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.

The End of 'Teach With Your Heart'

So by the end of the book we finally see why it is entitled “Teach With Your Heart”: you need to teach with you heart, which means you have to be yourself and follow your own personality, your own limits, and your own beliefs so that you don’t lose yourself. It is important as an educator to not lose yourself in what you do and let everything else suffer. Erin lost her husband, her father before she realized that she had thrown herself too far into what she was doing and lost out on herself. Erin changed so many lives, and I’m not saying that isn’t so, but the point is that she was too involved and let her own life suffer. As I was reading this, I saw myself in Erin many times; I am very passionate about teaching and go out of my way when teaching during the summer to present my students with an amazing education, and sometimes it is at the expense of my doing anything else. Reading the story of Erin, I realized that I have to worry about myself too, and that although making a difference in a student’s life is very important--it is not necessary to save every child and yet not save yourself--you have to be able to set limits. Erin did not set appropriate limits, and lost herself in her work. Steve talked about the definition of ‘work’ and how Erin wasn’t working for money, but was doing work to help kids; I see the difference he is trying to make, and I agree with him, but I don’t think it really matters because no matter whether it is a job or service work you still have to set limits and think about your own well-being in the process of doing that work.

Our class discussion turned to Erin’s husband and whether or not we felt compassion for him. I have trouble picking a side on this: I feel sorry for him in that it is true Erin devoted her whole being to the students and had nothing left for him, but at the same time I can see myself in Erin (which I will talk about later) and feel as if he should have been less selfish and been more considerate of her. In class I mentioned a mirror philosophy I had developed, which was that people who devote themselves to teaching and sacrifice their lives to their work would feel more for Erin in the divorce, and people who do not and or have been ignored by people who have lost themselves in their work would feel more for the husband. I definitely have many times when teaching been so busy working to create plans for my students that I do push people away and spend more time by myself, so I admit that when I read this book I dismissed the husband as being selfish and hated him. Looking back I can see that my hate for him in fact speaks more to my own faults than it does his: he married Erin, expecting to be in a two sided marriage, but in fact was married to himself since Erin was not even there when she stood in front of him, her mind still in the classroom or on the students. So now I am sad for him, and sad for Erin that she had to lose one of the people she had outside of the classroom just to see that she was too involved and needed to step back--sadly, even after the divorce she didn’t get that message until the death of her father.

The death of Erin’s father jarred her to reality, and yet she still decided to stay at the conference and ‘work’ rather than fly back--partly because her stepmother told her that her father would have wanted her to, and partly because her coping strategy was not to finally stop working too much, but to work even more. This led the class to talk about coping strategies. Clearly Erin’s was to lose more of herself in her work. I feel as if I am the same way and would work harder, work more to forget about my pain rather than have to go home and face it, but I realize many of my classmates and others would not do this, but would instead stop working altogether or have some reaction intermediate between those two extremes. Everyone has different coping strategies; we can’t judge someone for how they cope based on how we would cope, because no one else deserves to be treated as if their way is less than ideal just because its opposite of what we believe. Some of my classmates were mad at Erin for losing herself even more, and I hope through my saying this they can forgive her. This ties back in with the idea of setting limits for yourself and following them: Megan mentioned during the discussion that teachers need to have balance in their lives, and that Erin never understood or managed an appropriate balance between her teaching life and her home life. I want to be a great teacher to my students, but unlike Erin I realize that I cannot be successful at this if my home life is failing; when I enter that classroom I need to be in top form so that I am both mentally and emotionally ready to teach them without anything weighing on my mind.

