What Does the Future Hold?

5 Big Ways Education Will Change By 2020

The article attached above lists these 5 ways that education will be changing in the near future:

1. Students will interact remotely 
2. The success of tech will still rely on skilled teachers 
3. We'll think differently about the diploma
4. Students will have a voice
5. Educators and institutions will be forced to adapt 

I believe that some of these (2 and 5) are not really changing at all. The author uses the word "still" in the second 'change' which denotes that this has already been going on, and teachers will continue to be the driving force in the changing of technology as that is where all students must start their education. Also, number 5 on this list is something that teachers have always had to do. Teaching is a very fluid profession. Each year a completely different class of students walk through your door, and they will need changes to the way you set up the curriculum so that they can get the most benefit. Educators have always needed to be able to adapt to their changing classrooms.  

The other three changes I think are amazing. Students being able to interact remotely will not only allow them to have more time for learning but also can connect students across the globe which would most likely increase their compassion and understanding of other cultures. Students being able to have a voice is incredibly important. They are beginning to develop their critical thinking skills and are starting to figure out how to stand up for themselves. Giving them a voice in the community and in the school promotes this and will eventually lead to more change in society as people won't be afraid that their voices won't be heard. 

Thinking differently about the diploma could be good or bad. On one hand, it will force more students to go to college to get a job that pays well, and not everyone can afford that, which will only continue to increase the poverty gap as more and more students are graduating high school. On the other hand, high schools are overall doing a better job because they have continually increasing graduation rates. 

The Goals of Schools and Their Importance

After taking a poll about all of the different goals that schools have, and the importance level of each one of them it got me thinking about all of these different goals, and which I believe are best for the school. Something that I find to be important, however, is knowing that sometimes having only one goal is not enough. Schools should have a list of goals for their students, and try to promote all of them in their curriculum. Having only one goal in a school system would most likely lead to students being underdeveloped, and not having learned in enough variety to be the best they can be.

After being given a list of different goals for schools I had to figure out which ones I believe to be the most important. From all of the goals that I was given, I believe that most of them are very important for students to be getting a well-rounded education. One that is pretty much a blanket statement for all of the important goals is that students should be well prepared to go on beyond high school. This means in the 'real world' of college or work. This also means that students should be knowledgable enough to participate in many different kinds of conversations they will have while socializing. Most often this includes things like different cultures and current events that are happening. Obviously schools can't possibly teach students everything they need to know, but they should be able to teach students how to get this kind of knowledge in our new age of technology.

School:The Microcosm of the Changing World

There are many philosophies that are discussed about why students must go to school, and what the goal is that they are trying to accomplish. One goal that always seems to come up is to prepare students for life outside of school. While most often this means teaching students the skills they need to join the workforce, it also means allowing students to develop socially and create their own mini versions of society within the school. As opinions and ideals shift in high schools they often start shifting in society as well. I think this is probably because as students start graduating after they had already passed their opinions onto the younger generation they went to school with, they are now focused on implementing those ideals in the 'real world'. I experienced this myself growing up in a high school during a time when a lot of change was coming about in the world. The ideals of society are often reflected in schools, which lead to a small divide in my high school during the 2016 presidential elections.

That being said, peers are not the only influence in a student's life. They also have their parents whom they look up to, and usually mimic their ideals until they can start thinking critically on their own. One of the best examples of this was my best friend who grew up in a Republican household and grew up supporting republicans, but when she got to high school and started thinking for herself flipped and became a Democrat.

Establishing a Charter School

The Jaime Escalante Charter School Proposal

Would you support the establishment of the Escalante School? Why or why not?
I think I would probably push back a little on this school's establishment. This is because, as the board members were saying, there was not much in their plan to differentiate them from the public schools in the area.


Why can school boards be resistant to change?
Schools boards can be resistant to change because they are made up of people, and all people are resistant to change in some ways. Especially when you are part of a committee that is running something that has been doing just fine, most people don't see the need for change, and hence, try to avoid it.

Money and Governance of Schooling: What do I know?

Recently I took a quiz on school governance, as well as a poll that asks what costs more in a school's budget. What I have learned is that there is so much more I need to learn about the bureaucracy of schools and how expensive everything is. I got a 57% on the quiz, answering only 4 of the 7 questions correctly, and mostly just with educated guesses. However, the poll results showed me that not many people really understand the realities of pricing of resources for schools as most of the results showed each answer was given about an equal amount of times, the highest percentage for one answer being 31%.
These questions made me think about how all of this affects a student's education without most people knowing about it. Before learning about all of the policies and differences that rules and money make in a school system I don't think I ever would have known how complicated it is, or that schools still have a lot of work to do to get to where they need to be to make educational opportunities equal for everyone across the state.

