October 17 reflection

Today was routine. However, I was informed that Thursday my cooperating teacher will be in a Professional Development meeting the entire day and I will be teaching a review lesson. I am excited and I think this will give me practice on what to expect in my later videotaped project. My only worry is that because there is another teacher there I may not be given as much time with the students as I would like. I'm also happy that I am beginning to get an understanding of students and their personalities. This makes me feel more comfortable when giving out instructions because I know how to modify my instructions based on the student I am speaking to.

Westheimer & Kahne: What kind of citizen?

In Westheimer & Kahne’s piece What Kind of Citizen? They discuss the three types of citizens within a given society: “The Personally-responsible citizen”, “The Participatory Citizen”, and “The Justice Oriented Citizen”. The Personally-responsible citizen believes in being responsible for your community. Despite the label, it does not pertain to individualism instead; the personally responsible citizen makes sure that everyone takes part in supporting and making their environment better. Under this model, citizens are taught that honesty, integrity, and hard work promotes good citizenship. The Participatory Citizen is involved within social and civic affairs of their community: nationally, statewide, and locally. Educational programs that support this model focus on teaching how government and community based organizational groups work. The Justice Oriented Citizen deals with social justice. Good citizenship is dictated through focusing and calling attention to social injustice. These citizens analyze and criticize the antiquated and problematic issues and practices within the community.

Worthy of note, is that all three models for citizenship encapsulates a successful and responsible community. These citizens do not merely stand as one grounding model. They each display a strength that the other lacks. Therefore, there is a purpose for these types of citizens in any community. It becomes an issue however when teaching History. Teachers may believe in a particular model of citizenship over the other and therefore teach based off of their preferred model. This leaves students without a complete perspective of their world. The only solution would be to teach each model as they pertain to the area of learning. For example, when discussing the Civil Rights Movement, the Justice Oriented Citizen should be used. When teaching Government, the Participatory Citizen model should be followed. This gives students the option of choosing which model they want to utilize in life and does not force them to choose based on a limited perspective. Expounding further, there should also be a discussion on why the other models are not as effective within a particular unit.

Upon reading, I realized that I am a Justice Oriented Citizen. This is the reason why I became a teacher. I noticed a disparity of Education between low-income and middle-income students. I also lamented at the quality of learning. There is no reason why students should not be more aware of the significance of social movements. Social Movements have become an essential weapon in combating injustice and that is reflected within the many uprisings that have taken place in the last few months. It is completely important that my students not only understand past historical events but realize that these are not merely isolated incidents within society. We all have the power to invoke great change. Equally important is the Participatory Citizenship. Participatory Citizens, like Justice oriented citizens have the power to bring about major change in government and that is also reflective of History today.

Reference:
Westheimer, J & Kahne, J. What Kind of Citizen? (2004)
http://engagestudiothinking.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/threekindsofcitizenship_excerpt.pdf

Reflection #2

Yesterday we went on a class trip. The realization finally hit me that teaching is hard. It’s not a 8-3pm job. During the trip, I spent most of my time with one of the students. He is an obese tenth grade with Chronic Asthma. During the walk to and from the Museum we were in the back sometimes feets away from the class. Part of the reason was to not offset his Asthma but another reason was because it was just difficult for him to keep up with everyone. It was then I realized that teacher’s roles are difficult. You have to manage students outside of the classroom and that is not an easy task especially if you are dealing with students with disabilities. We ended up having to take a cab back to the school because ti started to rain and he started to wheezing uncontrollably. I understand that this is not a regular occurrence but I kept thinking “this is someone’s child that I’m responsible for !” and whether you are in a classroom or not this has to be going through your mind. As teachers, we are responsible for making sure they have the skills necessary to function in a professional setting. In a way, we are like surrogate parents. Parenting is difficult enough with one or two but twenty plus? The stress begins to weigh heavily on me. My cooperating teacher said succinctly that some of them you just have to let go for the sake of the many. This is a hard lesson that going forward I know I have to learn. Idealistically, I want to save them all. That is why I wanted to become a teacher. I also want to learn how to reach students that have been taught not to trust adults. How do I get them engaged in lessons?