So the book is complete. Was Erin an attention whore as some of my classmates believe? I think Erin was a great teacher with great ideas who let the educational world sweep her off her feet and make her lose sight of her life. This happened first when she began to teach and changed the lives of her students, but forgot to care for her family and her husband, leaving them out in the cold while she worked herself to death. The second time was after she finished with the students and she let everyone talk her first into a college teacher preparation course, then a congresswoman, then a speaker. Erin was a great choice as an educational speaker, a great trainer of teachers with her bright, glowing success, but she forgot to make her decisions and was letting them be made for her I think. Erin went through a four year costly college degree to teach for four years, was this worth it? I feel as if perhaps it was not and Erin’s life moved too fast that she didn’t have time to fully enjoy it--I mean she did change the lives of 150 students, but what about the thousands who come after them? Were they really the only students in that school, in that community, in that state that deserved to be helped? What happens to the rest of the students when she leaves after only helping one set? These are tough questions, and although I sympathize with Erin and am proud of her and would probably have let the success carry me away too, I still feel as if she should have slowed down and stopped letting her success turn her from a regular person to an exalted entity. Was she a great teacher as Dr. Grace believes? The answer is yes she was, and nothing more needs to be said. Did the book have its desired effect in inspiring the reader? It did have the desired effect in inspiring me, and I would also say my peers as our discussions have led me to believe they respect and admire her methods as well. Some of the things I learned were: the importance of balance, having a support network, caring for and understanding the uniqueness of my students, teaching from my heart and being myself and mostly, being courageous and not letting failure or adversity get the best of me. If I want to be a great teacher for my students like Erin I have to be different, exciting, enthusiastic and creative…these are all traits that I have and intend to use in my teaching.

My Philosophy Role Models

Abstract

Locke
Locke believed that students were capable of rational thought and decision-making. A teacher's main goal should be to character development for each child; and they should teach to the innate traits and temperaments of each student. Locke also believed that the subjects should be integrated as most learning was based on the natural and clear connections between the different content areas. I envision my own classroom as a place where I get to know my students and teach to their strengths and help them make their weaknesses less of a weakness by giving activities that help them develop and grow. Every student is different, and my classroom will be a place where all students are safe and realize their own potential. Integrated learning is a powerful tool for me as an educator because it gives me the chance to spread my own knowledge of another subject but also provide my students with what could be the most exciting and effective lessons they get out of the class. Integrated learning works because of its multiple focus, which leaves students to take their own interests and make more connections between the information and their own lives. Too many times in education we treat learning as a school-specific enterprise or information as a lesson-specific occurrence; I want my students to be lifelong learners and seeing learning as a continuous, omnipresent aspect of their environment will assist me in that goal.

Pestalozzi
Pestalozzi said that the teacher should teach to the whole child, including their emotional and social needs; in addition, teachers should remember that all students have different mental and moral characteristics within their personality. To this end, learning must be based on the interests of the child, in that they will be motivated to work through a caring student/teacher relationship and group instruction. All discipline is based in respect for the student and punishment and fear have no place in the classroom. I mentioned in my previous post that I am an existential and pragmatic teacher--this lends itself to my teaching in that I care about the student whether it be their educational or emotional needs that need assistance. Learning which is not based on a student's interest will rarely if ever lead that student to be intrinsically motivated to learn; I want my students to be motivated to learn because that will give them more enthusiasm about their discoveries and will allow them to become lifelong learners who see new information in everything they see around them. I know that it is important to maintain class management, and that sometimes this must manifest as punishment, but I refuse to put fear into my students; true learning can only be found through free will and dedication to the process of discovery, so in my classroom my students will be respected.

Dewey
For Dewey, education involved student growth and construction of their experiences by thinking, not teaching methods. His philosophy centered on hands-on learning and authentic experiences such as problem solving, cooperative learning and service learning. Dewey championed the idea that students needed choices in their education; with choices, students could foster mutual respect for their different cultures and reevaluate the environment around them. Dewey believed in child-centered education. Dewey may be the educator I most connect with in terms of philosophy as I have been reading about him for over a month as part of my research on experiential education. I too have a very student-centered philosophy: we are supposed to be teaching kids, and I can't see how you can do that if they aren't the biggest consideration in your methods. Students who experience learning, rather than jot it down and cough it up for a test are not only more likely to retain the knowledge but also find it more relevant to their own lives. My being a math teacher does have a big part in molding my affinity for hands-on learning and discovery, but I have realized that despite mathematics, learning done through experience heps students make better choices in their own learning. I not only respect my students, but I want them to respect each other; experiential education helps students see the strengths in each other and works better in getting them to remember and apply their learning to the world around them.

