Our Experience in General

EDFD class...Educational Foundations...I enjoyed the class but not the way it was structured, and it was not due to our instructor. Just like anything else that goes wrong, the scheduling for our observations to visit Arts High School was a disaster. I'm not talking about the other students experiences, rather I will just speak about mine. Why did the administrators in the department drop the ball? Why did they put the burden on our instructors back when it wasn't her responsibilty to begin with. It's typical Montclair State University, implement it and fix it later. Well later, in this case was too late.

I'm kind of a quiet guy, very reserved, but when something doesn't go the way it should, especially when specific instructions are given, I tend to have to open my mouth. I was all ready to yell at our professor until I found out it wasn't her fault. And by the way, If you read this, again, I appreciate your efforts, but DAMN Montclair State!!! If you require visitation during the semester, don't hold off on it until the ending of Oct - beginning of Nov. This all should have taken place in Sept. Students have other obligations outside of class. Ummmm....a job, other classes, another job, in some cases kids, parenting responsibilties, the list is endless....I lost two additional days of work because Montclair dropped the ball.

I hope that they use this as a learning experience and fix it for next semester. I feel a little bit better now, I got that off my chest.

Visit to Arts High School

I went to observe this past Monday at Arts High School. It was an interesting experience. There are few differences from Arts compared to a public school. I like the idea that the class sizes are smaller. The students were more attentive to what they were doing in class, rather than what they did on the weekend. The students really seemed to care a great deal about what they were learning. The teacher had them fully engaged in the material. One of the things i didn't like was block scheduling. I was in a math class observing and the students were well behaved, but i have heard from others that have observed in other classes and it wasn't exactly that way. Arts High School is a very unique school. Some of the most talented students in the city of Newark attend it. I would like to see one day were the students that graduate from Arts become very successful.

Students of Today

The students of today’s generation are something else. I sit back and listen in the classrooms of my local high and wonder if I was like that when I was there age. You can learn alot about who your students are if you take the time to listen. I find that the experience that I am getting from being a substitute teacher three days a week in different classrooms is quite rewarding. From time to time, on a free period, I would go and visit a class where I was a sub and see how the students interact with their regular teacher. In some cases they are completely different and in some there are the same. I have been exposed to some teachers that get their point across in a weird way. I am starting to learn that it is not so much about the content of the course; however, it is keeping the students interested in and disciplined enough to want to pay attention.

I am now in college and attend full-time. I have been attending college for numerous amounts of years and find that college can teach you all there is to know about what to teach, but it can’t teach you how to command the students in the classroom. It doesn’t, and I don’t think it can, teach you how to deal with certain situations or scenarios. College doesn’t teach you what to do if a student is out of line and that student needs to be disciplined in some fashion, where the student doesn’t benefit. There are alot of things that school, college, and your peers can teach you, but there is no other lesson better that is available like first hand experience.

Discipline

What happened to discipline? Discipline within the student, within the content, within life. Where did it go? Will it come back? I am now a full time college student at the age of 29. I have been attending college for the last 7 years and I continue to see today’s generation change and it’s quite alarming.

As I mentioned before I am a long time college that was once a child. Hard to believe, but yes it’s true, we all are at some point in our lives. I can remember times when I hated my parents for how and when they disciplined me because I guess I was too young to really know what was right from wrong. Looking back at it all I can say I love them for it because it molded me into one fine young gentleman. When I misbehaved they let me know, when I was out of line they told me so, when I didn’t meet their expectations they made me aware, but from what I observe in today’s high schools, that kind of discipline is falling by the wayside. The students do not respect the teacher any longer. When there is a substitute, the students are worse than when their regular teacher is present. It was the opposite during my earlier years of school. When we had a substitute, we were made aware that we were to be better than when the regular teacher was there because if the substitute notified our regular teacher that we misbehaved, our class would pay. Sometimes we would have to write until our hand fell off, sometimes we would have to run almost until we were ready to throw up, and sometimes certain privileges were taken away, such as the rights to the computer use in class. It sure is different now, but I hope that something is done to change the view of today’s students. If nothing is done, I don’t see anything but heartache in the future, but I do believe it starts with students parents, and trying to change their views is going to take a miracle. God Bless America!

