The Classroom is a Garden

The Classroom is a Garden. The archway is the door and all of the flowers (and sometimes weeds) are the students. I am the gardener, caring for each and every flower. They are nurtured by me, the rain, the soil, etc. When we treat our classrooms as a garden it becomes more than just education, it becomes a period of growth, of success and failures, trial and errors. 

My take on education is that it should be student-centered. The responsibilities of the teachers, parents, students and society vary greatly but they should be focused on the student. The students are the flowers, the parents are the soil, society is the climate and the teacher is the gardener. 

The parents are the soil from which the students get their nutrients or support. The parent is responsible for supporting the student and making sure that he/she is operating at their full capacity outside of school. If student's do not get support at home, then they often do not do well within the classroom. The students do not have the background knowledge or experience to help them in class.

The students are the flowers. They are constantly growing, changing, blooming, failing, etc. The students are responsible for keeping on track with their success. They are responsible for following instruction, doing homework, etc. If they do not keep up with their responsibilities, then the teacher can not help them grow and learn. 

The teachers are the gardeners. We prune, pluck, support, plant, etc. We foster learning in such a way that helps the students to grow and to operate at their full capacity. We aid students in their learning and guide them through their education in order for them to become successful. 

And finally, society is the climate. Society can have a positive/negative influence on education and the students. If it rains, the plants grow, and if it doesn't the plants whither. It is important for society to have a positive influence on education (ie. rain) in order for students to become the best they can be. However, if it has a negative influence on education (ie. not raining), the students are not going to do well. 

All of these factors influence the student, that is why I believe education should be student-centered. Just like how some flowers have different requirements when it comes to growth, students also have different learning styles and requirements to succeed. This is why teachers should be modifying instruction in order to accommodate all of his or her flowers. Teaching is like carefully tending a garden because we want our flowers and plants to grow. Therefore, we are going to give them the best possible treatment. The same goes for students. We want them to grow and succeed so as teachers, we need to give them the best possible treatment and we need to work with the students' needs. 

By creating relevant curriculum that is geared to the students, by giving them a choice, and by focusing on them, we are able to create the best possible individuals where each student feels successful in his or her own right. 

Social Justice Within the Classroom: My Daisies are just as important as my Daffodils

This week for our EDU 100 class, we talked a lot about Social Justice. The topic I researched was Social Justice within the classroom: How do we as teachers implement Social Justice into our classrooms. 

We can refer to the pin I chose to help understand this question a little better. 

My Pinterest

Social Justice Pin 

I guess we should start out with a definition of Social Justice. According to Matthew Robinson from the Department of Government and Justice Studies at Appalachian State University, Social Justice is "defined as "...promoting a just society by challenging injustice and valuing diversity." It exists when "all people share a common humanity and therefore have a right to equitable treatment, support for their human rights, and a fair allocation of community resources.""

It is important to implement values of Social Justice within our youths because we are teaching the future. We can see a smaller scale of Social Injustice within our schools today, and by trying to create socially conscious students, we are working towards eradicating social injustice, not only in the schools but in society as well. Through quality instruction that teaches students about issues relevant to them, their learning will not only increase but their awareness of society and Social Justice will as well. 

One example of implementing Social Justice values is through Place-Based Education. This type of education involves curriculum and methods of teaching that the children face in every day life. Students who live near the beach can learn about keeping the oceans clean, and children living in the Rain forest can learn how to save the trees. This type of education creates students who know that their actions make a difference and that they have the power to change the future. Students who realize that they have this ability are in turn able to make changes in society and to enforce Social Justice in our future. 

Some ways to create Social Justice within the classroom (see pin)

• Connect with Students. Find out what they love, what their culture is, what they've experienced. 
• Create instruction and curriculum that is relevant. Don't teach students who live on the beach about a rain forest. Teach them about the ocean, marine animals, things that they can relate to.
• Create a Community within the Classroom. Participation is key, every student needs to feel as if they have a choice and that their opinion matters and that they can make a change.
• Include Authentic Assessments. Create Assessments where the students feel as if they actually get something from it instead of just mindless homework and standardized tests. 

