Chapter 12 Reflection

Post a reflection on this chapter, How Should Education Be Reformed? - 2-3 paragraphs

The authors of the text book maintains: “Some educators and politicians argue that much more needs to be done to improve U.S. schools, given that the reforms implemented to date have not led to significant gains in academic achievement. Others disagree, stating that U.S. schools are a great social achievement, educating more children to higher levels than the schools supported by any other society in the world. A number of skeptics believe that the schools-and particularly the public schools-are incapable of being reformed.” I personally disagree with the skeptics, for the simple reason that I myself needed intervention to equalize my chances for academic success. Were it not for that intervention, that being, differentiated learning, I would not have achieved the level of academic success I am now enjoying.

Accordingly, from my past experiences and vantage point, I believe differentiated learning should be mandatory for failing students. Presently, only a handful of schools are using this concept and they are experiencing greater success in comparison with standardized methods.

Ultimately, it is worth noting what a leading expert on school reform, David Kerbow, concluded in his book entitled Patterns of Urban Student Mobility and Local School Reform:  “As students transfer, and mobile students forfeit the benefit of continuity of school services ... it has deep (though often hidden) consequences for the schools these students attend and for the systemic changes intended by local school reform” (Kerbow 147-169).

Work Cited

Kerbow, David. "Patterns of Urban Student Mobility and Local School Reform." Journal of  Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR) . 1.2 (2009): 147-169. Print. <http://www.tandfonline.com/>.

Chapter 11 Reflection

Outside of a teacher position, in which of the governing roles (legislator, principal, superintendent, and school board member) would you most like to serve? Why?

Outside of a teaching position, I would like to serve as a school principal. In support thereof, please see the following:

I, as Principal will provide leadership and administration which will motivate instructional and support personnel to strive for superior performance so as to provide the best possible opportunities for student growth and development, both educationally and personally.

I will be directly responsible to the Superintendent of Schools except in the areas of curriculum and instruction where the responsibility is to the Director of Educational Services.

I will also maintain direct supervision over:

1. Licensed Staff

2. Head custodian

3. Head cook

4. Secretarial/clerical staff

5. All regular instructional and other professional staff members assigned to the school.

In addition to my primary function, I shall be responsible, among other things for:

1. Developing and administering the general school routine, and coordinate all activities within the school building.

2. Participating in the selection of new teaching and classified personnel.

3. Observing, counseling, and motivating professional staff toward performances to attain the educational goals of the District.

4. Utilizing to the fullest extent possible, all available school facilities, materials, and staff service personnel.

5. Continually evaluating existing programs and practices, curriculum content, and pilot or experimental programs.

6. Maintaining an educational philosophy and school climate which encourages a cooperative and participating attitude on the part of all teachers and students.

7. Maintaining a standard of student behavior designed to command respect and minimize school and classroom interruptions.

8. Resolving student behavioral problems on buses.

9. Encouraging and initiating continued improvement in curriculum and teaching methods in cooperation with District Administration, subject area specialists, and faculty.

10. Identifying intellectual, physical, social and emotional needs affecting students’ success in school, and taking steps to direct and coordinate the efforts of teachers and parents with staff services and special education personnel.

11. Planning and submitting annual budget needs for the building to the Director of Business Affairs.

12. Maintaining effective communication to keep the staff, students, and parents properly informed.

Chapter 14 Notes

What Can the New Teacher Expect?

Although prospective teachers may think that schools will hold few surprises, being on the other side of the desk is a very different experience and can produce a sense of culture shock. Administrators play an important but often confusing role in the life of the beginning teacher.

Although fellow teachers are an enormous source of learning and support, they can sometimes be a source of difficulty. New teachers learn much about the job in which they are supposed to be experts: instruction.

 Some of the most intense satisfaction and disappointment confronting new teachers come from those they came to help: students. Working with parents can be surprisingly complex and is rarely what the new teacher has anticipated.

Beginning teachers can follow specific strategies to mitigate problems and heighten their chances for a successful career start. Teaching invariably has hidden sweetness and secret joys.

First, the good news: forecasters predict that as a result of teacher retirement and population growth, U.S. schools will need 2 million new teachers in the next decade. Not since World War II has there been such a promising job market for teachers.

Now the bad news: the first year of teaching can be a rough one-too rough for many beginners. Each year, many new teachers walk into their classrooms with energy, high hopes, and rose-colored glasses, only to face unexpected problems that cause them to give up on teaching or radically lower their perceptions of their capabilities as teachers.

Rather than ignoring or-even worse-sugarcoating these problems, we focus on them, even at the risk of frightening some readers. Further, new teachers can actually find satisfaction in solving their problems and in succeeding as professionals.

Parents are not always a teacher's allies. In this class, a new teacher's creative lesson on DNA is paying off in student interest. The class clowns who were so amusing to you in high school are often a very different story when they reappear in your classroom. Being happy in your work will make you a more effective teacher.

Chapter 13 Notes

What Are Your Job Options in Education?

Teaching is a large occupation, representing 4 percent of the entire civilian work force in the United States. There are more than twice as many K-12 teachers as registered nurses and five times as many teachers as either lawyers or professor sin this country.

Certain job-hunting strategies will increase your chances of locating the right job for you. You may have to spend considerable time and energy preparing materials for your job search.

Licensure requirements differ from state to state for both general and specialized areas of teaching.

