Expeditionary Learning Reflection

This concept sounds fantastic, although it sounds like it could be a lot of work at first to implement. In an ideal world we would like students to have intrinsic motivation oozing out of them; however, I think that is something that we need to build up to. I'm sure the two schools in Maine that have this system do a great job at it because they've had time to make it possible. Like anything, trial and error, and making adjustments makes success. I could certainly see myself incorporating this concept into my classroom because it does have many benefits of done correctly. However, I don't necessarily think I would be able to commit to basing my entire education practice on it unless I had a lot of practice.

As far as the presentation I thought it was wonderfully done. Each group member did a portion that flowed smoothly and with ease. I LOVED being able to get up and move around. Going outside was a blast and fit very nicely into the idea of expeditionary learning. The Haiku idea was also a lot of fun. I am, however, a little disappointed I didn't win the Kahoot. I probably should be better...

Nice job all around, bravo.

My Philosophy's Impact on my Classroom

My philosophy will impact my classroom in many different ways and make it very unique compared to other teachers. My philosophy on:

1) classroom organization is that the class should look fun, inviting, and safe. The desks might be arranged in a particular way one class and different the next. I think it is very important to have a lot on the walls (particularly mathematics based) to show students that there are so many ways to get interested in math. I want to make sure my room stays clean and organized as far as materials, and that there are places for students to drop of any papers that they need to hand into me.

2) motivation is for students to find something they enjoy and become motivated themselves to complete the material. I would love to do something along the lines of an interest inventory (probably more like a one-on-one interview) and find out what their hobbies and interests are. In addition, I will encourage them to consider how what we are studying can relate to their interests. If students are not motivated I believe that is partially my fault and I need to find a way to work with them to make adjustments for them.

3) content area is simple--I want there to be flexibility with what I'm teaching. In my unit on conic sections for math methods, I open every class with an interesting math topic. In particular, something that is not covered in the book or in the common core. Ideally this will open their eyes to see that there is so much more to mathematics than what might be stuck in their textbook they innately think is so stupid. As far as content is concerned, I don't always think it is appropriate to stick to the order of the book. If something feels like it should be taught earlier or later I will make the adjustment for the bettering of the unit.

4) assessment will be mostly formative. Especially now that we are moving more towards proficiency based learning in our schools, it will be important to get as many formative assessments about the students' knowledge as possible. This may come in the form of an entrance/exit ticket, quick writes, quick draws, etc... The more information I can get about my students' level the better. 

5) classroom climate is arguably one of the most important things in the classroom. If a student doesn't feel comfortable in the class there is a pretty good chance they will not learn as much as they should. My goal is to have a 100% positive 100% of the time attitude in my class. Hopefully it might carry into the rest of the school if students buy into it. I am one to have a lot of fun in the classroom and goof around. I often find that I go on tangents and talk, at times, about things that are unrelated to the content. While this could be detrimental to the lesson, I find that it gives students something to listen to that might eventually get their attention back on the lesson.

6) the learning focus is that it is on the student. If the student is not learning then there is a problem. I will not be a lecturer, although certainly I will provide plenty of direct instruction. Activities are something that are too often underused in mathematics classrooms, and I think if there is any sort of activity I can do that will get my students out of the textbook or out of their seats the better my lessons will be received. 

7) technology integration is that is is very important in this day and age with our students. However... I do believe that it can be forced at times, and many times the beauty of mathematics can be pushed to the side for a calculator or online cheat. There is a lot of value to the use of animations, digital graphics, videos, and online explorations that make learning concepts more attainable.

8) teacher and leadership style revolves around the fact that I am there to assist the students learn to the best of their ability. I do not see myself as an authoritative figure in the classroom--only a guider to help them reach their mathematical potential and most importantly feel confident in their work. As a teacher I am going to expect a lot out of my students but also be there to assist them when they need it. Nothing is necessarily set in stone as far as deadlines 'rules'; if a students talks to me and communicates most likely there will be some give and take.

Voices Article Reflection

This was an incredibly interesting article that captured so many different philosophies from a wide variety of popular historical figures. While I did not necessarily agree with every philosophy, there were certainly some that I sifted through and found particular pieces that fit my philosophy.