Tyler
Tyler thought education was about changing student behavior in thinking, feeling and acting. To him, students needed to develop problem-solving skills, learn in a progressive environment of cooperation and interdisciplinary teaching, and lastly learn to never close off their mind from new knowledge. Tyler wanted student learning to be an experience steeped in evaluation so that students would always reflect on the relevance of their new learning. I disagree with Tyler that education is about changing a student's behavior, but have chosen him because in essence I do think my biggest responsibility to my students is to give them the skills to change their own behavior as necessary and not only make good choices about their learning but understand how to achieve their own potential outside of school and the world beyond the classroom walls. Again, like with the other philosophers I agree that cooperative learning and an interdisciplinary approach are powerful tools in a teacher's arsenal; in fact, they are the best methods a teacher can use to stop students from closing their mind to knowledge. Students are drawn to action, and so as an educator I believe that the classroom should be a moving environment where life does not stand still and watch. Students who discover knowledge for themselves take more ownership in their learning and are more equipped to become lifelong pursuers of learning and reflective thinkers and leaders in their community.

Montessori
Also a child-centered educational theorist, Montessori wanted students to teach themselves within an environment full of resources and where they could interact with each other and develop cooperatively. The teacher was to be a facilitator, whose responsibility was to create a classroom where student needs could be met and allow all students to succeed. Mostly, her plan was to have students achieve their full potential through experimental learning and self-directed independent activities. A classroom without numerous and diversified resources is like a phone booth without a phone book in that if you enter this phone booth unsure of the number you need to call, then you end up leaving without accomplishing your task--such it is with the classroom without resources, students leave without having accomplished the goal of learning because they have nothing to help them to do so. I plan on being the primary source for my students, not as an expert, but as an assistant who can guide them to the right resources or give them some help when they get stuck. I consider my teaching style to be one of cooperation with my students, where every day brings new discovery for myself and students leave the classroom feeling accomplished and ready to go out and learn even more. The best things in life are filled with color, and so I don't want my classroom to be black and white, meaning students get an all or nothing education; education is about compromise, so my students will discover that learning is subjective to their own experiences and history. I believe in them, and that makes a huge difference.

Class Discussion

Discipline
I have a hard time when it comes to discipline because I am "too nice": this is the aspect of my teaching that I plan on spending the most time perfecting and strengthening. Steph agreed with me and expressed a similar concern that discipline would be a trouble spot or flaw in our teaching. What do my role model philosophers say about this? Two good examples are Pestalozzi who says all discipline is based in respect for the student and punishment and fear have no place in the classroom and Montessori who believed in caring and kind discipline. I agree a lot wit these two philosophies, simply because discipline which seeks to scare and scar will only make students hate and ignore their teacher rather than respect me and listen and caring discipline helps to create the safe and warm environment that I want my classroom to be for every student. With student teaching come up, I am ready to use this time to strengthen my discipline techniques and class management: I will be a great teacher, and my classroom will be a good place of learning because students will want to learn and will also adhere to the rules with brisk, appropriate discipline that seeks to instruct and motivate rather then abuse.

What is My Philosophy Style?

Today in class we took a test to find out what style of philosophy we are most associated with, and I found out I am an existentialist. I believe that schools are supposed to be a place where students learn how to be self-sufficient and take responsibility for their own actions and their own choices. As a teacher, I strive to teach my students that school is not a place where they go to learn, but a place where they discover how to learn so they can better understand the world around them and become lifelong learners finding new information in everything around them. I am a firm believer in student-centered curriculum, because it allows students to take ownership of their learning, apply new found discoveries to their own life and find purpose in the information that they have been forced to accept for years. Teachers need to be aware of their students' feelings and emotions, because whether educators want to accept it or not, these feelings affect how students learn. I know that students can be responsible for their own learning if we give them the resources and support to help them; I have to be a role model for my students, and should be their best and most reliable resource. Any one who knows me will tell you that I am enthusiastic, imaginative and insightful--these are three important qualities of an existentialist teacher.