Schools aren't just about education

Like most jobs, areas, and pretty much anything you can think of, schools too are regulated by  government and money. It pains me to hear that even with all of the advancements we have made in both technology and education that people are still living in horrible situations due to poverty. Some towns lack the resources they need to keep their streets clean and their employees with a job, how would they be able to properly educate their children in these situations? Schools that are in impoverished neighborhoods often can't gather enough resources to keep their classrooms situated in the way that students learn best. They often shove as many kids as possible into one classroom with the teacher that has a less than satisfactory salary which can make teachers less willing to do good work with their students. Often the schools are dirty and starting to wear down because they can't afford to fix and clean the hallways and classrooms. Environment is everything for the students and they don't learn well in filth. However, once these schools do start finding the resources they need students benefit greatly. Look at Cameron Elementary in Virginia, which has an unusually high percentage of low-income students. Classes are kept at 15 students or fewer, and teachers have a very high salary. They have freshly painted walls and can hire math and reading specialists to help struggling students. Having all of these resources helps the students get the education they deserve, and it is all based on how local and state funding policy is formed, and in Virginia, Cameron is lucky that is benefits so much from the policies around it. Other schools aren't so lucky. You can read more about this in the link below.

School Funding's Tragic Flaw

A lot of this funding policy also leads to a huge discrepancy in the educational world: teacher salary. Teachers are getting paid way less than they should be compared to the effort, time, and importance of our jobs. A good teacher is one of the biggest factors in educational outcome, and poor schools don't always have the money to recruit and retain the best teachers out there, just increasing the educational gap in poorer communities. Being able to raise teacher salaries is important to "draw in the best talent," as Isaac Sall says in his article about paying teachers fairly (linked below).

If We Want Better Education, We Could Start With Paying Teachers Fairly

What Schools and Students Are Like Today

Most people somewhat agree that competition is key to improving school performance. As someone that grew up in a fairly competitive school district competition kept both students and teachers motivated. Because of this I also agree that competition is important in improving school performance.

Most people somewhat agree that schools continue to be academically weak, and stronger academic standards are needed. I believe that schools can always improve academically by changing the way that subjects are taught and ensuring that students are actively engaged in their lessons instead of just trying to mindlessly absorb information.

Most people disagree that schools do a great job preparing students for vocational careers. This is mostly because most schools focus on making sure students are prepared to go directly into college, instead of into any kind of career. School's definitely need to work on this aspect because not everyone can go to college, and not everyone should.

People agree that schools emphasize test scores at the expense of other kinds of evaluation. Many schools over-focus on testing because how students score on the standardized tests is how the school is 'graded' and most schools want to be labeled as the best, or try to do better each year. This gets pushed onto students and the actual learning is diminished.

People disagree that schools do an admirable job of moving children out of poverty into middle-class life. Most students that grow up poor end up in poorer school districts. This is a problem because these schools don't have access to the resources they need to help educate these students enough, which ends up creating a poverty cycle that families get looped into.

People have mixed views on whether homeschooling is an effective alternative to the typical public school. I don't agree that homeschooling is an effective alternative because homeschool does not provide the socialization that public school does. Students in public school make friends that they keep for life, and also learn how to handle dealing with others, and what to do when things don't go their way.

People have mixed views on whether students care about the less fortunate, both here and overseas. This changes depending on the school district. Some school districts teach about what's going on with the less fortunate here and in different countries, while other schools shy away from the subject. The students that are being taught about it are probably more likely to care about those less fortunate than them.

People somewhat agree that competition is key to improving student performance. I absolutely agree that competition helps student performance, being a very competitive student myself. Games where students can win extra points always got the heart racing and opened the mind to try and see what students already know, and then the people who lose know that they need to study more. Competition fuels motivation.

People have mixed views on whether schools are stronger academically today then they have ever been before, and without knowing statistics it is hard to say. However, due to all of the crazy advancements in technology, it sure seems as though today's kids are drastically outdoing what the students of the past could do.

