Whenever I was having a hard time with school my dad would always recite the same speech to me. I called it his "building a pyramid" speech. Back then I would just roll my eyes and nod my head, but now I realize he was of course, right.
He would tell me that education and school was like building a pyramid, and the only way for me to be successful was to start from the bottom, and work as hard as I could. I needed to strive for above what I could actually achieve. He'd say "If you strive for a B, you can end up with a C." He'd tell me that to reach my goal I needed to lay down the building blocks first. This now relates to what I believe about education. The first thing I learned from this course is that it's important to have beliefs and and an education philosophy. So in this final post, I am writing an educational metaphor.
Whether you're a student, teacher, or anyone else, nothing is going to come easy the first time around. Practice always makes perfect, even if you're incredibly gifted and the activity comes easier for you. Before you can learn the things college students learn, you must first learn the basic skills for them in elementary school. Before you can become a talented martial artist, you must first learn all the basic moves, and the way to position your feet and hands. Without the bottom of the pyramid, the rest cannot be built.
In education you need to move up, brick by brick. There is no skipping over a brick. If you do skip over a brick you set yourself up to fail later on because you are missing that important step that you need to have for helping you learn future things.
Too often I do not give everything my all. I don't try my best, but I know that the only way to achieve something grand is to work hard at it. I graduated from high school after years of learning and struggling. If I had given up early I wouldn't have achieved my goal. In this course I have learned that you cannot expect to be the perfect teacher on your first try. Even though we will have training in college and student teaching, we will not yet understand it all. We will have to work hard. There will be slip ups but as long as we keep trying we will get there. Sometimes we will be so frustrated that we may want to give up. But giving up your students, your job, etc does not get you anywhere, it just halts the process. As long as you try something, you'll get somewhere. Which is why I've always liked the quote "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." If you do not try to do something, work more with someone, make the situation work, then you go nowhere.
As a future educator, I know I will have to strive to make sure all my students understand what I'm trying to teach. I have also learned I am going to have to work harder with those who are having trouble, but at the same time I need to push everyone to do their best. Those students who understand the topic, still have room for improvement. Life involves all different kinds of learning every day. There is no end to what you can learn.

The social justice issue I chose to research and discuss is different sexual orientations in the classroom.
I believe that learning about every sex, gender, race, religion, and sexuality is important. Students should understand that everyone is equal (or at least should be). Just because someone looks different than you doesn't mean you should treat them as less of a person.
I want to start about by saying that when I first searched my topic, I got a good amount of results that said something like "Homosexuals brainwashing our children." I also found a nice debate on whether or not homosexuality should be taught in schools. I think that if all types of religions are learned about in school, then why not all sexual orientations? There will be less bullying if students are taught to love and accept others different from themselves. You may not agree with the religion someone practices, but at least you can respect them and avoid discrimination. Hiding students from what is going on in the real only leaves them unprepared for when they actually enter it. I'm not saying students should be taught things like which religion to choose, but they should know about people and places different from their own.
No matter what some students in the school will grow up to be or may already identify as homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, transexual, transgender, etc. Children need to know that they will be accepted no matter who they love or who they identify as. If they are not accepted, they can never truly blossom into the healthy and complete person we wish for them to be.
As for discussion of sexual orientation in classrooms, it is up to states and school administrators to decide what the curriculum is, which includes what can and cannot be discussed in class. Currently, there are at least seven states in the United States that prohibit schools from discussing homosexuality in a "positive light." Here is an example, a Missouri bill that prohibits discussion of sexual orientation in classrooms. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randy-turner/missouri-bill-prohibits-d_b_1439299.html
By avoiding discussion of different sexualities, we promote intolerance, and end up with things like the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," policy, which I still can't believe was actually legal. We are always striving towards a better future, a world more equal for everyone no mater who you are. If we do not learn about different cultures, people, and places, then we will remain intolerant and will be doomed to repeat history.

http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-students-learn-about-homosexuality-in-school
http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2058&context=etd
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFamily/story?id=2972531