My second closest style was Pragmatism. Again, my student-centered philosophy is one main reason I have fallen into this category: A pragmatic teacher believes that students learn through experience and experimentation. Experiential education is one of the most powerful, if not the best, methods of teaching; whenever I am teaching students I strive to create interpersonal, hands-on and multi-disciplinary activities. Learning is a personal commitment to oneself and experiential education can help students apply themselves to their discoveries, have higher instances of intrinsic motivation and be more involved both with their peers and in the classroom. A student's best method of learning is always their personal experiences and the unique perspectives they bring to the table and are able to share with others. Additionally, my math background has influenced my pragmatic personality and led me to embrace hands-on learning and experience over lecture and discussion. In my classroom, collaborative learning and interdisciplinary approach is of the utmost importance because it allows students to think beyond the preconceived borders many people put between the subjects and curriculum. Education can be a shared experience between students, but as a teacher I have to make sure I model this for my students and give them the chance to evolve in my classroom.

The Fourth Year

This year brought the publication of their book (the book that started it all) The Freedom Writer Diaries from Doubleday books. This may be one of the most powerful and influential books written about multicultural education in the last century, and I am so proud of Erin, for having the insight and innovation to present this assignment and then follow it through to publication so the rest of the world could read about it. The great thing about this book is that it doesn't give us one author's fictional view of American education, but is a true account of students fighting the prejudice and pain around them; this a book of hope and consequence that all educators should read. I have not read the book yet, but reading this book as a precursor has made me excited and impatient to open the pages of that new book and immerse myself in its words. One problem with reading this book (Teach With Your Heart) before watching the movie is that I can't watch the movie now: Dr. Grace said to wait because it would make the movie so much better, but I started watching the movie and shut it off because I kept getting distracted having already known everything that was going to happen! I wish that I had watched it first, and maybe someday I will be able to get through it, but if I could return to the beginning of the semester I would so that I could enjoy the movie too.

Since I was the age of seven I have wanted to be a teacher, and every day I wake up I am not only passionate about the profession I have chosen, but also feel as if my life is meaningful. So maybe it is just hard for me to imagine that any teacher would want to do this, but why would Erin, who wanted to teach so bad, teach for about four years and then leave to attend college? I do not mean to imply I think she is a cop-out, because I don't, but I am disappointed in her that she left teaching so soon. I feel as if she has let down so many students who might have led better lives by being in her classroom, and has let herself down for not taking time to really incorporate herself in the profession before moving on and letting promotion get in the way of her passion--if, and this is another thought that has entered my mind, it was even her passion at all or was instead a spur of the moment decision that just seemed cool at the time. I don't really believe this, but as an educator I have a very strict pro-student outlook and I am sad that personal promotion has taken precedence over student success and most importantly, personal development as a teacher. The only thing more worse than her leaving teaching after four years to teach at college was her decision to run for congress. Although I don't begrudge her for that decision as her goal was to improve educational laws, I have to honestly admit that I am even more disappointed in her short, truncated run as a teacher. I for one will remain a teacher for many years, and perhaps one day I will follow in the steps of a principal or a superintendent, but it is a huge disservice to both my students and myself to take such a path before I have been a teacher for at least ten years and preferably more.

In case it hasn't been made obvious yet, which it has, I am a strong believer and crusader for experiential education. So when Erin took her students to Europe to see the actual consequences of war in Sarajevo and Germany, I first cried and then I looked at the powerful implications of the trip on her students' learning. Not all teachers can take a trip as big as this one to Europe (both because of time constraints and budget constraints) but any experience that students can have in the classroom to learn and think about the world differently can be powerful. Her students were not just traveling, but were re-evaluating their knowledge, their opinions, their own prejudices and their preconceived assumptions. Many people think that learning only exists inside of a classroom, but this is not true, and Erin is a great example of this fact. Learning can take place anywhere, and this is a very important fact to make known to your students so that they will be more motivated to learn outside of the classroom and will become lifelong learners--one of the ultimate goals of a teacher. Also, we often think of a classroom as a safe place where students can leave the world behind and learn without trouble; but in Erin's story the students return to their home state only to discover that the world did not stop for them: a white supremacist had killed many people in a shootout while they were gone. One last thought I got from this section was that although we try to make our classrooms safe we do have to remember that the real world is only beyond the doors, and so like Erin, instead of just teaching our students knowledge, we need to also give them skills they can use to overcome these dangerous situations and make the most out of their lives. This is one of the most important jobs of a teacher.