As you can see, it is not difficult to implement Social Justice within the classroom. It is possible to create effective instruction while still promoting Social Justice. If we can start now within our classrooms, our students will grow to create a Socially Just future, and isn't that what we want??

I believe that a Socially Just future is extremely important. As educators, we are teaching the leaders of our future, so we want to nurture them and make them successful as well as promote social justice. In my classroom, or garden if you will, daisies are just important as daffodils. They are both beautiful and deserve equal opportunities. Their voices need to be heard and they need to know that they can make a change in the world. If we as teachers don't educate our students on and implement Social Justice within our classrooms, our future will be bleak. 

Place-Based Education-What's the Deal?

What is Place-Based Learning?

          As a student, I think we've all asked ourselves the question, "When am I ever going to use this?" That question fuels the idea behind Place-Based learning. According to  promiseofplace.org,  "Place-based education (PBE) immerses students in local heritage, cultures, landscapes, opportunities and experiences, using these as a foundation for the study of language arts, mathematics, social studies, science and other subjects across the curriculum. PBE emphasizes learning through participation in service projects for the local school and/or community."  

          The purpose of place-based education is to make the learning and the curriculum relevant to what's going on in students' lives. This week in class, we had to search pinterest for pins related to this type of education. Below are the links to my pinterest and the website I found regarding place based learning:

http://www.pinterest.com/haynestessa/premise-of-the-school/ (Links to an external site.)

http://www.tinasdynamichomeschoolplus.com/category/hands-on-activities/ (Links to an external site.)

          The website I found was created by a woman who moved from Texas to South America. She homeschools her children and incorporates their environment into the curriculum. One example I found on the website was the children visited Incan ruins. This trip tied in History as well as Geography. It is important to incorporate the environment into lesson plans because it helps create consciousness on the subject of environmental issues within individuals.

          It is extremely important to educate individuals to be aware of our environment. After watching The Story of Stuff,  I realized that the only way we are going to save our environment and create a new system that takes care of the environment is to create individuals who are aware of their environment. Place-based education is a great way to start educating students to take care of the environment, Just like the homeschooling mom in South America teaching her children about the Rainforests, teachers in Africa, America, England, etc. can be teaching their students how to take care of their vastly different environments. 

Our world is absolutely gorgeous. Through place-based education we are able to make curriculum relevant to our students as well as teach them how to take care of their environment. As educators, we are teaching our future. Someday, the kids we educate are going to grow up to be presidents, lawyers, doctors, engineers, teachers, etc. By creating environmentally aware children, we are creating a better future for ourselves. Our world is on the fast track to devastation if  we do not find a balance within the consumer-based system our world works on now. 

Whether its at the beach or in the woods, every students deserves the type of education that is relevant to their lives and futures. Place-based education is the best way to teach students that calculus can be used outside of the classroom. It is also the best way to teach students to be environmentally aware, securing a better future for themselves as well as us, the people who educate them. 

Tending My Flowers!

This week in EDU 100 we have been learning and discussing various Educational Philosophies. The man of the hour today is Mr. John Dewey himself! This video gives a nice overview of Dewey's life for those of you who would rather listen than read!

John Dewey- "When customs are flexible and the youth is educated as youth and not as premature adulthood, no nation grows old." 

Born in 1859 John Dewey, was an American philosopher who was a "leading proponent of the American school of thought known as pragmatism." Pragmatism is "a philosophical movement that includes those who claim that an ideology or proposition is true if it works satisfactorily, that the meaning of a proposition is to be found in the practical consequences of accepting it, and that unpractical ideas are to be rejected." In a more education context, Pragmatism is the belief that the universe is dynamic and evolving and that the purpose of thought is action and truth is relative. It focused on learning through experience. The goal was to teach students to be problem solvers so that when they are faced with an obstacle, they have to tools to overcome that obstacle. Students would make decisions based on the consequences of their actions. It is a contemporary view on education. Dewey believed that students learned by experiencing things. When we teach them as youths instead of prepping them for adult life after school, they are going to get more out of their education. Now, I agree with Pragmatism. I do think students benefit more from experiences.During instruction, teachers even call upon past experiences and background knowledge to help learn new material. This shows that experience is a key component of education. 