Confucius' main philosophy was that the teacher was merely a transmitter of knowledge. They inspired students with truths and great ideas. I believe that as an educator that is what I will be doing. While discovery is very important, I know there will be times when I will need to share the knowledge I know with my students to better their learning. On the other hand, Socrates believed that the teacher's role was to draw the knowledge out of the students. He believed in a unique concept of teacher-less education and that knowledge could not be transmitted from teacher to student, but that the students had to discover on their own. While I cannot fully agree with Socrates, I do like his idealistic approach to have students fully discover on their own--perhaps at one point. However, now I believe that a combination of direct instruction and independent concept development is important.

For the enlightenment educators, I liked that concepts that Pestalozzi brought to the table. His philosophy was based primarily around the whole student and their feelings and emotions. As educators we are most certainly not solely teaching our subject to students, rather we are teaching our students to also be healthy emotionally and have a stable head, heart, and body.

In the Twentieth-Century American Educators, Dewey's philosophy on teaching is one that I have experienced as a teacher and it is wonderful. At Upward Bound, every environment students are in they feel comfortable and it allows them to flourish. By creating a learning environment that allows students to have meaningful interactions with peers, students are able to even further their learning by having rich conversation about topics that they wouldn't otherwise discuss if they were not open to discussion.

I did not find a connection with every philosophy in this article; however, I do really like many of the concepts talked about and believe that I could develop, if I haven't already, around some of these philosophies to make me a better educator.

The History and Philosophy of Education--Voices of Educational Pioneers
By Madonna M. Murphy,

TEACH Video Reflection

I think this video has a lot of truth to it. While it might seem a little cheesy at parts, it certainly captures what the ideal teaching culture is and what it should be. The words influence, innovate, inspire and imagine are accurate descriptors of what we should be doing as teachers. The video was aimed at high school and college students who might be still deciding what they would like to do for a living. The video uses young teachers to seem like it is a field that a lot of younger people are going into to help boost the profession.

My philosophy is that if people are given more incentives to become teachers, there will be more competition in the field for hiring. Because there is more competition, better teachers will be selected and the education in the country will be enhanced. I believe that teaching is an incredibly rewarding profession; however, I don't believe that there people recognize the joy you get from teaching, and there aren't enough incentives to get those individuals to join the field.

http://www.takepart.com/teach

ELL/ESL Educational Issue

I really enjoyed the content that was covered in this presentation. It really brought about a lot of controversial issues that need to be/have been addressed in the field of ESL/ELL education. As far as the presentation is concerned, I really enjoyed the timeline that so nicely portrayed how the history has progresses with ESL/ELL. It was a great visual that helped me follow along easily. In addition, the Kahoot was a great activity that got me thinking about what it is really like to be a student who is in a class not having spoke the popular language of the class.

There is still a lot of headway to be made in the field of ESL/ELL because we still do not provide the appropriate resources for these students who make up such a good portion of our schools. While it is not necessarily a huge proportion of our schools, it is a large enough percentage that we need to focus more on it.

Great presentation!

Promising Futures Reflection

This text is basically the common core that teachers must know, where as the CCSS are what students must know. It seems like it has wonderful ideas for how to better equip students in Maine with a better education and make working conditions for teachers better and more feasible. I think it covers a lot of material that is involved with retaining students in high schools and making their time productive and fruitful in high school. I also believe that it helps to hold administrators accountable for providing professional development for teachers, and it states it will help to provide ample planning time for teachers to be prepared to teach. 

The only problem is how this will actually take effect and be enforced. This was published in 1998, and I am very curious to see how things have changed. In the book, it talks about how students should have an teacher that they can make very individualized connections with so that it will help them succeed in high school. Moreover that students will have someone to fall back on in the school that they can go see for help at any time. This is something that teachers should always be expressing and offering to their students, and it is something that I will certainly do when I am a teacher.

Overall I believe this text has a lot of rich ideas in it and I hope they were able to be put into effect. Many of them seem like they were given the situation of my high school experience; however, was it put into effect everywhere in the state?

Eight Educational Philosophies

Progressivism: This philosophy addresses the idea that changes happens. It is not set in stone, and as teachers we should giving our students freedom. It suggests that we should consider how to teach over what to teach, and that 'doing' in the classroom is very important (hands on approach). Progressivism hones in on the idea that discovery in the classroom is key, and it certainly sounds like one of the better of the ten philosophies. I definitely feel like I side with this one the most because of how we were taught in all of our education classes thus far.

