Chapter 14: Succeeding in Your Teacher Education Program--and Beyond

My concerns

• I do not want to have to deal with standardized testing.

• As a special education teacher, will my budget be low, and will other teachers be willing to make their classrooms inclusive.
• Will I be stuck in the classroom all day or will I have support with incorporating therapeutic recreation.

There are two stages that I find in each of these. The first is self, this is to say I am concerned about my competence and my sanity. As a teacher these are two things that are important to maintain, without competence, or sanity I will not be a good teacher.

I think that the second stage is the most pertinent to my concerns, most of them are based of self, but effect much more then self.

Chapter 13: Improving Teachers and Schools, and School Reform

As a future teacher it is important to build up my resumé. A couple things I plan on adding to it are, practicum (student teaching), good scores on the praxis. I would also like to add (durning my first year) a national board certification, from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

During my first five years as a teacher I hope to become a better teacher, I will work on this daily and hopefully get better and better. Some experiences that will be beneficial are things such as teacher workshops, having a mentor teacher, I also plan on taking post college training sessions.

Chapter 7: Thinking about Teaching and Learning

These are three ideas I would like to incorporate in my philosophy paper

• Page 266 I like Ralph W. Tylers and his four ideas about teaching.
• Page 277 I like the first two Hilda Taba but not the third.
• Page 275 I really Like Confucius
• Page 276 i agree with Perennialism
  

Chapter 6: Social Context of Schools

Bullying
Because special education is my major I have chosen the bullying of people with disabilities.
First I would take preventative steps these would be:

• Teaching of disabilities
• Teaching of person first language
• I would also make sure that my classroom was integrated
  

There are several potential issues I can anticipate:

• The misuse of the word retarded
• Social outing of individuals
• Cruelty

For the misuse of the word retarded I have three techniques:

1. Show the entire class or individual student this PSA or a similar one
2. Hand out a words hit like a fist card
3. talk one on one and help the student understand why it is a harmful act

For social outing and cruelty I would mainly use preventative planning or:

• Use the above techniques
• Send the "ringleader" to the office, make an example out of them

How do I start thinking like a teacher

I have started to think more like a teacher, this is from the work I do with individuals with disabilities. I find that it is not too different from regular thought, perhaps it is just more objective. When thinking about what to plan I find myself considering what aspects will be learned from the activity, as well as making sure it isn't overwhelming and it is beneficial, and fun. It is important to think about all aspects of a situation to make sure the activity goes well. I am not saying that the way i think all the time is the same way a teacher would, but I do feel like i am able to asses situations, and ideas as a teacher would. I feel like having class discussions about the purpose of different school activities and events would help me think more like a teacher.

Which theories and historical influences should most impact the schools we'd like to have

I have taken more away from historical influences and past events. I think it is important to learn from the past, and therefore know that it is important to incorporate all types of students into the classroom, it was hard to end segregation in schools and that is something we can all learn from. Historically education has been a lot of trial and error, what i take away from this is that it is more effective to teach children at the same age, in a small class, that is community based rather then lecture form. Hopefully my style of teaching will be a success and not a error.

I am interested in theories and would love to go into more depth on them.

How can I use knowledge of the learner to be a better teacher

I haven't taken anything away from the class yet for this topic, but I do have examples of how good teaching has influenced the way I want to teach. All of my teachers that I have great respect for have been very intelligent. They have all gone to college and worked hard to be the teachers that they are today. I will use this example they have set for me, and I will use this knowledge to learn from everything, from a stranger i meet on the street to learning in the classroom. We are always learning, every interaction you have you learn something, be it useless, interesting, hurtful or joyous. As a human I am forever learning from my experiences the real question is will I be able to share these experiences and knowledge with the prowess my teachers have had.

I want to know how blogging and setting up wiki sites will make me a better teacher.
(No disrespect intended, just curiosity)

How do I be successful at UMF

To be Successful at UMF there are two things I must maintain, thirst for knowledge, and social interaction. Each of these is for quiet different reasons. Thirst for knowledge is why I am here, why I am writing a blog rather then hanging out with my friends. It is a motivation to learn, to better myself as a teacher and a human being, it is what keeps me awake, interested and excited, therefore I intend to maintain my thirst for knowledge. Social interaction is important for me to succeed because if i didn't have social interaction I would go insane, so it is mainly for the sake of my mind. I have realized this from doing assignments for this class as well as others, daily readings, blog posts, and assignments of this nature.

I would love to find out how to fit a exchange semester into my schedule.

How do I become a teacher

How to become a teacher; it isn't too complicated of a process but it is time consuming.
Before I do anything anything I need to pass my PRAXIS with the required scores, this makes it possible to take the next level of EDU or SED classes. After passing it and taking some classes i then must take the test again(PRAXIS 2), this time scoring even higher on it. Once I do that and I have done practicum and all my other required classes I will graduate. Post graduation I will choose where I want to live, register there as a teacher, and begin the job hunt. This is all information I have gained from the class from reading, and doing the assignment where we researched how to become a teacher in Maine.

