Existentialism in Education

What is Existentialism? "Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes the subjectivity of human experience" (123). In other words each person is a subject to their own reality and no two realities are ever the same. The key to existentialism is that each person uses their individual creativity and personal choice in their lives. The quote I liked from McNergney was, "We owe our existence to nature, but we define ourselves through our actions" (123). I really liked the last part of this quote: we define ourselves through out actions. Actions speak louder than words, and what we do, not what we say shows what type of character we have and what type of person we are. Choice is the key concept for existentialism. Everyone choses who they want to be, who they will be and what type of life they want. Those who allow others to choose for them even make a choice to do that. Existentialists believe that we make decisions based on what we believe is right for us and we need to take responsibility for our actions. We should never make a decision or do something because someone told us to. Lastly existentialists believe that by choosing the direction we take our lives in, we show that we value our freedom to chose and we want everyone to have that freedom.
I think that existentialism is a great philosophy to use in education. It teaches good morals to have and if you start teaching that at a young age, the students will grow up to have a good way of thinking. Students must learn that they should exercise our freedom to chose to make good choices for themselves and for the rest of their lives. Part of growing up is learning to take responsibility for your actions and for many people that is extremely difficult to do. We need to teach students at a young age that their actions define who they are as people and their character and their person is judged by what actions they make.

Multicultural Education

Multicultural education uses educational strategies that prove to be intelligent and sensitive to a diverse group of students' needs and abilities. There are five general approaches to multicultural education. These are, teaching the culturally different, human relations approaches, single-group studies, multicultural approaches, and education that is multicultural and social reconstructionist. Does both students and teachers benefit from having multicultural classrooms? The answer is YES!

It might seem that multicultural education could cause problems inside and outside of the classroom, but in reality these problems prove to be microscopic compared to the benefits teachers and students receive from this type of education. Multicultural education teachers both students and teachers to be open to things that they are not used to, for example, someone of a different culture or race. Having a multicultural classroom teaches students to accept people for who they are regardless of how different they maybe. This is HUGE, because of the amount of discrimination that is in schools today. If you start having a multicultural education at an early age, students become accustomed to having friends and classmates who are different than them. This is key when they get older, they don't see those people as different. Everyone is one in the same. Although having a multicultural education might require more work for the teacher, it is worth it. He or she can learn something new each day by their students about multiple different cultures, races, heritages and so on. Multicultural education can reduce the amount of fear, ignorance and personal detachment beginning at a young age.

I personally love the idea of multicultural education in the classroom at a young age. Although it is more work for the teachers, both teachers and students do benefit from it. I think that it will make our school systems and our society much better off, where there isn't as much discrimination and disrespect. Children at a young age need to be taught how to accept people for who they are no matter how different they can be. They also need to learn not to judge a book by its cover. If children at a young age learn to accept people and begin to learn from people who are a little different than themselves, it makes it a lot easier for them in the long run beucase they will be used to others being different then them.

Education The Practice and Profession of Teaching: McNergney and McNergney
Educational Foundations: Canestrari and Marlowe

http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers/keith.html

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=what+is+multicultural+education&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=multicultural+education&tbs=dfn:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=P-TrT974Hc200QGy69i4BQ&ved=0CFoQkQ4&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=82dfe0d40a3cc136&biw=1237&bih=614

Education is like playing baseball

Getting an education is like playing the game of baseball. As a ball player as well as a student you learn the fundamentals of education and baseball at a very young age. You need these fundamentals to make yourself a good player and student. As you grow and progress you learn new things each day about yourself, others and the subject that is at hand during classes, practices or games. Regardless of how old you get, as a player or as a student you always need to go back and refer to the fundamentals that you learned in the earlier grades or earlier years playing baseball. In baseball you have a coach that does everything they can to make you a better player on and off the field, who tries to teach you everything there is to know about the game each day. The coach can be compared to a teacher in a classroom. A teacher each day not only tries to teach you new information regarding particular subjects in school, but he or she tries to make you be a better student and person. This metaphor of education being similar to playing baseball shows that no matter how old you get you always will need your fundamentals that you learned when you were younger. Even if you don't think that something simple that you learned at a young age will help you in the long run, it will, more than you even realize. Those fundamentals could be the reason you win the championship or ace the test to get an A in the class.