Humanism: This one focuses on the multiple intelligences and that everyone learns differently. Individual growth is very important in this philosophy and there is a strong relationship between the student and the teacher to promote even further learning. It is centered around the fact that the person is good, and they are corrupted as they grow by the institutions. Certainly this one is very important in teaching, so I believe I side with this one as well. Having a strong relationship with students makes them more driven.

Reconstructivism: This philosophy focuses on tackling societal issues and helps students to learn how to build their own opinions and individual thoughts. We want to teach individuality and how to form opinions based on personal beliefs.

Constructivism: This idea is centered around the idea that everyone's background is different, and the regardless of people's opinions, it is important to always be reasonable when discussions about differing ideas. A main component of this philosophy is agreeing to disagree, and that you can't always change everyone's perspective on things.

Perennialism: This philosophy, I believe, is focused mostly around English, although there are some math components such as The Elements written by Euclid. Essentially, the classics are extremely important, and that everlasting ideas can be applied to any era.

Essentialism: The focus for essentialism is that there is core knowledge that is key. The curriculum is important, although it can change. In addition, a systematic approach to education and teaching is how it should be, and there is a certain discipline for learning that revolves around education.

Positivism: Observable and measurable facts are crucial for positivism, and it revolves around the idea of the scientific method. This approach is very structured and the teacher needs to define exactly how and what should be taught. Logic is used to get the desired answer.

Behaviorism: This philosophy is based on the idea of behavior and how to get the desired results we want from students. Strategies such as positive and negative reinforcement, conditioning, as well as proximity control can be used to get what we want from students. While I believe there is certainly a give and a take to this, I believe we should be using this approach with our students--but not to an extreme. Often we need our students to be productive, but if we do not let them know how we feel about their off-task behaviors it certainly won't stop. However, basing our lessons around the idea of conditioning our students may be a little extreme.

Gender Inequalities Educational Issue

I thought the group did an excellent job of capturing the history behind the gender gaps in education. They touched on a lot of different topics and made the presentation engaging.

I was pleased with the activity at first that broke us up into gender and brought out our strengths. In addition, I thought the memes were an integral part of the presentation, and I really enjoyed considering the pros and cons for single sex education.

The slide show was very nicely done and very professional looking. There was not too much clutter so it was easy to follow. The text was a little small, although it was manageable. I'm sure it was much more readable on the computer screen.

Some things that I considered during the presentation (my reflective questions):
Is the monetary gap between males and females broken down and examined by profession? For example, we say that women get $0.77 to the $1.00 that men get, but could there be confounding variables that create this difference? For example, Engineering is primarily male, whereas education is primarily female, and obviously engineers get payed more. Is this taken into consideration with the $0.77 to the $1.00?

Also, the component of percentages of males and females in specific jobs as it relates to the gender gap is interesting to me. If there is discrimination based on gender, of course that is an issue, although if the reason there are so few men in education is because they don't want to go into education, then that isn't a problem. For example, Clarkson University is 70% male because it is an engineering school. They don't turn down women to the program, it just so happens that men tend to go more towards engineering. If it is peoples' choice is it really an issue that needs to be addressed?

Your presentation did a great job of getting me thinking of these questions. Well done!

Teaching Hope: Empowerment Reflection

In our schools in this day and age we will--no doubt--work with students who are part of the LGBTQ community. Many times for these students they are too worried about the social aspect of school that they aren't necessarily as engaged in the schoolwork they have to do. However, it is very important that we as teachers provide as much support at we can. In entry 138, a student feels very comfortable telling her teacher that she is gay, and that is the way it should be. As long as we can foster an environment that allows students to be themselves many things will come out that previously might have not. For example, at UB there are a large amount of students who are either gay or lesbian. Is it coincidence that UB is such a judgement free zone, and students are able to act the way they truly want to?

Entry 139 reminds me a lot of Upward Bound. This teacher is the epitome of what a teacher at UB is supposed to act like. I firmly believe that if you are not acting 100% positive 100% of the time, students will not a) feel comfortable in your class and b) not feel the confidence they need to. The words that the teacher used to describe this student are true; the only problem is that she was the first to ever say them to the student. If we can reinforce positive growth in students and keep beating it into their head that they are capable and have the potential to do anything, they will be successful. Another interesting component of this entry is what it will look like with the new proficiency based learning model. Perhaps in this case it would not necessarily matter because the student was doing well in his classes and not the standardized tests (go figure). Regardless, a student who only doesn't meet proficiency in specific standards will only need to make those standards up if I understand the new model correctly. This makes much more sense than having students retake an entire year if they only bombed a select number of standards. It will certainly have an impact on the age at which students are graduating high school.

