Kate EDU 402

The presentation done by team one on ELL, or English Language Learners, really gave me a deeper understanding of the struggles that ELL students might face in a classroom that has no accommodations to help their understanding of English. I learned about a few different strategies that could help ELL students and some important tips and tricks to help their understanding and help them become more comfortable with English. I really enjoyed the work stations part of this presentation, and getting a more hands on, more personal approach to learning about ELL. I got something important out of all three of the station activities, in the math one I learned that ELL students enjoy more low risk and hands on activities to help their understanding, with the vocab station, I developed a deeper understanding of how ELL students learn vocabulary and some ideas on how to further their understanding of different vocab words and in the final station, I enjoyed learning about different ways to not iso...

I loved this presentation and definitely learned a lot about alternative schools that I didn’t know prior to coming into class today. My only real knowledge of alternative schools before I came into class today was a brief knowledge of a couple of the different kinds of alternative schools. I didn’t know exactly how diverse the options of alternative schools were, so that was really cool to learn about. For example, I didn’t know that there were specific schools designed for students who might have mental illnesses or struggle with addiction where they get to meet with therapists, and I thought that was really cool. I also had never really thought about how homeschooling was an alternative “school”, same goes for schools that are on military bases for students who have parents in the service. My favorite part of this presentation was probably the buzzfeed quiz, one because it was fun and the questions were entertaining, but also because, I had never really thought about what kind o...

This presentation was really enjoyable and all of the hands on activities really helped my understanding of the topic. Integrated curriculum and collaboration among teachers was something that I had a small understanding of prior to this presentation from previous education classes and my time in the classroom during practicum, and this presentation built on my knowledge and gave me a deeper understanding of what exactly integrated curriculum. My personal favorite activity was the final activity with the chart, it wasn’t quite as exhilarating as the marshmallow and spaghetti activity, but I found that it was really helpful and was exactly the kind of situation that an integrated curriculum would create. I also just think it’s really interesting that certain topics that are more math “based” or more social studies “based” can be broken down and extended into multiple different subject areas. Collaboration is something that can be really tricky if you’re faced with someone who doesn’...

The first entry that really spoke to me was the first entry of this section, entry 136, From Students to Teachers. The reason I really loved this entry is because it was very visible that the teacher was changing their student’s life. One of the reasons this entry really spoke to me is because this is the kind of thing I want to inspire in my students someday when I am a teacher. You can see the change that this teacher made in Luis’ life from him not caring about an assignment to being inspired to be a teacher himself. I just really loved reading about the impact that this teacher had on their students and how inspiring their teaching was for their students. The other entry in this section that really spoke to me was entry, 138 which was called Student Coming Out. These kinds of entries always really hit a chord with me, because it’s one of those things that always makes me think about what I would do in a situation like that. The way this teacher tried to help her student really ...

I really loved team two’s presentation on poverty, for a lot of different reasons. I learned so much from their presentation and thought that it was an extremely informative and insightful look at poverty and how poverty affects students. Through the different activities that we did, we got to know, even if it was only for a couple minutes, what it was like to live on a poverty budget and what kind of sacrifices people who live in poverty make. This was a really fascinating activity and I feel like through that activity alone, I learned more about living in poverty than I ever had before. I also really enjoyed the speed dating activity, while learning about different possible solutions to problems is really interesting, getting to talk with our classmates and get different kind of ideas and insights from others about the topic was really interesting, and gave me even further insight into this issue. One of the major things I took away from this presentation was how much stress students...

Episode four of The Story of Schools focused on the more modern age of education, spanning the time period between 1980 and the early 2000s. This was by far the easiest episode to relate to as, some of the things that they discussed in this episode were in place when we were in school. One of the parts of this episode that I found really fascinating was the part where they talked about funding in schools. I was always under the impression that public schools were funded entirely by the state and federal governments and that school’s success would influence the amount of funding they received, however in this episode I learned that that’s not always true. Before this episode I had no idea that there were some schools that received money from private businesses to help fund things like computer labs. Another part of the episode that I found really really interesting was the voucher bill, which was implemented so that poor families could send their kids to upper level schools and get the...