Wondering

Did you ever just sit by the window and stare into the sky? What did you see? How did it make you feel? Is anybody else doing the same thing you are at the same time? What did you think about?

I sometimes find myself starring into “space.” It helps clear my thoughts. It also reminds me that we shouldn’t take the things we have for granted. The air we breather, the water we drink, earths natural pleasures. How about the simplest things, a good example would be the leaves on the trees. Here it is, almost the end of November and there are still leaves on the trees, but look at the weather we had last week. Did “mother nature” have anything to do with it? What kinds of instincts does “she” have? The amount of wind and rain that we accumulated makes me wonder. In one night all of the trees lost there leaves near my house. Does the environment control itself? It almost looks that way. These are just some of the questions I sometimes ask myself.

What about the students in school? What do they think about? I guess we can all come up with some good one’s seeing that we were all there at one point. We remember what we thought about, but what about the students of today. I am a substitute teacher in a high school when I'm not in class at college. Some of the things that these students are talking about today, I would have never even considered when I was there age. Its funny how I can sit in the front of the room as their teacher for the day, but they will carry on conversations like they were sitting at home with there friends, like I am not even there. All you have to do is just listen, listen to their conversations. If we take the time to listen we can find out a lot about what they are thinking. We can figure out whether or not they need help, need someone to listen to them, need a challenge, need influence, and most need discipline.

Teaching Against Idiocy (Revision)

What role should schools and schooling play in the US? In a Democracy?

According to Walter C. Parker in Teaching against Idiocy (Revision)

According to Mr. Parker, an idiot is one that is not exposed to public life and problems, and is someone that cannot mature because they can’t evaluate the diversity of social situations correctly. “An idiot is one whose self-centeredness undermines his or her citizen identity, causing it to wither or never to take root in the first place. Private gain is the goal, and the community had better not get in the way. An idiot is suicidal in a certain way, definitely self-defeating, for the idiot does not know that privacy and individual autonomy are entirely dependent on the community. As Aristotle wrote, Individuals are so many parts all equally depending on the whole which alone can bring self-sufficiency. Idiots do not take part in public life; they do not have a public life. In this sense, idiots are immature in the most fundamental way. Their lives are out of balance, disoriented, untethered, and unrealized. Tragically, idiots have not yet met the challenge of “puberty”, which is the transition to public life,” (Parker, 2005, pg1) writes Walter C. Parker. It is interesting how Mr. Parker compares schools to “village squares, cities, crossroads, meeting places, community centers, marketplaces,” because some of the larger schools are becoming more and more like little cities. Some high schools in the area in which I live are like miniature college campuses. Mr. Parker thinks that the schooling that children receive should teach them all about life. He thinks that the school is the place where the children are lead through puberty and into citizenship. Mr. Parker makes reference to the school as having the two most important resources for children: diversity and problems. Is Mr. Parker leaving something out in this whole equation? Where do the parents of these children come into the equation?

Growing up in a well grounded, family orientated home, has taught me the value of listening, understanding, and rationalizing all of the problems that a child or just a simple person may have. Mr. Parker seems to think that the schools nurture the child into “puberty.” I believe that schools do play a very important part of engaging children into different issues, but I don’t believe that they are the most important resource needed to develop a child’s natural ability to “grow up and think for themselves.” For a child to develop into a well rounded individual that can be “Democratic” in situations the child needs to be taught right from wrong. The child needs to be guided from, what should be the most important mentors in their life, namely the child's parents.

There are many situations that a child can be put into where he/she needs to make a decision based on what they have been taught. Who should teach them this you might ask? The answer is simple, the child's parents and relatives, teachers at schools, their community, and their peers. A child can mature and prosper from everyone’s input and rationalizations. The school should not be the “center of attention.” It is what the child is taught from a collective unit that will help the child to be more “Democratic” so that he /she can avoid having any indication of idiocy.