Essentialism in Action

Essentialism in Classrooms

Bringing games into the classroom is one of the best ways to get kids excited and engaged in the lessons. It is also a good way to assess how much they know, and get them to start thinking about how much they have to study before their upcoming tests. Jeopardy is a classic study tool that a lot of teachers use, and it has always been one of my favorite things to do, in and out of the classroom. I was always and incredibly competitive kid, and teachers having us play jeopardy actually taught me how to be a good sport and accept defeat graciously. There are a lot of kids out there just like me who hate losing and love the thrill of competition. This can be an advantage and a disadvantage of incorporating fun games into the classroom. Sore losers can ruin games like this in a classroom by causing a scene or being overall ungrateful and negative just because they lost. Also, sometimes the heat of competition can get into the students' heads and they can say mean things to other students. However, with the right group of students, and a good explanation about how if they do or say anything negative they won't be able to play the fun game again, this teaching technique is an awesome way to lighten up the classroom and the smiles on students' faces!

The topics that the teacher used in her jeopardy for the students are perfect for an essentialist classroom. They allowed for easy memorization of the essential facts to know when learning about geography, and when she covered things the students didn't have to know, she made sure they were facts that would be covered in the next unit. Essentialism can be dangerous, however. It doesn't allow students to go past what is required and focuses on facts instead of expanding the intellect and becoming a critical thinker. This is why this philosophy is perfect for younger grades when students don't have a sense of critical thinking yet.

In order to make this a constructivist lesson instead of an essentialist one, the teacher could still use the same questions, as long as she made them focus less on facts, and made the students think more. Instead of asking what continent a country is in, or how to get to a specific location, the teacher could ask the students questions about the kind of method of travel one might use to get to and from specific places, or the kind of climate or environment an area might have based on its location.

When I Become a Teacher...

Educational Philosophies Self-Assessment

It is incredibly important to develop your own teaching philosophy. This is because your philosophy is what rules over what you do and teach and how you teach it. If you are using someone else's philosophy or you don't have one, being a teacher will feel like wearing shoes that are too big; it will be awkward and difficult to navigate. With your own philosophy, you will be comfortable where you stand and know where to go when you have questions about what you should be doing.

After taking a self-assessment of what my educational philosophy is (link above) I found out that my philosophy does not just fall under one category. Reconstructivism, cognitivism, and progressivism were all of the results I got when I took this test, and I am not surprised at all. Having multiple types of philosophies about how you teach a classroom to provide a well-rounded education for your students and its a belief that I have always held.

Reconstructivism is focused on teaching students to be productive members of society so that democracy and society are made better and "reconstructed" and transformed as the generations go through.
Cognitivism is based on the idea that students develop their own knowledge by taking in the world around them and building onto what they already know. If the student doesn't understand something that is going on in their environment they will ask questions about it due to their natural curiosity so they can understand and learn.
Progressivism is dedicated to focusing education on the children as individuals. The main idea of this philosophy is that the student is the focus and school should be dedicated to the students as individuals and their curriculum should be shaped to fit their needs.

Now, all of these philosophies when used as the only philosophy a teacher is focused on may seem a little extreme, but when several are used throughout the school year they can balance each other out. Each teacher should find their own perfect balance of these philosophies and engage in all of them together, and not let one overtake the other.

Development Into Inclusiveness: The History of American Education

How did the story of American education begin? It is definitely not what we picture when we think of modern-day schools, however, there are more similarities than one would think. I was shocked, as I'm sure most people would be when I found out that American public education started with a design based on the model that Prussia (modern-day Germany) had implemented to teach obedience and discipline to their nation's children. This system was set up to make little soldiers out of students, not educate them.
We've come a long way since then, shifting towards and education that promotes free thought and critical thinking. One thing that has changed, if only so it's not so obvious anyone, is the factor of race and economic status. For the longest time, schools that were deemed "public" only let white students into their classrooms, and even before the invention of free public schooling, only the rich could afford to send their kids to school. This did nothing but widen the educational gap between the rich and the poor. However, once African American children were allowed into schools they were kept separated from the white students and forced to go to 'colored' schools. There were not as many 'colored' schools as there were white schools, which often meant students of color had to walk incredible distances just to receive their education. While modern America prides itself in its desegregation of school districts, the truth is that they really are still segregated. Growing up in a neighborhood that was filled with rich people, and having friends from poorer neighborhoods I got to experience this firsthand. One of the most noticeable differences between rich and poor neighborhoods is the race that takes up the majority of the school. My school, in the fairly rich neighborhood, was filled with white people, and had a fairly large Asian population as well. The town just next to ours, which was much poorer had a majority Hispanic and black population. My school had many more resources, and students not only had better access to a higher quality education, they also had cleaner and nicer school buildings. The link below is to an article that goes more into detail about how even having a culture and language that are different from the norm decrease the quality of your education as well.
Even with the problems that are still around, the American school systems have come a long way, and have started figuring out how to truly get every student access to quality education. The school system will never be perfect, but it is much better than it has ever been, and I truly believe it is going to continue the positive trend. 💕

