Blog Post 7

This week in class our reading came from Susan Ohanian which took a look at the "Stir-and-Serve Recipes for Teaching". I think with teaching that it is not always one way to do something because all kids are different and learn at different rates. This really can not be the only way to do things because if a kid does not pick up on the things that are trying to be taught they will be left behind and then this will cause a lot of problems for the child. Ohanian says, "And, because teaching must be a renewable contract, if we don't keep seeking new understanding, we'll find that the corners we thought we knew very well will keep slipping away. There are constant, subtle shifts in the schoolroom. One can never be sure of knowing the floor plan forever and ever." This quote really speaks to what she is trying to say that teachers need to be open to having new ideas and that it can not simply be one way to do things forever. I think this reading was really good for me because going into being a teacher I want to know exactly what to do and how to do things in order so I can be a good teacher and it makes me realize that its not always gonna be written down for me or something that I can learn from others. Our last observation as a class really showed me this as I observe red the gym class at Orange High School and it really was a class that the school had completely handed over onto the teacher so that it could improve and with the teacher putting his ideas to use it really is making the physical education class at the high school the best it has ever been. So with reading the chapter in the book and then going on observation it really helped with the lesson this week.

Blog Post 6

This week in class we had a good discussion on what makes a good teacher. It was a very good discussion because we looked at the concept of Banking Education. I felt that the concept was one that wanted to teach kids all the same way and only one way was right and if the kids did not pick up on it then they miss out. I particularly am not a fan of the banking education method because it does not give the students any type of room to express themselves or to show the creativity that they have. Our post-it note activity was very good because everybody had very different things that they thought were important and many different quotes that we all picked. The question that I asked the class was that "What do you think an educated individual is?". In the book it says "the educated individual is the adapted person, because she or he is better fit for the world."We got many different responses for the question but i do agree with the book a little because people do need to have the ability to adapt to the many changes that they are faced with throughout the world. This defiantly made me think about what a educated person is.

Field Blog 2

In our second field experience we visited Beachwood Middle School and it was a great experience. I enjoyed my time there very much the teachers, students, and administrators were very friendly and helpful. The all-around atmosphere that I got from the school was that it was one that everybody there loved what they were doing. I sat in on a Chinese class and a Spanish class and both of the classrooms had a good feeling to them. The teacher of the Chinese class told us that she loved working in Beachwood city schools. She was very close with her students and you could see this because her and one of students had went outside to talk and the teacher came back in comforting the student a lot. So you can see that her students felt comfortable enough to talk to her about anything and i think all teachers need to have this type of relationship with there students. Also the kids there were learning at a very fast rate, the students had been in Chinese class for only two weeks and they had already learned a ton of words and their names in Chinese and how to write them. I could defiantly see myself working in a school like Beachwood in the future because it was very diverse and thats the type of environment that I am use to and one that I want to work in. Being in Beachwood really showed me just how much fun and rewarding teaching can be and really made me feel like I made the right choice in what I want to do.

Blog post 5

This week's class discussion was very good on the subject of gay and lesbian student. It is definatly something that needs to be discussed now because you hear all the time of stories of people "coming out" or kids getting picked on because of what they are. I think society really has to take greater strides to get this subject matter under control because it is an occurring problem that is very present in the times. Me personally I do not have a problem with gay or lesbian people but that may not be the case for everybody so now it has to be more done to make people realize that they are human beings just like everybody else. Especially in school being a teacher you can do a lot to make sure gay and lesbian students feel comfortable. You have to create a safe environment for students because they can be under an enormous amount of stress. While we did our second observation at Beachwood Middleschool we learned that one of the students a couple years back had committed suicide from the school and situations like this you never want to happen and especially a young middle school child. I felt like our class was very open too the idea of gay and lesbian students, we all it seemed like experienced somebody or knew somebody that was gay or a lesbian.

Blog Post 4

Institutional Racism to me is the lessing or "holding back" of education to a certain minority or a economic group so that they are not capable of reaching there full potential. if you were to go around to schools that are in poorer neighborhoods or to schools where there is a high minority rate I'm sure you will see things that are very different from schools that are in neighborhoods where the economic status is high and its not very many minorities that goes to there schools. I feel as if this is a big problem in todays society because most of the time you will hear about the "bad" schools being in "bad" neighborhoods when schools should not be different than any other just because of the area it is placed it. All students have the right to be able to learn at a higher level when it comes to education. In my own experiences with education I have not really had to experience institutional racism because all of my schools that I attended were majority white. I have went to private school all of my life so I was already getting a better education so as far as not having available resources and not having the opportunity for higher learning I never really experienced that.

FieldBlog Post 1

Mercer Elementary

In our first field experience we visited Mercer Elementary school in Shaker Heights, Ohio. I was very impressed with what I saw in the short time that I was there. The school was very nice from the classrooms to the library to the cafeteria. While I was observing the school I visited a third grade class first and I was very impressed with the creativity of the students at such a young age. It was more of a personal time in this classroom because half of the class was doing arts and craft and the other half was rotating doing math exercises on the computer. The teacher was Mrs. Smith and she seemed very nice and invited us to come back anytime. The second class that I visited was Mrs. Bakers 4th grade class and I really enjoyed her class. She had a small learning group going on where the students were learning about fossils and it was about 6 students in the group. I thought this was very good because you saw some kids did not know as much as other kids and she made sure those kids that were lagging behind were all the way caught up. Also while we were in the class she had the students teach us to show what they have learned rather than the teacher teaching the students. Also the principal at the school was a very likable guy from the short time that we were there, he interacted with people very well and he has the school in a very good place. I enjoyed my first experience of observing at Mercer elementary it is a very good school.

Blog Post 3

Throughout our readings and after our observation at Mercer Elementary school one question has been in my head and it is what makes teachers so passionate about what they do? After observing the great teachers at Mercer I see that you have to have a great passion for this profession because kids are the future. The kids at Mercer came from many different backgrounds and each day you will never know what you are gonna get from some of these kids. I feel like if the teachers do not want to come in everyday with a good attitude and a passion for teaching then this is not the right job for them. The students look up to the teachers a lot and if you want the students to be successful you have to be willing to make an impact on these students life each and everyday and i think this alone can make teachers become more passionate about their job.