“Teaching Against Idiocy” by Walter C. Parker from Phi Delta Kappan,

January, 2005: pp. 344-351.

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Idiocy

What role should schools and schooling play in the US? In a Democracy?

According to Walter C. Parker in Teaching Against Idiocy

“An idiot is one whose self-centeredness undermines his or her citizen identity, causing it to wither or never to take root in the first place. Private gain is the goal, and the community had better not get in the way. An idiot is suicidal in a certain way, definitely self-defeating, for the idiot does not know that privacy and individual autonomy are entirely dependent on the community. As Aristotle wrote, Individuals are so many parts all equally depending on the whole which alone can bring self-sufficiency. Idiots do not take part in public life; they do not have a public life. In this sense, idiots are immature in the most fundamental way. Their lives are out of balance, disoriented, untethered, and unrealized. Tragically, idiots have not yet met the challenge of “puberty”, which is the transition to public life,” writes Walter C. Parker. According to Mr. Parker, an idiot is one that is not exposed to public life and problems, and is someone that cannot mature because they can’t evaluate the diversity of social situations correctly. It is interesting how Mr. Parker compares schools to “village squares, cities, crossroads, meeting places, community centers, marketplaces.” Mr. Parker seems to think that the schooling that children receive should teach them all about life. He seems to think that the school is the place where the children are lead through puberty and into citizenship. Mr. Parker makes reference to the school as having the two most important resources for children: diversity and problems. Is Mr. Parker leaving something out in this whole equation? Where do the parents of these children come into the equation?

Growing up in a well grounded, family orientated home, has taught me the value of listening, understanding, and rationalizing all of the problems that a child or just a simple person may have. Mr. Parker seems to think that the schools nurture the child into “puberty.” I believe that schools do play a very important part of engaging children into different issues, but I don’t believe that they are the most important resource needed to develop a child’s natural ability to “grow up and think for themselves.” For a child to develop into a well rounded individual that can be “Democratic” in situations the child needs to be taught right from wrong. The child needs to be guided from, what should be the most important mentors in their life, namely the child's parents.

There are many situations that a child can be put into where he/she needs to make a decision based on what they have been taught. Who should teach them this you might ask? The answer is simple, the child's parents and relatives, teachers at schools, their community, and their peers. A child can mature and prosper from everyone’s input and rationalizations. The school should not be the “center of attention.” It is what the child is taught from a collective unit that will help the child to be more “Democratic” so that he /she can avoid having any indication of idiocy.

“The free common school system is the most American thing about America."

America is centered around our education system, as it says in the text, “An uneducated individual was an untrustworthy custodian of rights and liberties, but a properly schooled individual would recognize the bonds of obligation and principle that stabilize society and preserves freedom.” (Tyak, D. P10) History serves as a reminder that shows that being uneducated is the pretense to being unsuccessful.

During this course we’ve had to read numerous pages of text from different sources. Some of the text speaks about the relation of education to socio-economic status. The Hodgkinson article compares education to demographics. These articles back up the quote above. I believe that our education system is second to our parents. Our parents are the ones that instill the morals and values. Our education system serves as a reinforcer to the morals and values our parents pass down to us.

I will use the best example I can that comes from my family. As I was growing up my parents and grandparents always taught me the difference between right and wrong. I learned how to act, when to act, and how to deal with different situations. They taught me how to be a respectful person and how to always do the right thing even if others do the opposite. As I progress through school, I was always faced with challenges by my peers, but it was those values that my parents and teachers taught me that guided me in the right direction. My family taught me to always be the leader as opposed to the follower. While I was in my earlier years of school my teachers were also there to guide me in the right direction. My teachers weren’t only there to teach me about the curriculum but they also help to shape me into the individual I am today.

Education isn’t only a one step process. It’s in tune with our families, our communities, and in some ways our culture. It is the most important thing, next to our family, that helps to shape the person that we all become.

Haiku

I wish good fortune
to continue my Edu-
Vacation. Bye Bye.

