumbling block, people forget all the other experiences that immigrates have, that truly shape the students sitting in the desks in front of us.   

The community I currently live in has a high population of people from the "DR" or Dominican Republic.  Not so different from here right?  The DR has some cities and based structure, come on its not like it is Africa or the Rainforest, right?  Once they learn a little English, these children should have nothing standing in their way....wrong.  In 2010 the DR's educational system was ranked lowest in Central America.  These students are living mainly in villages with one room school houses.  Many of which are taught by Peace Cor volunteers or other volunteers aids from all over the world.  Children living in villiages are attending schools in one room, dirt floor buildings.  No only that, but many leave school at an early age to help support their families.  Something that a large population of Americans have no ideas about or will ever have to experiences.  It is is not the law in every country that children must stay in school until they are 16.  Take a second....picture that.  Now picture a child moving here to Massachusetts where we have one of the best educational systems in the country.....and we expect them to live up to our standards right away with nothing standing in their way.  With parents whom many of which only have a middle school education, to the standards of the Dominican Republic.

In the United States, when election years come around education is always one of the hot topics.  It is something people talk about often and government supports fully (in one manner or another).  People forget that this is not the case for much of the world.  Many immigrants moving into this country do not hold the value to education that we do and for no fault of their own.  We are lucky and blessed to live in a country and society that values and puts great importance into our children and educational system.  This is not the case in every other country in the world.  And with that said, you can't change people over night.  You can not force immigrant to adopt our language and culture over night.  You can not make immigrants forget about how they were raised and spent much of their life....and change their values just because "we say so" or rather because "we think so".   

 

How to reach at risk students?

We all know "those students".  Those students who talk back to the teacher, never complete assignments, and are the general "bad boy/girl" of the class.  As a student, those kids are the ones that  your parents do not let you go to their house or to the mall with.  As we become young adults, those students are the ones who tend to not make it to college or for that matter to the end of high school. 

As teachers, "those students" are our at risk students.  These students are the ones who teachers think about the most and are up at night worrying about.  Students who fall into this category of being at risk appear to have something in common, because they have all been lumped together.  However, at risk students come from such differing backgrounds it makes it almost impossible for teachers to make a general rule about them.  Students can be labeled at risk for a wide range of reason and each come into a teacher's classroom each day with lots of baggage because of this.

The question for educators is, how do we reach these at risk students, make them successful, and stay in school?  Students can be determined to be at risk for a number of reasons.  For many students, becoming at risk starts at school when they are very young.  Students who have low reading skills, tend to struggle more in school and school becomes harder and harder over times.  For certain students, this put them so far behind that their grades and overall progress in school suffers.  These students tend to not meet with success in the upper grades without the proper interventions.  Without someone stepping in and giving them the help they need with these skills, they fall behind.  Other students, the issues stem from unstable home situations and support.  Again over time these circumstances place these student further and further at risk, without the proper interventions.

Even though all of these at risk students are lumped together under one category, when many times they share very little in common, they do share one significant thing in common.  That commonality is, the need for interventions from their schools.  The importance of invention plans and programs within public schools is the key to helping reach these at risk students.  Increases support in the younger grades to reach these students who are not achieving in the areas of reading and math will help them to learn basic skills in these areas to help them later in the schooling.  Increased support and interventions for our students who come from low socioeconomic status or families who are low income or within the poverty line; will help to change the pattern of their lives and become sucessful.  With increased support by states and districts, teachers can be given the tools to put interventions in place before students go from at risk, to dropping out. 

The key for teachers is to identify students as at risk and then DO SOMETHING!  Identifying students as being at risk is just the first step in a long road in making a change.  Students who are at risk, need continued support and help to be able to find success in the classroom.     

Why Teach?

Why teach?  Well that is an easy thing to answer!  Summer vacation, long weekends, Christmas Break, February Break, and April break!  Getting paid all year long and not have to work all year long!  To never give up skiing over winter break or sitting on the beach all summer! 

That does seem to be the answer many Americans think they would get when they asked a teacher, why they picked teaching.  These are the same people who believe teachers are overpaid babysitters and we should cut more funding from our schools.  However, if it is THAT easy and teachers are THAT overpaid...why doesn't everyone do it?  And the answer to that question is because not everyone can be a teacher, most people would not make it to snack time in a 1st grade classroom or past first period in a middle school special education class.

Lets be honest, teaching is hard.  It is one of the hardest profession out there.  How many other jobs are there out there that you have to spend your own money on supplies to do what is required of you at work?  Or sit at home every night and weekends doing work; grading papers, creating lessons, writing IEPs, setting up goals and objects.  Not only that, but to keep your job you have to again use your own money to take classes and course every few years for your entire teaching life.

The burn out rate in new teacher is at an all time high right now.  Many new teachers leave the profession within 5 years and an ever increasing number of teachers aren't ever making it into the classroom for their first year.  With the federal government adding the Common Core  and PARC exams the bar is only being raised with higher standards and amount of work required to be a classroom teacher.    

So WHY do people teacher?  Why is the drive behind it?  If you asked most teachers that questions a common answer would be; "I can't image what else I would do with my life".  While teaching might be one of the most difficult professions, it IS the most rewarding profession.  Every year to have a new set of students in front of you and to see them grow and learn is amazing.  No matter a teacher's impact, he/she always has an impact on everyone of the students he/she teach and that is the reason to teach.  As cliche as it sounds, they are the future and a teacher can impact how that future turns out.    

         

Welcome to my blog, Education in America!  I am currently a Senior at Salem State University graduating in May.

Over the past few years I have noticed an increase in how often Education is in the news.  Whether it be educational policy, budget cuts, or new standards.  It is interesting to hear people talking about how all students learn differently, however all these "different students" seems to be pushed into the same mold in education.  When I was in high school, I was never required to take MCAS however many of my friends in public school were and I heard plenty about it.  The pressure around this one test, that if they did not pass they would not get their diploma.  Ever since my high school days, the pressure around MCAS has only seemed to increase.  So why is it, that these political officials seem to be cutting more and more money from school, but expecting more out of teachers and higher achieving students?  How is this an equation for success?