Education is a Piece of Music

A song is a great metaphor for how I see education. As a concept, both are difficult to explicate how and why they can be effective. But, when they work it is undeniably engaging. It has a way of pulling you in and engaging you on a deeply personal level. The metaphor deepens when you consider the variety of songs and educational philosophies. Some promote social justice while some are just about having fun. Either way, they are always experiences. You react on a personal level and you sometimes can't explain why you like a certain teacher or why a song just gets stuck in your head. On the negative side, it also very easy to get defensive about a belief you have. It's easy to judge someone who like country music or who believes in environmental education. But these arguments overshadow what makes music and education so great. It's supposed to be about a group of people working together to understand or create something. Oftentimes, the process is difficult and requires practice and effort, but in the end it's always worth it when it finally clicks.

In this class I have learned and reevaluated many things regarding my educational philosophy. By reading other people's posts I was able to understand the importance of communication. It is essential collaborate and work on ideas together. Personal experience is something I have unintentionally ignored. Theorizing something is one thing but actually going out and doing it is another. I also realized the importance of environmental education. Since I did not have much of it during my adolescence it is something that I now strongly believe in. Children should not be restricted to classrooms. They should be able to experience nature and learn valuable life skills. But, most of all this class strengthened my belief in social activism in the classroom. Education is not a system to crank out like-minded people who conform to the same beliefs. Children should be passionate and yearn to make the world a better place. That requires action and thoughtful teaching but it is something I hope to achieve.

Thanks for a great semester, Shawn.

Eliminating White Privilege

We want our students to grow and develop into moral and intelligent people. But, in order to do this, it is necessary to eliminate---or, at the very least reduce---the concept of white privilege. You may have noticed an abundance of racist commentary on social networks lately regarding Ferguson and Eric Garner, I sure have. While these remarks are both racist and disgusting, they can be easily dismissed. Their words are hurtful but I believe they only represent a microcosm of a few terribly ignorant people. However, if we want real change to occur we need to start at the root of the cause: education.

The focus needs to be on social justice in the classroom. Specifically, as stated in this pdf, "a social justice curriculum must strive to include the lives of all those in our society, especially the marginalized and dominated." The people who are being mistreated are obviously the focus of social justice, but everyone else cannot be ignored. It needs to be a group effort. There needs to be a collaborative effort to destroy certain ideas regarding white privilege like the Columbus Myth. Students need to not only learn about social injustices but they should also be given the opportunity to actively participate and make positive change. And, this is especially true for Caucasians. Vinay Harpalani in his article "White privilege: a challenge for multicultural education" he states:

"Most of the time, whites are not even aware of these advantages. Many of them are actually things that do NOT happen to whites, such as not being stopped by the police or followed in a store; not being asked to speak for one’s race or treated    as a representative of one’s race; or not being questioned about one’s national loyalty. These “non-experiences” prevent many whites from understanding the everyday burdens that people of color face. As a result, whites usually take their advantages for granted and mistakenly attribute them to hard work and “'merit.'”

This is the mindset that we, as teachers, need to fix. Some may like to claim that racism no longer exists or that we live in a free and equal country; yet, this sort of thinking gets us nowhere. Racism still plays a large role in society and this ignorance can only be quelled through education. It is not an easy process but if this type of awareness is introduced at a young age I think we can see a brighter tomorrow. But, we need to work for it. We need to be socially active and promote fairness and communicate about issues (that are difficult to discuss in the classroom) everyday. Through awareness and communication, we can make positive change.

Learning Outside: The Benefits of Place Based Education

Before taking this class I never really considered that outdoor education was possible, or, for that matter, beneficial. But, after reading some articles and finding out that some schools are exclusively outdoors, I realized that having school outdoors at every school is not entirely possible. Thus, I considered how some schools could incorporate outdoor learning into their curriculum. One school, the Robert E. Willett Elementary school, located in California, has an outdoor education page listed on its site. They plan to take their fifth grade class to the Sly Park Outdoor Education camp for five days. It requires some trust and financial commitment by the parents but I think that every school should try and do something like this to better educate their students.

