Great Educator

As Dewey stated, society does provide for significant learning situations, but schools are capable of leading society down the right path because of its influence on the social culture. Teachers can still impact and influence students even if education is the secondary agency in society. Even the toughest of times at home; there are thousands of students that are resilient enough to make their way to school. Schools are sometimes the only hope that students have to fill roles in their lives that are vacant.

           Schools and classroom stand for many positive things such as; positive adult relationships, positive reinforcement, acknowledgement, acceptance for who they are, affirmation, and empathy.  If school were a choice, I truly believe that we would still have full classrooms.  We are the only opportunity many have to change their class system and personal outlooks. 

It is my belief that teachers and schools battle being secondary in many students lives on a daily basis.  Our focus should remain on educating problem solvers who experience real world learning opportunities, which allow more students to choose to make education a priority.  

Dewey argued that social influences are the great educator and that schools are only a secondary agency.
            This could be a true point, but I believe schools are on equal footing in the context of influence. Children and youth coming from a rural Appalachian  Mountain background have a variety of influences in their lives consisting of family, economic status, community expectations, and life experiences (or lack thereof). In this instance the school may not be able to affect the lack of parent participation in a student’s life, but may be able to provide a glimmer of hope, or a door to a future that is different than what may or may not be expected of the family.  The educator may not be able to sway believes or change a student’s life choice for the better, but the educational system has provided a tool that could be available for the taking.

            Our children are shaped by the experiences they live.  They are molded by our families, our traditions and by outside influences including friends, neighborhoods and media.  As their access to instant information is unlimited, those outside influences can take them into places that most parents wouldn't even dream of in a matter of seconds.

            The immediate cultural content of today’s youth certainly includes a separate and distinct youth culture, with all the trainings of media influence. Dewey argued that social influences are the great educator and that schools are only a secondary agency, and how right he was. Today’s students have a firm grasp of all technology. Even students from low socio-economic backgrounds enjoy all the bells and whistles of technology, such as I phones, iPads, smart phones and Droids. They are aware of the programs and all the instruments usages before I have even heard of the programs, or technology.

           Today’s students are creating their own communities on social networks pages such as Face book, and MySpace. They have instant information at their finger tips. Something that I wish I could in lower level of my education, but certainly appreciate as I am completing my current course.
           Every parent dreams of a superior education with the best outcomes for their children's future.  Visions of superior education don't always include what they learn on face book, MTV's 16 and Pregnant, or from the friend down the street.  Parents and educators must be aware of these outside influences and build in teachable moments to help guide our students. 

           If schools are the secondary to the wider society, some of the biggest problems teachers will have with these cultural contexts are the things students will learn that are inappropriate in our society.  Students may be influenced by their peers, or presented information that is harmful in inaccurate.  In that case, teachers should be teaching our children to be critical thinkers and to have an open mind for new information.  They should focus on teaching our students to do further studies or going deeper into researching information for accuracy.

           Dewey envisioned an educational system where students were educated through experiences and through their interests.  While social influences are the great educator, Dewey also stated that curriculum could be made interesting by starting with the students' interests.  From there, we should help them shape new learning experiences that are chosen and guided in accord with those interests.  Dewey did not say that we should let students' learning happen haphazardly.

Hegemony

Hegemony refers to the unequal power relationship between two or more cultures or ideologies, socioeconomic groups. Hegemonic education refers to a term used primarily in critical pedagogy. Hegemony is the complete domination of one group by another. Another requirement for hegemony is the willing consent of the dominate group. In education, this occurs when students from one culture are taught to assimilate into their new culture as a primary goal. Often times, immigrant families are not only willing, but are eager to become” Americanized”.

