I think of education as if it is a puzzle. When tackling a puzzle, you can only put the edge places into position at first because they are the basis of the entire thing. After finding the edges and framing the entire puzzle, you may begin the slow process of sifting through and choosing other pieces that may fit into the middle of the puzzle. This process takes a long time and can even be tedious for some people. Along the way, pieces of the puzzle may be lost or damaged. Education can be thought of in a similar way. In order to learn, children must be provided with a strong foundation of information. Using their prior knowledge, students can start to fill in and build upon their knowledge. The process of gaining knowledge is lifelong and for some, may be tedious. If you do not take the time to carefully absorb information, it can be lost or damaged over time.
I have enjoyed my time in this class and the material that we have gone over has reinforced my decission to attend graduate school for Elementary Education in the Fall of 2013!

FRIEDRICH FROEBEL

 

 

"As an educator, Froebel believed that stimulating voluntary self-activity in the young child was the necessary form of pre-school education (Watson, 1997a). Self-activity is defined as the development of qualities and skills that make it possible to take an invisible idea and make it a reality; self-activity involves formulating a purpose, planning out that purpose, and then acting on that plan until the purpose is realized (Corbett, 1998a)." Froebel stressed the importance of play and that using it can engage children and allow them to learn. He stressed the importance of creativity and thinking independently. He believed that through play and exploring the world, children could learn all that they needed to learn. Froebel often provided children with paints and clay in order to allow them to explore their creative side. "To assist children in their development of moving from one plane of educational growth to another, Froebel provided the children with many stimulating activities to enhance their creative powers and abilities. Froebel designed a series of instructional materials that he called "gifts and occupations", which demonstrated certain relationships and led children in comparison, testing, and creative exploration activities (Watson, 1997b)." These gifts and occupations inclued cylinders and various other shapes that children could use to get hands-on experience and to play with. Froebel also believed in working closely with the family unit in order for children to experience success in the classroom. He believed that the classroom should resemble home as closely as possible because children have their first learning experiences at home.

 

I like Froebel's theory. I think that feeling at home in the classroom will allow children to open up and be better able to learn. Home is a place where you can let your guard down and be yourself; I think that it is also very important for children to be able to do this at school. I originally researched this theoriest because I saw that there was a book written about him "inventing kindergarten." Loooking at his theory, I can see how his contributions led to the development of kindergarten. His hands-on play type of curriculum is exactly how kindergarten is structured.

My information came from...

Give Thanks!

When I was in school, I was taught about Thanksgiving in a very traditional way. My teachers made it seem that the Pilgrims came to America and nicely asked the Native Americans for help planting crops and shared a meal with them, similar to how we celebrate Thanksgiving today. In reality, the first Thanksgiving was much different. The Pilgrims actually really brought many diseases with them, and unknowingly, infected the Native Americans. The immune systems of the Native Americans were not used to the European diseases and perished due to them. Thanksgiving is also a time where many Native American stereotypes are brought up again and again. Children make "Indian" themed art projects at school, people dress up as indians in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (and other parades as well), and Native Americans are portrayed as the unintelligent savages that were helped out by the European men. Of course, none of these portrayals of Native Americans are accurate. Native Americans knew the land much better than Europeans and were terriffic hunters and gatherers (traits that the Europeans envied). I do not think the Native Americans get enough credit for all of their abilities and accomplishments. Also, I think that in elementary school children should be taught to think of this holiday as a time for giving thanks for what they have. This should be the main focus. The history of Thanksgiving should also be taught, however, the children should be asked to think of the first Thanksgiving from both perspectives. They should be asked how they thought each side felt due to the circumstsances.
I find it so bizarre that we still celebrate Columbus Day. Columbus was not the first person to "discover" America. Vikings and other peoples from Europe had been here prior to Columbus and even prior to that, the Native Americans were settled here. Columbus is to blame for the stereotypical name "Indian." When he landed in the Caribbean Islands he bleieved that he had found India and, therefore, called the people settled there Indians (and for some reason, this term has stuck around). Columbus and his men were not respectful of Native Americans. They stole from them, raped the women, and abused their trusting way of life. This stor is spun much, much differently in the American elementary school classrooms. Columbus is portrayed as a hero who led his men on a daring journey accross the ocean to discover new land. In reality, Columbus cared more about spices, gold, and riches than the glory of finding new land. I think that children should be taught about the true stor of Columbus but in a way that is sensitive to the fact that this stor yis rather disturbing. I think that having children read the true version of the Columbus story side-by-side with the traditional story would help them notice the differences and where truth and fiction diverge.

