Week 7:

I feel that curriculum is an important aspect of education if designed and implemented appropriately. I think to a certain extent, a curriculum can be standardized because to me, there is core information that all students in each grade level need to be taught (i.e. math, language arts, science, social studies) in order to be able to function in and understand the world around them. It seems that where this goes wrong is when curricula is designed with too much detail, in which case a teacher is not given enough leeway to adapt the content to fit each group of students he or she is teaching, or when the curricula is too vague and does not provide enough structure for teachers to follow. I suppose in my ideal world a good curriculum would provide just the right amount of structure so that teachers understand what is expected to be taught in his or her classroom, but also provides a teacher the freedom to focus on parts of the curriculum that are of particular interest to the students in the class.

            I feel that there are aspects of a curriculum that cannot be standardized due to the cultural diversity that exists within our country and many others. I think that it is extremely important to incorporate cultural awareness into a curriculum, and this may look slightly different depending on your geographic location. To me, the “real life” scenarios that teachers use in their lessons as ways of connecting new information with something already known, is also dependent on location. It is hard to say what this may look like across the country, but I feel that currently, too much time is spent on teaching to a test, that in my opinion has absolutely no relevance in the real world, and not enough time is spent teaching and providing children with the tools necessary to become functioning members not only of their society, but members of what is becoming a global society. This, to me, is not something that should wait until college. As we know all too well, many students don’t make it to college, so why are we waiting to teach them how to survive and function after the fact? Clearly this technique does not fit into my ideal curriculum!

Week 6:

I mentioned personal bias in my week 4 post. I think that as human beings we innately carry biases with us, not because we want to but because the environment in which each of us lives is different and tends to reinforce ideas and beliefs that often do not allow us to see the full picture as we try to relate to something that is different from our sense of normalcy. Simply—we are products of our upbringing as well as our cultural, social, and physical environments.

            I grew up in “The South” although not too far south…. I was born and raised in central North Carolina; however, what set me apart from most of the children I went to school with, was the fact that half my family was from “the south” and half from “the north” so, I grew up with two very different families—my mom’s family from Long Island, New York, and my dad’s family, most of which are “native” North Carolinians. I have always been closest to my mom and many of my beliefs and values I learned from her. She was a product of the ‘60s… Woodstock… etc. she has been a middle and high school English teacher for the better part of 30 years. I learned to appreciate both my “southern” and “northern” halves, but as I went through school I realized that I did not share the same ideas and beliefs that many of my classmates and some of my family members shared with regard to judging or stereotyping people based on the color of their skin or their ethnic background, which is very common, even today in this area. In fact, I would say that over time I developed a bias for what many consider to be “red-necks.”  I dislike this word because it is extremely offensive; instead I would rather describe my bias as an inability to relate to anyone who chooses to be ignorant with regard to someone or something that is physically, ethnically, culturally, etc. different from themselves. I am aware of this bias, and I often try to avoid interacting with people who choose to be this way, but I think as teachers, we must confront our biases and work around them to provide and equitable environment for our students. In my case, this means working with students who I may be biased against and helping them overcome their biases and prejudices, thus, creating healthier relationship all around.

Week 5:

Albuquerque Journal

May 1, 2017

By: John Doe

Our Teacher of the Year

Lauren Phillips, a 6^th grade social studies teacher at Albuquerque Middle School, has been selected as the 2017 National Teacher of the Year for her outstanding work with her students and in her school and community over the past five years. Unlike many of the teachers that have won this award in previous years, Ms. Phillips’ professional career did not start out in public school teaching. While completing her Bachelor’s degree at UNC-Greensboro in anthropology and archaeology, she spent a summer studying archaeology in Belize, Central America. Three years later, after completing her Master’s in Geography, Ms. Phillips moved down to Belize for a year, during which time she taught Geographic Information Science to students at a small, private, Belizean university. Ms. Phillips says that it was during this time that she found herself more interested in working with and teaching the younger children in her neighborhood than she was in teaching college courses. Upon moving back to the United States, Ms. Phillips immediately began pursuing an alternative route to teacher licensure in New Mexico.

“One day, as I was making my rounds through the school, I stopped by to check-in on a class, known for being particularly rambunctious, especially with substitutes, and was astonished to see each student seated and working together with their classmates on that day’s assignment, with Ms. Phillips crouched down next to one student’s desk, explaining a word to him” said Albuquerque Middle’s Principal, Jane Doe. “After class I asked Ms. Phillips if she was available to take a long term subbing position for one of my social studies teachers. After a week of periodically checking in on her and her classes and observing her in the classroom, I knew she had what it took to be a great teacher, and the following year I was able to hire her for a 6^th grade social studies position” Principle Doe said.

Other faculty members at Albuquerque Middle also attest to Ms. Phillips’ fun-loving yet serious nature when it comes to working with her students and with her colleagues. Jane Smith, a 6^th grade science teacher who works closely with Ms. Phillips, said “Lauren’s classroom is based on mutual respect between teacher and student. Her students want to learn because she takes the time during and outside of class to get to know each and every one of them, and then she miraculously is able to tie in their personal interests into each topic she teaches.”

