#6 Disicipline in the Classroom

Ben and Adam took the class through a discussion of classroom discipline: what is it important and what are some methods of it we can use in our classrooms? Some questions which I still feel as if I am not sure about include whether or not there are and/or should be differences in discipline methods based on gender. My second question I often consider is what a model student looks like? What does a massively disruptive student act like? So on with the show...I agree with them that discipline and motivation often go hand in hand--which was why they surprised me with the information that corporal punishment is still lawful in 23 states and that Arkansas and Mississippi still use in on 9.2% and 10% of students, respectively. I do not plan on using corporal punishment in my classroom! They also discussed what to do in a crisis: discourage students from milling about at that time, use student names and be authoritative, seek assistance from other personnel. I liked the idea because I remember from my own years as a student when a fight broke out between two girls and the teachers couldn't stop it because the students had created an impenetrable wall between the two of them. I also think it is important for teachers to know the school policy to ensure we are not breaking the rules as we are leaders in the school and need to be good role models for the students at all times, but especially in crisis situations.

Of the five discipline methods that my peers Ben and Adam mentioned, I would say that Discipline with Dignity and Peer Mediation spoke the most to me. Choice Theory spoke to me because it reminded me that we need to consider the goals and motivations of our students and play on those to discipline them; we need Assertive Discipline because it provides students with clear, consistent rules to adhere to and lets students understand the consequences before they act out; and I think that classroom constructed rules are a great way of making students feel involved and in control of the rules that govern their actions in the classroom and school, but it is important as a teacher to be firm with these rules or else students will not see the value in them making them themselves and will consider it a waste of time and a class filler rather than an opportunity for growth and development in the classroom. Thus my infatuation with Discipline with Dignity: students make their own rules, they understand the consequences because they helped to mold them, and the teacher (myself) is firm with the students but treats them like adults rather than little babies who need authoritative guidance. Another great aspect of this method is that I can give my students the opinion that responsibility is better than obedience: I do not want my students to be like obedient dogs, I want them to be themselves and understand what they need to do to develop and grow in my classroom. As to Peer Mediation, the reason that I tend to like this method is that it gives students the chance to be responsible for fixing their own conflict and find the issues and conflict a learning experience to develop themselves rather than an intrusion and inconvenience. I want my students to leave the classroom and year able to think for themselves and develop in the community through lifelong learning, and conflict resolution and discipline is one of the techniques for personal growth that can help them achieve that self-sufficiency.

My Classroom Philosophy

Relation to Freedom Writers:

Ms. G gave us the secret sauce to her classroom and the two ingredients that appealed to me or applied to me the best were #5 Motivate your Students and #9 Create Community. The ones I was least certain about were #7 Teach Tolerance and #11 Expect Accountability. The diary entry for #5 was about a kid reading a book about feuding gangs and he remembered two gang leaders who decided to play Russian Roulette in his neighborhood, decided to make up and take one last turn which happened to end with the death of one: this memory motivated him to read the book by helping him make personal connections. In #9 we read the epilogue of the Freedom Diaries where Ms. G talks about creating a community of students where everyone is tolerant of each other and work together to change the world. I read #7 about a girl whose father had always told her that Whites, Blacks and Asians were to be avoided and prejudiced against, but during the Freedom Writers' trip to New York she gets put in a room with three girls of those exact races and it turns how to be an experience she does not forget that taught her to tolerate others and ensure her father's discrimination does not go any further in her family. Lastly, I read #11 in which the student discusses giving himself an F on a self evaluation and Ms. G gives him a piece of her mind at never giving up and being accountable for your work; the student was shocked and started taking ownership for his work.