Place Based Education

This week we are learning all about place based education. 
Place based education "promotes learning that is rooted in what is local—the unique history, environment, culture, economy, literature, and art of a particular place." In other words, students study curriculum that includes lessons about their town, city, or community. 
I think it's very important we have elements of place based education included in our normal curriculum. I think it would be bettter, however, if there were more schools that used place based education and focused on environmental education. It is important for students to understand the world around them and the importance of also protecting it. Classrooms should focus on activities and lessons for students that encourage experimentation, discovery, independence, an increase in good social skills, and also emotional development. 
I attended preschool in a natural science center and we focused on place based education and environmental education. We were able to learn in a classroom setting, but we spent most of our time outside. We took walks through the woods behind the school and learned about things we found on the nature trails. Long field trips were visits to the lake or meadow across the street where we were allowed some free time to play with friends and some time to learn too. The school included multi-sensory arts, crafts, and cooking activities as an added bonus. We created nature related projects to accompany what we were learning outside the classroom..
The science center itself was also home to many plants and animals that we could observe during and after school. I remember watching barn owls, turtles, snakes, frogs, chickens, geckos, etc. The school had an iguana named Bob that we would visit every day and a rabbit in our classroom for us to take care of. The science center was also home to a greenhouse that hosted a variety of plants, including a venus fly trap, which I was amazed by. I think if I still attended a school like this today I'd enjoy learning a lot more. It definitely began my life long love for all types of animals. 


The school is apparently now also partnered with the YMCA, so the kids get swimming lessons too. http://southshorenaturalsciencecenter.org/preschool/
http://www.ourcurriculummatters.com/What-is-place-based-education.php

Paulo Freire and bell hooks

First off, I wanted to say that while reading all eleven pages of article on the Paulo Freire banking concept, I found myself extremely bored. I kept losing my place in the reading and thinking about other things that were on my mind. Maybe it was the way the article was written or how long it was. Or perhaps I was just distracted. Did anyone else experience this? Anyways, I found the concept to be interesting, and also decided that I would never want to use it in my classroom. I feel as if many teachers do, whether purposefully or accidentally, use this method in their classroom. Sometimes as a student I know I'm not learning, I'm merely just memorizing. In some classes in high school I would often question "Why I am learning this?" and "Why am I required to learn this?" Sometimes I would just have to learn a list of names and dates for a test, but the minute the test was over the information would slip out of my mind. If I was lucky, I remember the information from September for the final in May, which I found to be ridiculous.

The theorist I chose was Gloria Jean Watkins, who also goes by the name "bell hooks." She wrote a book called "Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom." This book talks about her views on education and teaching. She believed that teachers who held too much power and authority over their students would only cause their students to be bored and less happy to learn. Bell hooks also believes that every student, no matter who they are or where they came from, is able to learn. She believes teachers should act less authoritative over their students, and more respectful and caring. Teachers must also "be actively involved committed to a process of self-actualization that promotes their own well-being if they are to teach in a manner that empowers students." (hooks 1994: 15)

I believe bell hooks theory is one that I would agree with. I know that treating students with respect rather than acting as if you are their superior is something that I would want to implement in my classroom. Students learn better when they are engaged in hands on activities and taught in different ways. Just spewing information out for students to memorize and then forget a few days later does nothing. I also agree with the quote from bell hooks that I included in my last paragraph. Teachers should know who they are and be working to better themselves, so that this can shine through in their teaching and empower their students. 

Bell hooks actually knew Paulo Freire and he was a great influence on her. She did not of course agree with everything he said. The banking theory is the opposite of what bell hooks believes about how we should teach. The article on the banking theory that we read states "knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing." The banking theory basically states that the teacher has the authority, the knowledge, and the power, and that the students they are teaching know nothing, should be grateful to have all this new knowledge, and must follow orders. What bell hooks says about teaching in her book is the opposite of this, so I believe she would reject this method of teaching. 

http://www.egs.edu/library/bell-hooks/biography/

http://infed.org/mobi/bell-hooks-on-education/

http://www.education.miami.edu/ep/contemporaryed/bell_hooks/bell_hooks.html