Episode one of The Story of Schools focused on the early roots of the American school system, and this was incredibly fascinating because I feel like, when we think about the origins of education, we sometimes forget just how far back that history goes. I certainly never venture back to the early 1800s when I think about the history of education, even though it definitely did exist, even though it looked far different than it does today. This period of time (late 1700s-late 1800s) was when education like one room school houses were very popular, while one room school houses continued into the 20th century, they originated in the 19th century and were much more popular. One thing I knew before I watched this episode, but was still interested in learning about was how white boys were really the only ones who received educations during this time, girls were sent to schools to learn to be proper women and African American and other non white students were refused completely from getting an...

When A Nation at Risk was originally published back in 1983, it highlighted some of the major issues that were facing the American education system. Most of these issues were societal issues that the article was intending to highlight to make Americans realize the major issues in our education system. The article also talks about concerns that people have about our system, and the issues in our system. In the follow up article A Nation at Risk: 25 Years Later (or A Nation Accountable), we’re told about all the changes that have been made to the education system in the last 25 years, but despite all those changes, our system is still very far from perfect. Our system is still very much improved from where it was 25 years ago and we have made great strides to our system to improve it, and we will continue on in hopes to continue to improve our system to finally find the balance and create the ideal system for students, teachers and everyone else involved. While we now have systems in pla...

The first journal entry from the section titled Rejuvenation that spoke to me was entry 124, “Empowering Young Women”, the teacher in this entry works full time as a middle school teacher and then works with at risk young girls in a disadvantaged neighborhood so that they can have a positive female figure in their lives. As someone who was lucky enough to have wonderful female role models growing up, I understand the teacher’s need to be a role model for girls who maybe don’t. One of my favorite parts of his entry was when the teacher was explaining why she helps these young girls, “because I [the teacher] was a young girl once”, and I think this statement not only reigns true with this teacher’s mission to help young girls, but also our overall mission as teachers. We were all students once and know what kind of teachers we enjoyed and what we wished we had had from our teachers, and carrying this with us will only help us become better teachers. The second entry that spoke to me ...

The first journal entry that I really loved was entry ninety three, “Trials of Dating”, and that part that I really connected with was the hesitation on the teacher’s end about telling people that she’s a teacher. While I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve had a date, there have been situations where I felt uncomfortable professing my interest in becoming a teacher. Sometimes, being surrounded by certain people, I know that they aren’t going to respond the way I want them too when I tell them I want to be a teacher, or that they’ll act interested but actually not be. This especially happens when I tell people I want to teach middle school, usually the response is far less enthusiastic than I want it to be. I also thought this journal was interesting, because it gave insight to the kinds of social lives that one might have a teacher. The second entry that I really enjoyed reading was entry one hundred and three, “Quitting Catholic School”. I personally didn’t attend Catholic s...

The first entry in this section that really jumped out to me was entry forty seven, The Unreachable Student. The first reason that this entry really spoke to me was that, in some ways I was a lot like Monique in class. I really only raised my hand when I knew that answer and did not want to be called on when I didn’t raise my hand, and would often recoil if I thought the teacher was going to call on me. However, beyond that, I really loved the relationship and trust that this teacher built with his or her students, and the bond that they all created. That’s something that I really aspire to create in my own classroom, where students trust me and their classmates enough to share personal stories and struggles and help each other through those struggles. I also really loved the teacher’s “what we stay in this room, stays in this room” motto. This just helps build that trust with your students and that’s definitely something that I could see myself implementing in my own classroom. Th...