How many more required classes do I have to take?

Chapter 5: The History of Schools in the United States

Chapter five in the Joy of Teaching by Hall, Quinn, and Gollnick addresses the history of schools in the United States. It is an interesting read because it brings up things like classroom evolution, curriculum, student body, and teaching standards. This is as important as it is interesting for future teachers, we can learn from the past and see that single room school houses are ineffective compared to the multiple grade schools we now have, learning the past prepares us for the future. It seems absurd these days that it would be effective to teach one-hundred students with one teacher in a large hall, but if it had not been tried how would we know. It is apparent to teachers to leave there religious belief's to themselves but there was a time that christian beliefs were taught in school as if they were facts. It is our duty as future educators to learn from the past, it will help us prepare to enter the field as competent up to date teachers

There have always been debates in public schooling and this chapter highlights this fact. one dispute brought up in the book is that of inclusion. It was common practice to segregate and schools were no exception groups such as Native Americans, African Americans, and individuals with disabilities to be outed from the public education system. This practice was not frowned upon, it was a normal aspect of society and rarely questioned. Another pertinent debate in schools has been religion, our country promises us freedom of choice, but many old schools read biblical text and studied christian beliefs. These types of issues are no longer in our schools but it is important to know our past so we can be ready for the future.

Things I Need to Know

I read about three important things that UMF Secondary Education majors should know

• I may be able to get the PRAXIS fee waved
• During my practicum I can only take one other class
• It is hard to transfer into education, I am glad I am already in it :D
  

Chapter 4: Schools as the Workplace for Students and Teachers

Our school is a public school therefore it is structured as one.
There are some differences though

In most Public schools the school board is run by elected officials, but ours also asks for at least 1/3 of the involvement on the school board to be parents of students. The parents attend the schoolboard meetings and have the power to adjust and create policies. Our standing on this was; the parents have kids in the system, as well as help to fund the school through taxes and they should have say in the education of there kids.

The government has standardized testing to regulate teaching, and how well the students are educated. At our school we do not focus on passing these tests, we insted teach the students the material we deem important, this leads to less built up stress about the tests and frequently results in higher test scores.

Chapter 3: Families and Communities

An important issue involving the school community is the presence of religion in schools. The First amendment clearly states that as US citizens we have separation of church and state. Public schools are funded by the government (mostly through taxes) this means that as a student you are free from religious influences. In this largely Judo-Christian society it is hard to see what really comes from religion or not. For example in almost every classroom each morning the pledge of allegiance is read which states us as "one nation under God" to call this religious may be a stretch, but some find it offending. As future educators we must ask ourselves how we will teach our children with out influencing our own personal beliefs on them. The key is not to make all religion taboo but to rather educate, this is where most controversies occur. It is not wise to practice religious holidays or ceremonies, there are two reasons for this the first the most obvious you are practicing a religion in a school. The second is the overlooked one, if you want to show your class how Jewish people celebrate Yom Kippur and have a mock Yom Kippur you can seem like you are belittling the religion, and this has potential to be very offensive. The goal of teachers is to educate students, as a teacher you must not let your personal beliefs impede this, so no you can't celebrate Christmas in school no matter how you do it. It would simply be pushing beliefs on others, and we all know that is not an effective way to teach. The effective way is a way in which you look at all religions equally and teach accordingly

Chapter 2: Todays Students

In the Joy of Teaching the authors (Hall, Quinn, and Gollnick) discuss the integration of students with disabilities. In 1975 the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act passed making it so individuals with disabilities were able to receive a free education, since then it has been updated, making it required for classrooms to be integrated whenever possible. According to the U.S. Census Bureau thirteen percent of students in the US are living with a disability. These Disabilities range from ADHD to Autism but the majority of disabilities are specific to the individual and the way they learn. The main way students are integrated is with the aid of an Individual Education Plan or IEP, which is a document that describes learning techniques discussed and agreed on by teachers, parents, and specialists. The inclusion process is said to only be semi-functional, as teachers often do not want to take on the extra work provided by integrated, stating that it takes time away from the other students, and the whole integration process has a lot of room left for improvement.

Chapter 1: Becoming a Teacher

Joyful

• Teaching students enriches lives of others, therefore you get the satisfaction of knowing you helped someone.
• As a teacher you are always learning, since real learning comes from experience not textbooks, the more you teach, the more you learn about teaching.
• When you teach you get to teach about subjects you are truly passionate about. You aren't doing something tedious, or meaningless, you are focusing on your passion and helping others understand it.

Not so joyful

• Regulations that restrict what you teach or even choose what you have to teach are something I do not look forward to. As a teacher i want to be able to focus my attention on teaching not on what the government wants.
• Teachers make all professions possible, and thus should be paid accordingly. Sadly this is not the case.
• Schools often loose funding due to poor scores on standardized testing, this creates pressure on teachers to teach kids how to pass tests rather then actually teaching them.
  

MOOOOOOO

this is

a blog