A wide variety of careers are available to people trained as teachers. If you are unable to secure a teaching position or wish to change careers after you have teaching experience, the skills you have acquired in teacher education can be transferred to related occupational areas.

No matter what the states of the job market at a particular moment, there has never been a surplus of good teachers. Better-prepared teachers will find it easier to find employment and will improve both the teaching profession and its public image.

  Many people believe there will be a shortage of teachers in the near future. Of course, estimates of shortages are based on rapidly changing situations that are influenced by unpredictable factors.

Obviously, when more students are enrolled in schools, more teachers are needed. The good news is that enrollments in public and private schools reached 55.6 million students in 2007 and are projected to increase to 58.1 million in 2015. In the United States, enrollments in secondary schools will increase by about 3 percent through 2015, while enrollments in elementary schools will increase by 7 percent over this same period. The number of classroom teachers is expected to increase almost 400,000 over the next decade, increasing from 3.6 million in 2007 to almost 4 million by 2015.

Rural America traditionally has encountered difficulty attracting and holding onto teachers because of lower salaries and a more sedate lifestyle than that sought by many young teachers. Not enough qualified teachers are willing to teach in urban and rural schools, particularly those serving low-income students or students of color. 

 There have been and continue to be chronic national teacher shortages in certain subjects, including speech pathology; special education (all areas); bilingual education; audiology; mathematics; science (physics, chemistry, earth and physical science, biology); and English as a second language. There is some surplus of teachers in elementary education, health and physical education, and social studies.

 Interestingly, there is a demand for male teachers at the elementary school level, where they account for less than 10 percent of the teaching force. The shortage of minority teachers deprives both White and minority students of positive role models. There are many alternative careers for people who are trained as teachers but who elect not to teach in schools.

Chapter 10 Reflection

Predict what will have changed about today's schools by the year 2020. This is your opportunity to forecast.

No one can accurately predict the future, unless they have a divine revelation from God himself.  What we can do is watch the trends. So will today’s schools by the year 2020 be any different from those we see in our schools today? Yes, most of today's jobs rely either exclusively, or to a large extent, on information and communication technology of one form or another. This trend is on the increase. Just look at FaceBook and Apple, there innovations are already changing the communication landscape all over the world. It follows that children of the future will need even more computer literacy skills than they have now.

My friend’s nephew, who will be 12 this year, wants to become an interactive games tester - a job that was unheard of when I left school. New electronic media enable new forms of education. As more and more of the work in a society occurs online, it becomes possible to engage more and more learners in "teleapprenticeships." These are formal educational frameworks that engage people in learning through their remote participation in ongoing work settings. I predict the future classroom is going to implement full internet protocol, that is, both client and host will be operating at 100% wherein students can directly communicate with the teachers albeit remotely.

Globalization is also on the increase and business can communicate efficiently and effectively with their partners, suppliers, and customers and manage their supplies, inventories, and distribution network. Local producers can sell their products in distant markets with the same ease and speed as in their home country. Accordingly, I predict that schools of the future will have to teach more about other cultures and show students how they can maximize their skills in other countries. More languages will have to be taught, a drastic move from the usual one foreign language requirement. While this may seem a bit too much, it may simply be a case of mastering yet another Computer Application (App); Google has already put in place on its website a computer App called Google Translate, which can translate most of the world’s major languages with 2 clicks.

Chapter 9 Reflection

 

Post a reflection on this chapter - 2-3 paragraphs

What Are The Philosophical Foundations Of American Education?

Developing my own Philosophy of Education is an ongoing process that requires reflection and experience. Importantly, Eclecticism is not an excuse for sloppy thinking.  Eclecticism embodies the idea that truth can be found anywhere, and therefore people should select from various doctrines, systems, and sources. The eclectic teacher selects what he or she believes to be the most attractive features of several philosophies At its heart is the recognition that no philosophy of education is able to dictate the ideal methodology or learning strategies for all situations or all students.

The unique nature of humans gave rise to differing philosophical frameworks that impact politics, economics, culture, education, and society, often creating conflict and competition.  In the field of education, schools of educational philosophy have presented their competing voices for the establishment and direction of educational research, practices and purposes. (Briton, 1996; Scott, 1998).

It is understood that Humans are unique beings, free agents, knowledge and truth seekers, with integrated needs and desires of a social, psychological, emotional, spiritual, and physical nature, with capacity for good and evil, preferring good, but it is easier for them to do what is wrong, in fact it takes more out of an individual to do the right thing.

Society on the other hand, is a subdivided, social structure, maintained or changed by the collective will of its members, and in continuous conflict due to various power groups, with a responsibility to assist individuals and families in full and active participation, through meaningful work, education, recreation, and personal growth, while maintaining the freest agency of its individual members.

Finally, we as Learners are unique, goal setting, security seeking humans that have personal limitations, abilities, and skills, who pass through development stages, in which their cognitive, physiological, social, and affective learning and personal characteristics (Ragan & Smith, 1999) that are unique to us as individuals, take shape and are expressed, having capacity to learn.

Works Cited

 

Scott, S.M. (1998).  Philosophies in action.  In S.M.Scott, B.Spencer, & A.M.Thomas (Eds.), Learning for life. Canadian readings in adult education (pp. 98-106).  Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing.

Briton, D. (1996).  Toward a postmodern pedagogy of engagement in adult education.  In D. Briton, The modern practice of adult education (pp. 99-148).  Published by the State University of New York Press.

Ragan, T.J. & Smith, P.L. (1999).  Instructional design (2^nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.