Reflection

Right now I think I am more controlled than warm and in the future, this will not changed. I view teaching as a parent even though I’m not a parent. I don’t care if you like me. I do care that you have the basically standards in place to go forward in life. That being said, I’m going to make it known upfront: I’m not your friend. I am your teacher. I’m here to help you be the best you that you can be. Other than that, I may not always understand or know what you are going through but I will try to empathize and assist if need be. I don’t plan to be an “Authoritarian teacher” because I feel like in History, this leads to mutinies and overthrows-it’s too extreme. But there is behavior that I will and will not tolerate from my students and will make that known upfront. I don’t agree that the teacher should be the focus of the room. In my own teaching I plan to structure my lessons as mini Socratic seminars or mini-lectures. I don’t like teacher-centered classrooms. I don’t like people talking at me on end. I find that I usually like to hear what my students/peers have to say rather than my teachers. That being said, there is rigidness to teacher-centered classrooms that I find un-stimulating and stifling. More importantly, I want to hear how my students think and if they are able to think.

Sample Social Studies Lesson

I analyzed one of the lesson plans from the website "Edsitement". The lesson plan was centered around the Declaration of Independence. One of the main learning objectives was to demonstrate an awareness of the Declaration of Independence as a historical process developed in protest of unfair conditions. Similar to a NCSS criterion where it states that "Active learning is not just “hands-on,” it is “minds-on.” In other words, it's not enough to be physically invested. There must be a connection between significance and performance. Why are they doing this? What relation does it have in their world, in their life today? This learning objective connects a past issue of inequality between Britain and the Colonies between inequalities faced today. There are so many connections that can be made on a global and national level that will make the lesson more "real" to the students. Furthermore, this objective also resembles another NCSS criterion which states Breadth is important, but deep and thoughtful understanding is essential to prepare students for the issues of twenty-first century citizenship. This goes back to making the material relatable to students and not only inculcating them but modeling them into active citizens in their own world. One of the learning activities included students working in groups and discussing unfair conditions and conceptualizing their own solutions. Not only does that incite great debate and discussion but it works as an amateur think tank and forces students to think about what their learning and what it means to them. Using the Compass points from our previous class, as a teacher, it's exciting to see students become so involved in the material and structured properly. I think this has the ability to be just that. I don’t have any worries about this lesson because It is a great idea. My only concern, or need to know is time management and how do you give the students time to work on the learning activity and have enough time for collective discussion. It is a lesson I definitely would implement in my class (es). I do need to know is there any way that this idea can be compounded upon on is this strictly for one lesson. However, my stance and moving forward I think that this can evolve into a great model for other events and activist-based movements in history such as the French Revolution, Civil Rights Movement, etc. I also think for younger students such as ninth graders that it would be a great way to introduce the mature themes such as inequalities. Something they may have never been prompted to think about but in a way where it doesn’t confuse and/or overwhelm them.


Reference:
Edsitement. "Declare the Cause: The Declaration of Independence". http://www.edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/declare-causes-declaration-independence#sect-introduction. 25 Sep 2010. 18 Sep 2011.

Reflection on Ideas from class

Class was more introductory than anything else. There really isn't anything to respond to. Nevertheless, there were a few points in class that I enjoyed. I liked the tip on Time management. "Think Pair Share" excercises should not be so long that the students are able to have side conversations. While walking around, I noticed that in one of the Monday's (9/12) ninth grade global class, the students were given too much time to complete an assignment. They spent five minutes talking to each other and exchanging programs when the teacher should have brought the focus back onto the lesson. When this happens you have spend unnecessary time that could be used in other ways allowing students to socialize. I also liked the "See Think Wonder" excercise which is similar to the aforementioned. It gets them to think critically about the abstract. But most importantly it gets them to think and I love excercises that don't lead students to the "right" answers immediately. Both can be used as effectively together or separately as the work to bolster communication and critical thinking skills.

Puzzles, Problems and/or Points of Pride

This first entry is for last Monday (9/12):

Unfortunately, the first "Puzzles, Problems, and/or Points of Pride" entry is not going to be as revealing. I'm only starting out and there is more for me to learn than anything else. Therefore, since it is the first week of school I don't have anything that puzzles me. I'm still trying to absorb everything around me: the environment, the structure, how the teachers interact with the students, their peers, and how the prepare for each lessons. Problems: I don't have one at the moment My cooperating teachers are supportive and the ninth grade students are well-behaved. I'm not as familiar with the twelfth grade students My point of pride would have to be being introduced by one of my cooperating teachers at the beginning of class. It was nice to be acknowledged as somewhat of a peer instead of a student. That differentiation also brings about responsibility and obligation which means a lot to me. The first week of school was good. I'm still trying to learn everyone's names and spotcheck who might be a problem and also who may need extra help. In essence, I'm doing more observing than anything else.