Here I am doing just what I have learned to ask my students to do… reflecting! This may be one of the greatest take-aways for me from this course. Every week I participated in a different type of reflection activity (I learned statements, key ideas identification, clear & unclear windows, search for meaning) and I can take these activities with me into the classroom. I am particularly fond of the Clear & Unclear Windows reflection activity (Ellis, 2001). This asks students to reflect both on what they do and don’t understand. This activity also gives teachers a clear picture of what students are misunderstanding, so that they can elaborate or clarify.

This class was about reflection in more ways than one. We learned about reflection activities that we can use in the classroom and about the value of reflection for our students’ learning.  We can ask our students to reflect and give them activities that will facilitate reflection. We will be helping our students to gain a better and deeper understanding of the material presented. Students will have a chance to engage in conversation about their learning and will have better recall of the information.

The final way in which this class was about reflection was the history element. Dr. Ellis presented us with a thorough reflection of the public education system in the United States. I learned a great deal about the American education system over the years. I learned about the four goals of American education. I learned about the influences our education system had from both Eastern and Western cultures. I learned about the many people who influenced the education system over the years. I learned about morals, religion and civil rights in education. Our education system has come a long way and this makes me think that we have still got a long way to go. We are now the ones making history… one student at a time!

References

Ellis, A., K. (2001). Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Together: The Reflective Classroom, Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education, Inc.

 

Key Idea Identification…

The key ideas of this week’s lecture are around the rights of students. This includes religious and civil rights. Over the years, in the history of our nation, the Supreme Court worked to uphold the rights of American citizens, based on the words of the constitution.  The decisions of the Supreme Court regarding religion and public school evolved over the years, just as our nation evolved. The decisions of the Supreme court regarding race and public school evolved as well. Our education system itself evolved throughout history. The key idea or the take-away lesson for me is that education is ever evolving and the rights of our students as citizens must be in our minds always. This lecture was about the rights of our students with regards to race and religion throughout history. The rights of our students with regards to ability and disability are still controversial today.

References

Ellis lecture, The Courts and Education, 2011

I Learned…

I learned that the education system we use today was shaped by many over hundreds of years. I learned that the essay “What Knowledge is of Most Worth” was published in 1859 by Herbert Spencer. Herbert Spencer wrote that we should be preparing students for complete living. He thought that the best way to prepare for the future was to teach with an emphasis on the Sciences. I am not completely sold on this point of view, but other ideas of Spencer’s are appealing to me. Spencer thought that students should not be passive acceptors of their educations, but rather active creators of knowledge.  At the time Spencer’s ideas were extreme and radical. Today active, creative, inquiry based education is the norm; Thank goodness!

References

Ellis lecture, What Knowledge is of Most Worth, 2011

Clear & Unclear Windows…

After reading John Dewey’s My Pedagogic Creed…

It is clear to me that John Dewey’s ideologies are something every educator should be familiar with. It is clear that John Dewey had a hopeful and optimistic view of education. I think that when we are new teachers we should think about what our ‘idealistic’ view of education is and try to live by it. I also think that it is important to put our beliefs and dreams about education into writing, as John Dewey has done. We can revisit our own Pedagogic Creeds and reflect on changes we might make or ways in which we can improve our practices in order to meet our goals.

It is unclear to me if we should practice what John Dewey has written about incorporating home life into school: “the school life should grow gradually out of the home life; that it should take up and continue the activities with which the child is already familiar in the home” (Dewey, 1987). I think that nine times out of ten this may be appropriate, but there is the one time when it is inappropriate.  We cannot always be sure that our students have a happy and healthy home life. If we are incorporating activities from home, we must be sure that they are beneficial to the student and his classmates of course. I feel that most students that I have had the pleasure of working with have had wonderful home lives. I think that it is very beneficial for these students to have parents and teachers working on similar goals and communicating often. There are a few students who benefit greatly from the school day, but whose parents are not communicative and do not cooperate with homework or goals. I would change Dewey’s phrase to say something more like: The school life should communicate and collaborate with the home life.

References

Dewey, J., (1987) My Pedagogic Creed. School Journal, 54, 77-80.

Key Idea Identification…

The key idea of this week’s lecture and reading is about the history of moral education.  A key concept is that there have been many attempts at incorporating ethics and morals into the education system of America. There were many reforms to the education system in order to better teach ethics and morals in the public schools.  The system that is currently being employed, which is reliant on the public schools to teach morals, is “problematic” (Ellis, 2011). This system is reliant on ‘experts’ to teach morals, instead of being reliant on families and communities. In my own classroom, I do feel that it is my duty to teach morals and expect my students to be respectful citizens. I also feel that family and community involvement can strengthen the values and virtues my students learn at school.

