Final Blog

I have learned a lot from this course this semester. Two things stand out. The first being that I have always known how important it was to be respectful of people and their differences. But I never considered what that means in terms of being a teacher. As a teacher it is so important to really be able to do this for your students. This can be achieved in many ways. Some examples of this are including different holidays and or cultures of the children in your class around the classroom. Secondly you can go to a community you will be teaching in and get a feel for it if it is different from your previous experiences. The second thing I learned is how much I really do enjoy being around children. I know now that I definitely want to be a teacher.

Preventing Violence in Schools

How can schools effectively handle and prevent violence in schools? The potential for school violence has been increasing for years. Being a parent as well as a future teacher this is something I definitely think about and am concerned about. I wanted to research ways in which this can be prevented. Teaching children as well as staff and parents to pay attention to what is going on is a way to prevent school violence. In many circumstances in the past children as well as adults had knowledge of concerning things but didn’t know the potential of what could happen or who to talk to about this. Parent involvement in many ways can deter children from acting violently at school. Although parents do have other responsibilities than their children like working, if you spend time with your child you reduce the risk significantly that they will be involved in school violence. When you spend time with your child it increasing their self esteem and as you get to know your child you can guide them in the right direction. I liked this particular strategy in preventing school violence because I see many parents who do not for many reasons give their child praise and attention they need. I think as families and as a society we need to look at this and change this. Parent involvement has a huge impact on child development. Another way to decrease school violence is to foster involvement in the schools. This promotes the idea of team work and people working together. This is more likely to promote working together of children who have different economic statuses or who are of different races. This promotes acceptance. There are many more strategies I have not talked about. Not every strategy will work in every situation and you definitely have to consider the needs and situations of your students when you are deciding what could be effective in preventing school violence.

http://www.nssc1.org/school-violence-prevention.html

http://sitemaker.umich.edu/356.dolan/how_to_prevent_school_violence

Theorist Bell Hooks

For this assignment I researched Bell Hooks. I choose her because she is someone I have not heard much about prior to this assignment. Bell Hooks is a black woman who identifies herself as a feminist. She has the unique opportunity to have gone to a segregated (all Black) school as well as when she was older to a school where there were white and black children. She preferred the black school because their focus was on learning whereas to her it seemed like here teachers at the school with white children wanted her only to obey them. Her views on education begin with these ideas and experiences. Bell Hooks wanted to be a teacher from the time she was a child and she became a college professor as well as a writer. In terms of education Bell Hooks likes to use a personal approach. She talks about her own experiences. She does all this because she believes that teachers should be passionate about teaching and should not just teach children but inspire them to learn. She talks about engaged pedagogy, the idea that for the teacher to be the most effective with the students to engage them in learning the teacher needs to be reflective on his or her own practices first. She believes that education empowers people to better themselves and that learning can happen anywhere. Hooks writes also about race and gender. She believes that all these topics are connected to each other in terms of society. I think her ideas are great. I agree that many topics in society are all related to education. Society works as a whole not just individual parts.I also agree with her ideas about being passionate about learning and teaching. I really like that she believes that education can empower people.  I believe this is extremely important.

http://www.infed.org/thinkers/hooks.htm

http://www.education.miami.edu/ep/contemporaryed/bell_hooks/bell_hooks.html

Education and Poverty

Can a better education help fight against poverty?

Better education can fight against poverty. This happens in the traditional academic sense but also in other ways. One thing that enhances education is parent involvement. One thing that makes a school successful is parents being interested and involved in their children’s education. Through involvement parents can impact their children’s schools and even sometimes what is being taught there. This all can lead to a better education and ultimately has the possibility of bringing a child out of poverty.