I found this class to be extremely helpful and interesting, and I learned so much that I can take with me in furthering my education to becoming a teacher as well as when I become a teacher. Although I learned from everything we did and read in this class I think the most important thing that I learned from was the observation hours. During my field observation everyone was so helpful and welcoming. They all had some advice to give me about furthering my education as well as for when I become a teacher. I learned so much, big ideas and little ideas to help me become the teacher I want to be. I think the major thing I learned from observing in a classroom was how a classroom should be run and how a teacher should be toward their students. Another major thing I learned from this class was about inclusion. At first I was somewhat skeptical on my view about inclusion but after researching it and discussing it with the class it was pretty easy to declare a view. I believe that all students, no matter what the disability is should be included in the classroom as much as possible without negatively effecting any student. The last thing I learned was that unfortunately racism in fact, still does exist in the classroom. Until learning about this in this class I never took the time to think about whether racism still existed in schools today. This class made me be fully aware that racism does exist and we need to put a stop to it. I really and truly did enjoy this class and I think that everything I learned is going to be extremely helpful to me in the future.

I really enjoyed learning and hearing about the other peoples opinions and views in their blogs. I enjoyed the blogs much more than the discussions because everyone went more in depth in their blogs. People made great points and brought things to my attention that I would have never thought about unless I read their blog. I think the thing that I really enjoyed learning from other's blogs were about inclusion. I was amazed at how everyone had somewhat of a different opinion about this topic and how controversial it really is.

Social Justice in Education

Social justice is the idea of creating an environment that is based on equality, that understands and respects human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. What is a teacher's role in teaching social justice in education? In my opinion, teachers have the biggest responsibility and role in social justice in education. It is their responsibility to enforce the students to use social justice in the classroom as well in the student's lives. Teachers need to teach and stress that everyone must have respect for everyone's values and opinions on politics, religion, culture, etc. Administrators and the higher up people in the school systems number one priority is giving curriculum that is fair for both teachers and students including keeping social justice in effect. 


Although teachers are the ones with the main role in enforcing social justice in schools, everyone including school officials, administrators and students need to practice social justice in education and make sure that it is top on the priority list in education in schools. I believe that the main way to teach social justice is to start at a young age and allow the students to have opinions about different subjects, current events, values, religion, and politics but teach them how to express their opinions and views with respect. As teachers we need to explain and show that people in this world won't respect your opinion or values, and we need to teach them that we need to ignore these people who don't have respect for others and teach them how to live in a world where these people exist. We also need to teach them how not to be disrespectful so we can make the world a better place to be in where more people have respect for one another. 

Maria Montessori

I chose to research Maria Montessori. I think that she was one of the most influential and practical educators there ever was. I chose her because my elementary school that I attended was Montessori based and I think it was a great way to teach young students. Maria was the first person to admit that she learned from her students and that she studied her students and they taught her how to teach them. I think that this was phenomenal because today doing that is one things teachers are told to do when learning how to teach their students. She was very concerned about the environment in which the students were learning, and believed that students would learn much better if they were in a positive, fun, and educating environment. She taught students self discipline without even trying to. She focussed a lot of her teachings on real life situations that you don't normally learn in school. Maria Montessori once said " We would take every mistake a child made and turn it into a learning experience.I think that what Maria did was extremely important because she not only concentrated on the academic part of school but she taught life lessons and she treated the children like "little adults." I believe this is why she was as successful as she was. 


http://www.dailymontessori.com/montessori-theory/


http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/montessori.html

Inclusion

When should students with special needs be included in the average classroom? By doing some research on this topic through the internet and through what we read in class, inclusion is a very controversial topic to discuss. Many people have different views on inclusion. Some feel that special needs students should be included in the classroom at all times. Others think that they should be placed in a separate classroom at all times. What is the right thing to do here? Where is there a happy median for all people involved, including the teachers, students and parents?

Some feel that including special needs students in the classroom at all times requires the teachers to have another degree or have aids to help in the classroom. This would obviously be a problem due to the fact that most teachers don't have degrees or certifications in special needs and education, but some do. Another problem would be finding enough aids to help out in those classrooms. Some may worry that including students with special needs in the regular classroom might hold the rest of the class back from achieving and striving to their full potential. The other side of this argument is putting special needs students in a separate classroom all together. People who support this argument think that putting special needs students together will help them improve and help each other out in someway. They think that those students need that much special attention in order for them to learn and actually get something out of their education.