#3 Student Motivation

The major point I chose to focus on from this class presentation was the idea of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation: intrinsic motivation is student-directed in that it originates inside the psyche of the student as some self-guided reward the student chooses to approach, and extrinsic motivation is when the teacher gives the students a reward such as a grade, candy or praise. Intrinsic motivation, being the one that we want students to value, would be when a student studies and aces a test simply because they want to know the information, avoid being a failure or if they knew that their athletic career might be compromised by being kicked off the team due to a failed test grade. In our schools today, I honestly believe that most motivation is extrinsic mainly due to the overwhelming preoccupation that both students and teachers have to grades. Even colleges these days are judging acceptance on GPA--we are sending a message to students that their grades matter more than the learning and application of new found information and knowledge. So here is one solution that I find appropriate: experiential education. The class will be hearing more on this come Friday, I promise, but I plan to mention it now because one major tenet of experiential education is its own preoccupation with instilling intrinsic motivation in students and making them excited to learn. When a student is given the chance to experience education, they are being given the chance to choose their own learning in an environment at their own pace--and it is my belief that motivation usually involves individual choice, so students who choose what to learn will be motivated to learn better.

My colleagues Tyler and Sean also chose to discuss teacher types such as Authoritarian, Permissive, Indifferent and Authoritative, which they showed are directly linked to motivation in students. Authoritarian, Permissive and Indifferent teachers don’t promote motivation very well mainly because--and this is purposely grossly oversimplified--they are either too preoccupied with rigor (Authoritarian), focused on student emotions and feelings (Permissive) or not preoccupied with anything (Indifferent). My results showed I was mostly Authoritative (15/15), slightly Permissive (9/15), and rarely Authoritarian or Indifferent (4/15 each). Why am I Authoritative? I believe in student discipline when it is necessary, but would rather my students experience the learning and gain new insight then specifically behave in a manner that might be suitable for a cocktail dinner. As an Authoritative teacher, I also believe in student-oriented curriculum where students get to direct their own learning and choose learning experiences that interest them, rather than try to learn in a teacher-centric environment where I, as teacher, would be the absolute authority. Why do I have Permissive characteristics? As I just stated, I believe in my students and I care, so occasionally I stop teaching and ask students if they are alright, see what is troubling them and check to see if there might be something different I can do to help them. It is important to care for the feelings of our students, because if a student is in a foul mood then it is guaranteed that they won’t be motivated, they won’t learn as much and their success in class will suffer. As a teacher, motivation is very important: what reason would kids have to listen if there was no relevance to the information or nothing to gain from learning?

#2 Multicultural Education

I did not realize that multicultural education included gender, socioeconomic status, age, race, ethnic history, sexual orientation and religion; I knew about the implications on race, ethnic history and gender for sure, but the other aspects never seemed to come up in any of my research before. In education we always talk about Brown vs. Board of Education as a milestone in race relations in schools and Title IX as an important prerequisite to gender equality in schools, especially sports teams; we even sometimes talk about separation of church and state (religion), socioeconomic status and its implications on student performance, grade and class structure in schools (age) and the plight of GLBT students in schools (sexual orientation). These should be considered in the classroom and not ignored, because all students deserve the necessary resources for their needs. The issue that strikes a chord with me is gender: one of the differences between boys and girls is that boys get more attention, but I was reading an article a few years back that stated this attention is usually negative. Negative attention can actually be detrimental to student learning; thus in my classroom there will be equal positive energy for both boys and girls so that all students leave my class with new learning.

When one of my colleagues mentioned that they thought too much accommodation was actually detrimental to student learning, I really liked the reply given by Chelsea and Stacy that "education is accommodation". I would argue that no matter what a student wants to wear, or which religion they follow, they have a right to adhere to their own individual beliefs and get the education they want without problems. Chelsea and Stacy described multicultural education as the optimal experience where both students and teachers are prepared, students engage in active learning with diverse perspectives and there exists a positive environment with continuous assessment of student development. I agree with all of these observations and would even go so far as to say that multicultural education involves everyone accepting everyone else and uses individual student characteristics as a chance for growth rather than an obstacle. One great aspect of learning is that it can take place anywhere not just in the classroom, and making sure students accept each other and get a diverse education in the classroom will ensure they are creating and developing a diverse community outside of school.

