Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Field Blog 1 AP Chemistry

Over the past three weeks I have observing classes at West Geauga High School. Over the course of these blogs, I will depict the themes and summarize what they mean and how I came about these conclusions. It is also important to state that the themes I found between the classes were very different due to a few reasons given through these blogs. This first blog post will summarize all of the themes that I found while observing an AP chemistry class.

The first thing to note is the size of this class. The class has 4 students in it. This really sets a tone for the type of interaction between the teacher and the students. This interaction will lead into the first theme that I discovered.  This theme is that the teacher was very hands off with the students. Since this was an AP class and there were four of them, it was very easy for the teacher to let the kids go discover the material on their own. This also works because in chemistry, there is a lot of abstract concepts, from designing a lab from inquiry, or finding a tangent line between two different topics to connect them. This reminds me of my time in AP chemistry because there is a certain struggle when you don't know how to design or carry out a lab, and you have to be able to struggle through this in order to learn.

The second theme that is found within the AP chemistry is not as easy to find as the teacher letting the students discover things on their own, and this theme is the use of both the banking style and problem solving style of education. The banking style of education is a pedagogy expressed by Paulo Freire where the students are only responsible for storing information given by the teacher and the teacher is only responsible for giving information to be memorized. Now, you may think that this contradicts the first theme that I have listed, and well, you would be right. However, this is combined with the problem solving method of education. This is also mentioned by Paulo Freire, and states that the teacher has to make the students critically think about what is going on in the real world. This is then incorporated into the learning material. The AP chemistry class utilizes this by using the banking method to give the information needed to have students start to explore. I do believe that this is the best way to teach a class. Give them the materials they need to succeed, and then turn them loose to explore the material introduced.

Clinical Teaching Reflection

I performed a clinical teaching exercise with  Ross Martin, and Grace DeMarco for my education class. This is where we take over the class for a day and teach the class and lead discussion based on certain topics. The topic discussed in class was how to reform the inner city schools because, as of right now, the schools are failing and we are destroying the chances for students in these areas. Another topic discussed was the funding for schools and how there was a clear discrepancy between what is acceptable funding, and what is going on now.

The hardest part of this presentation was trying to lead them down the path I wanted them to take, without taking away their personal beliefs. To do this, we focused on national problems and issues that any person can relate to. This went along with the in class readings, but allowed for the students to keep their own personal bias when they thought about their own experiences.

I feel like we did a fairly good job when it came to sending messages to the students. I feel like we did a good job taking in a lot of options and picking out what was the best thing to do to tell the class the facts of the situations. It was hard to start a conversation, but that is part of leading a discussion like that, you have to be able to get students to want to talk about the issue. If they talk because they have to, there is a chance that you may receive  answers the students think you want to hear. I feel like the national scale discussion also let the students see how the problem effected them and not just a small portion of them.

I don't think that I was up to the standards that I hold myself too, because I held back a lot of personal input to help the students think about the questions we were asking. I feel that I started to become more confident and less introverted when I talked about the poverty trap, but I feel that I could have done a better job of conveying a message to the students.

This experience was good in that it  let me experience what it was like to lead that type of experience. It also really helped that I had two people that I could trust working with me. The hardest part was easily making the connection with the students at the start, but after that was made, I feel like it was a good presentation and discussion on inner city schools.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Annotative Bibliography

Source 1

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins122147.html

This is a quote from Albert Einstein that says "It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge." This is the backbone of my essay and will be the tangent line that is stressed throughout the whole essay. It will be enforced by the other sources and experiences that I also share in this essay. 

Source 2

https://www.pta.org/programs/content.cfm?ItemNumber=1459 

This is a research summary of all the findings done by a research project in 2002. This Article will be used to convince the audience that parents and family have to be involved in the education of a student. This will be done by incorporating the classroom life of the student to the home life of the student, and the teacher has to be able and willing to communicate to parents about the student. 

Source 3


This article goes over the pros and cons of a standardized test on the student body. This is important because it is the gateway to talking about the effects of testing and banking styles of education. This will allow me to bring class material into the essay as well as incorporate the personal experiences of testing. This is going to be another major point in my essay because this will debate the banking style and problem solving methods of education.

