Teaching 2024 by Caroline Brown

Why teach?

caroline8719 — 2024-05-24 18:58:53 UTC

Why teach is a very loaded question that does not have one distinct answer. We have been battling this question through the whole class, and all of us have different answers. For me, teaching is to change the next generation and to allow a better world. For me, what really solidified my answer of why teach was being in the classroom, with the students. They showed me that there is hope for the next generations. Even though they are so young they have done so much. For example, they survived their main growth stage through covid. They have pulled through and are some of the most sociable students I have ever met.

What shapes our understanding of education, schools, and learning? What lenses do we bring to 3901?

caroline8719 — 2024-05-24 18:59:03 UTC

The section was really talked about all throughout troublemakers. The novel taught us all these different types of teaching, education, and learning. It taught us about how to teach students who struggle with the normal teaching styles. Our understanding of education schools and learning is shaped by our personal experiences and ideas. Everyone's personal Viewpoint and experience create the lens that they view teaching through. Everyone has a different lens and personal experience, so everyone views teaching differently.

What constitutes education? Learning? School? Teaching?

caroline8719 — 2024-05-24 18:59:21 UTC

There are so many things that constitute education and learning. There are so many different styles and types of teaching too. Different schools, such as public, private, charter, and religious all will teach different types of education and learning styles. Ayers, W. & Alexander-Tanner, R. (2010). To Teach: The journey, in comics, showed the story of one teacher and how they teach. This was a great example of what can constitute education. Ms. Harvey had a very mixed type of education. Very open and free, but also with lots of structure. They had a very open seating chart, but a very rigid schedule. It was a different way to portray learning and schools. The photo is what my classroom looked like!

How has history shaped our educational system today?

caroline8719 — 2024-05-24 18:59:34 UTC

History has been immensely powerful in the education system. Changing from a male-dominated field to a mostly female field has been the biggest change. While education has not changed fast, it slowly shifted with time. It also changed with the economic level of students. My presentation about deprofessionalization teaching. overall, while history does have a tight grip on education, as we grow into the new face of teaching, it changes every day. History has also changed the way students of different backgrounds experience education. For example, black students have had a very different experience than white students. Well a lot of these biases are trying to be broken down, they are still there. Historically students of color are more unsafe in a school than white students.

What are our beliefs about school, teaching, learning, and children? How do our lived educational experiences align with those beliefs?

caroline8719 — 2024-05-24 19:00:02 UTC

The novel, To Teach addressed this question very well. But, I also noticed this the most in the classroom. Me and Ms. Harvey's beliefs were shown in our teaching styles. We seak out things that we believe in, so people experience things that align more with their beliefs.

What are the current political, social, and cultural contexts of teaching? How are those varied contexts relevant to democracy?

caroline8719 — 2024-05-24 19:00:17 UTC

Because of the need for multiple viewpoints. the idea of Democracy is the multiple viewpoints. You can't have democracy without multiple opinions and lenses. Ms. Harvey would teach each child how to spell and say their names in different languages that the students learned. James Baldwin’s Lesson for Teachers in Times of Turmoil addressed this topic very well. By talking about covid, and how it created an uprising in the backbone of teaching, he was able to address the current political, social, and cultural contexts of teaching and democracy. They run deep in the veins of teaching and will effect it forever.

Whose interests should schools serve? What might be the future of American public schooling?

caroline8719 — 2024-05-24 19:00:45 UTC

One thing that I realized from my time being in the classroom is that school's interests are very quickly shifting toward students. Students have the ability to walk in and out of classes they choose if they need a break, and they have the chance to pick what they'd like to learn. In the middle schools now, you're not forced to choose between band Orchestra, and choir. There is a multitude of different extracurriculars you can pick including volleyball drawing and others. The future of American public schooling would definitely lean towards students' goals and ideas. It's the whole thing about changing the future, schools want to create the best future possible so they are instilling the best ideas in their students. Students also want to come to school because they are going to do the things they want to do.

What is the purpose of education in a democracy? Why teach?

caroline8719 — 2024-05-24 19:01:02 UTC

I addressed this most in discussion post #4. Because of the need for multiple viewpoints. the idea of Democracy is the multiple viewpoints. You can't have democracy without multiple opinions and lenses. Ms. Harvey would teach each child how to spell and say their names in different languages that the students learned. Democracy is needed to show others' view

Where I was teaching

caroline8719 — 2024-05-27 14:28:48 UTC

I taught at Mendota Elementary School this past semester. I taught in Ms Harvey's third-grade classroom. It was an experience I will never forget. Ms. Harvey is an amazing teacher who handles the classroom very well. All of the students in my class were amazing! My last day was the most amazing day! They all gave me cards, and all got super sad that I was leaving. We played games together and all laughed together. At the very end, they all gave me a hand-drawn card that I will keep forever! It was a very blended school. There was virtually no separation other than grade levels. The disabled students and special ed students were in normal classes all day and were only ever taken to special classes in the morning. There are special divided classes in the morning for students who struggle with certain subjects, like math. During this same time, the "gifted" students have a class, so no one feels left out or better than anyone else.

Summary

caroline8719 — 2024-05-28 13:46:34 UTC

Will I continue teaching? Did I like the class? What is my biggest takeaway?

So what? What did this class teach me? It was one of the most important classes I have ever taken. It has taught me so much more than I could have ever asked for. Overall, it taught me how to be a teacher. It taught me that teaching is so much more than I originally thought it was. It taught me that I want to be a teacher. My view of teachers and the job has changed entirely because of this class! Now I will go on to become the best teacher I can be. I will take all the things that this course, Ms. Zurn, Ms. Harvey, and everyone else here have taught me and apply it to my teachings. I hope I will become as good of a teacher as those who have come before me.

What has been the experience of public education for immigrant, Latinx, female, and LGBTQ+ children in US history?

caroline8719 — 2024-05-29 12:34:48 UTC

The experience of public education for immigrant children in US history has not been amazing. they have often been excluded because of the language barrier between students and teachers, and with other students. They also have to worry about getting deported from their country just because of them going to school. Luckily in my classroom, immigrant children have not been excluded at all. they are treated the exact same as any other student, and if anything they're supported more. Female students have almost always had a disadvantage over their male counterparts. It has been the same as teachers, it was mostly a male-dominated field. when education was first starting out, women were not allowed to be educated. As time has continued to change, there are still boundaries that women need to push through. luckily now, especially in elementary schools, there is very little divide between men and women if any. In Miss Harvey's classroom, there was no divide at all. all the students were treated equally no matter their race or gender. LGBTQ+ students have never been supported as equally as normal students. This is the same with students of disability. They have just never been treated equally because it is not as common of a thing now. As lgbtq+ becomes more acceptable, it will become more accepted in classrooms. As of now, people are working as hard as they can to make lgbtq+ students feel accepted because they are not currently.