Teaching is like...

"Teaching is like rings on a tree. What you teach... is forever with them." When students join you in your classroom at the beginning of the school year it marks the start of a new stage in their lives. They are beginning a new grade and turning a year older. Students will be influenced by you so therefore it depends on you as the teacher, to choose what you want them to gain from your influence.

From this course I've been informed of the different educational philosophies that teachers use in their practices. Along with that, I've learned about the varying types of schools, ranging from outdoor and environmentally focused schools, to Montessori schooling, along with other types that have provided me with ideas that i have enjoyed and agreed with,  along with others that i did not agree with, but still gave me insight into how my students have been taught, or  how they may be taught in the future. 

Something this course has emphasized a lot was culturally responsive classrooms and inclusion. These concepts are focused on providing quality education for each and every student. I've realized from this course, that it is important to provide and incorporate different teaching styles to reach the needs of all students.

Another important concept I was reminded about was place-based learning. After reading about it, i was able to think back to my own elementary experience which involved place-based learning. It is important to provide ways for students to interact and connect with what they are learning. If possible it is best to take students out of the classroom. Not only will this give them real experiences pertaining to what they are learning, but it makes the experience much more exciting and fun to interact with the environment and community where students live.

I've enjoyed this course and all that it has offered me while on my path to becoming a teacher. I've most definitely come across some great ideas and information that I will put to use in my future classroom. EDU100 has encouraged and excited me even more in my pursuit to becoming a teacher. I believe that I have gained useful and beneficial information that will help me in providing my students with a quality educational experience and I am thankful for that!

Incorporating Social Justice in an Elementary Curriculum

It is important to incorporate social justice within the curriculum. Students should learn about social justice in regards to the many different social inequalities that people are dealt with during their lives. By incorporating social justice into the curriculum, students are provided the chance to learn about social inequalities, ways to deal with experiences that involve social inequality, and also ways to promote social justice in ways to 'fight' social inequalities. 

While searching online about social justice in elementary schools, I came across a website that includes 'Six Elements of Social Justice Curriculum Design for Elementary Education'. I'd like to share those six elements as they are shown on the website because they are shared in a very understandable way as is. 

Six Elements of Social Justice Curriculum Design for Elementary Education

1) Self-love and knowledge: Teachers provide opportunities for students to learn about who they are and where they come from. A sense of dignity in their culture, heritage, ethnicity/race, religion, skin tone, gender etc. is cultivated in the classroom.  Students learn about different aspects of their identity and history associated with it. Negative stereotypes about students’ identities are deconstructed. Potential classroom activities include: Where I come from poems, self-portraits that include skin tone identification, name poems, family interviews, grandparent guest speakers, cultural abc books.

2) Respect for Others: Teachers provide opportunities for students to share their knowledge about their own cultural background with their classmates.  The goal is to create a climate of respect for diversity through students learning to listen with kindness and empathy to the experiences of their peers.  Students deconstruct stereotypes about their peers’ identities.  Potential classroom activities include: Sharing of cultural ABC books, diverse family structures that include LGTB families, field trips to cultural museums, guest speakers from children’s families and cultural centers.

3) Issues of Social Injustice: Teachers move from “celebrating diversity” to an exploration of how diversity has differently impacted various groups of people.  Students learn about the history of racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, religious intolerance etc. and how these forms of oppression have affected different communities.  Teachers make links that show how the historical roots of oppression impact the lived experiences and material conditions of people today.Potential topics of study include: Native American genocide, Slavery, the Holocaust, anti-immigration policies and sentiment, media (mis) representations, issues that face their own communities such as gentrification, police brutality, etc.

4) Social Movements and Social Change: Teachers share examples of movements of iconic and everyday people standing together to address the issues of social injustice they learned about in Element Three.  Rather than leaving students feeling overwhelmed and defeated, teachers help students understand that working together, ordinary people have united to create change.  Potential topics of study include: Abolitionism, civil rights movement, the L.A. janitors’ strikes, various labor movements, 1968 and 2006 Chicano student walkouts.

5) Awareness Raising: Teachers provide opportunities for students to teach others about the issues they have learned about.  This allows students who feel passionately about particular issues to become advocates by raising awareness of other students, teachers, family and community members.  It is important to recognize that while raising awareness is a necessary and important pre-curser for action, it by and of itself does not translate into change. Potential activities include: newsletters, public service announcements, letter writing campaigns, creating documentaries, blogging.

6) Social Action Teachers provide opportunities to take action on issues that affect students and their communities. Students identify issues they feel passionate about and learn the skills of creating change firsthand. Potential activities include: Letter writing campaigns, petitions, linking with local grassroots organization campaigns, speaking at public meetings, attending and/or organizing protests.

I agree with these six elements of social justice that teachers can incorporate into the curriculum along with the potential activities that were mentioned. I feel social justice is very important for students to learn about because without a good understanding of it, they may fall into a category of people who add to the social inequalities that should be 'deconstructed'. 

Environmental Education is Essential

When I think back to my elementary school years, there is always that one experience that comes to mind first, that I carry with me, that I will never forget. Nature's Classroom. My elementary school was located in Malden, MA which is about 10-15 minutes away from Boston. The city of Malden is pretty small, but holds many characteristics of an urban city. I believe it was fifth grade that our parents signed permission slips and packed our bags, we were going to Nature's Classroom in Freedom, New Hampshire. Five days away from parents, classrooms, and homework! Five days to learn and live in the cabins, mountains, and forest. "At Nature's Classroom students take an active role in their education by participating in exciting hands on motivational activities which are both academic and enjoyable." A typical day at Nature's Classroom includes breakfast, morning field group, special interests classes, dinner, and evening activities. Field groups' "goal is to give students a better understanding of dynamic interactions in the natural world, in social situations and even within themselves." Although this is just one short week out of many years of school, it has stuck with me because it was fun and interesting. If schools, even urban city schools, could begin to incorporate outdoor class time to engage in environmental studies and science, i feel that students would become more interested and excited to learn and develop proactive choices in regards to their environments. "Nature's Classroom is an unforgettable learning experience for children and their teachers, offering the very best in environmental education, working closely with school teachers to create a learning partnership that lasts a lifetime." Nature's Classroom is a great experience for students and i believe teachers in New England should definitely look into visiting one of their several locations!