Source 4


This article is about what the achievement gap is, and how it effects the student body of inner city schools. This is going to be the topic where I talk about the role of the teacher being even more important in these disadvantaged communities because they have to be active parts of the students life just like suburban school teachers. I will also use this to talk about the "poverty trap" and the effects of an income gap on schools and communities. 

Final Field Trip Observations

This time we ventured to Shaker Heights Middle School. This observation was quite different from the other ones that I have done because the classrooms that we were supposed to observe were not able to allow me to observe because of standardizing testing that was going on at that time. So instead of talking about beliefs about a pedagogy like my usual rants consist of, I will tackle the idea of standardized testing and how it effects a child's goals.

It is no secret that the standardized tests are a way of measuring the goals of a student, teacher, and school. Now, I have a different take on standardizing tests because I do see a lot o food in them as well as the bad. As far as the bad ideas go, the tests do favor the schools that are richer and are able to support a curriculum that influences a student to critically think and not to memorize. This is a major problem for the inner city schools because they cannot keep up with suburban schools. This is a problem with how the test is made, and there are ways to design the test so that this doesn't happen. For example, the test can focus on critical thinking skills, and schools could then teach that fundamental concept to students.

The good that comes from the test is that it does allow for a distinguished difference in ability of students. For this allow me to expand my idea of standardized tests to the ACT and SAT too. These tests are used to give a students common knowledge base on core subjects. These test scores are analyzed by the colleges and organizations that students are applying to. Without these tests, I don't see a way to give that information to colleges, with the exception of mandatory essays that most colleges already require.

So the tests are bad in a way and good in a way.I do not have a problem with them as much as I have a problem with the system that they stem from. We should find a different type of tests for our students to take to level out the playing field for all kids, and that is the real challenge. Thank you once again for reading and feel free to research this to come up with your own ideas.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

What Do I believe?

This will the last post that is not on an observation that I recorded. This post is a summery of all my posts so far, and there are some things that stick out above all the words that are spoken. These things will be discussed and conclusions will be drawn from them so you can see what my beliefs are and so I can figure out what my beliefs are.

The first thought that seems to be prominent in my blog posts is this need for a strong foundation before a child can start learning. This can be drawn to the need to connect with the students and parents from a teachers prospective. I believe that students will learn more effectively when the parents are involved in the education and the student feels comfortable with what they are doing. This strong support from home and the teacher forms a foundation that the student can rely on for both questions and answers.

The second thought is that the students will learn when the students want to learn. Students, I feel, only do as much as we ask them to do because they don't have to go above and beyond that standard. If they do then a teacher can praise them on their good work and set a new standard, but the student chooses when to perform that way. Branching off of my first thought, the student will grow out of this foundation that is set. The student will have many ideas and creative impulses, but I feel that they will show those talents when the student is comfortable enough in their learning environment. I have someone very close to me that fits this description perfectly. He is one of the smartest people you will ever meet, but he always fails his classes in high school. Why is this? After talking to him, he says that school is a waste of time for him, and in a way I can see why this is true because the school system does nothing to benefit his learning style or needs. When this person wants to graduate, he will graduate and then can go on to do anything he wants to do, because he has the insight to do so. This subject of independence leads into my next thought, the need for open mindedness

This is the last thought that I can find that sticks out in my blogs. No matter what you do, I feel like the need for the student to become  independent in what he or she thinks. I feel that this is arguably the most important subject for me because I feel that the students will need to become independent thinkers before they can develop the ability to critically think about any topic. I feel that this cannot be achieved through a lecture, but rather a hands on activity that focuses on real world problems or problems that do not have a true solution. These problems can range from ways to solve a problem at home, or all the way around the world to try to think of why countries are scared of the middle east. Problems like these have no true answer to them, but only suggestions, and the development of suggestions can help a student form their own thoughts that reflect their beliefs. However it is important to teach them what kind of thoughts are tolerable. Students need to have a tolerance in their head for a multitude of things that range from sexuality to something as small as sharing.