 On the other hand whether someone lives in poverty or not is based on many factors. One of these factors is the economy. A person can have a good education and a solid set of job skills and still not be able to get a good job depending on the economy. There might also be more of a problem trying to find some jobs in a rural area as opposed to a more urban area due to the amount of people in the area.

http://www2.dothaneagle.com/news/2008/aug/23/education_can_help_break_povertys_grip-ar-202078/

http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=is_education_the_cure_for_poverty

Education is like a flower

Education is like a flower. The seed of a flower represents the beginning of the child’s educational journey. It represents all the endless possibilities that child has laying ahead in their future.  As the seed grows it forms a stem. The stem supports the weight of the flower. The stem attaches the roots to the rest of the flower. Each part of the flower carefully relying on the other parts. This reminds me of how a teacher’s task is to connect present content with past content the children have been taught. Education is cumulative it builds off itself. An education is a good foundation for life much like the stem of a flower. As the flower grows further the petals begin to open. This reminds me of the openness of a child’s mind. Children posses an amazing ability to learn about themselves and their world faster than adults to. Through education children gain openness and acceptance of themselves and others around them. Flowers come in many colors reminding me of the uniqueness and differences among children. In the fall the petals of the flowers fall off. This reminds me of what the teacher teaches the children spreading and being passed on to others throughout the child’s life.

Realism In Education

Realism was started by Aristotle. He was a student of Plato. His ideas were different than Plato in the sense that Aristotle’s ideas were to find out about the world through real life experiences. Aristotle’s work went beyond the concrete and talked about how these things are still there in existence even if a person is not there with them. Another important concept of Realism is the balance of things in life. Aristotle believed that learning happened best through this balance and life experiences.

There are many examples of Aristotle and his beliefs in modern day education. Many subjects taught in school have examples of this. Science in particular is one that was affected by this. Students are encouraged to explore what they are studying in many ways. One example of this could be planting seeds to monitor and observe how they grow and the parts of a plant.  Aristotle’s Realism added other important things to science as well. Including the scientific method and the beginning of Darwin’s theory on evolution.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics/

http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/ed416/PP2.html

Eligibility for Special Education Services

In my observations this semester I have seen several children who have been evaluated and /or qualify for special education services. Because of my observations I have wondered what the state of Massachusetts sets for guidelines and eligibility for special education services. The link http://www.doe.mass.edu/sped/iep/forms/pdf/ed1.pdf shows a brief picture of what questions the schools or evaluators need to ask to determine if an evaluation is needed. The first step in deciding this brings up the question does the child have a disability? The next step asks about the progress the child is making in school. Then it is asked if this progress is being stopped in some way by the disability? The last part of this is the question about if the child needs specialized accommodations to get through the regular education curriculum? If the answer is yes to all these the child will be evaluated and probably given special education services. If the answer to any of these questions is no the child will not probably qualify for these services. However they might still qualify for a 504 plan. A 504 plan is a plan that is put together to help a child be successful at school. This child does not qualify for special education services according to the link http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=eohhs2terminal&L=7&L0=Home&L1=Consumer&L2=Community+Health+and+Safety&L3=Family+and+Community+Health&L4=Children+and+Youth+with+Special+Health+Needs&L5=Directions%3A+Resources+for+Your+Child's+Care&L6=Chapter+8%3A+Making+Education+Work+for+Your+Child&sid=Eeohhs2&b=terminalcontent&f=dph_populations_special_needs_directions_c_chap8.09_504_plan&csid=Eeohhs2 . A 504 plan gives the child what he/she needs to be successful at school without receiving special education services. One example of this might be that the child is allowed more time to take a test than other children. 504 plans are backed by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, specifically section 504 of this act.

What can teachers do to lessen the effects of gender discrimination in their classrooms?

