Chapter 12 - Your First Classroom

Before becoming a teacher, one should ask themselves a few key questions: Will I like this life in the classroom? Will my fellow teachers like me? Will I be able to get through the curriculum?Is there a particular school development that I like? What salary and benefits am I seeking?  In order to teach to ones full capability, they must develop detailed responses to these questions to know if they are ready to become a teacher.  A teachers responsibilities are numerous, and standing in front of a class isn't for everyone.

Teachers go through many developmental stages throughout their careers.  In the beginning, the biggest concern is criticism from their principal and classroom management. In a teachers first year, they are provided a mentor, or consulting teacher to provide professional and personal support. It is in these first year where teachers will figure out if teaching is really for them.  Learning student's names, developing curriculum, dealing with a lot of paper work, and not having a lot of prep time during the day are just a few of the challenges that new teachers face. After spending a year or two in front of the class, teachers usually become more involved in educational issues, such as school strategies that could enhance student learning.  It is in these years that many teachers begin to observe different approaches to curriculum development.  By observing behaviors and academic progress as every class enters and moves on, teachers will alter curriculum and raise different issues.  

Chapter 9 - Financing and Governing America's Schools

As a teacher, one might wonder why it is important to know how their school is being financed.  A teacher's concerns should involve only classroom concerns.  Is this true? As teachers, we must be aware of every area of our school.  How can we make a difference if we don't know everything about what we are trying to change?  Most of America's public schools are funded by local communities.  This poses a problem to low income families that live in poverty stricken areas.  The schools in their communities will not have as much funding as a school in a wealthier area.  This is a very unfair fact for students.  Why should the quality of education differ according to communities?  This only continues the cycle of poverty in these areas since it is proven that when people are educated, they usually strive for a better quality of life for themselves and their loved ones.  A school's performance also impacts funding.  Schools that have received an F rating usually receive less funding, and are usually closed if they do not show any academic improvement.  

Superintendents and school boards have an impact on both school and curriculum development.  They develop policies that they feel are appropriate to manage schools.  Boards of Education develop policies that serve the interests of their entire community.  They can also act as trustee representatives, giving them the opportunity to fight for local rights.  One must also remember that as a teacher we have an influence as well in curriculum development and in some school decisions.  If we want to make more of a difference, we need to make ourselves heard, and the everyone needs to hear us.  We know where most of the change needs to happen since we witness it first hand.  Before we can change things in our school, whether they be financial or not, we must educate ourselves on our schools personal situations.  

Chapter 8 - The Philosophy Of Education

Philosophy of Education is unique to every teacher.  All of us have our own philosophy on how to teach, how to manage behavior, and how to develop our curriculum.  There are two teacher centered philosophies:  ESSENTIALISM : Strives to teach students the accumulated knowledge of our civilization though core courses in the traditional academic disciplines.  Teachers who follow this teaching philosophy focus on the 'Back to Basics' style.  Curriculum is referred to as 'core curriculum', and is developed to focus on reasoning, and to help ensure a common culture amongst Americans.  These teachers usually strive to keep as many electives out of the classroom as possible.  PERENNIALISM : This teaching style is very similar to the essentialist teaching style, but perennialists strive to teach students everlasting information.  They believe that the goal of education should be to develop rational thought and to discipline minds rigorously.  Perennialists try to separate their classroom by classifying the 'gifted' students who have shown academic excellence, and the rest of the class who have shown normal comprehension.  The 'normal' students are taught more vocational skills, while the 'gifted' are shown more leadership training information.

There are also three student centered teaching philosophies:

PROGRESSIVISM : A 'progressive' school focuses on the concerns of their students.  A teacher who follows a progressive teaching style encourages students to formulate questions, and to do the research to discover the answer.  Small groups are norm in the progressive classroom as well. Students are encouraged to work together to find answers.  

SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTIONISM :  This teaching style encourages teachers to focus on the wants and demands of modern society.  Students focus on social issues and formulate answers and plans to implement social change.  Teachers who follow this style create lessons to inform and stir students about issues in their society.  Long term social projects (food drives, adopting poor families) are usually focused on for the better part of the year.

EXISTENTIALISM : This teaching style asserts that the purpose of education is to help children find the meaning and direction in their lives.  Exsistentialists believe that adults should not direct meaningful learning for children.  Teachers focus more on students understanding and appreciating themselves.  These teachers also believe that teaching cannot occur until after a student feels confident enough in themselves to learn.

Out of all the teaching styles discussed in this chapter, I would consider taking the

social reconstruction view. Even though I believe that core curriculum is still very important,

especially in the primary grades, students in our modern world should be better prepared to solve the social problems

that are very real in our world. What better way to change the future than to start in the classroom

by educating students HOW to change things.