My Classroom:

Walk into my classroom and the first thing that will catch your eye is the desks arranged in clusters of three or four desks arranged around my technology "center" including overhead, smart board and/or computer carts. My reasoning behind this being that students will have a giant opportunity to create community every day in class and as they talk more will begin to tolerate and respect each other like with the diary entry above. The walls will be covered in student work: students who have the chance to see work done by their peers or receive recognition for their own success experience more intrinsic motivation like with the example from the Freedom Writers above; this also will give them the chance to be accountable for their learning like the student was from the example with Ms. G. I do not believe in the power of the textbook, so although I will have several copies for students who request them, my textbook will be online of the computers where students can easily access it. My classroom will have a station where students can find and bother tools such as compasses, protractors, scissors, rulers or calculators because it is important they have all the resources and tools necessary to allow them success in the work I assign to them; this is addition to the laptops they will always carry with them, and technology that I will place right in the middle of my classroom. The reason I want my technology and resources to be in a mobile addition to the classroom is so that I can take it with me if my classroom moves either to the Library, another classroom or even outside, thus making the new location comfortable to the students and making it my own.

On the wall will also be a sheet explaining our class rules, which I will have the students help to create at the beginning of the school year. When students break the rules, there will also be discipline and "punishments" set up as consequences. I want my students to feel as if they have free speech and right to learn as they want, and providing authentic and timely feedback whether it be discipline or grading is a great first step in the process. In addition, in my desk will be a contact list for the parents so I can keep in constant contact with them at all times and set up meetings when applicable to ensure our goals for the students are focused and congruent. At the back of the room will be extra chairs for parents or teachers or supervisors who come to observe my classroom and see what powerful opportunities are occurring in the classroom: I do invite all parents to visit if they want and see what we do on a daily basis. My classroom will always be a place where students have choice in their learning; one way I plan on ensuring this is by starting off each year with interest surveys and identity inventories. By meeting with each student one-on-one and knowing my students through their interests, I can create experiences for them, and allow them to create their own experiences which will make the discoveries more relevant to them and in a form that they find easy to understand. I will be a facilitator, not an authority, because I want them to understand and see that they can be in control of what they learn and guide their own discoveries.

In my classroom will also be books and resources from other subjects and areas of study as well, because above all else I believe in interdisciplinary education and learning through experience. I want my students to realize that they can use many different methods to show their work: graphs, pictures, peer activities, projects, reflection, journal entries, questions, group work, laptop programs and even testing when applicable. One more important aspect of my classroom would be a comments box on the side of my desk where students can write me a comment, a question or a concern they have about what we are learning that I will read on a daily basis and use to gauge how well students understand the information. I will read relevant "letters" anonymously to the class when I feel that the class will get insight from a certain question or concern. This ties back in with my belief in student choice, because students can tell me what kinds of ideas or suggestions they have to learn and can take them into account and make sure my students get an experience they will remember for years to come, thus becoming lifelong learners and seeing discovery and knowledge in everything around them. The main reason behind the design of my classroom is that it must be an area where I am a co-leader in the classroom with the students, who in turn become leaders in their community and the rest of the school.

Afterword

As I become more cemented in my position at the school and acclimated into the community, I will begin to engage in curriculum development programs and help design new teaching methods through research with my colleagues. I do want to create meaningful partnerships with my colleagues and the community businesses and foundations that can assist in creating learning and curriculum opportunities, but first I have to adapt to my new surroundings before I can try to incorporate change in my community and school. All of this will come in good time.

Book Review #4

The Glass Castle Site

Citation

Walls, J. The Glass Castle: A Memoir. New York, NY: Scribner, 2005.

Abstract

Jeannette Walls tells us the story of her family: a Dad who loves his children but who has been destroyed by his fight with alcoholism, a mother who loves to paint and has a teaching degree but doesn't have a work ethic, an older sister trying to escape to freedom, a brother who hates their parents and sees through their delusion, and a younger sister who she determines to save and get to college. Her parents move all of the time from place to place either because they have run out of money, their welcome, food, or her father has to run away from Child Services or the casino where he was stealing money. The children miraculously survive their bringing up and all make something of their lives despite some of the events that befall them: Jeannette gets burned as a 3 year old, falls out of the car and gets left behind during a move, her father spends all their food money on booze and she gets raped by a school boy at one home. Some of the most powerful memories are those from school where she talks about not having lunch money and a teacher helping her and her parents yelling at her teachers because they don't agree with the curriculum.