Ms. Phillips says that her favorite part of teaching was being able to get the attention of the students that seem to be particularly struggling in other classes or just life, and give them a reason to want to learn and excel. 11 year old, Johnny Brown, said “I never really liked school, and I still kinda don’t, but this year I like coming to school, because I have 1^st period social studies with Ms. Phillips and she always makes class fun because she brings in cool stuff for us to use in our stations and I always have lots of time to get my work done, and she doesn’t get mad at us for talking like some of my other teachers.” 27 year old, Suzie Brown, Johnny’s mother said “I have struggled with getting Johnny interested in school, partly because I never liked school, and dropped out my Junior year of high school when I had him. When Ms. Phillips called me in for a parent-teacher conference 3 weeks in to the school year, I thought it was because he had yelled back at her or had hit another kid in class, but when I found out it was because he was making an improvement his class work I was amazed! I now talk with Ms. Phillips once a week to check in on his progress and to make sure I am doing what I need to do at home to help him.”

Ms. Phillips says that the past five years as a public school teacher have not been easy. The battle between what she thinks students should learn and what has to be taught in the class in preparation for end-of-year testing, is never ending. She says that the best encouragement comes from her administration and colleagues, as well has her students. “You can never learn enough, and if you think you know everything and can do it all alone, then it is time to step back and evaluate yourself as a teacher and a person, because my students teach me something new every day, and sharing these instances with my educator peers is what keeps me going on a daily basis” says Ms. Phillips.

Week 4:

My purpose in being a teacher is to help guide children as they begin to understand the world around them and the place that they want to have in it. I want my classroom to be a place that students enjoy spending time in, both in class and outside of class time. I want it to be a place where students feel safe and where they feel that that can openly discuss issues related to the subject being taught or simply related to things that they feel are important, both with me as the teacher, and with their peers.

As for my core philosophic beliefs, I believe that everyone regardless of ethnic or cultural background, gender, creed, age, or sexual orientation deserves and is entitled to respect and equality. Throughout my life I have always been interested in learning about and learning from people who were different from me in any way, shape, or form. In college, I pursued this even more and graduated with a degree in anthropology and archaeology. I have always wanted to understand life both past and present through the eyes of other people. I do not believe that this makes me an unbiased individual; I feel that everyone is biased in some way or another, not because we want to be, but simply because as human beings, we have been conditioned through all aspects of our lives to believe and agree with certain things and not with others- I think this is what makes us human. I also believe that as human beings we have the ability to reflect upon our actions and beliefs, and in this way, we can work to be more understanding and considerate of those around us regardless of our differences.

I believe that my core philosophical beliefs will influence my teaching on a more personal level with my students because I tend to embrace similarities and differences and understand that one style of teaching does not fit all students. I think that while the subject matter is standard in the classroom, there are many ways of teaching the core material to students so that they can relate personally to what is being taught. I feel that this is the job of a teacher- to find a way to make what you are teaching matter not only to one student in your class but to all. I also realize that this is an idealized concept, but I think that through self reflection and willingness to change things when you see they are not working, may help to reach this goal.

As for the Super Bowl… I do not even know which two teams are playing.

Week 3:

I really like the prompt for this week’s blog because I have enjoyed the “phlogging” assignment so far. I don’t always take the time to write my thoughts down about things that are important to me and so taking the time to put my thoughts about education into words, and then being able to read other people’s ideas on the same topic, has really helped me to reflect on and solidify my beliefs. Bill Ferriter’s article from last week provided some suggestions for education blogs, and I really liked edublogs.org because it provides a directory of specific areas within education. http://stephenlazar.com/blog/ is a blog written by Stephen Lazar, a social studies teacher at a school in New York. The purpose of his blog is twofold; to reflect on his teaching and planning, and to discuss his thoughts on school reform and educational policy. I like his purpose, and I find what he has to say intriguing. His most recent post discusses his feelings on core standards. He says that he does see a benefit to such standards because they “clearly articulate the disciplinary skills necessary not only for reaching the relatively low bar of  “college and career readiness,” but also for the much greater calling of creating an informed and critical citizenry” (Lazar, Jan. 24).  I think that this ties into Miller’s article for this week, in which he discusses the problems with standards and the fact that they are not “standard” across the nation, because each state is responsible for creating their own. I find myself appreciating both ideas here. I do agree with Lazar’s comment that standards help to clearly articulate disciplinary skills but I think that having national standards, as Miller argues, would certainly help us to have a better idea of student achievement nation-wide. I think that Lazar’s comment also ties into Cookson’s functionalism, as he discusses the purpose of standards is to create an informed and critical citizen, but he does not go so far as a functionalist to say that the role of education is to create consensus and economic productivity. He is suggesting a “critical” approach to viewing society, while emphasizing the importance of standards in aiding student achievement that in turn prepares him/ her for college and a future career as functioning members of society. I really liked this blog because it seemed to tie into our class discussion for this week! I found a few others (http://kindreda.edublogs.org/about/, http://dogtrax.edublogs.org/) but none as relevant to class as the one I discussed… and I am now 22 words over the limit… haha.