Students At Bat

This article was about teaching students to act responsibly by giving them opportunities to make meaningful decisions. Many students today are given few opportunities today to make decisions on their own, which leads the to be irresponsible in other aspects of their life. The article suggest the following ways to create decision making opportunities within your classroom.

1) Let students decide how to use their time.

2) Let students choose classroom rules.

• If students create the rules themselves they will feel more accountabilty to follow them.

3) Let students choose work locations.

4) Let students choose tasks.

• Within-task choiecs are those where you give the student an assignment with multiple options on how to accomplish it.
  

5) Let students develop rubrics.

6) Implement student-led conference

It must be kept in mind that this process takes time and practice; start with smaller decisions and work to bigger ones. Most students with learn that poor choices lead to not so fun consequences and they will see that their decisions control these consequences. By supporting them, students will begin to become responsible decision makers in and out of the classroom.

I enjoyed this article. It was short and concise, giving the right amount of information needed. The suggestion for teaching responsibility were great. Allowing students to make choices and decisions in school helps them become responsible adults. By making the decisions themselves, most students will hold themselves accountable and take more responsibility in getting the work done.

Philosophy Impact

My personal philosophy of education will impact my future as a teacher in many ways. The specific impact it will have on my classroom will determine have powerful I will be as a teacher. My philosophy will effect my classroom organization, student motivation, discipline, assessment, classroom climate, learning focus, my teaching style and leadership style. Under further examination, I will reveal how each of these elements of my classroom will be effected by my personal philosophy of education.

Classroom Organization:
Since I am a fairly neat and orderly person, my classroom will be set up in a neat fashion; everything will be organized and have a place. With all my work organized, I can plan my time accordingly to get work back to students in a timely manor to allow for quick and precise feedback. I feel the more organized I am as a teacher, the more I will help my students to become organized adults and successful in their education.

Motivation:
The most important thing to remember when motivating students to learn is their personal interests. A typical human being has little enthusiasm in learning something they are not interested in. When I design my lesson plans, I make sure that the students' interests are taken into consideration. A big attribute of students within grades 7 and 12 is that they like to be independent; they like to discover things on their own. By creating an environment for the student in which they teach themselves by interacting with it is a great way to make sure the students stay motivated. By exploring this environment, the student feels that he/she is learning what they want to learn, instead of what the teacher is making them learn, although as the teacher we see that they are one in the same due to our careful planning.

Self-discipline and Classroom Climate:
Self-discipline is created by holding the students accountable for themselves and their actions. Teaching each student about responsibility will help them grow as individuals and build a community within the classroom. By creating a classroom community where everyone respects and values one another, we establish a classroom where everyone feels safe and can rely on one another. This brings us into the topic of classroom climate. When a classroom is safe for all students, enjoyable learning can be reached through hard work from individuals and groups.

Teaching Styles and Assessment:
I grouped teaching styles and assessment together because I think they go hand in hand. The key here is to use a variety of methods to draw the knowledge out of the student; to allow to student to discover information on their own. With this said, all students learn differently therefore they should be taught and assessed to their specific learning style. Although it seems almost impossible to teach to every students' learning style, with a variety of instructional methods and assessment techniques it is possible to give every student the opportunity to learn and be assessed in the best way possible.
Instructional methods, such as discussion, cooperative learning, journals/blogs, role playing and scaffolding, amongst others, will accommodate all the different students in the multiple ways in which they learn. Assessment can be summative, formative, formal, and informal. Summative assessment summarizes the development of the learners at a given time, for example, the end of a semester. Formative assessment is when feedback from learning is used by the teacher to enhance teaching and learning strategies. Formal assessment is usually a written document, such as a test, quiz, or paper. Informal assessment is usually casual and includes observation, participation, peer and self-evaluation, and discussion. By using a variety of teaching and learning methods it is possible to accommodate for all learning styles within the classroom.

Learning Focus:
My personal philosophy is that the student should be the center of learning. Within student-centered learning the focus in on the students needs, instead of the desires of the teachers and administration. Although the teachers and adminstration should be taken into consideration during planning, the students are the most important people within a school and the school should be built around and for them. With that said, students should have a say and choices in what they want learn.

Leadership styles:
My philosophy allows me to feel comfortable as a leader within a school and community. As a teacher, I am a role model for students who are the future of our nation. I stand up for what I believe in and hopefully my students will follow my lead by standing up for what they believe is right. My main goal as a leader is to put my students first and encourage others within the school community to do so as well.