Our educational system is presently a mess. Governments have long lost sight of what education actually is and it is mainly replaced within formal 'educational provision' by systems of indoctrination. As the governmental agencies, once again take control of our curriculum for an 'upgrade' many teachers must be considering whether it will be worth all of the effort. But now more than ever we need our education systems to turn out more inventive people who are able to think for themselves .True change requires innovations based on replacing constructs rooted in past white hegemony and its current vestiges and building educational programs and communities consistent with children's ethnic, cultural, social, and developmental needs

As a part of teaching weather to my students I stray from the school curriculum a bit to include a movie, An inconvenient truth, by Al Gore, In this movie he tells a story that when he was in his 6^th grade Geography class a student they we looking at a old pull down map of the world. A student noted that the Eastern tip of South American could fit into the Western side of Africa, The teacher told that student that they fit together and that belittled the student for thinking that way… As we know today, that did happen, the theory of Pangaea is true, and in actuality the continents have shifted back and forth a few times through history. Gore’s point of view on global warming is not one that most curriculums teach fully. We teach a watered down version, that doesn’t raise much political eye brows.  And other example would be Darwinism….. Did I dare say that word, “Darwin” in Texas??? Why is that an issue?? Religion?? Political??? Darwinism is taught, or at least touched upon, in other states, as a theory. I my district you can explain the theory as it pertains to Finches and how animals can evolve due to their environment, but not the whole stated theory.  HHHMMM .. If you think about it isn’t that what Hegemony is and adaptation or evolution of a culture?

 The point is that the truth as we think of it today may or will not be the truth of tomorrow. With different insights and various angles of view, we change our perspective due to the increase composition of our culture.

School Reform

I truly believe that it takes a village to educate children and to implement education reforms.    There needs to be a commitment to positive and systemic change must be priority from federal, state and local stakeholders.  In school reform the common ground must be to reach common ground so that reform goals can be communicate and achieved. 

 The NCLB reform is a prime example of forcing school change without hearing input from state and local entities. The fundamental idea that created this reform was that our school systems were broken and the federal government could force solutions.   As often learned from history,a top down approach will not solve a school reform issues, it will mask it, but not change it.  Local school boards and communities need to have a voice in reform efforts.  NCLB identifies that many schools were failing, and yet academic growth is not rewarded in this system.  Parents are misled by the label forcing the local district to do damage control. 

Stockholders such as; local boards, parents, teachers, and student should have proactive voice in reform issues, and not limited to a reactive voice after the reform is implemented.  These groups have been held at bay at one time or another in our history.  In education we strive to build learning communities for the betterment of the education of children, the voice of teachers, parents and students, strengthen that purpose. 

The stakeholders are those that must be advocates for children and their moral compass must direct them towards the best decision for all children, not just those that surround their communities.  Those who are the voice of children must speak with an influential voice, seek collaboration from all levels of government, and build trust with those they are working with.  For reform to have an impact, trust must be established. 

The David school is refreshing, students have a voice and adult are listening.   I would describe this school as inclusive and willing to meet the needs of all students.

The people you see the most are the students and the teachers. In our story, home visits from the school attempt to get the parents, community members; involved but I don’t see any great success in their efforts. I believe that for such a school to be created there would have to be some say from politicians, but after it opened, how much support have they received. .  Both Chris and Cody have expressed their opinion and it has not fallen on deaf ear.  Each has fallen behind and received help, and they have received praise for effort and growth. Support is not always funds, sometimes support is a presence or certain privileges and I don’t see where the David School is receiving any extra support. They appear to be in a little cocoon with not nearly enough extracurricular or extra sensory probing activities.  There is more to reform than an accountability rating – the David school is succeeding.

Gender Equity

      When I think of equal educational opportunity, the first thing that comes to mind is equality in every aspect of schooling for all students no matter the race, socioeconomic status, sex, or age. The David School’s main goal for their students is graduation. It is obvious that the school stands for the opportunity to complete and value education.  I see the school culture as being very accepting, nurturing and open to creativity.   The school supports students who want to take creative risks and is there to help keep the broken pieces in check.   

