Final Writing Circle Reflection

Today I will wrap up and reflect on my writing circle group this session.  Overall, writing circles were very helpful for me and were a beneficial way to get opinions and critiques on my thoughts and ideas.  It was nice to hear what other people had to say about my blog posts and I enjoyed getting feedback, whether it was agreeing or disagreeing with what I had to say. It was important for me to be able to accept any criticism on my blog posts and use this to either make changes to my ideas or if I still did not agree, to accept that not everyone will have the same beliefs and that this is perfectly okay.  The writing circle groups helped me to discover my topic for this research paper and encouraged me to come up with different ways that I could go about researching it.  I feel that the other group members would say that we did the same for them, as well.  Our group got along very well and had a lot of conversations that I was able to learn from.  These conversations were a great way for me to think about things in another way or in several ways, which is very important for a teacher to be able to do.  I enjoyed reading the blogs of my group members and felt that I took something from reading each of those, too.  I have always been a fan of small groups in class and I think that having these small groups made the class much more interesting and also allowed for us to meet new people and get to know them better.

Each member in our group chose different topics to research which taught me a lot about different topics.  Everyone also had different opinions on education and had different experiences throughout their education.  This was important for me since I got to reflect on my educational experiences and think about how my education may have been different, or how I may be different, if I were to have had different experiences in my life.  For example, I thought about how much different it would have been for me if I had gone to Catholic school my whole life.  When I thought about this, I realized the importance that public schools have had on my life...which then led me to my research topic.  Throughout this class, I was able to put myself in other situation as well, such as how my life would be different if I had been African American or another race, if I had been raised in a poor family, or if I had been a woman at a time when women's rights did not yet exist.  As I put myself in each of these situations, I thought about the diversity that will exist in my classroom and that I must be able to imagine myself in each one of my student's places before making any judgements.  This class was a major influence on my ability to do this which I think has made me a more accepting and understanding person...which will lead to me becoming a better teacher.  Working with Courtney, Kara, and Andrew helped me to get even more out of this class and because of this, I plan to include small group sessions often in my classes when I become a teacher. 

Timeline References

References



Fletcher, D. (2009, December 11). Brief history of standardized testing. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1947019,00.html

Historical timeline of public education in the US. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.arc.org/content/view/100/48/

Imbornoni, A. (2007). Women's rights movement in the U.S. Retrieved from http://www.infoplease.com/spot/womenstimeline1.html/

Jarrett, T. (2012, May 8). Who has the oldest public university in the united states?. Retrieved from http://athome.allentate.com/2012/05/who-has-the-oldest-public-university-in-the-united-states/

Sass, E. (2012, June 12). American educational history: A hypertext timeline. Retrieved from http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/educationhistorytimeline.html

Spring, J. (2011). The American school: A global context from the puritans to the Obama era. (8 ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Details about my Research Paper (Writing Circle Reflection 3)

Today in writing circles, my group mainly talked about what our research topics are and how we plan on presenting the information.  As we each shared,  we helped each other out with what would make it even better and offered other ways that we could further our research.  My group helped me today as I told them about my intent to research public schools.  I have already researched the broad history of this topic as I created my timeline.  I was unsure how I would go about working with this information but witht the help of my writing circle group, I came up with a few good ideas of different aspects of public schools that I could focus on.  I decided that I would sum up some of the major events throughout the history of public schools and any events that may have had an impact on them...for example, I am including some information about Catholic schools since we know that this leads into the formation of public schools. I will also include some events dealing with segregation since these had major effects on public schools.  I will relate these events to my life and reflect on the impact that public schooling has had on me.  I will talk about several specific instances that stood out in my public school experience and then explain how this had an effect on me.  Some of these events include experiences with teachers that I've had, classes I have taken, and decisions I have made in regards to my education.  Lastly, I will talk about some of the advantages of public schools and then touch of some disadvantages, or current issues, that are involved with public schools.  I can provide a few ideas of ways that these issues can be handled by teachers and the outcomes that may occur.  I am glad that I was able to receive help from my group today and that I have finally come up with a plan for writing the research paper.  I have enjoyed working in my writing circle and I think that we all learned a lot from one another.

Standardized Testing

On Tuesday, we divided into groups and focused on different problems with today's education in chapter 15.  In my group we looked at standardized testing and accountability.  The book talked about the spread of the accountability movement in the 1970s and states beginning to require schools to annually publish standardized test scores.  Our group talked about how in our classes and in education, we are always focusing on how every child is different and has different needs and abilities in our classrooms.  However, One Child Left Behind and standardized testing group children together on one level.  How are students with different abilities and strengths/weaknesses supposed to be expected to take the exact same tests and receive a certain score on them to pass?  This is a major problem in education today.

As our group continued talking about standardized testing, we all seemed to have negative experiences with standardized tests.  We all rememebered becoming very stressed out on the days of these tests and claimed that this had a negative impact on our scores.  I remember many times after taking a standardized test, that I felt that I did awful and could not have passed since there was so much information that I had to guess on.  For example, taking the GRE in college, I remember being unfamiliar with many of the vocabulary words in the verbal section, even though I had studied numerous texts that were made to do well on that section.  If we are guessing on so many of the questions, what good is this really?  I understand that students must be assessed to be aware of their knowledge and progress in each of the subjects, however, can't we come up with a better, less stressful way of doing this?  Not only are the students stressed out about these tests, but so are the teachers.  The pressure teachers have to prepare their students to take proficiency tests and other state tests is forcing them to spend time teaching for the tests, rather than on information that would be more valuable to the students.  This is one of the things that I do not look forward to as a teacher and will have to figure out a way to incorporate this into my class while still teaching the lessons.  It is important that we do the best we can as teachers to help our students avoid having the negative feelings and experiences that my group experienced towards these tests, even though it will definitely be a challenge.