The trip is well-planned and coordinated by the school's staff (making sure the kids have the proper medication if needed; chaperones are fingerprinted; having a pre-trip meeting). And, most importantly, the trip is truly beneficial to the kids. The children partake in group focused activities that promote teamwork and require cooperation to succeed. Social skills are essential as the children need to communicate in an unfamiliar environment. Some children are also able to demonstrate some skills that they would not be able to display inside the classroom: working as a leader, enduring physical activity, learning about nature. Essentially, it is a way to convey that while academic education is important, environmental education should not be ignored. The children should be given experiences outside of the classroom simply because it exposes them to nature. It teaches them about the environment and it teaches them to appreciate our world. Of course, doing something like this is difficult for an urban school far away from camps like this, but I think that outdoor education should always be in the discussion about reforming our schools. It's one thing to read about the environment, but to actually feel it and experience it is far more important. If we want our children to grow up educated, to strive towards making the world a better place, it is absolutely essential to incorporate outdoor education.

Froebel and Banking

Froebel is a German philosopher who is most known for creating what we now know as Kindergarten. Before Froebel the separation between infant, child, and adult was much more broad. Yet, Froebel had a revolutionary philosophy: children could develop social, developmental, and academic skills at a young age. He "designed open-ended instructional materials called the Gifts, with complementary Occupations" (Leblanc). Essentially, Froebel believed that children could develop essential skills with the right curriculum. Utilizing toys he created activities that greatly benefitted the students that teachers could introduce to young children. Everything he taught focused on building  a child's skills in a building block manner. Children would start small and learn the basics so, when they reached the normal age for schooling they would already understand the basic fundamentals of education. Initially, his philosophies were not well-received but after his death his vision was implemented throughout the world.

Freire's banking concept of education is a critique on the education system. From his studies Freire formulated that children were basically receptors of information. The teacher dictates the intended information while the child records and memorizes said information. Froebel would certainly be against this type of schooling. He wanted to promote social activity and engaged learning; not a feeder system of information. Students, especially young children, are not meant to sit and simply record information. Thanks to Froebel's ideas, we now understand that children need to be engaged in  an active learning environment. Learning the fundamentals is, of course, essential to elementary education but how we convey that information is extremely important. Children need to be slowly introduced concepts, to interact with their fellow students and learn on their own. If they are simply told what to do and what they need to know it will hamper their creativity and strip them of understanding some fundamental and developmental skills. It is strange now to consider that used to be such a foreign concept but it is great to see that so many schools are adapting Froebel's philosophy and understanding the importance of developing a child's cognitive and social skills.

Leblanc, Miriam. "Friedrich Froebel: His life and influence on education." Community Playthings. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.

Educational Philosophy

The Educational Philosophy Test along with its scoring sheet is an interesting way to look at ones personal teaching philosophy. Like all questionnaire based tests, it is not completely accurate but it can be used as a tool to reflect upon your own philosophy, why you think the way you do, and why others do not suit you. Based upon my scores I am technically a Reconstructionist. In fact, the only other philosophy that I scored high on was Progressivism; however, Progressivism is a little too reliant on personal experience for my taste, even if I do believe in its focus on adaptability.

The questions that determine Reconstructionism/Critical Theory are quite interesting. For instance, even though I love literature, I believe it is worthless if we do not use it as a tool to expand our minds and enact new modes of thought. Schools do far too little work in social reform and it should be a primary aspect of education. Without a focus on change, what are we truly promoting in our schools? Traditional values are a nice thought, something to remember and understand eras, but if we emphasize "passing on tradition" our society will continue to deteriorate. Those who believe that remaining stagnant is a viable option are living in a fantasy world. We need to be able to adapt to technology, to philosophy, and to current issues. Without context we are only teaching our students a jumble of information that they can vomit out during a test, only to forget it in the future. Thus, question 25 is essential to my education philosophy. "Essential skills" is such a cop-out term, as if you could definitively create a list of things that everyone needs to be able to do. It's ludicrous. If we're not pushing our students to become better people, to consequently better society, I honestly don't see the point in education. If you wanna create automatons who all think and believe in the same manner, good for you. We will continue to spiral as a society. But, if we want to do anything worthwhile, to truly benefit our students, we have to strive towards creating a better society. Apathy is a dangerous contagion that continues to spread throughout our country and, if there isn't a push to destroy it, we will continue to be in a state of entropy.