After I read about The Banking Concept, I knew right away that  Dewey would not agree with the concept. The Banking Concept is basically about how students are banks in which teachers deposit information. The teachers teach and the students are taught. The teachers discipline and the students are disciplined. (Sounds pretty oppressive, doesn't it?) The Banking Concept holds more of a Realism philosophy, where reality exists independent of the human mind and that physical things are the ultimate reality. In The Banking Concept, Paulo Freire says "The teacher talks about reality as if it were motionless, static compartmentalized, and predictable." The teaching method for realism is that you teach for mastery of facts and basic skills. The Banking Concept is more of a traditional and conservative philosophy, which is on the other end of the spectrum, far from Dewey's ideology. This concept was designed before we realized that every student is different and learns differently. Not every student is receptive to learning that way. The Banking Concept may have worked in the past, but in today's education The Banking Concept is one that has proven to be ineffective. 

As a teacher, we are able to develop our own philosophies and our own learning theories. However if they aren't geared for the student, then our instruction isn't going to be effective. 

Sources:

http://www.iep.utm.edu/dewey/

http://www.iep.utm.edu/pragmati/

http://deweycenter.siu.edu/about_bio.html

My Philosophical Garden

This week in our Education class we discussed philosophies. Things such as existentialism, essentialism, cognitivism and reconstructivism. Through an educational philosophy assessment and scoring guide, I found that I resonated most with progressivim with a splash of existentialism. Progressivism, as stated above, is concerned with the individual student. In this video by Ken Robinson, we see that schools came about in the 19th century. They were geared for a specific type of student and you were either academic/smart or you were non-academic/smart. The educational systems treated students as objects and institutions were factories in which intellectual human beings were created. Teachers were the source of information and the students were the information processors. In today's society, we can see that there are so many different types of learners. One type of learner Robinson mentioned were those with ADHD. He referred to this as an "epidemic", and instead of teachers modifying instruction to fit the needs of these students, they wanted them to be medicated in order for them to focus on subject matter that was boring to them. He calls for a transformation of education in which the students have more control over their education.

Existentialism is the idea that students should be given the choice on how and what they learn. One school that uses this philosophy is the Summerhill Boarding School in the UK. The students are able to decided when and which classes they want to attend. They are able to decide how and what they learn which creates a desire in learning. If students have no desire to learn, how are we as educators supposed to expect them to learn anything?

This website on Student Centered Philosophies discusses multiple types of philosophies. These philosophies are focused on the student as an individual. The curriculum supported by these philosophies are designed to fit the needs, interests and abilities of the students. They are expected to be responsible for themselves and they are given the freedom that mandatory education in today's society does not.

Each and every teacher has a different philosophy and way of looking at education. Students themselves also respond to a certain philosophy better than others. Some students could learn better with an essentialism philosophy, meaning that they learn for the sake of learning. They learn best through lectures and assessments. Other students require a more existentialism philosophy meaning that they require the freedom to learn how and what they want to.

I believe the assessment worked well. However, it is not a science and it is not so clear-cut. Philosophies can be a melting pot of different ideas and opinions. Someone could be a little bit of a perrenialist and a little bit of a progressivist. It is up to you as a teacher to decide what your view is and what works best for you. As a teacher, I want to be able to give my students choices on how and what they want to learn. I want to teach them to be responsible for themselves and I want them to have a desire to learn.

Purple Penguins!

This week in our Education class we focused on all things diversity. This includes gender, sexual orientation, language, socio-economic status, and exceptionalities such as students with disabilities or gifted students. I was drawn to the concept of inclusive classrooms, meaning classrooms that cater to the needs of every student. At first all I thought about was rearranging the classroom, modifying assignments, etc. but inclusive classrooms are more than just that. My question is what contributes to an inclusive classroom??

I started my research with this article : 'Gender Inclusive' School District Says 'Drop Boys and Girls' and Call Kids 'Purple Penguins'.

