And That's My New Philosophy

    So here it is my last blog for EDUC 4P19. Throughout this blog I have shared some of my views on education and the New story, as well as posing many questions that I still need to work to answer. I have definitely learned a lot about different curriculum approaches and various teaching styles, including what I want to do and not want to do in my classrooms. What I have done is added to my philosophy on education.

     Last year in my drama in education class we were asked to explain our philosophy on education and present it in a creative way. I chose to make a video and compile clips from some of my favourite speakers, movies and TV shows to express the different parts of my philosophy. I broke it down into key words and phrases to express what I value in education and how I want to teach.  

   Here is what I pinpointed for my philosophy:

Equity

 “Equity speaks to differentiated instruction—to teaching and supporting students in ways that will allow them to benefit from equal opportunities” (Lundy). Students are individuals and have different needs; as a teacher it is important to try to appeal to the multiple needs so that everyone has a positive experience and the gaps of equality are filled.

Individuality

 Individuality is a part of my philosophy because it is important to recognize that all students are different and this should be celebrated.

Multiple Intelligences

All students need to have the opportunity to thrive, and to do this we need to teach towards the multiple intelligences that exist within the students.

Learn through Practice and Learn through Experience

Learn through practice, I believe that through hard work and practice goals can be met, and the work that is produced is of a higher quality. Learn through experience, is what I see as taking the experiences you have had in life and having them influence your future and present actions.

Take Chances and Make Mistakes

Within education, as both students and teachers, it is important to be willing to take chances and make mistakes. Without taking chances we will never grow and we will just become stuck. Taking chances can lead to positive experience and push you places you have never gone before. Making mistakes is also necessary in progressing in life. We learn from our mistakes and sometimes, what we see as a mistake can turn into a beautiful gift and work of art.

Support and Community

Support helps form the community within the classroom, where students can rely on each other and build a strong bond.

Inclusion

Inclusion is one of the largest parts of my educational philosophy. Everyone brings different experiences and talents to help the class. One person is no better than the other, and creating an inclusive classroom helps create the support and community.

Worth

 I felt it important to include worth within my philosophy, as all students should feel as though they are worthy. They should feel more then the grades they receive and feel like they can make a difference in the world. Having the students feel like they have worth can make all the difference in their confidence and lives.

Inspiration

I hope I can impact students as much as my teachers have inspired and influenced me. I want to inspire them to follow their passions and strive to complete their goals.

This is all that I included last year, and now I have more to add.

KDB

            Realizing the KDB of the curriculum will help structure the lessons and incorporates the 21^st century skills with the big picture ideas. The KDB works to create good citizens and well-rounded human beings, and that is what we should strive for as teachers.

Backwards design

            This is more of a practical aspect of my philosophy but important nonetheless. Backwards curriculum design I believe is a great way to form lessons and get the big picture learning to come through.  It allows me as a teacher to be creative in the final assignment and move away from the classic essays and power points that we have all had to deal with.

 21^st Century Skills: technology, critical thinking, problem solving, project based learning, and collaboration.

          The 21^st century skills are the largest part of the new story. I want to include all of these skills into my lessons as they are more student centered. I as a student preferred to learn with these tactics and they allow all intelligence's to thrive. It keeps the learning relevant and works with the skills many of the students will already have.

Assessment of learning, Assessment for learning and Assessment as learning

         Assessment whether it is done by the teacher or by the students is still a large part of the educational process. These various types of assessment bring in new assessment tools and work into the process at various times. Assessment of learning is usually a test at the end of a unit and this can help show the collective knowledge that was gained. However there is a push for a large emphasis on assessment for learning and as learning. These are more student based and take part during the learning process. These work into learning from practice and experience as well as taking chances and making mistakes. We need to learn as we go and it’s OK to make changes or realize where you need to improve.

    So this is my expanded and ever growing philosophy on education. This class has taught me about the curriculum and more practical aspects of teaching, which has enhanced my beliefs and has taken me one step closer to being a confident and successful (fingers crossed) teacher.

   Attached is the video I created for my drama class last year that I described above. In the video Education is the Key is repeated as I used a key as a metaphor in part of my philosophy but for the sake of the blog that part is not as necessary. I do apologize, it is quite an amateur video but I was attempting to use technology in a way I never had before. So enjoy how I see my educational philosophy and what people shows and movies have influenced me outside of the classroom.

  Thanks for following me on the journey in Education class as I take one giant leap closer to my future as a teacher. 

