Reflection on this Course

As this course is coming to an end, I learned many significant things that I never paid much attention to before. First of all, I learned a lot about time management. It's really important, especially in this course, to manage your time well. It's impossible to complete all of your work and do a thorough job on it if the right amount of time isn't taken to complete it. I also learned a lot about working with others to complete a task. When we first started doing the literature circles, I was a bit worried about getting it all done on time in order for my classmates to be able to post and comment on my reactions to the questions or articles. We had to rely on one another to complete the task in order for all of us to receive a good grade for that week. Most importantly, I learned a lot about myself during the duration of this course. In January, I wasn't absolutely 100% positive to whether or not I wanted to teach first or second grade. I have always wanted to become a teacher ever since I was young, but the grade to which I wanted to teach was unclear. After completing all of my four observations in a first grade classroom, I made the decision that I definitely wanted to be a first grade teacher. After walking out the door of each of the four observations, I had a feeling of excitement and enthusiasm. I wanted to go back and stay longer. I truthfully felt extremely rewarded and I would not have known all the rewards and excitement that comes along with teaching first grade students!

After completing all of these blogs, I was excited to look back and see all of the efforts that I put into these blogs. It was a positive factor to see how much time I really put into making each and every blog. It was also very helpful to be able to read each and every one of our classmates blogs. Some of the topics that we blogged on, I only had one view on the topic, but after looking over a few other blogs, my views changed and open my horizons much wider then they were to begin with! Overall, these blogs were a positive factor in this course and I know that I will refer to my blog in the future in order to help me with my career.

Howard Gardner

Howard Gardner was a brilliant man who discovered the theory of multiple intelligences. Howard Gardner really excelled researching the way in which people think and learn. After years and years of research, he discovered the theory of multiple intelligences. He viewed intelligence as "the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural setting." He eventually came up with a list of seven different types of multiple intelligences. The following were the seven different types:

1. Linguistic Intelligence

2. Logical Mathematical Intelligence

3. Musical Intelligence

4. Bodily Kinesthetic Intelligence

5. Spatial Intelligence

6. Interpersonal Intelligence

7. Intrapersonal Intelligence

All of the following intelligences, in Gardner's mind, applied to each and every person in some way, shape, or form. I decided to research and post on Howard Gardner because I found his theory of multiple intelligences very interesting. After looking over each and every type of intelligence, i somewhat, to an extent, agree with Gardner. Obviously everyone learns differently, but by putting a name to each type of intelligence helps to explain that type of learning style. Its difficult for teachers and other staff members to evaluate students just by observing them and discussing different issues that might impact that child's learning style, but by putting a name to their learning style and saying that they learn better in so and so way, students get more of a chance to prove they know and understand something, but they may have to look at it in a different form as opposed to their classmates.

Educational Metaphor: Building a House

In my opinion, Education is just like building a house. When building a house, you need a team and a leader to organize everything. In schools systems, there needs to be a "team leader" which would be the principle, and then all the "workers" which is the faculty members. Once all of the people are assembled, the process can begin. Most of the time, before a construction company builds a house, they must brainstorm and create the blue prints first. The blue prints would be in comparison with a schools curriculum. The curriculum needs to be made before any decisions are made on what to teach students in specific grade levels.
After revising and understanding each part of the blue prints for a house, the company can start to build the house. After the blue prints and the team members are assembled, all of the materials need to be purchased otherwise nothing can be accomplished. Just like in a school system. Books, materials, etc need to be purchased so that not only the teachers have a copy of what they are teaching, but students and parents can follow along by having their own copies of materials and books used during class time. After all said and done, the house can be started. The foundation is the concrete part of school systems. Without a strong and solid foundation, the house/school with collapse. Once the foundation is rock solid, all of the walls and levels can be put into place. In the beginning of a child's education, they start in first grade and work their way up. Once they grow academically and physically, the move on to the next grade level. Same thing for the house. Once the first level is set and stone, the next level can be made. Education and building a house really play off one another. As the child learns and grows, their progress and grade level grows, and as a house continues to get larger and stronger, it gets fuller and more complete.
On so many different levels, its really important for everyone to understand this comparison. Learning is a process, just like building a house. Not everyone gets it right on the first try. It may take time and concentration, but eventually it will be a snap. When a company begins to build a house, not everything that they do is perfect and 100% correct. It may take time and mistakes to realize that they have to change their method. Same thing with learning and in schools. Its always hard to understand material being taught on the first day of the lesson, but eventually, after working on it and asking questions, it will get easier for the student t understand and make progress with it.

So far during this course, I learned a few different things. First of all, I learned not to wait until the last minute to work or something. It hard to cram everything in all at once and do a through job on it. Second of all, I learned that it's important to work as a team. During our literature circle discussions, it's was really important for our team member's to post and respond so that we could all apply our ideas to one another. Lastly, I learned about learning itself. It's difficult sometimes to read something and fully understand the information or the task at hand. From personal experiences, I learned that learning is a process, not everyone gets it correct on the first try and that's fine. As long as you persevere and try hard, that's really all someone can ask for.