How to Incorporate Inclusive Education

PBS has a great general overview regarding Inclusive Education. Its basic elements seem very simple in theory: each deserves the same learning opportunities in the classroom. Yet, implementing this concept into the classroom is a very difficult task. A teacher is responsible for the development of each student and each student learns in a different manner. Thus, a teacher needs to be extremely adaptable in the classroom. He or she has to know how each student learns and have the proper repertoire to incorporate it. So, how do you create an inclusive learning environment?

• Scholastic emphasizes eliminating potential distractions. Keeping your students focused can be a difficult task so Scholastic suggests a great tool: an agenda. It's a simple thing to do, and it may seem obvious, but a strict schedule can go a long way. If the students can see what they're going to do everyday they can remain on task. Also, during the beginning of each class the teacher can simply review what they're going to do before the class starts. That way, each student understands and is able to understand.
• As Wilfred Montgomery states, a diverse curriculum can go a long way. Students should be exposed to as many perspectives as possible and a variety of books, topics, and activities is an easy way to do this. Activities like group reading assignments allow students to engage with other students about various cultures in a structured environment. If the activities are planned properly the students can learn so much through simple interaction.
• Faculty Focus stresses dutiful management. Everything you do to create an inclusive classroom can be undermined if you are not managing it properly. You need to continually engage the students, assess you methods, and be able to critique them. Obviously, you are going to face some issues but as long as you are well prepared, and maintain a calm demeanor, your class will not erupt into chaos.

It's important to remember that, like teaching methods, these are just tools. Not everything you try will work in the classroom. But, as long as you are trying, assessing, and critiquing you are on the right path. Every child deserves to be taught in an inclusive environment. They deserve to learn about culture and the purpose of perspectives. Without perspective, all they are going to learn are pieces of information. The inclusive environment promotes discussion and analysis and I hope my classrooms will be able to evoke the ideal inclusive classroom.

Social Reconstruction

The most worthwhile classroom experiences involve analysis. Teaching the basic, background, information is essential but it is ultimately meaningless if the students are not thinking critically about an issue. As a future English teacher I have a great opportunity to not only teach multicultural education, but how those perspectives can affect an individual experience and society in general. But, how can a teacher constructively "challenge[s] social inequality...to reconstructure educational institutions in ways that will change society?" (McNergney 54)

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is not only a great novel, but it is a great tool for teaching multicultural education as well. It explores colonialism in 19th century Africa through through the eyes of Okonkwo, a Umofian leader. Using this novel as a base, a classroom can explore the issues of assimilation through both history and culture today. Achebe immerses you into the mind of Okonkwo, allowing you to understand the Umofian culture and the culture clash that occurs once the Christian missionaries arrive. By reading Achebe's novel, students can understand the conflict that many foreign students have to face: holding on to your own culture while you are being coerced to lose it.
For far too long American schools have relied on literature that is written by white males. Of course, these texts are important and some schools are adopting to the multicultural approach, but classic literature needs to stop being a crutch. Issues like assimilation are perhaps more important in today's culture than the concept of revenge or love. In order to change the social inequality and restructure our educational institutions, schools need to make an effort to constantly incorporate a more diverse curriculum. There are a plethora of novels that deal with more impactful issues than what most schools are teaching today. Understanding perspective, especially in literature, is what allows us to grow and develop into more socially conscious individuals. Without perspective, we are limited to ignorant views and gross prejudices. When I teach I hope to incorporate this theme into all of my lessons. A narrow perspective only breeds injustices, and hopefully, through awareness and critical thinking, our students can strive to become more thoughtful and challenge social inequality.

McNergney, Robert F., Joanne M. McNergney. "Eduation: The Practice and Professional Teaching". Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2009. Print.