Let's face it. No matter what decision is made about students with special needs and inclusion, not everyone will be happy with the outcome. You can't ever please everyone. This obviously stinks in one way or another, which is why this topic is so controversial. My view on this topic is this: Students with special needs should be involved in the classroom as long as they are receiving the proper education to fit their learning capacity. When a student has trouble learning a certain subject or has trouble doing certain things, thats when they can be taken out of the class for a period of time during the day to be tutored or helped in another way. I don't think that students with special needs should be excluded from the classroom on a daily basis because they won't be able to interact with the rest of their peers, whom which they are probably friends with. What use is trying to make a student go to school where they are miserable because one, they have a hard time learning and two, they aren't with their friends at all throughout the day. Having students with special needs in the classroom as much as possible, will benefit all students because it will help the special needs students strive more and it will help the other students learn that everyone is made a little different and other students might have a harder time at certain things than others. I feel like all students will benefit in this situation. What's your view on inclusion and special needs students?

http://www.weac.org/Issues_Advocacy/Resource_Pages_On_Issues_one/Special_Education/special_education_inclusion.aspx

http://specialed.about.com/od/integration/a/Inclusion-What-Is-Inclusion.htm

How should we stop bullying?

Bullying is an ongoing problem thats happening in the United States. There are 60% of middle school students that say they have been bullied, while 16% of staff believe that students are bullied. Also 160,000 students stay home from school everyday due to bullying. Many people think that bullying just involves physical abuse. If you believe this, you're wrong. Unfortunately bullying comes in many forms, including name calling, spreading rumors, excluding others from groups, intimidation, and cyberbullying. Although school systems are funding programs to help stop the bullying in schools, it is still going on each day. I truly believe that this happens because children of all ages don't feel comfortable telling someone they are being bullied, due to the fact that they are embarrassed, scared or whatever the case may be. If a child is bullied their whole life, or even a small part of their life they are more prone to being affected by things such as low self-esteem, difficulty in trusting others, lack of assertiveness, aggression, difficulty controlling anger, and isolation later in life. This is one of many reasons why we need to stop bullying before it starts at a young age.
As teachers, parents and other students if we hear or see someone being bullied you must not ignore it. If people ignore the problem it will never be fixed. As a teacher if you hear or see someone being bullied you must intervene and try and stop it. You must talk to all parties involved, the bully, the victims, and the other students in the class. You need to get parents involved and maybe even the principal. Also as a teacher you need to encourage your students to come to you if there is a problem or they feel that the aren't being treated right. As a parent, you need to be involved in your child's life in every way you can. By being involved in your child's life you are preventing your child from being a bully or from being bullied. As a student being a bystander to someone being bullied you need to speak up and tell someone who has authority to stop the bullying before it gets too out of hand.
Bullying in my opinion is the worst problem that occurs in schools. Its not right in anyway and it needs to be stopped. School systems are making progress to help stop bullying by funding programs, setting rules, and making it known that bullying does exist. I think that programs need to be more involved in schools and I think that these programs need to show the effects of bullying. Administrators need to make it more aware that it is okay for students to come to them in times of need when they see someone being bullied or if they are being bullied. They need to make it known that what ever they tell them, it will remain confidential. The punishments due to bullying need to be known and enforced by everyone and anyone. School systems, parents, teachers, administrators and students all need to come together and put a stop to bullying before more and more children and young adults are affected by it.
http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/school-bullying.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/00117/typesbullying.html

Why Teach?

Why do people choose to teach? There are many different reasons that men and women choose to teach. It could be something as simple as that their parent was a teacher their whole life, they want summers off, they want to positively affect people, or they want a lifetime of learning new things each day. Whatever reasons a person has for wanting to become a teacher, I don't think that there is really a bad reason. The main reason as to why people want to teach is because they want to make a difference in every single way they can on multiple different children's lives. As a teacher you make in impact every single day by doing things that are minor and major  throughout the school day. Another reason people might want to teach is because they will learn something new from every student, each day of every year until you retire. Many are surprised at how much a person can learn from a six or seven year old. When you become a teacher it allows you to have more vacation time and more time to spend with your family. This to many could be a huge benefit. I guess I have a bias opinion about being a teacher because my mom was a teacher for 39 years and not only are these reasons, reasons from as to why other people are teachers but these are the reasons I want to be a teacher.http://www.unc.edu/uncbest/teacher.html