So there it is, a collection of the beliefs that have formed throughout the year, and how they relate to the subject of education. They are very opinionated and personal, but that is what a belief is. There are no wrong beliefs but there are those that are accepted and rejected. Just remember to stay independent in your thoughts because you are the person who knows what you believe best.

Cleveland Heights high school Observations

Cleveland Heights is a public high school in the greater Cleveland area. I went in with the question, "how does the teacher involve the students in their learning?" This question guided my observations and also my interpretations.

My observations were in a chemistry class room and the first thing I noticed was teachers positioning in the classroom. Her desk was in the back of the class opposite of the whiteboard and projector. This seemed odd to me because the teacher had to keep walking back and fourth in order to teach her lesson. The teacher also did a fair amount of group work. Taking a look at her lesson plan for the next couple days, it all was various group activities. The kids were quite active and loud in their learning and some never stopped talking until the teacher asked them a question.

When it came to interpretations, my thoughts were that the teacher had her desk at the back to keep an eye on the class, and for group work, maybe the kids learn better in groups because the kids who understand can help the kids who do not understand. As for the kids who were being loud and did not stop talking, I figured that they were not that excited about learning and the teacher was trying to get them to at least mention the topic and that is why she called on them.

There was only one thought that I had dismissed and it was that the students who did not stop talking were disrespectful kids. I thought this at first, but there are many factors that go into a classroom dynamic, and maybe they are the best students in another class. I do not know them so I gave them the benefit of the doubt about this. Everything else about the class and school didn't warren these types of thoughts, so I am getting better at not judging people when I first see them which is a problem of mine.

What it takes to become a good teacher

Teaching is commonly viewed as an instrument that passes on knowledge to students, and then students will be tested on the information. Once the test is passed, then the students will most likely forget part of their learning and go on to the next subject to take the next test. It is up to the teacher to build bridges, which means to connect things that happen in the outside world to the students learning. These can be as simple as showing a student who has problems at home stories about other kids who have those problems, or something on a worldwide topic like learning about the middle east while we were at war with terrorists. However, there are different ways of approaching teaching so that the teacher does not lecture the students and the students do not regurgitate information.

The teaching style described above is called the "banking method" because the teacher stores knowledge only to ask on it later. This method is common among a multitude of teachers at all levels, but that doesn't make a teacher a "good teacher" to all kids. To be a good teacher, the teacher has to be able to make learning enjoyable for the students and has to make all students feel like they are part of the learning. This can be done by having them critically think about the problems that are brought up by the teacher or having them do group projects to come up with a solution, but not all kids would like that either. It is up to the teacher to find a way for each student to be able to learn effectively. This is what makes a teacher good, the ability to have each student learn in the best way for them. Albert Einstein once said "It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge." This follows the same policies discussed above, and if Einstein thinks this will helps education, there probably is some truth behind it. 

Monday, March 9, 2015

Post It Up

The annotation I chose to develop was the phrase that teachers see the world as a "reality in process." This phrase has a very in depth meaning to it and there are a lot of factors that go into this style of thinking. In this blog I will attempt to provide an explanation to this saying and what it means for the teachers in the future.

This saying reality in motion, deals with the situations that are outside the classroom. A student has school as only a small part of his or her life and the teacher has to take this into consideration. If a plan is never changed to fit the situation of the students than a system where the teacher will give information to every student the same way and the students only store that information, or a banking system. Paulo Freier stated in his essay that "In problem-posing education, people develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in the world with which and in which they find themselves." This is vital concept moving forward as it helps students learn not only the material, but about themselves.

  A lot of people are now moving towards a proactive learning style And it shows from the thoughts of a Northeastern University student, Sage Witham, "The role of a teacher and a student will always remain; however, it is the distance between the roles and authority of the two which should change." This quote sums up the essay because the teacher is not only responsible for giving out information but learning from the students that are present as well.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Sexuality in school

Race, gender, religion, sexuality, and personal appearance; all of these things are categories that people are judged upon. The categories are things that an individual has little to no control over without major changes to a lifestyle. So, is it fair to judge or cast an opinion on a person who is different than you? In this blog post, I will discuss the openness of sexuality and why it is important to respect those who are different than you.