References

Ellis lecture, Alternative Ideas, 2011 & Ellis, Emile Durkheim in the Context of the American Moral Education Paradigm, 1998

Search for Meaning…

I found meaning in this week’s lecture about the work of Horace Mann in the 1840s. Horace Mann served as the Secretary of Education and worked to promote and improve the ‘common’ school. The ‘common’ school was much like a public school of today. The work of Horace Mann is meaningful to all of us today, more than 160 years after he served. His work is meaningful to our students. Horace Mann believed that everyone should be educated, no matter their religious, social or ethnic background.  His work is meaningful to us as educators. Horace Mann believed that teachers should be well-trained. I find this to be meaningful to us as educators and to our students who are now educated by teachers who are “Highly Qualified”. This idea of “Highly Qualified” teachers ties directly to the beliefs of Horace Mann. Educators should be experts in their subject matter and masters of instruction in order to best serve the students of today. We, educators, are now expected to pass many exams to prove proficiency in subject matter and to attend many classes in order to learn about instructional strategies. We are expected to earn continuing education credits and to be lifelong learners in order to best serve our diverse student body. Horace Mann would be happy that our education system today still values his many beliefs about the ‘common’ education.

References

Ellis lecture, American Education, 2011 & Ellis, Historical Perspectives: Education in America

Search for Meaning…

I found meaning in this week’s lecture on how American Education was largely shaped by early European Education.  An idea that came from a European movement and was used in American Education was that “learning should proceed from simple to complex, from concrete to abstract” (Ellis, 2011). I find that this is meaningful because we still use this way of thinking in our schools today. It seems obvious that learning would proceed from simple to complex. To some it is not as obvious that learning would proceed from concrete to abstract. When I support Special Education students in the general education classroom, I sometimes need to modify directions or assignments to be less abstract and more concrete. These students have not yet developed the skills to work with abstract tasks. For example, poetry can be abstract and prove to be a challenging writing task. Students sometimes need this type of writing exercise to be scaffolded for them into a more concrete writing assignment. I understand this development in my students and find that this is an area where I am of great value to them and the general education teacher.

References

Ellis lecture, European Educational Ideas, 2011 & Ellis, Historical Perspectives: Education in the Old World (Part 2)

Search for Meaning…

I found meaning in this week’s lecture when it spoke about the beliefs of Socrates. Socrates was a Greek philosopher who lived 2,500 years ago. He believed that “education and society were closely bonded” (Ellis, 2011). Educators today still consider citizenship to be a major component of education. I found meaning in this part of our educational history because I teach many students with autism. These and other special needs students are often lacking in ‘social skills’ and it is one of the fundamental goals of their educations. Often times the social skills that our students are taught are what allow them to acquire academic skills as well. If a student is able to attend and participate (both social skills) then he is much closer to reaching his academic goals. Socrates believed that a large part of education was to prepare citizens for society. This is our goal in Special Education- today! 2,500 years later, we are working to achieve the same things. I am proud to say that I have seen much improvement in my students and feel confident about them as citizens.

References

Ellis lecture, The Emergence of Western Educational Thought, 2011 & Ellis, Historical Perspectives: Education in the Old World (Part 1)

Key Idea Identification…

The key idea of this lecture is the explanation of education in an eastern culture throughout history. The educational principles were shaped by three great philosophers: Confucius, Lao-tzu, and Gandhi.  A few key principles of eastern culture and education are collectivism rather than individualism, respect for age and order, and a search for wisdom and inner peace. A key idea for educators of English Language Learners (ELLs)  from an eastern culture is about the role of the teacher. Students from eastern cultures have been taught to think of the teacher as a “wise person, as someone in whom the student can have great confidence”. An ELL teacher may find that her students expect her to be a giver of knowledge and may need to be taught about group work and learning from peers and projects.

References

Ellis lecture, The Emergence of Eastern Educational Thought, 2011

I Learned…

That there are four aims or goals of American Education: Academic knowledge, citizenship, self-realization and career. We educators should act as ‘facilitators’ in helping our students to realize these goals. Our students should be the active participants in reaching these goals. The knowledge that students will be obtaining is constructed through activity, such as painting, building, creating and writing. I learned that the goals that I have for my special education students are no different than the goals that all educators in America have for their students. My goals for my students are to help them construct knowledge, to be responsible citizens, to be self-reliable and towards a vocation.

References

Ellis lecture, Four Broadly Accepted Goals of Education, 2011