Non-Traditional Schools

Maria, Sarah and Katie Rose did a great job with their presentation on non-traditional schools. They briefly described the idea behind alternative schooling. They gave in depths details about Charter schools, religious schools, Expeditionary Learning Schools, Community schools and Free schools. They gave the ideas behind each other these types of schools and the laws which must be followed in order to start these types of school. They had a Chalk-Talk discussion where everyone was able to write their opinions on certain topics chosen by the speakers. I thought this was a great idea. I am a quiet person and I often have troubles putting my opinions into words during usual discussion because I feel rushed. A Chalk-Talk is a great way to allow everyone to get their thoughts out and and discussed. Their paper was a great recap and resource for the information they shared during their presentation, including a good link about Expeditionary Learning. Non-traditional schools were something I previously did not know much about and had not thought much about. I feel they opened my eyes to a whole new aspect of teaching.

Discipline

The topic of discipline was disgusted in class today by Evan, Jessica, and Megan. They started their presentation with a great cartoon poking fun at the idea of using intimidation as a means of discipline amongst other things. Next they gave a brief history of discipline. They described why we need discipline and different types including time out, assertive discipline and body language. They showed a video on corporal punishment within a school in Texas. The video was a good part of the presentation because it gave me insight into a type of discipline I do not agree with, but I now see this schools reasoning for using corporal punishment. I liked how the group did not put their opinion about discipline into the presentation. They delivered facts and information to the class and created a lot of discussion opportunities. I thought they did a great job!

Voices of Educational Pioneers Article

Given the pages and pages of educational philosophies within this article, I feel as though I do not have to time or brain strength to summarize my reflection at this time. Having just read the article, I am going to list the parts I related to, agreed with and feel are important. I can later bring my thoughts on all the topics into true feelings for my philosophy paper.

Characteristics of Teacher:
Teacher's academic freedom to think, question and teach (Socrates)
Expert, knows developmental levels of children
Respects children.
Teaches with methods that motivate and stimulate students.
"Teacher of all" (Jesus)
Fair and compassionate.
Kindness and Fairness
Encouraging
Open to all learners
Variety and practicality
Non-coersive
Moral integrity and diligence
Pedagogic efficiency

Role of Teacher:
"transmitter of knowledge" ( Confucius)
Draws knowledge out of student (Socrates)
Ask questions in a way that students discover knowledge within -leading questions
Relating curriculum to needs/interests of students.
Know what students already know and build on that knowledge.
Debate with students to help discover knowledge.
Variety of teaching instructional methods
Make learning enjoyable
Integrate curriculum
Student-centered curriculum
Create an emotionally secure environment
Character formation
Group instruction
Reflection
"Students develop a moral code that will guide their life." (Herbart)
Create responsible members of society.
Teach the process of thinking
Know student understanding and teach to it. -individualized instruction.
"What is the purpose of teaching, what are you teaching and how are you teaching it?" (Freire)
Creating an environment where students will teach themselves through interacting with it.


Role of Education:
Teacherless Education- draw out knowledge
Student growth and development of character and ability to do good. (Plato)
Promote citizenship and leadership (Plato)
Encourage thinking, reflecting and practice. (Aristotle)
Successive stages of education based on physical and psychological developments.
Allow students to create their own perceptions, not being persuaded by previous opinions.
Character development- providing students the opportunities to make good choices. (Aquinas)
Developing responsibility in youth
Universal education for all-Everyone should have the same opportunity to learn anything and everything.
Holistic development of student
School and family work together
Create in children healthy habits of minds and body.
Promote equality of men, no matter their race, religion, or habitat.
"Education as the only hope to reach not only skills but to change attitudes to improve morality." (Jefferson)
"Providing students with free and intelligent choice between alternates and engaging them in meaningful interactions with their environment- the subject matter, the teachers, and peers." (Dewey's)
Purpose= think, discover and create



Child/Student:
Social, physical and emotional potential.
Stages of learning (Aristotle)
Their function is to reason- (Starter- Child's most common word = why?)
--Inquisitiveness of children.
Natural endowment, instruction and practice (Luther)
Learn through experience
"Adults in the making" not youngsters
Direct contact with nature without inter-mixture of opinions = form own idea.
"Given freedom, children would play, participate, observe, and learn new knowledge through self-activity at their own speed of learning.