In Rofues's A Radical Rethinking of Sexuality and Schooling, he says that "that we deserve pleasure and happiness, the enjoyment of picking our noses, the thrill of hugging our security blankets, the excitement we find in fondling our genitals, the satisfaction we get from stealing cookies from the cookie jar." He says that the radical thinking about sexuality is about changing the school system to make it safer and a better experience for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders (LGBT), but what do liberals think about this? In the article Liberal Sex Ed and Rational Opposition by Chad Felix Greene, he states that kids should have a safe place to practice whatever sexual desire they have because liberals believe that the people should be nurtured more than a system. He says "As long as children are nurtured through this time and taught to cherish their sexuality without flaunting or exposing it indiscriminately, it can be a healthy experience for the child." Neither side is wrong in this discrepancy, but I have my own opinion on this topic. I believe that both sides should be combined into one idea. 

I like that the radicals want a system that will help LGBTs be safer and have a better school experience, but I also like the liberals ideas of embracing an individual. I want a school where there are programs made for LGBTs so they have a safe gathering place, and a place for others to come and learn about them as individuals and not as a group in general. I also want to help them embrace their sexuality to make them more comfortable in their own skin. It will not be an easy thing to do, but change is hard. If people are willing to help make a difference when it comes to acceptance, then it will get done.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Language

Teachers hold a lot of influence on their students. Many of these influences are for the betterment of the student, but there are some things that a teacher can do that will make a student question himself. As a teacher, it is your job to not only teach material, but teach the child as a whole. If you question any part of a child, that child may become self-conscious. One of the biggest things, and the topic that will be discussed in this blog, is the importance of the language that a student speaks at home, and has to speak in the classroom.


The language that a person grows up speaking is often called the mother tongue, and is the language that the child associates with love the strongest. It is important to embrace this language in order for the child to be confident in himself. Also, if the teacher questions the language spoken at home of a child there are two natural responses for the child. The first is to question the home life of the family and try to change to try to fit into the customs of society. The other is that the student may disregard everything that the teacher says at that point because the teacher questioned the love that they grew up with. Neither of these things are good scenarios for anyone to deal with. It is important as a teacher to embrace a students unique qualities and show that they are in the right, no matter what they grew up with.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Field Blog Boulevard Elementary

At the elementary school, I saw that every classroom was very colorful, kids were excited to be there, the teachers were all very positive and active, and almost every classroom we visited had some sort of group activity. All of these things go into what can make a classroom lively and a hood place to learn.

These observations are just broad categories of what I saw while at the school. My best experience in getting to know what the kids felt like was reading the story of the snowman with them and playing a game on symbiosis with them. The kids all were very eager to get things done and learn form them, and I was surprised by this. After living in a house with two brothers for so long, the feeling of excitement has gone through each one of us. We all focused on grades in high school instead of the content and this was nice to see the kids having fun. I also noticed a lot of group work. I am a huge fan of group work and that social interaction that goes with it.

There were some things that I thought while we were there that made me second guess myself. While observing the fifth graders, they were really obnoxious and I thought at the time that they were just rude kids. After a while, I remembered how I was back in elementary school and I was the same way. This was my only real judgement of the kids, because I admire how much they want to learn. In a way, it sparked my own interests in learning new things as well.

Nothing during the observation at the school would go into a "parking lot" category. I went in there looking for certain things and knew it would be a different world than what I remember school being as. I was pleasantly surprised at the kids eagerness to learn and the teachers willingness to teach. I really liked the group work of the classes, because group work focuses on teamwork; that is essential for future jobs. It was a very colorful school with enthusiastic kids and teachers; every kid there wants to be there and that enhances their experience more than they know.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Delpit Quote

The quote that Lisa Delpit "We do not see through our eyes or hear through our ears, but through our beliefs." is relevant to more things than you would first think. Say a women walks down the street and she has no hair. The first thing that may pop into your head is that there is something wrong with her, whether it be a sickness, such as cancer, or a mental disorder. However, she may also have donated her hair for a good cause. There are two ways to see this situation right off the bat, and many more if you stop and think about it.

