Familes and Communities

On the list of things talked about in Chapter 3 Families and Communities in The Joy of Teaching by Gene E. Hall, Linda F. Quinn, and Donna M. Gollnick, I chose number six; Teachers cannot promote a religion in their classroom or any school activity. The first amendment requires the separation of church and state, however it doesn’t specifically say what to do about the church and education. Just because the First Amendment says there has to be separation between church and state, the public schools and religion do not have to be completely separated. Some people say that religion is a legitimate discipline that can be taught in public schools. In the text it says, “The fine line in teaching religion is to ensure that students are not forces to practice a specific religion as part of the class. Courses that indoctrinate or try to convert students to a specific religion are illegal. Public schools can neither promote not inhibit a religion. They must be religiously neutral, but protect the religions liberty of students. Teachers have a right to their own religious convictions. However, they cannot proselytize or promote their religion in the classroom.” (106). I believe this to be true because while the teacher can have whatever belief they want, they should not be able to promote their beliefs in the classroom. Everyone is entitled to his or her own system of beliefs. The Supreme Court has also ruled things having to do with religion in schools such as prayer in school, and the teaching of creationism, as not suitable to be taught in school because it interferes a little bit too much with the separation of religion from school.

Chapter 5: The History of Schools in the United States

Summary - There have been a lot of educational shifts in the past 300 years. Many of which have been covered in our textbook, The Joy of Teaching by Gene E. Hall, Linda F. Quinn, and Donna M. Gollnick. One of the first debates that was talked about in schooling was whether or not they should have compulsory attendance in the schools. Another big debate was brought to the attention by Horace Mann who said “It [the common school] is a free school system, it knows no distinction or rich and poor…it throws open its doors and spreads the table of its bounty for all the children of the state…Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the equalizer of the conditions of men, the great balance wheel of the same machinery.” His debate was that everyone should get the same education despite the social class of the child, which then in turn had people evaluating splitting the children up, not by class, but by age group. The topic of what should be taught in the school system was in the past a very big controversy, and in some ways today still is, there have been a lot of court cases discussing what should and shouldn’t be taught in the public school system. The last debate (and possibly the most important) to discuss is the desegregation in the public schools; that caused such a controversy for so many years.

Description - Compulsory attendance is defined as the required attendance at school until an age set by state legislatures. Since the constitution does not cover how the education system should be handled, they made the tenth amendment which said “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively of to the people” through the tenth amendment it was determined that the states define the required attendance, but generally it’s the same age for all states. Horace Mann had the vision of education being the common school that has the same curriculum for all of the students, despite their economic condition. However he envisioned this in the 1830s, because in the present day curriculum is influenced by local cultures and beliefs. What should be taught in the classroom has always been hard to define, but in the 1950’s the National Defense Education Act was greatly concerned with the lack of quality in the things that were taught in public schools. So they decided that a part of education had to be with the students learning better skills in science and math, because of the way the world has been advancing technologically since the 50’s.

Chapter 2: Today's Students

In the text The Joy of Teaching by authors Gene E. Hall, Linda F. Quinn, and Donna M. Gollnick, a section of chapter 2 discusses how the socioeconomic status (SES) affects students. Generally there are three types of classes in America, Low – Income, Middle Class, and Upper Middle Class. Education for the low – income children is sometimes hard, but is never denied because of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act that “requires school districts to provide transportation for homeless students to stay in their schools of origin if their parents request it”. However they are less likely to graduate and attend college. Students of middle class family’s usually have high expectations from their parents, they are expected to attend college or receive training after they graduate from high school. The only difference between the middle class and the upper middle class is that the upper middle class has enough money to possibly provide their children with tutors if they are not receiving the grades expected of them, or possibly send them to a private school to get what they see as better schooling.

Capter 7: Thinking about Teaching and Learning

While reading chapter seven I kept in mind of certain things that I would like to use in my classroom, and that I would like to add to my philosophy of education.

The first method I found interesting while reading is the Socratic Method of teaching. Personally I think that teaching students by asking them questions is a really good method. They need to be able to ask questions, but also to answer their own questions at times, and possibly sometimes even answer the teachers questions. This broadens their mind in think very critically, but being able to think critically makes them a better student.

The second method that I think I may use in my philosophy is the idea of essentialism. I found while reading that I really do agree with the idea of the students learning as much as they possibly can on the traditional basic subjects like English, Social Science, Math, Science, Foreign Language, Health, and Gym. In order to be well educated you need to be able to know as much as you can about these subjects, starting at an early age up to they leave high school. It is the classic progressive teaching that everyone has been taught, I believe it works really well, but when I do it I'm sure I'll put my own creative spin on it.