Educational Philosophies

Idealist: The idealist is focused on literature, the mind, spirit, and soul. They also view themselves as the authority figure, and focus the class around self-actualization.

Realist: Similar to the idealist, this theory focuses on teacher centered authority. This approach, however, deals with rationality, observation, proof, and the scientific method.

Existentialist: This belief focuses around choice and creating your own meaning. There are no outside acting forces, and it is the individual that is important. Focus on the imagination and human condition.

Pragmatist: Similar to the existentialist, the pragmatist focuses on student centered learning. They believe meaning is derived from experience, and teachers model experimental knowledge. Teamwork is very important for them, and nothing is solidified meaning truths and values are always changing.

I think the two philosophies that best describe my teaching styles are pragmatism and realism. Using the table 4.1 on page 93 of the book, I was able to discern two out of the four educational questions to be pragmatism. I then split the remaining two with realism and idealism.

The two questions I related to pragmatism were, "What is the proper teaching approach?" and, "How should character development occur?" I believe that the proper teaching approach is for problem solving through inquiry projects, hands-on learning, and product development. As a learner who did best when given those circumstances, I naturally stick to them. Granted not every learner will be like that, but it certainly opens more doors to learning.

This philosophy is a great balance of both idealism and realism that believes in community based learning. I believe the teaching I have done thus far is structured primarily around pragmatism.

Standardized Testing Education Issue

The presentation by Kristi, Mackenzie, and Alyssa was done very well to help present the conflicts regarding standardized testing. I learned a lot of interesting facts about standardized testing that I did not previously know, and it further cemented my beliefs on standardized testing. They presented some great points including the fact that standardized tests are created to be standard; however, the most important thing that isn't standard is each school's situation. I really enjoyed moral of the school problem activity. That really got me thinking about problems associated with standardized testing.

Following the presentation, the biggest question I had was what can we do as teachers that might eventually help tear down this evil of standardized testing? It really is too bad that standardized testing is such a huge incorporation, because it would be so difficult to break it down. I wish there was something that a politician could do to put an end to what was started.

I thought the presentation was very strong and had great activities that kept the crowd engaged. The only suggestion I might have had was the amount of talking in the beginning. There was about 15 minutes of direct instruction from the group, which by no means was bad, but the second half was more engaging. This is not something that took away from the presentation by any means, it was still extremely well done.

Teaching Hope: Rejuvenation Reflection

In entry 114, I am reminded that Jose is the type of student that I hope I am able to have an impact on as a teacher. Unless I am teaching in a very affluent school, I anticipate having many students like Jose who don't put a ton of effort into school and fall behind quickly--and unfortunately all too often stay behind. I have said it before and I will say it as many times as I need to: when I am a teacher I want to be able to sit down with each student and have a serious conversation with them about how they should be doing in my class. If they are slacking, I am going to tell them that and let them know that they are fully capable of great things if and only if they put in the effort. If they are are excelling, I will tell them that, and continue to encourage them to push themselves to the next level.

Entry 120 once again reminds me of what I would like to do as a teacher. I want to be the teacher that has the most fun with students in the school but also expects the most out of them. This entry really brings a warm feeling when reading it and makes me optomistic of what I might experience when I am a teacher. In my first two years of college I though I wanted to teach calculus and the advanced math classes; however, the more I think about it, the more I realize I want to teach algebra I and algebra II and do fun activities with my students every day that I might not as easily be able to do with a calculus class. More importantly, I want to be able to catch students before they advance into higher math classes and hopefully convince them that they are not terrible at math, and they they might even find an interest in it. I want to change their perspective on math and hopefully even interest them in it, similar to how the teacher from this entry didn't take no for an answer and ended up having Tara be so successful. Convincing students that they are capable and have the ability is very difficult but the end result if successful is what teaching is all about.

The Story of Schools: Episode 4 Reflection

As education progressed in America, it seems that the pressure on schools and teachers began to get more and more intense. Starting back in the 50s and 60s, schools started to crack down on students and their grades as far as extracurricular activities was concerned. Interestingly enough, like many of the philosophies of the past, that rule still sticks today--and rightly so. Students were starting to be held more accountable for the way they preformed in schools, although perhaps it wasn't for the right reasons...