Promising Futures

Abstract

Promising Futures is based on fifteen important core practices: 1) students are to be respected by teachers and other students, 2) teachers should tailor learning experiences to learner needs, 3) teachers must challenge students to integrate discipline skills, 4) everyone learns in a diverse collaborative group, 5) students must make choices in their education, 6) every student has a personal learning plan for themselves, 7) teacher ensures students and parents understand procedures, 8) Diploma implies students have demonstrated proficiency of MLRs, 9) teams are used to provide a supportive environment, 10) learning gets time, space and appropriate services, 11) teachers have sufficient resources to teach, 12) every staff member understands student learning and needs, 13) all staff have a professional development plan, 14) everyone is involved in democratic decisions of learning, and 15) Principals are a leader who fulfills the school mission. Things to be discarded from the school atmosphere include: tracking, dependence on GPA, study halls, the 6 hour day, a 5 day school week, school going from September to June and professional teacher development as days off from school.

Reflection

Promising Futures very closely connects with the MLRs and curriculum standards. I was wondering whether the whole idea of Promising Futures was an extension of the MLRs or in fact was rather a separate idea that had many similarities. What are the unique specifications of Promising Futures? That is one question that I would compose to the Maine Commission on Secondary Education and the Department of Education who helped mold the philosophy. Dr. Grace has often mentioned Promising Futures and so I hope to talk more with her and get more information. The philosophy of Promising Futures meshes with my own philosophy, especially in core practices 3, 5, 7 and 9. As a math teacher, I constantly look for ways to help my students find relevance in their learning and make connections with math in the Real World; one way that I can help my students to see this relevance is to give them the chance to find connections between math and other disciplines. I believe that learning must be a personal journey in which students have the opportunity to decide what they want to learn, rather than the classroom be a lecture from an expert. In previous posts about Teach With Your Heart I have mentioned parental involvement in the classroom; I must state that when parents are involved in student learning it is a learning experience for both students and the parents involved. Additionally, when I enter my classroom I need to be adequately prepared to teach my students, whether that involves having up-to-date textbooks and teaching materials, or having enough training in appropriate technology.

The most exciting aspect of Promising Futures is its dependence around experiential learning as an integral part of the curriculum not as an added consideration. Core practices 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 14 are important tenants of experiential thought and philosophy, an educational issue that I have been researching and studying for the last few weeks. Experiential learning lies within these core practices because 1) teachers can help students create personal learning experiences that meet their needs, 2) teachers can challenge students to connect several disciplines through Real World application, 3) students engage in collaborative groups where they make choices in their learning, 4) teachers and students are given as much time and assistance as is necessary to acquire deep understanding, and 5) staff members and students work together to create an environment that is both supportive and that accounts for student needs and decisions. My own philosophy involves experiential learning, because I understand there is so much more understanding students can get when they actually see what is happening rather than just hear about it from the teacher. Experiential learning does not always have to be hands-on or natural exploration, although these are probably the most powerful implications, but can be simple teamwork between students exploring current real world applications of concepts. Promising Futures understands the necessity for experiential learning, and serves as a great example for all teachers looking to help students learn better.

The Third Year

The third year was when Erin got the idea for the Freedom Writer diaries which made her famous. One idea that stood out from this section was that even after we do everything in our power to change the stereotypes, they still pervade everything. The students learn this when they are chosen to air in the special on CBS: the producer specifically chooses the students who meet certain ethnic requirements (basically the two students in Black and Mexican minorities) and leaves out interviews with the rest of the students. The great thing about these diaries is that they give students a chance to reflect on their own experiences and get their stories out to the rest of the classroom and the world. Every student has a story to tell, especially these students; we often talk about multicultural education and letting a student's individual background be support or influence for their learning in school--what a great way to engage their personal experiences in school! As students are writing their diary entries they are thinking about their history and finding a way for it to become a part of their learning identity as well. As a teacher of English, Erin did a great job of connecting student identity with learning; as a math teacher I plan on finding ways to also do this so that students can get the most out of their education.

