Education Is a Continuous Journey

I believe that education is a continuous journey. One starts on this journey well before they are even aware that they are learning as a young child. I think each moment we have in our lives is an opportunity to learn and each child has an inborn curiosity of the world around them. Learning is a slow process and our brain continues to grow and develop as we get older because of all of the things we experience. I think that an important thing teachers can do in the classroom to make sure each child is learning all they can is to teach to all different learning abilities. There are many different learners, some may be visual, some may be hands on, and some may learn best with hearing the teacher talk aloud. I think it is important to always change up the way we teach so that we don't hinder any child's learning ability and slow them down on their educational path. I believe that always allowing questions in the classroom, and never scolding for "stupid" ones is an extremely important way to keep the children's minds open to education. Once a teacher portrays to a child that it is not okay to stray from what she has taught and not allow them to find connections on their own the teacher has really done the child a dis-justice. The child will begin seeing education as boring and not adventurous which is not helpful because the child will be a lifelong learner, and they should be excited to learn, not discouraged. Because we learn the basic life skills and every daily routines from our parents it is extremely important for the teacher to take into account the different cultural and economic backgrounds the children come from. These differences can be seen as stepping stones on ones journey. They may be different and unique but they all get us going in the right direction. Because many classrooms are so culturally diverse the children may have experienced different things at the beginning of their educational journey. These unique things they have experienced is important to who the child is and should be embraced. No ones educational path in life is identical. Because we have all learned different things in life we will all have a different aspect of education and how it affects our daily lives. As a teacher you should encourage individualism and not try and make the children learn only one way or think of things in a specific way, because this will only hurt their educational curiosity that they were born with. Education can take place in many forms, by many different people and in many different ways. This is what makes the continuous journey so exciting because new experiences , that occur every day, add to the stepping stones of this ongoing journey.

Educational foundations, Canestrari

Education, McNergney

Is Inclusion hurting Teacher's Self Esteem?

The idea of Inclusion has been somewhat of a debate among teachers. A study done on student teachers " revealed that the respondents held positive attitudes toward the general concept of inclusion but their perceived competence dropped significantly according to the severity of children's needs "(Avramidis). There has been a mixed feeling of weather teachers feel as though they are cut out for mainstreaming in the classroom because of inclusion. It adds on alot of extra streess and the teacher may not feel like a good enough teacher because the does not know how to handle "emotional and behavioural difficulties" that they "see as potentially causing more concern and stress than those with other types of special needs" (Avramids). I think this holds alot of truth because of the wide range of disabilities that there are and the many different variations of a particular disability that a child may have. In educational foundations on page seventy five they stated that "teachers must learn to adjust to mainstreaming, regardless of their politics” which i think is hurting their self esteem as teacher because they feel as though they are being forced to deal with situations they do not feel competent to handle by themselves. What parent wants their special needs child to have a teacher that is unsure of his own abilities to affectively teach their child?I am sure not many parents want this for their child, so special education courses and assistance in the classroom needs to be more readily available to teachers so they can be confident in their work.

Educational foundations, Canestrari, page 75

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X99000621 Avramidis

Who is Getting a Better Education? Boys vs. Girls

In chapter three McNergney talks about gender differences in the classroom. She talks about how girls develop better reading and writing skills and boys develop better math and self esteem skills. there are many different opinions on if this is an inborn trait or is it is something that is learned. i have found two opposing quotes, McNergney states "often subconsciously, some teachers tend to offer classroom activities that appeal more to boys' interests than to girls' and to use instructional methods that favor boys" (McNergney 49). The opposing quote comes from christine Skelton "it has been argued by some commemtators that a contributory factor to boys' under achievement is the predominance of woman teachers in primary schools which has led to classroom managment and teaching styles that favor girls "(Skelton 1). This is true that elementary teachers are predomintly woman so they could teach in a way that makes the most sense to them, but i believe many teachers try to incorporate more things into their eduction in favor of boys because they realise they need to also focus on their learning styles. I think it really depends on the teacher and how well the teacher can harmonize the two teaching styles. i have had one experiance where boys were much greater favored in the class then girls but this does not sway my opinion that it is an issue of the teacher knowing how to properly handle two different learning styles.

http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED458162&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED458162

Why do people choose to teach?

Why do people choose to teach? The answer to this question may be far more complicated then what one may originally assume. People choose to becaome teachers for hundreds of different reasons, may it be enjoying childrens company, having summers off or wanting to make a difference in the community. Some people teach because they are trying to right a wrong that was done to them in school such as racism as stated in Kohl's artical. I think all of these reasons are good reasons to want to teach but there must be more to a person then just the perks of being a teacher. I believe all teachers must come to terms with the fact that they are a role model from the second they first step foot in a classroom untill the day they retire. They are a very important influence in a childs life "teachers mold the future each day in class, in fact, it is a sad fact that you will see some of these students more consistantly day-to-day then their parents will"(kelly). teaching is one of the only careers that allows you to virtually do something different every day and have the ability to start fresh every year " not many jobs provide an individual with so much room to be creative and autonomous each day "(Kelly). Each year gives the teacher the oppertunity to feel as though "when i walk into a new classroom, it is as if i am starting over. my problems are perennial" (Palmer 10). These are both reasons i want to teach. I want to be a role model for young kids and have a positive effect in their lives. I am a person who does not do well at a desk job, i know that i need oportunities to try new things every day and be creative. being a teacher will allow me to do both. I believe i have a passion for teaching because i have had so many wonderful teachers in my life. my favorite quote comes from Palmers book The Courage to teach "the connections made by good teachers are held not in their methods but in their hearts" (palmer page 11).

Sources:

Why teach? pages 12-31) Herbert Kohl. Educational foundations second edition

Http://712educators.about.com/od/teacherresources/tp/teachergood.com Top ten reasons to become a teacher. Melissa Kelly

Http://www.wou.edu/~girodm/library/palmer.pdf the courage to teach. Parker A Palmer