 

It is very important for teachers to integrate topics dealing with issues of social class, race, culture, and gender inequalities into classroom discussions. Many times, however, these issues go unaddressed. Paolo Friere suggests that teachers should "live part of their dreams within their educational space." What does this mean?-- class rooms can be places where children are taught that making a difference is okay and that they can change the future of the society they live in. Curriculum should be inclusive of ideas that teach students to dream of a world they could help create and live in one day. Teaching in this way would let students know that they do not have to settle for an unjust or imperfect world. Classroom practices that could help this happen are:

• Respect children and their curiosity for learning. Relating information to the lives of students helps them to understand and grasp it.
• Students must learn to "talk back to the world." They can do this by asking questions such as, "Who benefits and who suffers?, Who makes decissions and who is left out?, What alternatives can we imagine?, What is required to create change? etc."
• Integrate books and pictures of a culturally diverse population (ie. not just nuclear, white, American families)
• Allow students to experience information in an interactive way. Let them "question, challenge, make real decissions and collectively solve problems."

I think that this way of constructing a classroom teaches students to be individual thinkers and productive members of a group (ie. society). If more classrooms were run in this manner, less racism would exist because students would be exposed to diversity from a young age. Learning to make active decissions and ask questions of what is right vs. what is wrong is important. I really like the idea of getting students active and involved in the curriculum because I think that it would peak their interest to know that their opinions matter and they have some sort of decission making power.

Where I found my information...

 

 

If elected, Mitt Romney has big plans in store for education reform.

• Promoting choice and innovation- This point that Romney makes includes allowing special needs and low income students to have the choice to decide which school to attend. This point would ensure that the needs of those students will be met. Incentives will be offered for states that help increase these oppertunities for students.
• Provide more information to parents- the states will be held responsible for the overall results on students' report cards. Parents will be able to access this information in an easier, more public way.
• Higher education- Mitt Romney aims to strengthen and improve the financial aid system.
• My opinion- It seems like Romney really cares about reforming education and making the education system better and more effective for students. As a college student,  I can attest to feeling overwhelmed by the debt that I face upon graduation. I think that any oppertunity to lower debt and increase financial aid is good if completed in a successful way. Romney's business-man mentality may be just what the education system needs to budget and decide where funds would be best spent.
• Where I found my information

Behaviorism vs. Cognitism

Is behaviorism or cognitism the better method of  teaching? Or, is a combination approach more effective?

     Behaviorism suggests that human behavior is determined by "...forces in the environment that are beyond our control and not by the exercise of free will." On the opposing side, Cognitism suggests that "...people actively construct their knowledge of the world through experience." These two philosophies directly contrast eachother. Cognitism focuses on "developing thinking skills for life-long, self-directed learning."
     B.F. Skinner was a psychologist who was greatly interested in behavior. He  tried to shape human behavior through various laboratory experiments (i.e. Skinner's Box). He believed that "our failure to solve social problems, was because of our failure to understand human behavior." Skinner's goal was to work toward a better understanding of why people do what they do. When the behaviorist principles are applied to education, we can form effective ways to teach. The McNergney text book says "Behaviorists, like realists, rely on knowledge derived from the physical world. They examine how people develop behavior patterns in response to environmental influences." (ie. Pavlov's dogs).

     The goals of a behaviorist education are to "engineer environments that effectively maximize learning." Students are asked to respond to environmental stimuli and to self regulate. Teachers "manipulate the learning environment and present stimuli, using conditioning and social learning to shape behavior."
     Cognitism favors student-centered learning. Students are assisted in learning study skills and critical thinking. Teachers provide scaffolding for students to try to make sense of information on their own. A famous cognitive psychologist is Jean Piaget.

     I think that a combination of behaviorism and cognitism would result in a useful method of teaching. This combination reflects the idea that to, a certain extent, students are effected by their environment; and to some extent, students control their own will. It is important for teachers to be able to engage students in activities where they can think critically, moniter student behavior, and use forms of reinforcement to drive students to perform well.

 

 Works Cited: Education:The Practice and Profession of Teaching, McNergney (p124-126).

Inclusion: What are the pros and cons? Is it worth it?

 

 

Pros:

• Inclusion is much less expensive than segregation.
• Special needs children learn how to better interact & function with others.
• Children without special needs learn to better accept diversity & individual differences between people.
• Inclusion provides individual attention to students with special needs.

Cons:

• The education of non-special needs children may be effected.
• Additional training for teachers can be expensive.
• Inclusion is not always a guaranteed success. Special education students may prefer the segregated class room method.

Information Provided by: Pros and Cons of Special Education

My Opinion:

I think that inclusion is necessary for special needs students. These children need to learn how to function in a setting that includes people of all abilities, disabilities, exceptionalities etc. Being in a segrigated classroom limits these students by minimizing their social and intellectual abilities. It is best that they receive the same education as non-special needs children (with extra help and guidence).The cost that comes with training teachers to deal with inclusion is unfortunate but necessary. Teachers must be trained how to understand, to work with, and to teach students with special needs.