Education is Building Blocks

Teaching is like building blocks; in order for a student to grow to the highest level, first they must master, or ‘build’ the bottom with blocks, or knowledge in educations case. Every a child is taught early in their educational careers in important in what they are going to be learning in the future. In order for kids to to keep stacking blocks and building, they must have created a strong base to support the blocks on top. Teachers at a young age have an important job, which is to lay down this strong foundation of skills that students need to build on, just like the building of blocks. If a strong base of certain skills has not been created early in education, it is evident that will not be able to master new skills, or be as successful.

Without teachers, students would not be able to be as successful, but a teacher does not just have to teach students strictly in the classroom, something made more clear in this course. There are many different kinds of schools and schooling systems. Some include schools that are completely outdoor, introducing children to skills about the environment they are living in. These schools are located in Norway, and Costa Rica.

A teachers most important job is to prepare students for their future, using a variety of techniques, but also going deeper into certain subjects then just reaching the surface of things. This allows for the blocks on building to be stronger. The movie we watched in class about the The Story of Stuff, does a really good job explaining the importance of going underneath the surface of certain topics. It will internally help students to develop better skills, having a stronger foundation to bring with them to the future.

Without the sense of teaching compared to building blocks, many kids might think that education is pointless, going to schools and barely learning anything that could be related to what a child already knows, or the interests they have. By building on skills that kids may already have, teachers are engaging students to want to learn more. Going more in depth on certain subjects also allows students to test the waters to see if they interested in a certain field for their future, which can be very helpful when it is time to find a job.

During this semester, we have been posting blogs regarding each subject and module. I have found these blogs to be extremely helpful in regards to the subjects we have been talking about. The blogs helped to see different views on certain subjects that other people thought of, helping me to create a new sense of how I should view certain subjects. I think creating these blogs throughout the semester will be a helpful tool in the future when I am looking to reference certain topics about education.

Social Justice

This week we discussed the importance of social justice as well as different legal issues that are involved in school systems. According to the second article we read,Rethinking Schools, social justice is all about the nurturing and education of all children, and getting them engaged in their educational values.

Social Justice involves creating an equal classroom, and understanding that every student deserves an equal chance to an education, as well as to educational tools that will help them to succeed. The main point social justice is trying to get across is equality.

What should the curriculum be like in a social justice system school? The whole idea behind social justice is to make every student have an equal opportunity to succeed, so that one day they will be able to do the best they can with whatever educational path they may choose. But how does curriculum play a role in social justice? In the fist article,Creating Classrooms of Equity and Social Justice , curriculum is discussed. The object of the curriculum that the students are learning should “talk back” to the world, or be interactive with the world around the students. Students will have a better understanding of education when they can relate it back to specific ideas and thoughts they learned in class, and when they can relate it back to the environment around them, or getting certain tasks done. In order for students to be successful, their work must more outside of the classroom. By allowing students to experience more of the outside world through trials, projects, role playing, and other experiences By allowing students to develop these capabilities to do better in the real world. In this classroom, concepts are experienced first, giving the students a better value of education.

I think that this type of curriculum is important in schools, letting the children discover themselves through experience. I think this type of curriculum is important, especially pertaining to social justice of education. By giving students equal opportunities, they will more likely be successful later on in life, getting a chance to choose whatever field of education they may want.

Place Based and Environmental Education

This week we discussed place based education in the classroom and the importance of it. I read this article on place based education and I thought it was such an interesting article.  The article discusses the importance of environmental education and knowing about the environment that students live in. The article discusses classrooms that are trying to to be environmentally friendly, informing students of the importance of recycling, what products can be recycled, and the importance of the plants and trees around the school and home the students are living in. When I was in elementary school, my teacher did a similar thing with my class. We would go outside and learn about the types of trees in our town, then she took a whole day to inform us about the importance of recycling, what the numbers meant, and if we brought in a recyclable item from home, we would be able to get extra credit for prove that we could recycle.
By providing students with a place based education, teachers are letting students got under the surface or regular education and learn about the fine details about certain topics. The video we watched this week, The Story or Stuff, explains the process of how our everyday stuff is made, but it goes below the surface, going deeper into the process of how stuff is made. So many people are involved in making stuff. Some people have to gather the resources to make the product, some people have to put the products together, and some people have to decompose the products. All these people must also go through school in order to get to where they are today. When students are introduced to environmental education, they may become more creative, and then later in life might find better ways to make or produce products that people use. Environmental education allows for a students to have better experiences, and also able to discover more about life, creativity, and education.