A 21st Century Contradiction

http://www.unr.edu/pathway/learning

    This week I got to see a 21^st century classroom and a 21^st century teacher in action. I had a placement in a grade 8 classroom in a small middle school. The teacher, let’s call her Miss L, was fully embracing the various elements of what it means to be a teacher of this century. Let me set the scene. The classroom was very large and the students sat at round desks with four students at each desk. There were several computers and a smart board within the class, as well as the student’s art work all around. The class had about 26 students from various backgrounds.

http://www.unifiedav.com//

     Miss L started the day with silent reading and the transitioned into a larger English lesson. This lesson consisted of the student writing and editing stories based on a certain theme. When Miss L told the students to start writing the rough draft, I expected the students to get out a pen and paper and work away. But boy was I wrong. The students made their way to the back of the classroom where they all grabbed notebook computers. Miss L explained to me that the previous principal had gotten two carts of these laptops  and this year, with the school size shrinking, her class was able to have one of the carts available at all times. Each student was assigned a computer and they were responsible for the care of the machine. They kids typed away working on their stories and while they were working they were allowed to listen to music on the computer. This helped most of them focus and kept the class surprisingly quiet. Once the students were done their stories the teacher showed me what they were to do next. All the students and teachers had Google accounts, and each student was to upload their work to Google drive. From there the students could see each other’s work and peer edit someone else’s paper. Once all the editing was done they sent it to Miss L on Google drive and she was able to mark and comment on their work online. Google drive was still private so no one outside of the school could access it, but it allowed all the students to work together online. The students were able to receive the comments from the teacher almost immediately and it kept all of the work organized online. Miss L also showed me the wonder of Google classroom; this is pretty much like a class website or blog but it allows the students to comment and upload their work directly to the website. Miss L was posting all the instructions for the lessons online, so the students could refer back if they missed anything. It creates an open dialogue online and connection to the teacher and the rest of the class outside of the school if necessary. Technology was in full swing in this classroom and it was being used well.

     Miss L also worked to involve another part of 21^st century education in her classroom, relevancy. Miss L was able to create connections in her geography class to real world events. The topic was water and water supply, and this triggered the subject of disease and medicine. Doctors without Borders and the relief in Africa became a class discussion, and students asked questions to each other and the teacher. It became a blend of student and teacher directed learning, all while the class was clam and engaged.

   This placement showed me part of what a 21^st century classroom can look like when things are done right.

    So that was the positive aspect of my blog, and now I can’t help but be a little critical. Not critical of my placement, but of my 21^st century education, or lack thereof.

http://www.gettyimages.ca

   In university I have seen professors, mainly education professors, attempting to bring 21^st century learning to their classrooms. New technology is used, topics are presented in real world context and constructivist methods are attempted. However, this style of teaching in university is extremely limited. In my education on education, we are taught that what you don’t want to do is stand up in front of the class and lecture. This only helps a portion of students and is strictly teacher directed. Yet in almost every university classroom you walk into you see a professor talking away and students either frantically writing notes or distracted on their computer. I think I am just confused. If we have worked so hard to change education to a constructivist model and that is what teacher education is about, why does this stop at the high school level? Why is university exempted from this change? What we are going to get are students who thrive in the constructivist ways; working in groups, working with technology, and doing project based learning beyond writing essays. Only to have them fall down as they get back to the old story in university. Why is there little to no change in the post-secondary world if the new story is proving to be so much better?

http://terpatron9000.com/dissonance

    It is like what Jack Whitehead called a living contradiction. In his context it is was when teachers believe in a constructivist approach yet teach in a mainly lecturing style. This happens all too often in education, even with some education professors. But the living contradiction can encapsulate universities as a whole.  Universities are supposed to be institutions promoting progress and the future, yet their teaching styles are often behind the times. Yes I understand that colleges are supposed to be there for the hands on learner, but why does this learning style have to be limited to one institution. With my understanding of the new story, the majority of students learn better with project based hands on learning, so why can’t the majority of post-secondary students have this available as well?

http://constructivism512.pbworks.com 

  You also see this contradiction with grade culture. We are taught to move away from the stress on grades yet this is impossible when grades are still important in post-secondary. To get into a good university or college, students need good grades. If students care about going to university or college they then tend to care about their grades. We won’t be able to get away from grade culture till post-secondary does.

    Changes seem to happen only in elementary and secondary education levels but these changes won’t last in education unless similar changes happen in the post-secondary level. The 21^st century education seems to be forgotten once student graduate from high school.