Social Organization of Classes and Schools

Habits Taken on By an Effective Teacher

11 Habits of an Effective Teacher

The article above lists the 11 habits of an effective teacher to be: 

1. Enjoys Teaching
2. Makes a Difference
3. Spreads Positivity
4. Gets Personal
5. Gives 100%
6. Stays Organized
7. Is Open-Minded
8. Has Standards
9. Finds Inspiration
10. Embraces Change
11. Creates Reflection

While some of these aren't really habits, the other suggestions Carrie Lam gives in this article make a lot of sense. It is a teacher's job to put the student first and make sure that they are getting the best education they can in their classroom. Being able to be fluid, kind, supportive, open-minded, and organized helps a teacher be the best they can be for a student. 

Becoming a Teacher

Strengths:

• Teachers are making a difference in the lives of so many different students, whether it be by helping them through one of the hardest parts of their lives, inspiring them to pursue a certain career or continue their path of learning, or help them get past the understanding of topics they have always struggled with.  Teachers are there to help influence students to become the best they can be. 
• The joy of working with children, and the creativity it requires to help get lessons across in a fun and unique way to help engage them in lessons and seeing their joy in learning and the fun they have with the creative lessons is definitely a strength when it comes to teaching. 
• The intellectual and creative stimulation that comes along with planning good lessons and giving them to students, while also having them add to the discussion in the classroom and promote intellectual growth not just among the other students but also for the teacher. 
• The appreciation that comes from the students, even if it is just a small number that show it, is most of what makes teaching such a fulfilling job. 

Weaknesses:

• The salary is probably one of the worst weaknesses. Teachers are radically underpaid for the amount and the importance of the work that they do. 
• The workload and the amount of time teachers spend outside of the classroom working on their job takes up most of the space in a teacher's life. 
• Teachers don't get the amount of respect that they deserve in the adult world. People believe that teaching is easy and anyone can do it, even though it is most definitely not true. Sometimes this can even come from the students as well.
• Administration and bureaucracy constantly keep teachers in check and limit their creativity which can start wearing teachers down and take the joy and fun out of teaching. 

While becoming a teacher has a lot of both strengths and weaknesses, it really takes a special kind of person to get past all of the negatives that are out there. Teachers are the kind of people who are working because they care, not because of money, and certainly not for status. Teachers do what they do because they know they are making a difference in the world and that's all that they need to motivate them. Being a teacher can be hard, with all of the people saying we are useless and administration making our jobs so much harder, but a good teacher does not stop and keeps pushing to make sure that they can educate their students as best as they can. 

Questions for further discussion: 

1. Do you think there will be any change in the near future about the public perception of the importance of teachers?
2. What are things that teachers can do to bring joy back into their work when it gets hard?
3. What should teachers do to make sure they are always growing and becoming better in their work?

Reflection on What it Means to be a Teacher

Video

What do you enjoy most about teaching?
What made you choose the grade you teach?
What is the biggest challenge you face?
What has surprised you?
What advice would you give future teachers?

This video shares the perspectives of several different teachers that were asked the questions above.  They provide insight into what it means to be a teacher and all of the best and worst parts of teaching. In the end, the overall message is that teaching is not for everyone, but the people who it is for love it, despite all of the difficulties they face. As far as sharing their views or not, because I have not actually been in front of a classroom yet, I can't exactly say. However, from what I know so far about being a teacher I do share a lot of their beliefs and values. That moment when a student recognizes that they understand something new is the reason I wanted to get into teaching, which a couple of these teachers mentioned in the video. Throughout high school and college tutoring friends and other students, I saw that moment a lot and fell in love with the idea that I could keep getting students to feel that way. I have always known that I wanted to teach high schoolers because of the same reason the high school teacher stated in the video. High schoolers have a higher level of understanding so you can push them a little harder, and it is easier to joke around with them and get the students engaged in the lessons. As far as the biggest challenge goes, due to lack of experience, I would not be able to say, but from what I have taken from listening to other teachers not having enough time is the hardest part of being a high school teacher. The same thing goes for what has surprised me, lack of experience means I don't have much to say about surprises, but from observing what has surprised me most is all of the different approaches teachers take to present the same subject. My advice would be the same as one of the teachers in the video, however. If you find that this job is not fun for you, and is just causing stress it is important, not just for you but also for the students, that you figure out why, and possibly think about pursuing a different career.