Philosophy

I will start with my reflection of her educational experiences: I would be that teacher who gives money to my student who doesn't have any for lunch. I understand that that there are many students who are poor and impoverished, the part of my life with my Dad was definitely a mild example of this since where I lived in Skowhegan. Students need to have food and be well-nourished to learn, so students who are too poor to eat depend upon the school to help them, this is one reason why I like the free lunch program that schools have been implementing. In past reflections on TWYH the class discussed parental involvement in the classroom and I am definitely a teacher who believes in making sure they are a part of their student's education, but even so I need to realize that there are in fact many parents who would rather cause trouble than be useful to developing a healthy classroom partnership. On the other hand, many times parents just need to sit down and talk with a teacher, because they don't understand the methodology behind school decisions which they feel are undermining their own beliefs and turning their children away from their own way of life. As a teacher I hope that parents do not feel I am trying to undermine their role or importance in their child's life. Lastly, sometimes teachers need to be there for children and get them excited about learning and give them choices for extending their education past high school because some parents are not there for their children or expect them to enter a meaningless work force after graduation. Whenever necessary, I will instill a value for learning in my students and give them the resources to rise above whatever place they currently seem to occupy in life and what oath their parents might have chosen for them that they do not share a zeal for, but I also have to remember that many parents would take this as an offense to them, so I will talk with parents and let them know what I see in their child and how we can work together to give their student a great future.

Book Review #3

The Kite Runner Site

Citation

Hosseini, K. The Kite Runner. New York, NY: Riverhead Books, 2003.

Abstract

The Kite Runner is a fictional story of two friends, Amir and Hassan who live in Pakistan and have a fierce love and friendship for each other. The novel juggles the story of Amir and Hassan's friendship and struggles with Amir's move to America and the rise of the Taliban and their destruction of the Pakistani people. When Amir puts his fear before his friendship with Hassan, we see him abuse Hassan to make himself feel better; when Amir moves to America we see his trying to fit in with his new surroundings despite having customs that often directly interfere with this goal; when Amir grows up we see his journey to redeem himself for his treatment of Hassan and struggle when his father's past and secrets come back to haunt him. The Kite Runner is a powerful story about a society and culture very few of us understand or trust with recent history being what it is; this story shows us the humanity of those who we don't understand and makes us think about how our own decisions and prejudices affect those we associate with.

Philosophy

As I have said in many posts, multicultural education is important: this novel reminds me that I need to make sure I consider the opinions, customs and differences of my students. There are a few things I want to say about this novel: 1) bullying is not good and I hope to make my classroom a place where students learn to respect each other's ideas, backgrounds and work; 2) when students of other cultures try to fit into the classroom, students need to remember to assist them and respect their customs, which means as a teacher I have to help these students and also respect them as a role model for the rest of their peers. Amir had trouble fitting in, which in his case was because not only was America not a helpful place for him with his customs, but he was personally doing his own best to not adhere to them either; his father not gaining command of the language as Amir did, had an even tougher time--in the classroom, ESL students do sometimes show up and I want to try and be the teacher who gives them appropriate resources so that they don't get discouraged and unable to gain understanding like their peers. This is a very relevant concern for educators today. Another aspect of the novel that stood out for me was the idea of peer violence: Amir sees his friend Hassan get sexually attacked by Assef, a bully in the community, and does nothing but instead from his guilt he also treats Hassan like a victim and ends up getting him sent away. Many children are the victims of abuse and bullying, so in my classroom I will take claims of abuse seriously and get kids the help they need (yes, this is a legal responsibility), plus help to enact policies in the school that create an environment where bullying and peer pressure are not allowed to ruin a student's motivation to learn or survive.

Book Review #2

All Souls: A Family Story from Southie Site

Citation

MacDonald, M. All Souls: A Family Story from Southie. New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 1999.

