Climbing a Mountain through Learning

Education is like the process of climbing a mountain. You have to start at the bottom with the simple skills. It is almost impossible to imagine what the top will be like or what you could do with all the knowledge you accumulate.  The higher you go the harder or steeper the going gets, but the motivation becomes that much greater because you see the potential of where you are going. Reaching the peak is like graduation day. At that point you have finished school and can use your knowledge however you want. The opportunities go as far as the eye can see. Usually reaching the top doesn’t mean you stop learning though. Like any great hiker it is just the end of your first great adventure. Many go on to learn new things and conquer new mountains.  

 

It has been a very eye-opening experience to read everyone’s blog this semester. I appreciate everyone sharing their research and opinions. One topic that I became aware of during the class was the diversity of students I can expect in my classroom. I hadn’t thought about teaching different races, sexual orientations, and abilities. I feel that now I will be a lot more expectant to see a variety of students, more than I had thought about before the class. I also feel prepared to create a learning environment that is suitable for all of them.

I especially enjoyed learning all the different takes on education this semester from how other countries structure their education systems to specific philosopher’s ideas. One of the philosophers I found to be very interesting was Rudolf Steiner who invented Waldorf education. I found his ideas so fascinating because he focused on building knowledge through creativity such as art, music, and storytelling. Another school I really liked learning about was the Summerhill School. If I had heard about the concept before reading about the school I would have never considered that it could work, but now I see why it does and I think that a lot of the ideas are great. I will take a lot of information about this course with me when I become a teacher.

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Are the Wealthiest Entitled to the Best Education?

Most people would say that all students deserve an equal education despite their socioeconomic status or class, but that is not usually how it actually is. Those that have less money usually live in urban settings and send their children to inner-city schools. The truth is that inner-city schools don’t provide the same education that suburban or private schools do. “Many metropolitan areas also showed a considerable gap in the graduation rates between their inner-city schools and the surrounding suburbs.” The same is true about graduation rates of inner-city schools and private schools. Wealthier families often live in suburbs where the schools are better or they are able to afford transportation to a better performing schools or tuition for a private school. Those with less money are not able to afford that “luxury” to their children, and have to send them to the local inner-city school. The best education shouldn’t only be available to the wealthiest families. This is a social injustice that needs to come to an end.

Some argue that graduation rates cannot not be looked at to determine if public schools are actually better than private schools because private schools can be selective about the students that they accept, but then that raises the question of why suburban schools have higher graduation rates than inner-city schools. The issue comes down to funding. Suburban and private schools have more money available to them so they are able to then give more resources to students such as more support teachers in struggling areas such as reading and math and smaller class sizes.

It is unfair to watch students in lower socioeconomic classes hope that they get lucky and are accepted into one of the limited spots at a successful school in their area, like was seen in the documentary “Waiting for Superman.” A way needs to be found to spread out the funding to schools more equally so that students in urban communities have access to a quality education.

Big Cities Battle Dismal Graduation Rates
Comparison of Private and Public Schools
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Waldorf Education

I was not familiar with Waldorf education so I thought it would be interesting to learn about something new. Waldorf education is based on the ideas of the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner. A main focus of Waldorf education is to focus on the child as a whole person including their spiritual and emotional selves, not only their academic selves. The goal is to have the student develop their own desire and enthusiasm for learning.

Steiner believed that there were three main stages of child development. The first stage was from birth to age 7 and included preschool and kindergarten. The classrooms are supposed to feel like the students home, and there is a similar schedule everyday so children get used to a routine. At this stage the children learn through imitation and example so they are shown a lot of activities that they will have the chance to do for themselves.  There are many opportunities for free play inside the classroom as well as outdoors. Also, a lot of the learning is done through the arts like storytelling, music and poetry to help children build their creativity.

The second stage of development is from 7 to 14 years old and consists of elementary school. The curriculum is very broad and covers different topics in math, science, history, language arts, mythology, and physical education. These topics are taught in creative ways through music, art, stories, drama, and crafts. Textbooks are rarely used. The social aspect encourages cooperation between children, rather than competition. Usually, the school tries to keep the children with their same teacher throughout elementary school.  