      Although the majority of the students are caucasian, due to the demographics of the area, I didn’t see any type of segregation by means of race or sex. There was an equal educational opportunity at the David School. That means each student has the opportunity to receive an education. The opportunity is there for all who choose to enter.  The key word is “choose” to get an education, the students can take advantage of the opportunities or not.

      In our country, women are afforded the same rights to an education as young men, yet in other countries we see that this is not the case.  Women in America still battle the conservative views on the professions they choose to enter; it has taken us centuries to accept women in political office and in many board rooms across the country.  Education has been the spring board that has allowed women the opportunity to evolve into leaders, doctors and lawyers. Woman do not merely need to be wives and mothers of greatness, they can be great in their own right with what ever  path they choose.

      In literature and basic beliefs over history, women are the warm and compassionate child bearing gender. They are supposed to be the stay at home, parent, be domestic, and educate the children in moral ideals of the community or society, while the males are the hunter gathers, or as we know it today ,the “bread winners” that support the family. Even though some women of today are fighting the stereotype, the ideals of male dominance within relationship are common throughout our society and throughout the world.

      Equal opportunity, however, is not the same as equal outcomes. Gender roles are certainly defined in schools as they relate to programs and activities but education is inclusive for young women today.  I do see qualities in many of the communities that surround us as it applies to young women and their role in the community.  Discussions of achievement gaps, for example, are not related to opportunity; achievement gaps are outcome-related conversations. For optimal educational outcomes, students must choose to persevere through challenging activities at school; they must demonstrate resilience to adversity; create goals for themselves; and believe they can accomplish a given task. Persistence leads to a successful performance. These are constructs that have to do with the effort a student expends in obtaining an education. Admittedly, not every student who enters our schools will be equipped with the same ideals or values; educators must teach these in addition to the curriculum, but the lack of these values should not limit the students opportunity to receive an education.

      I will leave you with a last thought, from Tom Robbins, “Equality is not in regarding different things similarly, equality is in regarding different things differently.”

Rita's school

After reading the literature on Wilson Middle School and watching the segments on The David School, I feel that Rita would be a compassionate and understanding our the issue in the school. Believe that Rita would run this alternative school slightly different than the current admistraion, Mitzi.  To appreciate the contrast you must understand that the two schools are vastly different from one another. Wilson Middle School, a mixed clientele of races and socioeconomic status’, Compared to The David School, which is predominantly lower economics Caucasian, located in an area of the United States (Appalachian Mountains) known for extreme poverty. The David School, being an alternative school would not be regulated and administrated as a “normal” educational setting. In viewing the videos clips, you saw that all the students addressed all of their teachers and administrators by first names. I really did not see any type of strong teacher/student relationship, and the level of respect the students held towards the teachers were minimal to say the least, but the relationship must be one of trust and respect to have a successful school. Another issue that I observed was that several of the students knowing their current grade level. For an alternative school trying to graduate these struggling students, there needs to be a more concrete goal system.

       With Rita running the school, I believe some of these rough edges will be smoothed out. From her experience teaching social studies to the “basic skills” classes, forming relationships is how she earned the trust from her former students. Rita's desire to seek input and data prior to forging change, she would only implement needed change.  The school has many good qualities from what I have viewed and is certainly the last stop for many of the students who attend.  She would strengthen the program because of her inclusive thoughts and desires for students. She would allow for creativity in students and perhaps command that teachers learn to sense what makes these students work daily to be successful. 

Rita would make sure that all staff members through various staff developments on poverty students and their needs learn these relationship-building skills. As the new principal of an Alternative school, I believe Rita’s overall demeanor will be more authoritative than Mitzi’s. She will demand respect, which starts with calling teachers by their last names, not their firsts. She will embed some type of character building and hold all students accountable for their actions. To make sure all students are on the path to success, she will make sure that every student knows where they stand, and what their expectations are for that year. Each student will have a mentor as well as extra tutoring services daily.

       Rita would have a huge impact on The David School. She will focus on the necessities, making certain that every student is looked after.