Abstract

Michael Patrick MacDonald tells us the true story of his family living in a poor, white community in Boston known as Southie. Most times when we think of "ghettos" with extremely poor families and homeless and huge crime rates we think of Black communities, but here is a first hand account of a poor white family of Irish descent. His mother had eleven children from four different men and despite losing four of her children to drugs, murder, suicide and death and still managed to fight for her children and give the living children the chance to escape the community and make something out of their lives. Southie refuses to accept that they are full of gang violence and crime due to the leadership of Whitey Bulger, ultimately leaving the community unable to change and develop because it won't face its problems. This story is about hope and redemption in the most impoverished white community in the country and one man's struggle to ensure that children growing up where he did do not have to go through the same pains and struggle that he did. The book can assist us in understanding student diversity and getting ideas for making multicultural education apply to white students as well.

Philosophy

One idea I got from this book was that even "white" students are different from each other too and have customs and opinions that teachers should make sure to consider; usually we think about different students as being White vs. Black vs. Asian vs. Hispanic but this is an understatement because White could be American or British or German, Black could be American or Nigerian or Jamaician, Asian could be Japanese or Chinese or Indian, Hispanic could be Mexican or Puerto Rican or Brazilian. Additionally, as I was reading this story I noticed a lot of educational history as well: most importantly the Boston bus riots and desegregation of schools. Multicultural education is a Big Idea in schools in that we have to remember all of our students are different and not step on their beliefs and customs while teaching to them. Michael's family was Irish Roman Catholic, reminding me that religion although supposed to be separate from school is always right under the skin and personality of the student so we need to care for our students and figure out what their religion might mean to their learning. This is not to say that we should ask students what their religion is, but if I have a student in my class who shares their religion with us then I need to make sure that I don't step on his or her beliefs and could even use them to get him more motivated by connecting his beliefs to the information.

Book Review #1

Please Stop Laughing At Me Site

Citation

Blanco, J. Please Stop Laughing At Me. Avon, MA: Adams Media Group, 2003.

Reflection

She has written a personal narrative that not only opened my eyes to the extremity of peer abuse that can befall one personal in school, but also brought back memories for me of incidents I myself had going through the system. I was born with my right leg twisted backwards, which while fixed immediately means I do not walk straight, and many times during my school years this was one way people found to make fun of me; when I was in First grade I was pushed down the hill behind our school during recess and ended up hitting a rock at the bottom that not only left me with a broken tail bone but also injured my spine; in middle school, Sixth grade, I was stabbed by a fellow classmate with a fork, which has left me with nerve damage in my left hand making it virtual unusable during some nights when the pain is at an extreme. I do not think that my experiences are worse than hers, for in many ways they are not: she had a disorder that caused one breast to be smaller than the other and which people used to belittle and embarrass her, she was beaten by a group of kids and left bleeding and classmates spread horrible rumors about her in school. One connection I did have with her was that we both had parents who while they loved us did not understand the situation and thought our pain was due to blame on our own part. Her parents sent her to a psychiatrist for mental counseling, while mine just continued the abuse by always making me feel insecure for what they perceived as my 'weakness'. I realize now that my parents do love me and just wish I weren't as meek and insecure, but what I can;t bring myself to admit to them and is that in some small way they are to blame indirectly.

Philosophy

So how does this apply to my philosophy? 1) I want my students to be safe in my classroom, and never feel as if other students have the right to belittle or beat them for any reason, least of all being that they are different; 2) Not all peer abuse and bullying is identical and so when a student comes to me and describes an incident that left them feeling bad about themselves I am going to give it full consideration and get them any help they need and have the students involved sit down and explained why their behavior is inappropriate; 3) Many students do not realize that such behavior can actually damage the victim's potential in school by causing them to become introverted and shy, or even make them drop out of school because they don't get help, so as a teacher not only will my classroom be a refuge for students who are bullied, but every day will be a lesson in student tolerance and teach students that bullying does not help anyone involved; 4) One way of ensuring students realize that bullying is not allowed is by having strict rules and consequences for students who do bully another student in any way: this includes not only beating, teasing and spreading rumors about others, but also playing certain practical jokes on them, vandalizing their property, following them everywhere, or even copying or stealing their homework (and there are many more that students sometimes do which may not seem like bullying but which leave the victim feeling uncomfortable; 5) I will make sure to be a role model in my school and help create school, district, and statewide programs that identify student bullying and help to create policies to protect and also prosecute any incidents of this nature on school property or off.

