Blog Post #8: Lesson Plan

If I had the choice, I would like to teach a lesson on the history of the United States. I have always loved history, and I specifically love U.S. History. When Bill Ayers talks about building bridges, I believe that he means for students to be creating connections; connections from what they're learning, to real world situations. One activity I could do is have the students create an alternative history. An example may be: What would history be like if Hitler would have conquered the United States during World War II? Here, they would have to think about what our world is like today and be able to foresee what would be different. They would need to look into current events and change them based on this different occurrence in history. This would make the students aware of what our current history is and force them to build bridges in order to see how history has impacted current events today. Further, it would help them to be able to predict what a different future may look like. Another activity that would help students build bridges within history would be to look into the building of this country and the changes that happen within our government. I could have the students review The Bill of Rights, evaluate it, and pull current examples of what it has done to form this country and change the history. 

In order to teach my lessons well, and get the points I want to across, I need to keep my students intrigued. I need to be creative in what I assign and how I teach my lessons. I will be enthusiastic, because the students will need to see my passion for them and what I am teaching them. I need, and also want my students to feel that I am fully dedicated to helping them; that my job is to help them learn and succeed. I want them to look up to me, but not fear me. I want them to feel as though they can come to me for help on things other than just school work. I need to be open to all of the different cultures, languages, and situations that I will encounter. I need to make all my students feel welcome and comfortable in my classroom as well as my presence. I want my classroom to be a judge free zone where everyone feels they can act and speak as they wish, without fear of what others may think. All of these points that I have made, are points I learned from the readings of Freire, Ohanian, DiGiulio, and even Ayers. 

Blog Post 6; PostIt

While reading the Paulo Freire article in my Educational Foundations book, I noticed that he makes many key points about what is wrong with our educational system, that I believe all teachers should be aware of. In one section of his text, he makes points that the banking concept believes;

1. the teacher teaches and the students are taught
2. the teacher knows everything and the students know nothing
3. the teacher thinks and the students are though about
4. the teacher talks and the students listen

These concepts are oppressive, like Paulo says, and generalizations that can hurt students instead of help them. I believe that the statements about should also be read in the opposite direction. An example being that the students teach and the teacher is taught. I believe that everybody has something to learn from someone, no matter who its from. I think that it is important for teachers to be open to what students think and believe, because I definitely believe that the teachers can learn from their students. Whether they learn a new fact from their student, or learn how to be a better teacher, that can all be taught by the student. 

I think that this is so important to me because of the school district that I came from. Where I was taught, the teachers were very open to listening to whatever their students had to say. Many of them were also very concerned with helping us to form our own opinions on real world matters. They wanted us to think for ourselves, without the influence of their own opinions. I think that this goes hand in hand with learning from your students, because, yes the teachers have to aid their students in the learning and growing process, but along the way teachers never know what their students will bring to light, and what their student may teach them along the way.

Blog Post #5: Rofes

I personally have never experienced homophobia or heterosexism where I attended school. Aurora is a very accepting community and the school district does a very good job at making the learning environment accepting and welcoming. At Aurora, in all the schools, there is zero tolerance for any type of bullying. I have never experienced or even seen bullying occur at my school, and I do not believe it is due to this policy. I genuinely think that all who go to Aurora are kind and genuine. I know that people in Aurora may not agree with the decisions others make, the morals others may have, or the philosophies others preach, but I have never seen a person bullied or picked on because of this. In Rofes' article, he depicts childhood in a way that many people would feel uncomfortable or upset. He says that children basically have no rights and are neglected. He also believes that a child should be allowed to play with whatever they desire, as well as participate in whatever activities they want. A radical distinction he addresses is that he believes as a child you are not "born" homosexual or heterosexual. He believes that this is a decision you make on whether or not to become so. Later on in my life, I hope to be teaching in a school similar to where I grew up, but that may be more focused on individual students needs. I also hope to teach in a district where everybody is accepting of everybody. There is always going to be judgement, but I hope to work somewhere where the judgement is not made obvious. 

Field Blog Post #1

Mayfield Middle School

I never actually considered wanting to be a Middle School teacher, but after observing a class in this middle school, I am not totally against the idea. Upon arrival at the school, we sat in the cafeteria and talked to the principal of the school. We got to hear some background about his experience and journey to becoming a teacher as well as principal. Oddly enough, he was a graduate of John Carroll University! That being so, he was very open to allowing us to look around the school on our own and allowing us to get the experience we wanted to. After talking to him, I do not believe that I would enjoy being a principal. This is because I asked him if he ever got to have one on one time with students. His response was that that is the one thing he wishes he had more of. I want to be able to directly work with kids and get to experience the difference I will make in their lives. 

After we spoke to him in the cafeteria, we were let loose around the school to explore. Some things I noticed about the school was that it reminded me of my middle school. It was old but had some new and renovated areas. There were kid’s artwork and schoolwork hanging up around the halls, and there were students walking around the halls or doing science experiments like I would have seen at Aurora. I did notice something that was unlike Aurora. I do not know if this is actually true about the school, but I saw more male teachers than I did female. The school also had an odd setup. I am sure that if I spent a longer time there then it would have made sense to me, but walking around I was very confused. The different grades (6th-8th) were separated into separate parts of the school, and I decided that I wanted to visit 7th grade. 

I got to observe Mr. Race's classroom. He is a seventh grade science teacher and when we walked in, he was assisting his students on a metric lab. If the kids were done with their work, they were to do something in their science books. The labs did not take long to finish, and once they were all done, they would get back their tests they had taken a few days before. The students that did exceptionally well were called out into the hallway to get their picture taken. This picture would then get put onto Mr. Race's Wonderful Warrior Wall. As students were getting test scores back, Mr. Race had asked them to be quiet and keep their sound level at a zero (no talking). The students did not listen so Mr. Race had to drop marbles. Marbles were the student’s incentives to behave well. They had lost a lot during just this one class period, because they did not listen very well. But, overall I definitely enjoyed observing this classroom and it made me think that there is a possibility that I could be a middle school teacher.