Last Post =)

I feel that education is a broad topic and there is no one answer to anything.  It is based purely upon opinion.  Every teacher has their own way of teaching and every student has their own way of learning.
We have read a few different things through out the semester.  Teaching is a really rewarding job.  There is no issue with anyone's teaching styles.  As long as the majority of your class understands, I believe as a teacher you have done well.  Because you will always have students that does not care.  I enjoyed reading about when a student has certain things going on in their lives, my example that I had used was pregnancy and teens.  Also I enjoyed the last thing we read about with corporal punishment.  I enjoyed the blog because it is our own thoughts we got to read about everyone's opinions.  I hope everyone finishes their semester off well and have a great future which hopefully includes teaching!

Steiner Education

Rudolf Steiner was an Austrian Philosopher.  He was born on February 25, 1861 and died on March 30, 1925.  He is also a social reformer, architect and esotericist.  In the 20th century he founded Anthroposophy.  There is an education that was based off of the educational philosophy of Steiner.The education is based off of Steiner's theories of child development.  He states that early childhood learning is imitative and sensory based.  Then during elementary school learning is imaginative and artistic.  And adolescence it is developing intellectual understand and social responsibility.  The first Waldorf school was founded in 1919 for children of the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory in Stuttgart, Germany. As of today, there are 1025 independent Waldorf schools, 2000 kindergartens and 629 institutions for special education located in 60 countries.

Thanksgiving and Columbus Day

When I was little in elementary school and they told us we had no school because of thanksgiving.  The main thing that went through my mind was that I get a day off!! But the teacher told us that thanksgiving is a "time of thanks"  we then had a lesson about pilgrims and Indians and I think that is exactly what should be done.  We did arts and crafts including turkeys and pilgrims and Indians.

Also, I remember Columbus Day, we had to sing, and it was a song about Christopher Columbus and how he "sailed the ocean blue".  I think the elementary schools do a good job trying to instill in the children that this isn't just a day off, it is a day off for a very good reason.  They also teach you that it is a time of family.  In the Elementary School Issues they state that it is the job of the educator to help the students understand the importance of the holiday.

"Hopeful, Joyful, Kind, Visionary"

Schools are always trying to find a way to make education fun.  When students are young they are always so excited about school and when you ask a kindergartner they will tell you that they love school.  They will have such enthusiasm in telling you what their favorite thing to do in school is.  They are full of gratefulness and learning.  If you ask your average high school student if they love school and they most likely will disagree with you.
In the article Rethinking our classroom is states that an organized classroom should make the child/student happy and willing to succeed and learn.  I agree that unless the students feel as if they are in a safe environment they will not be as open to sharing their thoughts and ideas.  As a student I feel as if in my high school I had the best and the worst.  Sometimes I really enjoyed going to class and other times I didn't.  It mostly depended on the class.

Mitt Romney and Education

Since today is the big voting day, I feel as if everyone is as irritated as I am.  What does it all mean?  You hear one person saying something bad about the other and vise-versa.  Education is a big thing in the election.  What stood out to me the most was that Mitt Romney says that states who have chosen to adopt the Common Core States Standards would be on their own to implement it.  “If you have chosen it, congratulations.  Work on it and do it within the resources of your own state.”  He seems to want to take away from the public schools.
Mitt Romney thinks mostly about money, he seems to not understand that not many people have money.  Therefore public schools are the best thing for middle to low class families and if that is taken away people will be very unhappy.  Thus, I believe that Mitt Romney is completely wrong in trying to do that.