As soon as school districts began being held accountable for how their students did in the classroom, a threatening feeling began to brew. To no surprise, stress built for the teachers which in tern built for the students. It was bad enough that standardize testing was implemented every five grades or so, but then the push for every grade started in the hope that schools would be help more accountable, and students would 'progress' further. In truth, it was likely the opposite effect that happened. Standardized tests are not the answer. In fact, if I could have it my way things would be a little different.

Teacher's salaries would increase so more people would be interested in joining the profession. The more people interested in joining the profession creates greater competition for jobs, so better teachers are being hired. Because better teachers are being hired, students will inherently do better in school, and will not need to be tested on such high stakes. But hey, there isn't much I can do about that.

To quickly and easily wrap it up, standardize testing has put education in America in the opposite direction of where we want to be headed. If only educators has a real say in what went on at the higher levels of government... "Let's teach our students to think outside the box rather than fill in the circles."

The Story of Schools: Episode 1 Reflection

It is pretty amazing what we take for granted today in our school systems. Seeing that only a select few children were educated because education was not something that was funded by the government was unlike what I had ever pictured. Originally, it seemed like education was meant to be available to all students (excluding blacks) although it ended up being only for the students whose families could afford it.

Horace Mann, the first Secretary of Education, really paved the way for the first set of reforms among schools. I was impressed to hear that he traveled to nearly 1,000 schools in such a short amount of time to do a report on every school. He recognized that many of them were underprivileged and even made the point, "How could students learn in an environment like this?" That sounds similar doesn't it? We make that point all the time with the schools and classrooms we encounter today.

Although this was the incorrect era for relating my interview data to, I am excited to see the responses my grandfather came up with and how similar they may be to what we have watched thus far. I am curious to hear about his transportation to school, and what type of environment he learned in, and the types of teaching strategies that teachers used back in the mid 30's. Perhaps they were more similar to 19th century than we may think?

A Nation at Risk Reflection

All of these statistics sound very mind boggling. It is not the case that those statistics were relevant to all parts of the country; however, those parts of the country are the ones that should be focused on for providing better educational services. It is unfortunate to see that although we said education is available to everyone regardless of race, culture, economic status, etc... we still let students slip through the cracks with nearly every subject--especially those who are in minority groups.

It seems like we recognized the problem and the ideal solution to the problem, although often times it is much easier said than done. The root of all evil, money, determines what we should and should not do for fixing the current dilemma we are in. In addition to the trouble that is faced with money and governmental issues, the public begins to become inpatient with what is happening and they demand more change.

Twenty-five years later, many things have changed yet, somehow, many things still stay the same. Between 1983 and today, there have been many laws that have been signed into effect that, according to some are great, while according to others are terrible. One in particular is the No Child Left Behind Act that President Bush signed into law in 2002 that required teachers to make students preform well on standardized tests for their school to receive more money. Was something like this that was supposed to be a step in the right direction, in fact, in the opposite? While there may be an ideal way to make things work today, the feasibility of it happening is unfortunately too slim due to all of the loops that need to be jumped through to actually get something productive.

Toppo, Greg. "Education." 'Nation at Risk': The Best Thing or the Worst Thing for Education? USA Today, n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2015. <http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-04-22-nation-at-risk_N.htm>.

"A Nation At Risk." Archived:. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2015. <http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html>.

Teaching Hope: Disillusionment Reflection

"I started my day with the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag. I end my day with an ongoing pledge to Ema and other students to give them hope to hang on to, to acknowledge their being, and to honor their heroic efforts to graduate from high school."

This quote was from entry 81, where a special education teacher strives to help Ema, a high school senior with dyslexia, graduate from high school. As I read this I wonder to myself how I would handle having not just one, but maybe five to ten students like Ema in my class. Students who have specific learning disabilities with IEPs what I must abide by and differentiate my instruction for. So as a teacher I not only need to make sure each and every one of my general education students are preforming well and engaged, but also that several students may need specific instruction that needs to be integrated into the lesson. It sounds near impossible to be honest. However, if that is my duty, and that is what will be expected of me (most importantly by the students), then that is what I will do.