Some schools may not be able to include a trip to Nature's Classroom in their school year, but there are other ways of bringing environmental awareness into the classroom. After searching around on the web I came across 'Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge'. Although the website didn't mention anything about a 2014 challenge, it did include information about the past two years' challenges. The challenge "is designed to help students work together to solve an environmental problem in their classroom or school community."  I would like to include as examples, the descriptions of the top three finalists of the 2013 challenge. (grades 3-5)

FIRST PLACE
"Our local businesses around our community where we go to swim, dance, eat, take karate, skate, and many other places were not recycling at all. We needed a change in our community. This was not acceptable and the students could not understand why this wasn't important to everyone around them.  They set out for a change, we just didn't know what an amazing impact the students would actually have on our community!!!"
SECOND PLACE
"The Charles Russell Elementary after school Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP) members will develop a plan for the school to recycle paper. Once the research is finished, data collected, and plan implemented, the students will seek the support of the district administration to develop a district-wide paper recycling plan. The plan began in September of 2011 and is continuing this school year (2012-2013) and will be a permanent program for years to come."

THIRD PLACE
"The students in From Garbage to Garden have been working to decrease the amount of food waste at their school. By starting a composting program and educating the rest of their school about reducing waste, they have been able to do so. Every day, they collect food scraps leftover from lunch. They also collect paper towels from the bathrooms. They then haul the materials to a local community garden that turns the materials into compost for community gardens. Since From Garbage to Garden has started, they have been able to lower the amount of food waste at their school by 23%."

To make my point clear, environmental education is a top priority and more schools/teachers should be taking the step to incorporate the importance of the environment in the curriculum. Whether it be going on a five day field trip to Nature's Classroom, or competing in a nationwide environmental competition; getting students to learn, understand, and take action in protecting and preserving their environment is a key goal that will ultimately benefit the entire world!

Staying Within the Boundaries or Thinking Outside of the Box

The title of this post is my way of differentiating between two completely opposite learning theories.

The most recent theory I have become familiar with is that of the "banking concept of education" which the  theorist, Paulo Freire has written about.  The banking concept of education theory focused on a very straightforward way of distinguishing the roles of teacher and student. "Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat." This concept leaves no room for students to question why, but instead leaves students to only believe whatever it is that the teacher says as truth. This learning theory is not fit for the world we live in today because it doesn't promote individual growth at all but is a tool instead which "mirrors oppressive society as a whole." Conformity is not desirable, and it is fair to say this theory surrounds itself with creating students into members of society who will not question authority or strive to make a difference in any way shape or form. Freire discusses this 'banking concept' but does not agree with it. Instead, he believes students and teachers should be using a 'dialogic approach' that revolves around mutual respect. Freire, although not a horrible theorist in my eyes, still seems to lack a passion I find important in teachers, to provide quality education. Instead i find Freire's focus to be on creating a learning style which promotes individual choices but to redefine societies and/or create social justice.   

A second theory which I have mentioned before is that of Montessori.  The Montessori theory focuses on the students curiosity, a calm and safe environment, and involves multiple methods of learning. Montessori is the complete opposite of the banking concept of education. This theory encourages students to make choices for themselves, develop into their own individual selves, along with working together to consider other points of views. So then, in contrast, Montessori's learning style promotes self-interest and development of individuality. 

Overall, I agree with Montessori's theory of learning more so than Freire's, but I do see many similarities that they share with one another. Most importantly, both do not support the banking concept of education, which I most certainly agree with them on. I wish the banking concept could be disregarded, but unfortunately some teachers apply it in their methods without even realizing sometimes. This is where passion comes in. If a teacher is passionate in aspiring her students to be their own selves and to excel in the abilities to learn and think independently, then I'm sure the banking concept won't be appearing in their methods.

Montessori & Freire 

Self-Assessment: Educational Philosophy

While learning about the different educational philosophies, I was asked to take a self-assessment that would help recognize my own educational philosophy. The self assessment was made up of forty statements, my answers were based on a scale of strongly agreeing or strongly disagreeing. Below are links to the assessment and also the scoring guide.

Educational Philosophies Self-Assessment 

Educational Philosophies Self-Assessment Scoring Guide 

The result of my self-assessment was that the educational philosophy that I most related with is Humanism. The humanistic philosophy focuses on the human potential for growth and becoming the best they can be. "Beliefs include: human beings can control their own destiny; people are inherently good

and will strive for a better world; people are free to act but must be responsible; behavior is the

consequence of human choice; and people possess unlimited potential for growth and development.

There is a natural tendency for people to learn, which will flourish if nourishing, encouraging

environments are provided".

Although the humanistic philosophy is what the self-assessment closely relates me with, there is another educational philosophy I feel connected with. This philosophy is known as Montessori. The Montessori philosophy of education focuses on the students curiosity, a calm and safe environment, and involves multiple methods of learning with a mix of different aged students in a classroom. To learn more about Montessori education visit this link that shares a super cool animated description!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN ABOUT MONTESSORI