"It takes a Village"

Abstract

Fifty Six eleventh graders in San Diego created a 246 page guide book on the biodiversity of their intertidal areas as the central project for their Junior year under the auspice of three teachers (in biology, math and humanities). This guide included color photographs, scientific descriptions, maps by early explorers and GIS maps. The guide was sold to a wide audience and gave the students validation of their work and accomplishment. To help create the book they received community assistance in the form of donations and also research grants from area Universities and Foundations. This project was based on the tenets of John Dewey's educational philosophy that supports Real World application and hands-on learning experiences: the applications the students were making contributed to a multi-disciplinary and intracurricular approach which increased student motivation and professionalism. The project was very student-centered with the students have the ability to make choices about what to include, how to write, organize and publish the guide, and also find community resources and create partnerships with outside businesses and service learning opportunities. One important aspect of the project was that students utilized interpersonal communication to get help from each other and the community. Some other activities that have been done across the country include: A history book of photographs and first person accounts in New York, one school required they interview an expert for their final paper in American Studies, students working in an intern or community service work setting. The major tenet of many of these activities is that they get students out of the classroom and into the society at large.

Reflection

This article proved that we can create powerful learning experiences for our students. Steve especially loved the photo journal and first hand account examples because he saw there to be a lot of different and creative choices for students working on projects such as those; he also was drawn toward interviews in that they make learning more relevant and meaningful and thought that the teacher could even compile a list of people in the community for students to use as a starting point in their search. We believe that it does make sense to have smaller learning communities so students interact closely with each other and community members. Megan believes giving students the ability to show their work and discovery bodes better for them in the long run because students can then decide with the teacher if further research is required and ultimately learn much more information than if the teacher were feeding them knowledge to a certain point and then stopping short of something they might have been able to figure out on their own. What makes this activity so much more powerful than most others we have heard about is that it connects community learning and experiential education with content integration and Real World application that redefines each student's understanding as more than just an answer on a test.

Many times people think of school as a separate entity of society apart from everything else: they believe this entity "education" occurs in a classroom and does not interact with the community at large...this is so not true! According to Eileen, these students learned one important idea above all others: education and learning are not limited to the classroom but can be experienced and discovered anywhere at any time, thus creating lifelong learners that benefit from everything they do because they always have their eyes open, ready at the drop of a hat to gain better understanding of the world around them. We agree with the article's premise that this opinion or theory of education, found in too many classrooms and homes across America, is a bad approach to learning that jeopardizes student growth by denying them the ability to gain a rewarding amount of knowledge from their surroundings and community members. In fact, Michael even suggests that not only do the students gain from this interaction which gives them deeper thinking and discovery, but businesses benefit as well by strengthening the innovation and creativity of the future work force that might enter their doors looking for jobs and sometimes even gaining money or sales from their involvement.

Afterword

Still, there are some inclusions of the business world in schools that have actually become detrimental to student learning and have created an environment of discord and distraction in schools across the country: snack and soda machines. If they were healthy, it wouldn't mean much, but unfortunately as we stuff our students up with soda and junk food they stop listening and are more likely to fall asleep in class. So our suggestion is that the business world stay out of the school except to help better the learning experience as it does in the articles numerous examples where we see greater student learning because of it, and leave the nutritional concerns to the Cafeteria workers.