The third method that I enjoyed reading about and will probably add to my philosophy is I want my classroom to be student-based on some level. Being that I will be a history teacher, I do know that there will be times when I will be at the front of the class lecturing to the class about important things in history. However I really want my students to be involved in things in the classroom, I may have them possibly teach a chapter or a century on the subject we are discussing. When students are involved in the teaching process they learn a lot more because they are so involved in the curriculum it holds their attention.

These three methods that I read about in chapter seven have helped me to have things that I will add to my philosophy paper. I really learned a lot in the chapter about different methods to teach, and I found things that I agree with and the things that I don't agree with.

Scavenger Hunt

Question One: You have a budget of $500 for your classroom. What will you order? Why?

I ordered six movies for extra learning curriculum in my classroom. Also in History class you can learn so much from history movies or documentaries. The Six movie titles were: Lewis and Clark:The Journey of the Corps Discovery, Liberty! The American Revolution, Reporting America at War, The Sixties: The years that shaped a Generation, The Roman Empire in the First Century, and Maire Antoinette.

Question Two: Explore the assistive technology available on the laptops that Dr. Theresa will have. List three things you can do to help students with disabilities use the Mac.

I ended up choosing four instead of three technological things that I found that could be useful for students with disabilities while using a computer. The funny thing is, is that I have ended up using some of these features myself.

1. Sticky Keys; this is where you use one key at a time. So you can hit shift and then take your hand off the shift key and hit another letter to capitalize it. This can be helpful for students who do not have the motor skills to use the alternate keys to do specific things.
2. Program of the computer talking to you. This is helpful because for kids who don't have such great reading skills, whenever the mouse runs over words the computer will read them to the kid. This makes kids want to use the computer to learn more and use it for other skills, with little effort in reading the stuff they need to read on the computer.
3. Color Contrast. This helps students who need to have a different color scheme to be able to focus on things they are reading. Also the color contrast may help kids who are color blind. Personally I just think that the other color contrast looks really cool.
4. The Zoom Method. This is a really cool method on the computer that helps you be able to read the text on the screen in a bigger font. This helps kids who have weak eyes and are not able to read text unless it is very large.

Question three: Go to the Kalikow Center and look at the Educational Technology. Include low - tech items such as writing aids. Find three items to use in your classroom. Why?

1. Switches. Switches are used to help students with different mobility issues. It helps them to work with the switches, because they are able to train their motor skills so they can maybe someday use their motor skills the same ways of people without disabilities. I would use this in my classroom, if I were teaching elementary school, because even if kids don't have disabilities it helps any kid to work with switches, or anything that will help their motor skills.
2. Books on Tape. Books on tape are a useful tool in the classroom, because a lot of students are weak in their reading. So they can listen to the books and be able to get the reading in that they need to be reading for the class. Personally I even listen to books on tape while I'm driving or working out. It's something that even if you don't have a reading disability that can be enjoyed by everyone.
3. Giant Keyboard. The giant keyboard that I found in the Kalikow Center is another way in which the students can work on their typing skills, but the keys are bigger. So they won't misspell anything because there is no chance that the will hit the wrong key. I can see this being mainly used with little children so they can learn how to type at an early age, because with the way the techonolgy is present so much in the classroom it helps for the students to be able to be good typers by the time they are up in the high school level. However I can see using that in my classroom if I have a student with fine motor skills disabilities.

Chapter One: Becoming a Teacher

3 things that made me joyful while reading:
• The time when you teach. You are able to have a family when you teach, and you don’t really have to pay for daycare because your kids are in school when you’re in school, and you’re able to have the same vacations as your kids, so you’re always involved in their life.
• Seeing the kids “Get It.” This is one of the reasons why I want to be an educator. I’ve always loved seeing the kid’s faces when they get something that I have just spent so much time on teaching them. This makes me feel like I’m actually doing something good for society and their lives.
• Making a difference. I like knowing that I will be making a difference in a child’s life. Just simply by teaching them, or lending them an ear when they want to talk. I’ve had teachers like that, that have totally made me into a better person, and helped shape who I am as a person.



3 Things that didn’t make me joyful while reading:
• The accreditation process. I don’t like the fact that after we have gone to school for four and sometimes even five or six years of schooling, we have to do extra stuff to prove that we know what we’re doing. Obviously after that many years of schooling we know what to do.
• The low salaries. I believe that teachers are way underpaid. We do a lot of work and make such a difference in children’s lives and we get paid jack squat for it. They should reconsider the salary of teachers and maybe start paying them what they really earn
• The Praxis test. Personally I’m bad at taking standardized test. And the first praxis that we have to take is like an SAT. So I just don’t like them generally. I think that the SAT itself shows enough of what we know. And that the praxis one is irrelevant. The subject tests I can see being alright; Praxis 2.