This school in Lincoln, Nebraska was given information about creating gender inclusive classrooms to erase this particular facet of diversity in order to be able to cater to every student and to wash away educational 'norms' that pertain to the female and male genders. Some of these norms may say that girls are better in reading and writing than boys, or that boys are better at math and socializing. Teachers have been encouraged to separate students by preferences as opposed to genders. They were also encouraged tot give their classroom a name such as "Purple Penguins". By referring to the students in a general term it eliminated any barriers between genders and allows students to feel free from stereotypes on gender within the school.

However, inclusion goes far from just being 'gender inclusive'.....

What is wrong with this picture? It's certainly not the lack of creativity or the drab background. It's the cute-as-pie-wanna-pinch-his-cheeks boy in the right side of the picture craning his neck and smiling as if he's the sun incarnate. We have the entire class grouped together in a class photo with all warm smiles. However, Miles Belanger, the boy in the wheelchair, is being separated from his peers because they just HAD to sit on the bleachers. Tell me, why was it so hard to choose a different place for the photo to include Miles? I can already tell you he'd be my favorite.... look at that face. 

This article "Why Mixing Stuents With and Without Disabilities is a Good Idea" comes from the series I Am Education from takepart.com. It talks about Miles, and his disability which is spinal muscular atrophy. The article states, "The advantages of inclusion in the classroom by mixing in students with special needs, regardless of the severity of a student’s disability or socio-economic status, has been well documented, whereas special needs kids who remain in segregated classes fall further behind academically and socially." 

It has been proven that inclusive classrooms benefit students way more than being separated from the general classroom would. Students with disabilities are often taken out of classrooms to recieved specialized instruction. However, if the instruction was just geared for all students, then an inclusive classroom would be created and the teacher can implement a UDL, which is a Universal Design for Learning. 

This comic shows how easy paving a way for students with special needs helps to pave a way for all students to learn. An inlusive classroom is not just about genders or disabilities though. It is about making each and every student feel represented, welcome, safe and understood. 

Multicultural Classrooms

What do we do in a Multicultural Classroom?

In today's day in age, we are constantly being bombarded with diversity. Through our race, gender, sexuality, language, etc. In a world that is comprised with so many different cultures, how do we set up a classroom that caters to all of these different cultures? 

Multicultural Classrooms provide an atmosphere that each and every student feels represented in and respected in. As TeachHub puts it, "America has always been referred to as a melting pot, but ideally, it's a place where we strive to invite everyone to celebrate exactly who they are."   TeachHub provides a place where teachers can go to read articles on several different topics such as Multicultural Education. The article that is linked to TeachHub is about Multicultural Education and what you can do in your own classroom. Some of the suggestions TeachHub gives to start implementing Multicultural Education are:  

• Encourage community participation and social activism
• Go beyond the textbook
• Integrate a diverse reading list that demonstrates the universal human experience across cultures
• Creating multicultural projects that require students to choose a background outside of their own
• By supplementing your curriculum with current events and news stories outside the textbook, you can draw parallels between the distant experiences of the past and the world today.

The website also gives links to different books such as Becoming Multicultural Educators by Geneva Gay and Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American Text Book Got Wrong by James Loewen. It also gives ideas for lesson plans that incorporate multicultural education. 

Another website geared towards building a Multicultural Classroom is edchange.org.

 "A teacher influences eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." -Henry Adams

Edchange.org focuses on multicultural education and creating a multicultural classroom. 

The Ten Commandments of Multicultural Educators 

There are several building blocks to create a multicultural classroom. One of them is for the student to be open to getting to know their students inside and outside their class. Notions of certain cultures need to be put away in order to fully take into account the student to find out what his or her needs are. Not every student learns the same way and it is important for teachers to start by getting to know his or her students to be able to modify his or her instruction and classroom to include every student. 

"Teachers in multicultural classrooms must be open to their students and put forth the effort needed to get to know their students inside and outside of class. If a teacher is hesitant about being open, the class will reciprocate and the students will become estranged from one another and the teacher." 

From our readings in class we have found that students feel estranged and alienated when they do not feel represented. Such is the case in instances of sexuality or language barriers. Teachers have to be open in order for their students to be open and comfortable. 

I believe in Multicultural Classrooms. We need to move from the system that has been geared towards white males in the beginning, to a system where every group and culture feels represented and accepted. Only then will we start to make headway in providing quality education for each and every student.