#5 No Child Left Behind

NCLB was filled with good intentions on the part of George W. Bush to revolutionize and fix problems he saw in American education: unfortunately, the road to trouble is paved with good intentions. Bush's program involved "failing" schools and the idea that schools which met his line and passed would receive additional funding and schools which failed would lose funding and resources--ultimately, they would also lose students because if a school failed then parents would be allowed to move their students out of that school and put them in another school which had passed. Here lies the major problem with NCLB: schools which go below that imaginary line have very little to no chance of ever getting above it since they won't have enough resources or support to accomplish such a feat. As Angela and Steph suggested, and I agree with them, if we want schools to be great learning communities and achieve accountability for their teaching, then we need to be helping schools in distress by giving them funding to improve and resources to strengthen their curriculum. Also, why use the word failing? Eileen mentioned how that label angers her, and I got to thinking and agree with that because it has such a negative connotation. Instead, let's just say "Schools in need" and stop there, or consider whether we need to give them a label at all? Again, President Bush thought he had a good idea, but the implementation is all wrong.

Steph and Angela write "this law is based on testing and standards which is not what future teachers are being taught to stress in their classroom...they are learning about using performance tasks and hands-on learning...Bush takes all of what is being taught at the college level for future teachers and throws it out the window with all of his mandatory testing...standards are important and necessary, but all of the testing is just overkill on the teachers as well as on the students". I understand that testing has a place in the classroom, but authentic assessment does as well so teachers should not forget about this important assessment method. Standardized testing, it has been said, is discriminatory against multicultural students and so I am anti-standardized testing as it can't be a good measure of student development if it doesn't apply to all students. Here is another way in which Bush's intentions are good, but the wrong approach is taken to measure our students. I think it would be important to have a uniform assessment across all states if we needed federal regulations of education and needed to check American success at teaching...but here is my question that my group and I came up with: should education be regulated by federal guidelines? I tend to think not, there should be a chain of command with teaching in which teachers are not answerable to the federal regulations but instead only to school, which is to the state, which would be to the federal. I don't think we should have federal control of local schools, its not a good idea.

What is My Philosophy Style? Take 2!

Reflection

While reading about and studying the different philosophy theories, I was not surprised I still fell within the student-centered portion of the continuum. The two philosophies that really stood out for me were Humanism and Constructivism, but I will also touch lightly on Progressivism, because there were a few connections I was able to make within that theory to my own philosophy. In class we talked about assessment related to our educational theories, and Dr. Grace said something to me that really stuck with me and made me think: she said that even authentic assessment such as performance tasks need to be offset by testing in the classroom. I agree with her about this: my philosophies, as I will show in the following paragraphs, are centered around and depend on authentic assessments such as performance tasks, but even I still believe in the importance of supplementing the assessment with tests whenever appropriate. Of course, my belief lies in the idea that testing may be important under some circumstances, but must be given in moderation, so only to measure Big Ideas and concepts, not as a weekly occurrence.

Progressivism
My only dissension from Progressivism being that it believes that and experimentation are of the utmost importance: Progressivism wants students motivated to question and experiment their own learning. Students should be taught to use divergent thinking and enjoy the process rather than the result, but I believe there is more to learning than just asking questions and experimenting. The goal is that students must analyze the world, and be vehicles of 'social change'. In order to do this, education must intrinsically motivate them and have them explore cross-cultural learning. So I mentioned there were some connections I made: I want my students to experience cross-cultural education, and also want them to be intrinsically motivated. Progressivism, is that students are to be vehicles of social change: I want my students to think about the world and definitely make it better, but I do not expect them to change the world immediately, and want them to still be kids and have fun in the classroom as well. Progressivism is part of the Pragmatist philosophy, which was my second choice and that explains why I have some connections, but do not find myself wholly involved within its tenets.

Humanism
My second choice would be Humanism, which believes that students have feelings and needs that education should meet by allowing them choices. Teachers are supposed to enhance student strengths and embrace individualism by getting students to understand their feelings, think divergently, and sharing and caring in groups. The overall most important aspect is that students are not persuaded to certain views and teachers know their students and have a great relationship with them. Humanism is strictly within the Existentialist philosophy, which being my primary philosophy implies that I will find myself within the Humanist philosophy as well, and I do, but even this philosophy does not truly describe who I am. I have Humanist tendencies because I understand my students' strengths and want to give them choices that allow them the ability to choose their own learning and find methods that work for them and give them the best way to learn the Big Ideas and concepts. I like the idea of students thinking divergently, and doing group work, because it gives them a chance to have flexible choices in their learning and use the teacher and other students as a resource. One deviation that I have from Humanism though, is the idea that curriculum should be focused on the feelings of my students, I do not consider them the basis for my teaching, as I think that sometimes our feelings (whether it be fear, sadness, or anger) can be detrimental or distracting to true learning.