Idealism

What is Idealism?  It is the "practice of forming of pursuing ideals."  How does Idealism contribute to Education?
Well, Idealism helps a person realize who they are  gives "importance to the aim of self-realization". A teacher is a Guru.  The teacher is shown as a "coworker with God".  Meaning that the teacher helps the student with anything and everything no matter the problem. The teacher helps the student develop very high values.  They want to also develop "eternal values in a child so that he can become and ideal human being".
There is a ladder at which idealists think.  It goes, matter, life, mind and idea.  There is an "inner Harmony between man, world and universe."

http://research-education-edu.blogspot.com/2011/10/idealism.html
http://www.scribd.com/doc/31456268/Idealism-in-Education

College and Students with Disabilities

College is not for everyone.  But does this include students with disabilities?  There are many laws that concern students with disabilities.  Many colleges have laws and regulations for students with disabilities.  These laws protect the students from discrimination.  Colleges are to provide academic adjustments as necessary to make sure the student is not being discriminated upon.  When applying to colleges, a college cannot deny a student with disabilities because of their disability, as long as the student has the essentials requirements for admission.  You do not need to inform the school of your disability unless you would like academic adjustments.  Many student believe it is unfair from what I have heard.  In one of my classes the student had a visual disability and was able to have 2 hours to take the one hour test and many of the students at the end of the hour were very upset.  I personally don't think it is unfair because if you think about how much ridicule this student has gone through you can't even compare that to an extra hour.

http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/transition.html

Gender Bias

There is a lot of gender bias that happens within a school.  Whether it is good or bad it is still a bias.When a student first enters school boys and girls are equal.  As the years progress people start to believe that girls receive less attention than boys.  They thing boys are inattentive and disruptive and therefore require more energy.  I don't understand why they can categorize us like that.  I feel as if they cannot judge us by our sex.  Some people are naturally more attentive and pay attention to detail. "Some teachers tend to offer classroom activities that appeal more to boys' interest than to girls' and to use instructional methods that favor boys."  I don't agree because through all my years of school I don't think that they would actually teacher more toward boys.  But what I did see is that the boys were a little more disruptive. Do teachers actually do this on purpose?

http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers/genderbias.html
http://www.education.com/reference/article/gender-bias-in-teaching/

Babies

During my observation, the teacher informed me that it was his most difficult class.  He has one student that is 17 and he has a 3 year old baby.  Mind you, he is in 7th grade.  Here is my question, if high school kicks you out when you are 22 and he is 17 in 7th grade then should he stay?  There are a lot of controversy with this type of question.  Children have been having sex at younger ages at which they don't think about their future. They don't think it would interfere with their studies. This young boy has a three year old child.  Where is this baby when he is in school?  What is the mother doing?  I believe that since this boy is 17 in 7th grade he should instead just get his GED.  I personally would be the person saying to stay in school and finish.  But I feel like at this point you have too many responsibilities and you should be working.  Your first priority is that little baby.  You cannot just throw your child on someone this boy is almost an adult and he should be working full-time to support his family.  He was too young to have a baby and stayed back because of his lack of wanting to be in school not because of the baby.  I think he needs to take responsibility and start working full time.

Is teaching as rewarding as people think?

Sitting through a few classrooms observing I believe teaching is a rewarding career.  I tutor and when the children understand it they get so happy and full of life.  This reaction makes me happy that I got someone to understand.  Being in math you do get the few that say they absolutely hate math.  After doing some research I have found it to be 50/50 among everyone online.  People find that teaching isn't very easy, it is a non-stop job.  During school hours you are teaching the students and then when you go home you have grading and so much more on top of what you already have to do. Also, educational research is continuously changing and therefore the teachers must stay up to date with all of their lesson plans.  The most important thing is when the child learns from the teacher.  Most people who have become teachers is because they have had this experience with one of their teachers.  Teachers i believe are underestimated because these are the people that are teacher the children who are our future.  "There's nothing more fun than watching a student realize their talent and develop a love of learning."  

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/may/20/teaching-can-be-rewarding-career/

Introduction

Hi everyone, My name is Nikki Kourembanas and I am 21 years old from Lynn, MA.  I am a senior at SSU majoring in Mathematics!  Yes, I know when you hear Math you still cringe. I currently work with SoccerTots which is a small program for children aged 18 months to 5 years old.  I absolutely love children!  I don't really know what I want to do after I graduate which is next semester so I need to figure it out soon.  I've never had a blog before and I look forward to learning more about it.

This is me and my boyfriend Nick when we went Apple Picking =).