I think that it’s extremely important to be mindful of discrimination and differences among people to be the best teacher you can be. This comes across in how you might treat your students or understand their individual situations. To lessen this in yourself it would be good to get exposure to things or communities you have not experienced before, as well as being reflective about where you might have your own discriminations or biases. To me, reflection and exposure are just starting points. What else can be done to lessen effects of gender discrimination in classrooms today? One thing I read about that can really help in a classroom is self-esteem. Specifically more opportunities for pre-teen and teen girls to see and hear that they are doing a good job. Studies have found that there is a huge drop in self – esteem for girls and not nearly as much of a drop for boys. http://www.maec.org/beyond.html#esteem.  Teachers can create these kinds of opportunities for girls in terms of planning how you might teach a lesson. According to the article mentioned above, in terms of gender discrimination girls who don’t have these chances take a hit to their self- esteem by seeing the ways that boys are positively treated by school as well as society. So if the teacher is being conscious of and planning activities that promote self-esteem than this is one way she/he can lessen the effects of gender discrimination. Another idea that can help in the classroom is by really making sure they are including everyone in their teaching and discussions. According to http://www2.edutech.nodak.edu/ndsta/dsellnow1.htm one example of this is the teacher making sure that everyone is given the chance to talk in a class discussion who wants to. Doing this can sometimes challenge gender roles for some people. Another way to challenge gender roles with smaller children can be done in play by giving children equal access to toys or situations that might be considered something one sex would do. One example of this could be having a girl play with the trucks in the classroom. I feel gender equality is extremely important inside and outside of the classroom. I wish that as a society we could take some more steps towards gender equality.

Nutritional Improvements in Schools

For awhile now I have wondered what is being done to improve school lunches. Children spend a good amount of time at school. Also school might be the only place a low income child eats a good meal .In my research I found that the main thing that is going on in terms of improving nutrition of schools happened this past December. President Obama signed into effect the Child Nutrition Bill. This bill improves school lunches by reducing or getting rid of all together that are not good for students. This bill also helps programs that feed low  income children according to http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2010/12/legislation_to_improve_nutriti.html. Through this bill the government is able to keep an eye on what is being planned ,bought and served to children in schools. This might include fewer bake sales or buying other products for vending machines as well. According to http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/12/13/child.nutrition/index.html# this bill also says schools will get some of their money back that they have spent on food if they are buying healthier foods like fruits and vegetables. This bill seems like a  great idea for several reasons. Firstly children who don't have acess to healthy foods at home hopefully with through school. Secondly I think many schools will be motivated to buy healthier foods if they will see a portion of their spent money coming back to them. Thirdly with the government watching the schools it forces them to be accountable for the food they are serving children.

Reasons to teach

People become teachers for a variety of reasons. In some respects its like many other choices people make in their life. What I mean is there are people out there that make choices based on negative reasons as well as people that make choices based on more positive ideas. The writer Herbert Kohl touches a little on this concept (in his article called Why Teach in our Educational Foundations textbook) when he says "What reasons do you give yourself for wanting to teach? Are they all negative..." This quote effects me because I think its not a good thing to base your choices on negative things. It seems worse to me to base your choice of career on negative reasons especially when in your career you will be working with children who need positive stable role models in their life. People become teachers for positve reasons too. I want to become a teacher to make a difference in childrens lives.

Other people become teachers because it seems practical like the article Benefits of Becoming A Teacher from the website  http://www.primary-education-oasis.com/benefits-of-becoming-a-teacher.html says. This website lists teacher salaries and healthcare benefits as two possible reasons to become a teacher. Although when talking about salary it does say that money varies from place to place and that public school teachers are paid better than private school. While money can be an important consideration it shouldn't be the whole reason you choose your career. I have chosen jobs in the past with money in mind. I am looking forward to learning more about children and teaching (two things I am passonate about) and becoming a teacher some day.

Hello

Hello Everyone,
My name is Diana. I am a Psychology major at Salem State University. I want to double major in Psychology and Education. Ever since I was little I have loved children. I enjoy spending time with them and learning about child development. I have always wanted to work with children. I have been going to school part time for many years now so that I can work and have time with my daughter. When my daughter was younger I felt like it was to much  to major in Education, now that she's older its the right time. (This is a picture of me with my daughter. She is 9 now but she was about 7 in this picture) I have an associates degree in Developmental Disabilities. I currently work as a PCA. I am very excited about taking this course and about begining my journey to an degree in Education. When I'm not in school I enjoy spending time with my daughter, husband and our puppy. We enjoy being outside at the beach and hiking.