We have spent a lot of time talking in class and out about learning disabilities and challenges that teachers need to watch for and help students overcome and deal with in a multi-level classroom. So when Erin was talking to Sue Ellen about her past teachers ignoring her difficulties and making her feel insecure about her dyslexia, I was both angry and sad. As a teacher I want to make sure that students survive the classroom and learn with very little struggle; making them feel insecure or stupid does not help them learn nor does it allow them to overcome the problem and get better at anything. My teaching, and most importantly my classroom, will be teeming with opportunity for student growth and success; a student in my classroom will never feel inferior or be told they are destined for failure. There are so many ways to help students with learning disabilities: asking parents for assistance, checking the IEPs and another that Dr. Grace mentioned was asking Ed Techs for accommodations that can be made. Yet even with all those great ideas I think that the biggest asset a teacher has is the student's own experiences. I have a friend with dyslexia and dysgraphia, who was telling me that in order to offset her trouble with numbers she would translate the original problem into shapes and then do the problem with the shapes and transfer the answer back into number form for her teacher. Her teacher, seeing what she was doing actually stopped her after a while and told her to leave the answers in shape form, and then he would use a key she gave him to check her answers which would save her time and energy. I want to be a teacher like that who listens to students and their own discovered methods of learning, then does everything I can to help them succeed.

Talking about student success, I was so proud of Erin for the scene with Henry and his giving himself an 'F'. We often forget that students are the harshest critics, and in most cases think the worse of themselves even when they are doing a phenomenal job. My philosophy as a teacher includes the idea that failing a student rarely serves them any good, and least of all the teacher ultimately must have failed that student by not watching them close enough or not giving them the proper amount of attention and support that they must have needed. Thus, when a student like Henry comes to me I too would feel as if it were a cop-out for them to give themselves a grade reserved for students who do nothing on the assignment. I do not believe in giving students an 'F' unless they did no work and refused to be involved in the learning experience; and even then I will do everything in my power to ensure I have given them enough assistance in their quest for knowledge. I hope to be the teacher who is not considered the easiest nor the hardest, but is in fact considered the fairest and most effective at getting students motivated to learn. Can I achieve this goal? Yes, reading about Erin shows me that I can achieve this goal and with my passion for teaching, I will achieve that goal.

#1 Curriculum Integration

Curriculum Integration is the act of organizing information across subject lines into learning that students can use to reflect on the Real World and find meaningful association between their many curricula. Integration is important because it allows students to get a deeper understanding of their learning. Additionally, when looking at this topic from a brain-based viewpoint we see that students can better relate new information to existing knowledge and are more motivated in their learning when applying multiple disciplines in a lesson. Steve and Eileen mentioned some interesting ideas about how curriculum integration helps at-risk students: they get real world application, utilize their individual strengths, it encourages independence and promotes student confidence through connecting their learning with personal interests. One quote that stood out for me from the presentation was "setting common goals and integrating subject matter made the content richer in its dimension and purpose": curriculum integration gives students a better understanding of the connections of their learning in other disciplines and the place it holds in their everyday life.

I am a wholehearted believer in curriculum integration. As an educator, my passion lies in middle level education which has led me to embrace team teaching and curriculum integration as a powerful method for creating a cohesive learning community in the school and helping students acquire deeper understanding of their learning. I never considered the idea of curriculum integration as an aid for students with at-risk challenges; yet after reviewing the presentation I became to warm to the notion. My major concern in my philosophy has always been meeting the needs of my at-risk students; by incorporating a focus on curriculum integration in the lesson, I can not only meet the needs of these students, but also provide them with a chance to expand their learning and develop further. Steve and Eileen mentioned curriculum integration as providing students with real world application, which interests me because whenever I create a math lesson for my classroom I always start with the real world applications and build backwards to ensure that my students find the lesson to be relevant and invest themselves in the learning process. Once students invest themselves in this process, they acquire confidence in their own abilities and attain a sense of personal independence and achievement.

The Second Year

One of the emerging themes that I have noticed during the readings, and that we have discussed in class, is parent involvement in the classroom. It is so important for parents to be part of their children's learning: it is the teacher's responsibility to include parents by creating an inviting environment that draws parents in and also providing parents with letters and documentation of everything the students are doing. In this section Erin tells her students to go home and teach their parents on the four books that they had read in the class already in preparation for the celebration, which parents and family were also invited to attend. Many times parents want to know what their children are doing in the classroom, and they definitely should; having students teach their parents the classroom knowledge not only gives parents a chance to see what they are learning, but also provides the student with an increased chance of gaining understanding of the subject matter. This is an experience which I definitely will choose to incorporate in my classroom, because having students interact with their parents can only help everyone involved, including the teacher.