Learning Theories

This week, we were required to read from this article, The Banking Concept, and then write about one learning theory , and compare it to this concept.

One of the learning theories that I want to look at is the the Montessori Schools. The ideas behind this schooling involve an emphasis on independence and freedom within the limits of child's psychological, physical, and social development.

Classrooms for this type of schooling mix ages of children, depending on their development, freedom of movement is emphasized, and student choice of activity is highly looked at.

Mary Montessori developed this type of education in 1897 while in school at the University of Rome. In 1907, she opened her first classroom, where she began to use this type of schooling. Montessori schools came to the United States in the 1900’s, however, the ideas created a conflict. Montessori education is basically a model for human development. They engage in psychological self-construction by interacting with their environments , and that children under the age of six follow a path towards psychological development. This type of schooling also involved free activity with a prepared environment. In this sense, the education was tailored toward human characteristics and development or each individual child and all of the classroom as a whole.

I think the Montessori school system is a great idea when it comes to education in the schools. I like that it allows students of different ages to interact with each other, while also focusing on the development of each individual student and how they are choosing to learn. Aspects of this type of learning are used in schools today. Although teachers have to follow a common core when teaching students, they still require the students to develop certain skills, tested by projects, tests in class, and tests by administrators, and if the child has not developed these skills, often times they will repeat the grade again, to make sure they are getting the best education they can.

The article we also had to read involved reading about the Banking Concept. This concept states many things, but basically it says that a teacher teaches, a students learned with out consulting what they want to learn, and the teacher has all the authority in the classroom while the students are simply objects who know nothing. In a way, the banking concept discourages the power of creativity, wanting all students to learn the same and adapt to be the same. When comparing it to the Montessori education beliefs, I think that some thing might be the same, but they have very different values. The Montessori schools want to help students succeed and develop into the best students they can be, addressing issues regarding all subjects, and creating students who do not all think the same. The teacher is mostly the one teaching and students are learning, just like a banking concept, but often times, teachers can learn from students, looking at how they react to different lessons.

educational philosophies

        Educational philosophies are an important part of education, and should be assessed by different students and teachers depending on what they think about education. Here is the test: educational philosophies test and the scoring sheet: Educational Philosophies Scoring Guide After taking the self assessment, I found out many interesting things about myself. The first thing I thought about this assessment was that it was very confusing to score, but I learned all about the views that I do have involving education. 

I think this instrument could be very accurate in measuring how people feel about education. I think that when scoring that each section is explained depending on how you score is how you view each section of education. I learned that I tend to think of education as something that is going to shape students in ways that they learn, allowing the students to express their important beliefs and values in their education.

This test is very useful when trying to find someones educational philosophies views, but I do not think that is extremely accurate, when trying to find a persons educational philosophies. I think that teachers have other ways to tell what their educational values are, or and the style of teaching that is most affective towards them.

When teaching, I think I will have a variety of different philosophies that will be beneficial toward how I will teach in a classroom. One thing I liked that the scoring chart explained was Progressivism, which believes that a student should be the focus of the eduction rather than the subject matter, suggesting students interests are more valuable then just what they are learning in schools. Society is constantly changing, so teachers have to incorporate different aspects of society into the lessons to make learning fun. I also agree that teachers need to focus on the students individual needs and how that individual thinks that looking at all students as a whole. Some students require different needs and help in specific areas, so when a teacher provides this, students are more likely to succeed then if they were to just only tend to the class as a whole.