I think it's pretty self explanatory. I have to accumulate money to continue my education in college. The Edu-Vacation line is written because school is alot easier than the previous work experience that i had. I was a manager for a government agency for 10 years. I managed 60 people and ALL of their problems, so for me, returning to college is kind of a vacation.


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Schools for Citizens

I'm gonna keep this one short. There is a line in the text that I want to comment on, "After World War 2, experts in civic education sought to "democratize" Japan." It's funny how history repeats itself. Aren't we in a war right now and trying to democratize a society? The text talks alot about the history of education in our nation. It talks about the immigrants and the majority of people, how they are Protestant, white, etc.. Whether they are immigrants or not should not affect the ideal of education. It will change the way education is given, but the overall concept should stay the same. There is also another line, "Today there is lively debate about creating a curriculum that mirrors our cultural variety and equally vivid concern about teaching patriotism and common values. Our country is based on certain principles and values. They are common throughout our existstance. When I think about this I think about the crap about the flag and flag salute in our schools. Are they kidding? This is something that goes back hundreds of years and now that someone had a problem with it, they even considered taking it away. The last time I checked there were choices. There are different kinds of schools for many people. If they don’t like what is done move on!

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The Hodgkinson Report

I am very hesitant to post a blog about this report or whatever it is. It looks like an article that was written in an educational magazine. The whole idea about this article is about demographics. I am not an expert in this field nor do I intend to be, but I will do my best to express my ideas without offending anyone. Keep in mind my intention is to express my ideas about the topic.

Mr. Hodgkinson starts off by saying "nothing is distributed evenly across the US. Not race, not religion, not age, not fertility, not wealth, and certainly not access to higher education." I am a big fan of the statement that people are a direct result of their environment. It takes a combination of education, culture, family, one's environment, and a number of other factors to create a student’s well rounded view about life. Nothing in life is evenly distributed. Life is what you make of it. We are fortunate here in the US to have opportunities. We can be anything we want to be. Did you ever that saying "Seize the day?" It means just what it says, make everyday day in your life count. The decisions you make dictate where you are going to be in life. Some of the ideas like race, age, and sometimes religion are already predetermined for students and people. Fertility, wealth, and the option to participate in higher education is definitely a result of the student’s decisions throughout life.

Another topic the author writes about is diversity. He goes on to say that "the nature of race is changing." Let’s face it, everything in life changes. It either changes for the better or it changes for the worse. Again, it’s a result of the decisions a student makes throughout life. We as future teachers have to understand that we cannot change the world. We can change the way a student feels about a particular subject through the information that we provide them, but ultimately that student will make their own decision about how they feel. It’s like the old saying, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make the horse drink it.” I as a future teacher can provide the tools to the student, but it is up to the student to follow through and use what we provide to achieve their individual goals. It is a natural reaction of all teachers, at least I would hope, that the teacher is there to provide any instruction or information that the student needs.

He talks about Tiger Woods and how he checks 4 different races or ethnicities on the census forms. Listen, not even the census is perfect. One thing is for sure, there are always going to be choices in life, whether it is on the census form, when you walk into a restaurant and choose what you want to eat, or even to elect the next president of this country. It’s up to the individual. Again, it’s the choices a student makes in life that will dictate where he/she is later on. All we can do as teachers is provide the tools and the student has to look at the big picture and facilitate the action.

The author goes on to talk about differences in world views. All of these views about the sense of time, the sense of family, the sense of hierarchy, are a direct result of how the student feels about what he/she is taught in life. The students, if taught correctly, will come to understand and hopefully see the big picture. It’s from that big picture where that student will hopefully put it all together and make the correct decision about what they want to do in life, where they want to be, and what they want to achieve.

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The Education Primer

It’s not surprising to me how some people would find this information to be known and some of it was mind boggling. If I take a moment to reflect on all of the years I went to school, I can say that the facts about white females as educators are correct. I can count on one hand the amount of male teachers I had. Why you may ask? It may be the female nature to nurture children. Most women have that natural ability to deal with children of all ages. They seem to have another sense. Men on the other hand have to work a little harder at it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are men out there that are better than women, but the majority of don’t have that extra sense.