Behaviorism in the Classroom

In today's school systems, there are many conflicts and opinions dealing with students behavior in the classroom. In many different books and articles, behaviorism says that human behavior is determined by the forces in the environment beyond our control and not by the exercise of free will. In my opinion, teachers can not teach students how to behave in the classroom. Teachers can provide knowledge for proper manners and behaviors that they expect in the classroom, but they should not expect to change any child's behavior just by telling them how to behave. After doing some research and finding different articles on behavior, I realized that some teachers are able to teach children how to behave by incorporating behavior styles into their lessons. By teaching students how to behave while during a lesson, students do not feel as if they are being lectured and taught about how they behave. This provides a fun way to students to learn their academics, and apply their learning process with the way in which they behave while doing it. As I stated above, there are many different opinions and perspectives on behavior. After looking over these different theories on behavior, I think that I, as a future teacher will be able to integrate behavior techniques into my teaching styles in order to help my students learn and grow and a calm and somewhat structured environment.

I also found some websites talking about different teachers approaches to behaviorism and how they include in their classroom. This specific website states that some college professors expect students to be academically ready to enter their classroom. They feel that they should know how to handle their curriculum and expectations. I feel that this website helps future teachers learn how other teachers of various grades expects their students to behave and enter their classroom.

Inclusion

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Inclusion is a term that expresses commitment to educate each child, to the maximum extent appropriate, in the school and the classroom that they would otherwise attend. It brings support to the child in their classroom as opposed to having the child leave their classroom to go elsewhere. There is a big controversy over inclusion in the classroom. Some parents will argue that inclusion is the best thing for their child because the child does not feel different and embarrassed in front of their peers while leaving the classroom. Other parents feel that their child should not be sitting in a classroom with other students who know and understand the material better, which could be distracting and discouraging to their child. It's difficult for teachers to talk with parents and other staff members on this subject. In many ways, inclusion is a great way for the student to learn and move on with their classmates, but in other ways, being in the classroom with 20 other students is just way to distracting for that one child. After finding many different articles and websites on inclusion, I came to an understanding of my feelings on inclusion. I feel that no matter what the state or school decides, the student should have the say to whether or not they want help in or out of the classroom. Some students do not like being pulled out of the classroom during the middle of a lesson because they may be at a slower pace then their peers. In this case, another teacher integrated into the classroom would benefit this child. On the other hand, some students are able to concentrate better when they have one on one time with a specialist, which is perfectly appropriate too. It really depends of the needs of the child and how comfortable they are with their learning disability.
As stated on this website, inclusion can benefit the students with disabilities and also the students without disabilities. Depending upon the classroom and the class size, not only do I think that the students should have a say to whether or not they want help in or out of the classroom, but I think that it needs to be thoroughly discussed with the regular teacher, a specialist, and the child in which will help the team come to a decision to what is best suited for the child.

Eliminating Racism in the Classroom

From my perspective, racism is a problem that teachers have to deal with on a day to day basis. It can start from as young as 5 years old continue on up throughout high school and college. In my opinion, there are many different ways that racism can be prevented within a school setting. From my personal experiences, I observed a 5th grade classroom for my freshman year education class. The theme of the week was diversity and racism. When I entered the classroom, the students were in the middle of doing presentations using poster boards and acting out scenarios in which racism is used and how negative it is. As I was continuing to observe these children, I looked around the classroom to see their peers reactions to what their classmates were trying to establish with their presentation. Almost every single student had amazing eye contact with their classmates who were doing the presentation. They were really interested in learning about racism and how to help prevent it within a school district.

After doing some research on the topic of racism, i found a website that discussed ways to help eliminate racism in the classroom. Within this website, the author gave ideas and strategies to help teachers teach and prevent racism from happening in the classroom. One of they ways that the author uses is by using multi sensory learning styles. Multi sensory learning styles helps students to get a feel for what other cultures are like. In this specific article, the author uses examples such as children making posters and doings skits in order to show what racism is and what it is like. After doing these posters and skits, the students are able to discuss and understand what it feels like for these diverse children to come into a place to which they are different.

Also on youtube, i found a video that shows a teacher using racism in his classroom. He was caught using a negative slur to one of his students. How are teachers supposed to teach students not to be racist, if the teachers are provoking it?

Are dress codes appropriate and necessary?

In my opinion, I'm not exactly sure to whether or not I feel that dress codes are necessary. In different school settings, the community feels that it is necessary to wear uniforms. I am from Arlington, MA. In Arlington, we have two high schools. We have Arlington High School, which is a casual dress setting, and then we have Arlington Catholic High School, in which they must wear uniforms in order to attend this school. Granted Arlington Catholic is a Catholic School, but I don't feel that it is necessary to wear uniforms. I understand that there are many different reasons for which schools have dress codes, but I think that student's should be able to make their own decisions. On this specific website, they state many different reasons in which students should have a dress code. One of the main reasons is because of wealth. Some students come to school dressed in Burberry and Lacoste, while others wear clothes that are on the less fortunate side of the mall. In my opinion, people shouldn't judge people because of what they wear, but unfortunately, this is what goes on in schools. In this case, I can understand why schools have a dress code. It really depends on the community and the different issues that are going in schools. If there are extreme cases in which the school is not a healthy setting because of poeple making fun or discrimating against what people are wearing, I feel that a dress code is most deffinately necessary.

Dress Code Statements & Opinions