The big theme that was present throughout the entirety of this episode was “separate but equal is never truly equal” which was the idea that pushed Brown v Board of Education. Segregation, discrimination and gender bias were the main focuses of this episode and they all focused on that very idea, that separation is inherently unequal. I had always known about Brown v Board of Education, but there were some things that I didn’t know that I learned about while watching this. It was really interesting, but not surprising to learn about how long it actually took after Brown v Board of Education passed for it to be completely federally implemented. It wasn’t until money was threatened at the federal level that schools started to listen to the government and end segregation in schools. One thing I did not know, is that after integration was implemented, that the African American teachers lost their jobs and then were out of work. The segment about Title XI was really interesting to me as we...

This episode was really really interesting to me, as both a future educator and a history major, to learn so much about the history of the American school system. While there were some parts of the history that I knew and was aware of, there were some parts of it that I had never heard of before. For example, parts of the school’s treatment of immigrant students. I knew that when children came to America from other countries, they were put into American schools, I didn’t know just how “Americanized” that they were forced to be. Some people interviewed in the video recalled being spanked or punished when they would speak in languages that weren’t English and how no classes were offered in their native languages. This discrimination of non American non white students continued with tracking students based on IQ and other standardized tests that are inherently racially and culturally biased. Another really interesting part of this episode, that I did know some about, was the gender bias...

Having four completely different generations working alongside each other in the workplace is something that is proving to be difficult for all of the different generations. With the Veterans/Silent, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y all existing and working together, the differences and struggles these generations have to work well together are becoming more and more prominent. As stated by Greg Hammill in this article, “Each generation has distinct attitudes, behaviors, expectations, habits and motivational buttons.” The way that Baby Boomers and Generation X’s communicate and look at the world, is far different than that of a Veteran or a Generation Y person. While sometimes, these different outlooks and ideas can be beneficial and help expand our worldview, it also creates a generational gap between people who are trying to work together towards a common goal. This is going to be something that only continues to happen as the times and the world change around us, and as...

The first entry that really spoke me, was entry twenty two, “Contemplating Suicide” and it spoke to me for a lot of reasons. While, I have never actually thought about it, I’ve had depression and other mental health issues, like anxiety, so that feeling that the teacher and the student are both talking about, is definitely a feeling that I am familiar with. Another reason this really spoke to me, is that because of these mental health “issues” that I have, it sometimes worries me how I might be affected if I have a student who is going through something like that and needs someone like me to lean on. The way that this teacher handled it, and the connection that exists between Sierra and this teacher, is something that really really touched me and it really made me look at my own thoughts and feelings and how I might handle something like this if it were to ever happen to me. I don’t quite know yet, what I would do, but the strength and courage of this teacher, really really spoke to m...

The first entry that speaks to me is actually the first entry in this section, “A New Teacher: First Day”, because a lot of the feelings that this teacher is feeling on their first day as a teacher are feelings that I am almost certain that I will have on my first day. One of my biggest fears as a teacher is that my students will immediately not respond to me and I’ll flounder on my very first day on the job. I remember being nervous extremely nervous on my first day of practicum and worrying that I would not connect to my students and they would not like me very much and I went through the same thing when I subbed while home over Christmas break. I connected with a lot of these fears and I admired the way that that this teacher was able to handle the awkward situation, and I hope that if my first day on the job ends up taking a similar route that I can handle it the way that this teacher did. I also really admired the way that this teacher handled the particular situation with Miguel...

One of major problems facing educators today, is the line between uniformity and diversity when instructing students. Something educators struggle with is not pushing students into the same mold, which has been a problem in the school system for decades. For many teachers, uniformity comes easier than diversity, but this does a disservice to almost all students, as uniformity doesn’t take into account the different beliefs, learning and thinking styles, or adversities that students might face. This can be shown in how many students who don’t learn and respond to the so called “best approach” of teachers, are often labeled as “disabled” when the reality is most them have different learning styles. However, we shouldn’t completely ignore uniformity, “ We need appropriate uniform standards but not standardization.” (Guild, John Hopkins University). The main goal of us, as future educators, is to make sure that all learning styles are supported in our classroom, but that all students reac...