As hard as we may try, and as bad as we want to see students succeed, there is only so much we can do. Entry 83 is a sad story, although unfortunately there is truth to it. When I become a teacher, I want to be able to have a connection so strong with my students, that they will want to do homework and work hard. I want them to feel like they will disappoint me if they do not do it, not that it will be no big deal. Listening to what this teacher did, and what Erin Gruwell did with her students, it makes me want to have a similar approach. I want to be able to pull aside a student into the hallway when they are not preforming well and tell them just that. I want to be able to have a serious conversation with a student and tell them that I expect more from them because I know they are more capable then what I am seeing. When you pull them aside from their peers and make it a one on one situation, as long as you have previously build good rapport with them, you should be able to make a meaningful impact on them and their work ethic. I want to be the fun teacher, but not the teacher that everyone thinks is a pushover. Students will work hard and I will expect that of them. Although I have strayed a bit from my original point, the fact still remains, there will be a student that is being impacted so strongly outside of the classroom that their work inside the classroom will be negatively impacted. There is nothing we can do to stop those outside forces--only continue to have high expectations.

Teaching Hope: Engagement Reflection

Having seen Freedom Writer's Diary and being in the process of reading this book, it makes be wonder if it would be worth while to have a notebook in my room that students can write into while they start class. It would be a good thing to get them started and hopefully make them feel comfortable in class. Obviously some students would take it more seriously, and have more to say, than others. However, having that option to express their feelings in words knowing someone might read it and empathize with them could be a comforting and reassuring feeling.

The entry regarding the student who was so adamant about the Confederate Flag made me consider the fact that I will likely have many students who feel the same way in my classes--especially living in this area. Although I will be a math teacher, how will I teach these valuable lessons to my students? Yes, it is their right to flaunt the flag/apparel; however, I need to express the importance of respecting others and not generalizing people based on race. Although I cannot change their minds, I can set a good example and hope they follow suit.

The Story of Schools--Episode 3 Reflection

It really is amazing to think about what the education system was like sixty years ago. There was an incredible amount of inequity in the schools and a great education was only available to certain students. In particular, women and students who were not Caucasian/American did not receive the education they deserved. Looking back at it, I was curious at the way it all unfolded as far as the order of events.

First was the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling that allowed equal education for all students regardless of race. Then followed equal treatment of women in schools. After that, it seemed that there was still some inequity across Southwestern America and California with Mexican-American students and Chinese-American students. Perhaps this order was due to when events happened; however, it boggles my mind that it really wasn't all that long ago that schools were so radically segregated and provided so little opportunity to all the students. 

As time goes on, I'm curious to see how schools will change to try to provide equal opportunity for all students. Will we see another huge movement in education similar to what happened with Brown vs. Board of Education? What will it be based on, and who will be the most affected?

The Story of Schools--Episode 2 Reflection

It really is pretty amazing to see how far this country has come in terms of education, and at the same time, we still seem to be treading in the same water we have been since the start of the 20th century. In retrospect, we see that it was asinine to give students standardized tests to measure their intellectual ability, however, we continue to do the same thing to this date. It was interesting to see that students would be forced into a 'vocational' program back then based on their standardized test scores. Now, oddly enough, the students who do not do as well on their standardized test scores are the ones who decide they want to go into the vocational schools to get more acquainted with a 'real world' job.

Piggy backing on the standardized test train, it is terrifying to think that they would give ELL students an IQ test and base their intelligence on it. It is hard enough for students who are not ELL to do well on the exam. It seemed to have provided additional 'evidence' for why minority students were not as smart as other students. In reality, it was a large form of propaganda that it seemed many people bought into.

I hope to see some good in Episode 3. It really is fascinating to see actual footage of what a classroom was like such a long time ago. There will be footage fifty years from now of our generation in schools that students will be watching trying to learn about what happened when we were in school.

Teaching Hope: Challenges Reflection

Entry number twenty-four reminds me a lot of Upward Bound (UB) with that the teacher did with the class. At UB, there is a rule called the 'no-dis policy', where students are not allowed to discount themselves or their peers. In a nut shell, it helps to keep the students thinking positively and fosters an incredible environment. In my classroom I hope to keep the same kind of positive atmosphere, and I am a firm believer that in front of students it is necessary  to be 100% positive 100% of the time.