Constructivism
Constructivism is based in a mixture of Pragmatist and Existentialist thought: students make their own learning using hands-on, experiential activities that allow them to interpret their own personal meaning from the learning and make choices at their own pace. Constructivism deals with critical thinking of the Big Ideas by engaging in problem-based learning and finding real world and contextual significance to all data found and analyzed. The role of the teacher is to facilitate student discovery, not be an all-knowing authority that bosses students around. I fit very well into this model because I am strong in both Pragmatist and Existentialist belief, so this theory pulls together my philosophy in the classroom: I want my students to make connections with the learning, and the best way to do this is for them to find personal meaning and make choices based in their own needs and wants. As I mentioned in previous paragraphs, I do believe in students thinking critically about what they find; students who think critically and engage in activities that give them the chance to experience the concepts rather than just hear them are more likely to have deeper understanding. I do not have the Authoritarian discipline to be an authority figure for my students, and I do not expect to be their best friend, but I do want to help them and be a resource in their journey towards understanding--it is all about the journey in my classroom, not the result. I believe that education should be focused towards getting students thinking about the real world implications of everything they learn; otherwise, learning will have no relevance to them and they will not remember it past the end of the year.

#4 Experiential Education

Megan and I researched experiential learning education in the classroom. This is a major part of my educational philosophy, and I am very passionate about its use and importance in the classroom. I was surprised to find that experiential learning involves group work, discussion and journaling which are methods I always considered to be productive for students, but more repetitious than exploratory. Through my research I learned about many new and exciting activities that can be used in an experiential classroom; I also began to think about how experiential education can be a great, easy way to incorporate other educational philosophies such as multicultural education, curriculum integration and motivation.

For our presentation, both Megan and I completed research by finding and analyzing at least five sources; my contribution was the books we used while Megan focused on the websites and internet journals. Megan sent me all of her information, and together with mine I organized our information into themes, then wrote the paper for our issue. Megan used this paper to compose our Power Point presentation with our major themes, and used our resources to find images and pictures to go on our slides. Megan and I worked very well together so that neither of us did more work; furthermore, to prepare for our presentation we met with Dr. Grace and discussed activities that could engage and teach the students about our issue. For our presentation, Megan and I decided to use primary topics from each content area and provide an opportunity for the students to think curriculum integration as well. It bothered me that our Power Point didn’t work, but I think Megan and I handled it very well and were able to stay focused and retain our composure. My own downfall being that I kept losing my place when reading the paper on screen and so might have paused too much, but I am confident that our peers learned valuable information from our presentation despite the technological glitches.

So what did I learn from the reflections of my peers? Unfortunately, some of our peers did not understand why we didn’t give them more guidance in the activity, but the point was to show them what student-oriented education looks like, and to make their own learning experiences based on their own knowledge and their own understandings of the topic given to them in each of five major content areas. We wanted our peers to realize that fun and engaging activities allow students to attain deeper understanding of the required concepts; and in fact many of our peers did make this connection. I mentioned that experiential education makes less workload for the teacher, and one of our peers didn’t understand what I meant by this: I should make it more clear by stating that workload is easier because students are doing all of the work choosing their activities and finding their own materials. Yes, it is true that teachers still have to make handouts, get a lot of materials, and compose organizers for student learning, but teachers still have less workload because they aren’t required to instruct the students and plan supplements.

One of our peers stated that there were still many questions running around in her head, and I don’t consider that a failure, but rather a success: educational issues cannot be a solve-all but rather a way of getting people thinking and questioning so they will learn more and strengthen their teaching skills. There is only one question still on my mind: when doesn't experiential education work? I tend to believe there is no answer to this question, but finding the answer should keep me busy for years to come.