 For me, this happens almost every time I go into a public place with my family. I have a bad habit of passing a judgement on people before I get to know them. One guy in specific lives in my dorm. I first met him on move in day and immediately said that he was just odd and I couldn't relate to him. After some time and me getting to know him, he slowly became my best friend, so he went from an outcast to me to being my best friend, and this was almost stopped because of my bias. Bias is a real concern if it gets in the way of getting to know someone, because you do not know what a person is like until you actually get to know him.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Class Blog 2

Description

There was a little boy with an orange monkey around his shoulders and a small rope going into the hand of the women holding back the little boy. Most people were walking at a slow pace and stopped to look at something every couple seconds. The women's clothing section was the busiest with the baby clothing section being the least crowded. People did not have smiles on, they had straight faces.

Interpretation

The lady holding the monkey was probably a mother with her child on a leash, so the little boy could not run off into the toy section. People walked at a slower pace because they want to look at the things around them and they stopped every few seconds because they are shopping for things they need. Women's clothing is the busiest because, typically, women buy more clothes than men and babies are the least populated because that is a situation product for people to buy. People did not have animated faces because they were not trying to have fun but to get things done.

Parking Lot

When I saw the little boy my friend immediately said that is bad parenting and my first thought was that it was wrong to put your kid on a leash. I saw a rather hefty man with nothing but potato chips and cookies in his kart and I thought that he was just an unhealthy eater, but he could be having a party of some sort.

I found that I am very quick to form an opinion of a person. Within a couple seconds of watching a person, I already have an opinion of them and I either like them or I do not have a good feeling about them. This is a bad habit that is hard to break because it is a habit that most people have. Everyone forms opinions of people, but some people are better at discarding that opinion. I want to become better at getting to know a person before i cast a judgement over them.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Class Survey

1. I prefer to be called Matt

2. I am from a small town called Novelty, Ohio, and here's my photo

3. I want to teach high school chemistry

4. I was the captain on my high school baseball team as the starting first baseman and the 1st pitcher in the rotation. This led into me throwing javelin for JCU now. I love being on the water and I have a boat that i go fishing on every day it is nice out in the summer. This semester I am hoping to figure out what I want to major in and get my life steered in the right direction.

5. In order for me to be able to take risks in a classroom, I have to feel comfortable with the students and the teacher in that class. I am typically a very reserved person and it is easy for me to get into a state of mind where I watch what is going on, but I do not participate. Once the comfort level rises in a class, I open up more and it is easier for me to state what I think about a certain topic.

6. In class, I like to say what I think about a certain topic. I am a very fiery person and if there is a topic I enjoy, I will really get into the discussion. I am responsible for the preparation of class assignments because I like to do a good job on whatever I do. I am a very honest person with myself, sometimes to the point where it distracts me, but I think that it just gets me to want to do better in what I do. At this point, I know what works for me when it comes to learning styles and that is I want to work hands on and learn by doing rather than watching. When I don't understand something, the first thing I do is look it over again after some time has passed. If i don't know it again after that, I will go to a tutor or professor and ask for help on that topic.

7. A memory I have as a student is my high school English class. This class was during my senior year, and all I wanted to do was coast through the school year with no work getting done. My teacher was able to grab and hold my attention as a student by being the most personable teacher I have ever had. The connection he made with me is what drove me to becoming a teacher.

8. One concern I have about the educational field, is the quality of teachers in the field. I have been fortunate enough to have good teachers all the way through my educational career, but my older brother has not been so lucky. There have been teachers that do the bare minimum for the students in my brother's classes, and it is hard to thrive in that kind of environment. Another big issue facing the education field, is the lack of funding some schools get. I went to a public school that had about 800 students in it, and the school was in horrible condition. The roof had to be re-placed, the plumbing would break every other week, and the floor tiles were coming apart. It is very difficult for a student to do well when they are not in an environment that lends itself to learning.

9. My question for the class is, what do you mean when you say that you have to know yourself before you can become a good teacher?