As I read through these entries I think to myself, "How am I supposed to relate to any of these? They are seemingly all about attempted and completed suicide, drug use by parents, abuse, etc..." Those types of situations are nothing I have ever experienced in the classroom, and although I am sure I will need to some day, I hope I can provide the appropriate assistance. Many of these students who we will be teaching will have incredible backgrounds that we will would not even have been able to imagine. I got a taste of that this summer working at UB. I had a student in my class who had moved all the way up the east coast from Florida and was seventeen years old and in her sophomore year of high school. She sent me pictures of where she lived and it was practically a single wide trailer placed in a field with a long dirt driveway. Thankfully her work ethic was phenomenal, and she new she needed to work hard to get good grades and go onto college to get a good education. However, a majority of the student we teach, we will be unaware of their backgrounds and will need to always be accepting and understanding of the challenges they might be facing.

Mixing and Managing Four Generations of Employees Reflection

It is fascinating to think that four different generations are working together at the same time in the same workplace. As students start to graduate college with bachelors degrees and beyond, we see that they are entering the workplace with others in their field that are two to three or more times as old as as them. Working with these individuals should be very insightful and helpful, not detrimental.

When we encounter other teachers who are outdated as far as their teaching strategies, we can only provide suggestions. Anything more would create turmoil and discontent. As long as I know I am doing what I need to with my students that's all I can rely on.

The article suggests that going to the movies with parents is something that kids are embarrassed about. It is completely based on family beliefs and how the child was raised. I was never embarrassed to go to the movies with my parents, in fact, I enjoyed spending time with them. I cannot agree with the connections that this article is trying to make to family values, however, the points in the workplace that it touches on have some validity. In truth, while I am in the workplace I do not foresee having a problem with other coworkers unless they try to tell me how to do my job disrespectfully. I am completely open to constructive criticism, especially in my first couple years of teaching.

Maxon, Rebecca. "Mixing and Managing Four Generations of Employees."FDU Magazine. N.p., Winter 2005. Web. 16 Sept. 2015. <http://www.fdu.edu/newspubs/magazine/05ws/generations.htm>.

Teaching Hope (Anticipation) Reflection

             As I read through these entries I begin to start feeling the same way the teachers did during their first few days of school. Having worked at Upward Bound for two years I have experienced having new students in my classroom for the first time, and it is an awkward situation. They are with their new peers, they are constantly wondering what others will think of them, and they are not yet willing to express their creativity. That is where I come into play.
     
              Many teachers in 'Teaching Hope' express feelings of intense nervousness. The most important thing I remind myself of in the classroom is that it is 100% necessary to be able to laugh at yourself. On the first few days of school it is imperative that students start to feel comfortable with me, their peers and most importantly themselves. Good conversations, great activities, and interesting and attention-grabbing math must be first and foremost on the agenda.

             Throughout this reflection I continuously think about what it might be like during my first few days of student teaching. I try and relate it to the entries that I read out of 'Teaching Hope' and how the teachers treat their first days. As those teachers worry about names and what the students are thinking of them, I picture myself worrying about the flow of the lesson and if I have planned everything the way I really want it to go. Getting to know the students and creating positive and meaningful interactions with them is crucial; however, I know that is something I can do without focusing all my attention to it.

Diversity, Learning Styles, and Culture Reflection

       As teachers we try to find the best possible way to educate out students. We hope that eventually we will find one specific way that we will be able to use for the rest of our career that will make teaching simple. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. Frequently I need to remind myself of this because our students do not fit snugly into one particular “mold”. They each come from vastly different backgrounds and many times, we cannot even relate to what they have experienced. Because our students are so diverse in their backgrounds and cultures, the more diverse we will need to be in our teaching strategies.

       In the past (and to some extent today) students are given labels for how they act in school. Often times that takes the form of Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, where students have a difficult time staying focused or on task. What we must remember is that students are going through so many other things at school that may inhibit their ability to learn. For example, they may be bored with a lesson, be anxious about a bully, upset about a family matter, allergic to milk, temperamental by nature, or a variety of other things that we are unaware of. Again, it all relates back to knowing our students and getting to know them on a personal level so we know their backgrounds.

       At the end of the day, it all comes back to the importance of knowing the learner. The better the teacher can understand the learner and their habits, rituals, backgrounds, and home life, the better the teacher can accommodate for the student.

Guild, Pat Burke. "Diversity, Learning Styles, and Culture." Johns Hopkins School of Education. New Horizons for Learning, Oct. 2001. Web. 9 Sept. 2015. <http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/strategies/topics/Learning%20Styles/diversity.html>.