Technology Intergration

First of all GREAT JOB!!!! You guys did an awesome job pulling together all of these different resources. I am not even really sure where to begin. I really really liked the must haves section. There were so many websites and resources that I have never seen before that can be extremely useful. For example, trackstar was awesome. It is great to have all these different mini webquests that are full of just amazingly rich information. I also really liked paper rater I think it will still really help students who might have issues with plagiarism. In the teacher tech section I really liked Casa Note. The content section was also awesome with the different content related games. Overall awesome job it was a really fun learning experience.

Classroom Management Presentation

I am really glad that we had a presentation about classroom management because I feel, personally, that this is one area in which I am not strong. This presentation did a really great job of showing us the history and different styles of classroom management. The activity at the end of the presentation was great because it forced us to deal with some complicated classroom management issues. The paper itself has awesome resources and a great deal of wealth on the information. The only suggestion I have is to not read directly off the paper and possibly have the class a little more involved in the conversation. Maybe asking us what we thought an authoritarian teacher is before explaining it to us. Otherwise AWESOME job guys!!

The 8 Philosophies

Essentialism: This is more of a teacher-centered approach. The essentialist believes in that schools need to teach essential material as well as enforce hard work and mental discipline. They also want to teach cultural heritage and develop skills so students can be good citizens.

Behaviorist: A behaviorist believes that by carefully regulating the classroom environment the teacher can heavily influence the behavior of the students. The classroom environment has to be heavily organized and the curriculum is based on behavior objectives. Reinforcement is critical for a behaviorist.

Positivism: This focuses on empirical verification. They also state and identify what the students need to learn and master. Students are encouraged to practice and recite what is to be learned. This can also be done using different forms of media.

Progressivism: This emphasizes ideas that all ideas should be tested by experimentation. Also learning is student driven by having the learning process rooted in students' questions. They emphasize how to think instead of what to think. Education is extremely experience orientated.

Humanism: This educational philosophy focuses on the innate goodness of the individual. It does not use group-orientated education, but instead focuses on the individual. Students are encouraged to make their own choices and teachers base instruction and education based on students' interests.

Constructivism: This educational philosophy emphasizes personal hands on activity-based learning. This encourages a variety of different learning techniques. Constructivism focuses on problem based learning.

Perennialism: They focus on ideas that are everlasting to teach truths that are constant and never change. Its focus is that students find these truths by reasoning and revelation. Analyzing the work of histories finest thinkers and writers does this and it is also extremely teacher centered.

Reconstructionism: This philosophy addresses social questions and it also strives to create a better society. The curriculum is focused on social reform. It deals with many different important social issues that occur in societies.

I am not sure which one I really connect with most, but there are parts of some that I really agree with. For example, I really do think that the physical environment in which students learn greatly affect them. Learning is optimal when a student is comfortable. I also really agree with the progressivist notion of teaching student how to think instead of what to think. Treating the student like an individual is also important which coincides with humanism. Hand on activities and different learning techniques are also really important.

Empowerment

There was not a lot in this chapter that really stood out to me. However, there was one entry which really shows how much of an impact you can have on a student if you show how much you really care. In 147 Frankie is the one that never seems to come around while he was in school, no matter how much it seemed that his teacher seemed to care about him. However, four years later he contacts this teacher saying that he or she was right and now understood what he or she was trying to do. I think this needs to happen more often. Many teachers do not actually care about the students that they are teaching. They don’t care what happens to them in school never mind what might happen to them once they leave school for the day. A lot of kids just really need someone to care about them and show them they are worth it. Sometimes it is the teachers job to fulfill this role.

Philosophies

Idealism is the search and value universal and absolute truths. In education the idea is actually more important than the subject being taught. They also emphasize great leaders to be used as role models. They emphasize questions that provoke thought. Realism is focused on scientific reasoning and metaphysics. They also emphasize the importance of scientific development and research. Pragmatism is the belief that everything changes and is evolving. There are no unchanging ideas and they place a great deal of emphasis on what it means to actually know something. They also believe that it is best to learn through experience like realism. Pragmatism also stresses the application of knowledge and using ideas for problem solving. Existentialism believes that there is nothing absolute and that there isn't any ultimate principal or reasoning. The individuals are responsible for the creation of their own meaning or essence. They accept scientific knowledge but consider it to be limited it. Most significant knowledge is personal and nonscientific. Existentialism feel that standardized testing, tracking, measurement, and standardization do not create opportunities for personal choice and direction.

I do not think that I fall into one or two particular categories. There is a little bit of all of them that I agree with. The one that I relate to the most is Realism just because of my interest in science. Really believe that in order to be a successful you have to use thought provoking questions and have to use your own knowledge and ideas to problem solve which is a part of idealism. I also really agree that standardization limits the amount of choices and creativity that students are able to have.

School Days Present

I think the most interesting aspect of the video is that schools are more like a business than a school. While I was in the public school system I always though that schools were not businesses they were schools and schools prepared me for my future outside of it. What shocked me the most was that some school districts allowed private companies to essentially run the schools. While I can see the advantage to have buildings that aren't crumbling and enough supplies to do my job, I am still uncomfortable with idea of private companies running schools. I also am not sure what to think about vouchers. I think essentially the idea is a good one, but I don't think it is a good idea to take funds away from public schools. Ideally if public schools were being supported the way that they should be, we wouldn't need vouchers or even choice programs.

Rejuvenation

The entry that stood out to me the most was number 127 with Manie. I cannot imagine being brought up in a place that has an opinion like that. Being raised Jewish my mom made sure that I knew the persecution my people went through. All because we believed in something different that I never really considered some people to still be at the opposite end of the spectrum. I completely understand how Manie felt walking into the boxcar. It really hits home what happened and how people were treated during that era. The museum forces you to walk though it and when I got there I really didn't want to. It would just hit home how many people died and what people went through. For Manie it was the realization that humanity can be really cruel.