Good quotes:
"Know thyself. The unexamined life is not worth living." Socrates
Fortune Cookie quote- "Our duty, as men and women, is to proceed as if limits to our ability did not exist."

A Nation At Risk

Abstract:

A Nation At Risk: The Imperative of Educational Reform was a report by the National Commission on Excellence in Education on the Unites States educational system and how it needs to be improve. The study, done in the 1980’s, reported that education in our society was eroding from mediocrity that was threatening the future of our Nation. The Risk is that we live among well educated and strong competitors. We are falling behind other countries because our educational foundation is breaking apart, due to the many conflicting demands placed on our teachers and schools. The article went into the different indicators of the risk and different hopes and frustrations of our nations people. The Commission of Excellence defined excellence in a few different ways in terms of the individual learner, school or college, and society, saying that all three need to be committed to achieving excellence. The article suggested that in order for education reform to occur we need to create a learning society, where educational opportunities are extended beyond classroom walls and into every place where an individual can develop. There are numerous tools at hand and if these materials are used it will create opportunities and choices for everyone to learn. Before the article presented all its recommendations it demanded the commitment of all of society in order for these recommendations to be successful. The Commission recommended a strengthening of content, more rigorous and measurable standards and higher expectations, more time spent on actual learning, improving teacher preparation and respect for the profession, and lastly, holding educators and officials responsible for providing leadership for achieving these reforms. With all that said, they made special comment to parents and students and a final plea to all to implement their recommendations.

Reflection:
I thought a lot of the information was out of date, considering this research and article was written in the 80’s. I do still believe that our Nation’s education system is at risk in a lot of ways but I feel we have improved since this article was written; possibly even because of the article. No Child Left Behind is a perfect example of the article recommendation of holding educators and officials responsible for leadership in achieving reformation. Overall, I though the article was pretty good and brought up some good points. I also thought it was very outdated and needed to be revamped in order to be relevant for out time. One part that I thought would be everlasting was the word to the students. This paragraph suggested that the students themselves are the only ones fully in charge and capable of changing their futures. By putting in more effort and working to their full capacity, they will create their own futures and “control their destiny.”

Promising Future: A Call to Improve Learning for Maine's Secondary Students

Abstract:

The book began with A Call to Action; a challenge and invitation to join the effort to improve learning. The 6 Core Principles for Secondary Educational Practice in Maine that guide the improvements were listed as follows:

• Students are successful in educational experiences which promote:

1. A safe, respectful and caring environment.
   
2. High universal expectations with a variety of learning opportunities.
   
3. Understanding and actions based on assessment data.
   
4. Teacher practice which values and builds upon the contributions and needs of each learner.
   
5. Equitable and democratic practices.
   
6. Coherence among mission, goals, actions, and outcomes.
   

The book continued on with an overview of observations and challenges seen in the public secondary education system in Maine in 1998. After clarifying the challenges most schools are facing, the book goes on to describe the 15 Core Practices which are recommendations for actively improvement. These practices were split up into two types: Core Practices for Learning and Teaching and Core School Practices to Support Learning. Once these 15 practices were listed and described with essential elements, they went on to describe practices that need to be phased out because they impede the Core Practices. And finally, they describe how seven recommendations to local and state policy makers, parent groups, school district leadership, town officials, and state leaders. These policy makers must help if high schools are to serve our youth most effectively!

Reflection:

I feel they did a really great job creating these Promising Future Core Principles, Practices and Recommendations. All of them are important and need to be implemented in order to improve all Maine high schools. I think Core Practice 3: Every teacher challenges learners both to master the fundamentals of the disciplines and to integrate skills and concepts across the disciplines to address relevant issues and problems, is very important. So many teachers teach their subject and only their subject; a lot more learning could occur by integrating disciplines. One practice that I do not think is applied nearly enough is Core Practice 4: Every Student learns in collaborative groups of students with diverse learning styles, skills, ages, personal backgrounds, and career goals. Tracking is used in most high schools and it hinders the learning of the majority of students. Given that we are a culture that "communicates high expectations for all, equity of educational opportunity and goals, and democracy requires that students experience learning alongside students who are distinctly different from them" (pg 18). Why, if our culture requires us to work in a diverse society, should we teach students in homogeneous groupings?
I really enjoyed reading this short book about Promising Futures. If all Practices are implemented correctly and maintained in all high schools in Maine, I think we will see a huge improvements over the next tens years.