The third stage is from 14 on. Children start secondary school at this time. They have different teachers for each of their classes and the classes have more of an academic focus. Students still take creative classes in art and music though. The goal is to help students develop good judgment, morals, and social responsibility, along with their academic education.  

I found this to be a very interesting theory of education. I really like the idea that students are taught through the arts to help stimulate their creativity and to develop enthusiasm for learning. I think it would be great to have the opportunity to observe in a Waldorf school.

Waldorf Education

Why Waldorf Works

Waldorf

Should a Cognitive Approach be taken in Education?

Cognitivism is the philosophy of learning and developing ideas through experiences. This approach to education is considered active learning because the learner makes their own conclusions after observing and considering a situation. In schools, this philosophy focuses on asking students questions and helping them think critically and develop an answer based on what they know and have experienced in their lives. The questions asked to students are usually open-ended and can be discussed. There is usually not one right answer. This teaching technique focuses on teaching students skills in studying and reasoning so that they can be learners throughout their entire lives. It also tries to bring real-world applications to the learning.

An opposing view of cogntivism is the philosophy of behaviorism. Behaviorism doesn’t take into account what someone thinks about a situation. The idea is that people learn by being conditioned. This is the same idea that is seen with Pavlov and his dogs. This is a common philosophy in schools. If a child finishes their work on time and is given extra time at recess, then the student will learn to finish his work on time all of the time because he believes he will receive a reward for this action.

I tend to agree more with cognitivism because it takes into account what people are thinking and how that effects their beliefs and actions. Opposing philosophies such as behaviorism do not consider what someone is thinking about. The problem that I have with this is why do some people continue to do the same thing even though they are continuously punished. Why do some people speed when they are driving even though they have been given multiple speeding tickets? I believe it is because they do not think that speeding is wrong. Even though you cannot observe people thinking that doesn’t mean that nothing is going on in their head.

A teacher that believes in the cognitive philosophy will work to guide students in their learning instead of worrying about what the student learns at the end. What each student learns will be different because everyone has different experiences and beliefs and those developed beliefs influence how they will think about something. Teachers should focus on how a student gets to an answer instead of what the answer is. This learning approach teaches student to think critically, which is a skill they will use throughout their lives to solve problems and learn new things. If students are taught specific information or a taught to do certain tasks they will eventually forget those things if they are not used in their daily lives.

 

Cognitivism and Constructivism

Behaviorism

Cognitivism   

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Does Inclusion Work?

Inclusion seems like a fair way to give all students an equal education. If inclusion is actually doing what it is meant to do though, then why are graduation rates so low for students with disabilities?

Inclusion for students with mild disabilities had a large increase from 2003 to 2008, for students in grades 8 through 12. For those same years, the graduation rates for students with mild disabilities decreased or stayed about the same. The graduation rate for students without disabilities increased over that same time period.

How would students without disabilities be benefiting from inclusion? Teachers who have a student with a disability in their classroom will often teach a little more slowly and clearly, and will often repeat things more than once. The repetition and decreased speed have been beneficial in improving the grades of students without disabilities. These students are often said to be more accepting of people’s differences. These are great results, but unfortunately these same results to not apply to students with disabilities.

Why would inclusion not be greatly benefiting students with disabilities? For one, when students are placed in a regular classroom they are expected to perform the same tasks that students without disabilities are expected to do. This includes graduate examinations. If a student doesn’t pass the exam or they believe that they can’t pass the exam, then the student may drop out. Also, teachers often don’t have the resources to give the students with disabilities the attention that they need. This can be due to the fact that some IEPs (Individualized Education Programs) do not clearly outline the goals and needs of the student. Others are very in-depth and the teacher does not have the time to go through the entire program for each student she has with an IEP. Additionally, meetings regarding the goals and progress of students with IEPs are often held during the school day, when teachers cannot attend. Teachers that do have success with inclusion in their classrooms usually also have another teacher that works with them in their classes. This allows the work of going through IEPs, providing extra support, and attending meetings to be split between two teachers.  