Teachers have to set the bar high and give their students an opportunity to achieve greatness. In reading this section I noticed that there are many times when Erin creates learning experiences for her students that challenge them, and help them expand their understanding. Her students have lived a life where not much was expected of them, and so until they met Erin they were adhering to these low expectations and just floated through school. Once Erin arrived on the scene, they discovered that having her believe in them meant they needed to work harder and struggle in her classroom. I agree with her that when students are given a chance to show their potential they can learn, and learn a lot they will. With the slightest support from a teacher, any student can break away from a pattern of low expectations and achieve greatness. On this same note, students need to feel as if giving up is never an option--Erin mentions this as well--and keeping them focused and challenged with appropriate work is a great way to do this.

Another strong aspect of Erin's teaching is her connections and all of the great learning opportunities that her students receive by being in her class. My only problem with Erin was that at every turn she made promises to her students she might be unable to adhere to. Although in her case she did manage to always come through on her promises, there was always a chance she wouldn't. I am sure that had that ever happened, a number of her students would have never forgiven her and even might have stopped listening or learning in her classroom. I am amazed at how wonderful a teacher Erin is, but teachers have to be careful to be honest with their students. Teachers who are not honest with their students have a better chance of having students who are not honest with their teacher; these students hit trouble and never bother to ask for help, and so they never get it. In closing, let me reiterate that I do respect Erin, but teachers should always admit that we have faults, and Erin clearly identifies her own shortcomings and then makes better choices in the future. This is the true identification of a great teacher: a teacher who realizes they too are learning and develops with the students.

Second Semester

This semester really touched me as a person because some of these students have problems which I have never, nor will I have ever, experienced. Erin's entry into their life was a miracle; a miracle which helped them overcome their problems and expect more of themselves because of knowing her. Until I started reading this novel, and entered college, I was unaware that such racism and discrimination existed in this country. Erin had an amazing ability at finding and utilizing the right connections at the right time: it took me three years to discover how necessary and useful networking could be for a teacher. As I enter my final semester here at UMF, I have finally began this process at making connections and have already begun experiencing the aftereffects. I am not sure if I could ever be as successful as Erin, but having a support network in my school and home community will aid me in this mission. As I was reading Erin's story, I began to get really angry with her father for his lack of support on Erin's part and her husband for his apparent disinterest. I suppose that beginning teachers sometimes feel as if they are all alone, but a support network can definitely help them in their struggle.

Erin makes a point of mentioning how difficult it has been for her to approach the parents. I agree with her that this is a very important aspect of teaching, especially for first year teachers who are still in the process of forming and developing their network in the school community and sometimes forget to bother making connections with the parents. I was recently doing research for my educational issue in Education 402 and came across a story which spoke to me about what can happen when teachers forget to talk to the parents. At a school in Shoreham, New York, one teacher decided to try his hand at experiential learning and chose not to have his students use textbooks. Unfortunately, he didn't give the parents any notice of what he was planning, nor did he give them any resources to use should they try to help their children. Thus when one parent went to help her son and noticed he didn't have a textbook she immediately went to the school district to complain. I want to be the type of teacher that communicates with the parents; one such suggestion that Dr. Grace made was to give the textbooks to the parents and I thought that was a relatively good idea.

Every year is a new year, and a new chance to connect with your current and past students. I loved how Erin had her past students Sharaud and Manny help her with the new students; this can be both a powerful experience for those students and for the new students who get the assistance of experience. Past students can be great role models for your current students, and I know that in my own teaching I would go out of my way to incorporate them in my classroom whenever possible. The other powerful experience for students is field trips and hands-on, or experiential, learning. This type of learning helps students realize the practical aspects of mathematics (in other words see how useful math can be in their daily lives). Since a lot of students suffer from math anxiety and see math as useless and difficult, it is extremely important to show them the practical applications and get them to see that math can be helpful in their daily actions. This is exactly what Erin did with her students: she showed them that English has a place in their lives.