There are alot of facts about the different demographics of our US schools in the Primer. There is alot of information in there that is good to know, but let’s look at the truth, the world changes, people change, why shouldn’t the diversity and class makeup of our schools change? Our own communities are ever-changing. When I take a look at the makeup of our townspeople over the last 20 years, it’s changed tremendously. Why wouldn’t it change? How can you stop it? You can’t! People make decisions in life that depict their future. Some of those decisions are based on their family, their education, their culture, and most of all there own life experiences. People and families come and go, therefore, our school children change with it.

The great thing about this is that the information can be used to see if there is need for improvement in our laws and policies. Do some of our schools need help from a national standpoint versus their local government, when it comes to funding? Should we make today’s school children aware of these facts so that they can see the big picture? I say this because I know from experience that every time an election in our town comes up a question comes up on the ballots about improving our community’s schools through the addition to the taxes we pay every year. Year after year people complain about the education system in our town but they don’t want to invest anything into them. What the majority of people don’t understand is that the costs for the education systems in the town are a very small part that makes up their taxes. If you were to educate the kids it may trickle to the parents to avoid assumptions. I can go on and on about the percentages and numbers in the Primer, but investing in our schools means investing in our children, our communities, and the future of the US.

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Speaking to Marvin the Martian

What our schools are like?

We have many different types of schools, including public, private, and charter schools. The majority of students attend public schools in the areas that they live. Nine out of ten students are educated in public schools and private schools educate 12%, so public schools are responsible for formally educating the majority of students. Our education system is based on 12 grade levels, where students must attend between 9 and 13 years, however in order to further their education at a college or university they must attend all 12. There are mandatory subjects in which students must study, including Math, English, and Science.

Who are our students?

Our students come from many races, backgrounds, and ethnicities. The percentages between them all are always changing, however by 2020 half of the nation's school age children will be children of color. More than 1/3 of public school students are from low-income families. Our students consist of those who are born in the U.S., immigrants, those with handicaps or disabilities, and those whose first language is not English.

Who are our teachers?

Our teachers are required to be well educated and have a degree in the subject area that they teach. The majority of our teachers are white females. Because of new laws that deal with education in our country, such as the No Child Left Behind Act, there are more demands placed on teachers and teacher requirements. For this reason there is a high turn-over rate in the teaching force.

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Reactions

Reactions...the first day of class, your peers in the class, the teacher, the atmosphere, the amount of work involved - good or bad. These are some of the things that are thought of moving on from semester to semester. Although it is easy for some, it may be difficult for others. The first day of class always gives me some jitters because I never know what to expect. Who are the other people in the class? Do I know them, do they know me, and have I taken class with them before? What is the teacher like? Is he/she going to be available if needed? What kind of teaching style does he/she use? What kind of atmosphere will the teacher along with the students, create inside the classroom? Is it going to interesting or is it going to be just another one of those classes you pay for and go to, but really don’t want to be there?

As I pose these questions, I look back into my earlier years of schooling. As I take a look back, these are the same questions that I had back then. I wonder if anyone else is sharing the same thoughts. Do the other kids even care? Do other students feel the same way I felt? How do they feel about their new environment, knowing they are only going to be there for a short time and then have to move on to the next semester or grade level, before having to experience it all over again.

As I continue through the journey of being given some of the tools to be a future teacher, I have to keep in mind how I felt and what I went through progressing through my years of school. I am sure that I’m not the only one that feels this way. I’m sure that some students go through this year after year. It reminds me that being a teacher doesn’t only mean that we present material, the students learn about it, and then they move on, being a teacher means much more. We have to accommodate the students that need accommodation. We have to invest extra time into the students that need it. We have to be there to pick up the broken pieces. Let’s face it, if there is 24hrs in a day we have the students for a better part of it. It’s almost as if their teacher is going to be their mentors through life along with the student's parents, of course. It is the teacher’s investment in the students that will make the future for everyone safe, positive, and enjoyable.

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