I believe that inclusion is a great way to provide an equal education to all students. For inclusion to work, teachers need to be given extra support, especially when they have students with multiple IEPs in their classroom. A second teacher or an aide is a great place to start in trying to improve the success of inclusion.      

 

Special Education Inclusion

Inclusion and Graduation Rates: What Are the Outcomes?

Does the Inclusion Classroom Work?

Coteaching Reading Comprehension Strategies in Elementary School Libraries - Picture

How Should Sexual Orientation be Addressed in Schools?

This was a question that I had while I was reading the section “From the Perspective of Sexual Orientation” in McNergney. There is a lot of controversy about whether or not sexual orientation should be addressed in schools and whether it should be included in the sex education curriculum. For a lot of young people, middle and high school is the time that they are coming to terms with their sexuality. Teachers may not believe that there are any gay or lesbian students at their school because they do not hear about it. The likeliness is that there are gay or lesbian students in the school as well as students with gay or lesbian siblings or caregivers. Whether or not gay or lesbian students decide to openly share their sexual orientation in their school community has a lot to do with how they perceive the attitude of the school to be toward individuals of different sexual orientations. If the student believes that there are a lot of homophobic attitudes in the school then they will likely choose to keep their sexual orientation a secret and may feel like an outcast in the community.

There are many ways that teachers and other school officials can help promote an accepting attitude of people with different sexual orientations in their school. One way is for teachers to have a no tolerance policy about homophobic comments made in the school, even if the student is not directing the comment toward a gay or lesbian student. Another way is to start a Gay-Straight Alliance at the school. Students in this group are not always of a different sexual orientation, but it is rather a group that shows their support toward the members of the community of a different sexual orientation. These strategies can help students of different sexual orientations to feel that they are not alone in their school community, but actually accepted for who they are.

As a future teacher, I want to create a classroom where students of all sexual orientations can feel safe. At the same time I also want to respect the views of those who are not in support of gay or lesbian students. I will not allow any homophobic language inside my classroom, but I will also not put a large focus on the issue. I do believe that groups such as the Gay-Straight Alliance are beneficial to schools.

Questions and Answers: Sexual Orientation in Schools

Should Sexual Orientation Be Taught in the Classroom 

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Are all those suspensions really necessary?

Grades and class rank were extremely important to me in high school. Although I was a very good student, I really disliked school and felt that it was a big waste of my time because I spent so little time actually being productive in class. Early on in my senior year I used up my allotted number of absences that were allowed before my grades became affected. I figured the only other way I could get out of school was a suspension. I knew a lot of students that had gotten suspended and I felt that their punishments were actually rewards. I gave the idea of getting suspended serious thought but decided that it could backfire if I ended up missing an important test.

It was not just my high school that gave out a lot of suspensions. School suspension rates have been increasing over the years. Students today can be suspended for minor violations of their school’s code of conduct. For example, a student who was a leukemia survivor himself wanted to grow his hair out and donate it to charity after he found out that his friend’s sister had cancer. He was suspended for breaking the dress code that says boys’ hair cannot touch their collars or the ears. In another situation, a six-year-old was suspended for sexual harassment for singing the LMFAO song, “I’m sexy and I know it,” in the lunch line.     

When students are suspended they miss out on the lessons for all the classes that they had on those days. Studies show that when students are suspended only once their chances of dropping out double from 16% to 32%. If the student is suspended again after that, the chances go up to 49%. Studies also say that students who are suspended are more likely to have legal problems outside of school. This could be due to that fact that when they are suspended they may be alone and unsupervised.

Leaving disruptive students in the classroom is not the solution to the problem, but there are other possible alternatives other than out of school suspension. Other options could include after school or lunch detentions, Saturday school, in school suspensions, suspension from extra-curricular activities, mandatory community service, or a written apology. Out of school suspension may be necessary for students with severe offenses, but different forms of punishment should be considered for students who break minor rules. Schools should do their best to keep students in school, where they want them to be.  

 

 

Why Some Schools Want To Expel Suspensions
The 7 Dumbest Reasons Schoolkids get Suspended
Alternatives to Out-of-School Suspension
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