Public Schools

As I was researching different topics of events that I wanted to include in my timeline, I decided that I wanted to focus my research on public schools.  In class, we talked a great deal about Catholic schools and how they began as a way to teach students about the Bible and religion.  I have never attended a Catholic school until now, and have always attended public schools.  I am Catholic, but my parents had me attend nights classes, which we called PSR.  I felt that we focused more on private schools in class and I decided that I would like to look deeper into the history of public schooling.  I think that public schools shaped my education in a major way since I attended them my entire life.  This was also a major influence on my choice of student teaching teaching location this year.  I chose to student teach at South Euclid Lyndhurst over Hawken because I wanted to teach at a public school in my career, so it made sense to student teach at one.  I think there are many positives and negatives to each type of school and I am not saying that one is better than the other.  However, I know that there are many families that cannot afford to send their children to private schools for their entire education, so I do think that public schools are very important in our society.  I think that public schools had an effect on my education in just about every way possible.  I liked that religion was taught to me at a separate place and that we were only taught the major subjects in school. However, I am sure that I would have a different outlook if I had attended private school.  I believe that there is more diversity in public schools, which is an important experience to have.  This was also part of my decision of South Euclid Lyndhurst over Hawken.  I wanted to be around different cultures, races, and students with disabilities, which there will be more of in this school district.  Although I went to a public school, my school was not very diverse, so I figured that this would be a good time to get a more diverse experience, since I am sure that there will be plenty of diversity in my teaching career.  Overall, public schools have really shaped my education in countless ways and have given me the majority of my educational experiences.

Fit in or stand out?

In our group today in class, we looked at the section about the African Americans in Ch.7.  We briefly talked about the 14th ammendment and the Plessy vs. Ferguson Supreme Court case.  However, we decided to focus our talk on Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois.  We noticed that they both had very different view on what the African Americans should do in response to segregation.  Washington believed that they should compromise with the whites and that they should remain segregated from the whites whereas Du Bois believed that there should be no compromise with the whites and that there should be no segregation at all.  With this, we discussed Washington's reasons for why he would want to compromise with the whites.  We found it hard to believe that he actually felt that this is where they belonged in society.  We then wondered whether he was afraid to stand out, as Du Bois did, or if he had another plan in mind that would bring about a better outcome if they were to segregate for some time.  I personally think that he had to have had some sort of idea in mind but I also do not know any more details on him or his beliefs. 


This got me to thinking about whether it is best to fit in or stand out in controversial situations?  As we grow up we are always told to be a leader, not a follower, and many times I feel that this is accurate.  I think it is important that everyone stand up for what they believe and exercise their freedoms and I believe that this is important to teach our students.  I am sure that there are examples, though I cannot think of any now, in which it would be better to fit in than stand out.  Overall, it is necssary for our students to know that they are allowed to have their own opinions and to know that whether they are a leader or a follower, that their beliefs are equally as important as anyone else's.

Family Influences (Writing Circle Reflection 2)

On Thursday, our writing circle group talked a lot about how our families were a major influence in our decision to become teachers.  We shared some information about grandparents, parents, siblings, etc. and the different paths that they chose in education, whether it be college or right to finding a job.  I mentioned that my grandfathers went to college but my grandmothers did not.  Also, my mom had only gone for an associates degree since she was beginning a family and did not plan on working for awhile.  While my siblings and I grew up, she had a home daycare so that she could be with us all day and not have to send us to a daycare.  As I reflected on each of these situations, I realized that all of these family members had something to do with my decision to become a teacher.  I decided that I would now look into this information further to see how it had an impact on my reasons to become a teacher and to seek further education. 

I think a part of the reason that my grandmothers did not go to college had more to do with the times and that it was more common for women not to go to college.  My grandma on my mom's side had always told me since I was little that I should go to college and to do what I love since she did not have that opportunity.  She said that she would have loved to go to college but her father would not pay for her to go since he did not think that it was necessary for her to go, as a woman.  Instead, she got her beauty license and worked as a hairstylist, which would not have been her first choice of careers if she were able to attend college.  I think that this has definitely played an important factor in my decision to attend college since I really appreciated that fact that my family supported me in attending college, unlike her father.  My mom also seems to regret that she did not go for a bachelor's which was also a reason for me to get one because I saw that I may have also had these feelings of regret if I had not.  Lastly, I think that a major influence on my decision to become a teacher came from my entire family's support of my career.  When I switched my major from nursing freshman year of college to education, I was worried what my family might say.  However, I was surprised and very happy to find that everyone was very supportive of me and thought that it was a better fit for me. 

My uncle on my dad's side also has influenced my decision to become a teacher.  He lives in Virginia and is a middle school history teacher.  Although I will not be teaching history, I will teach middle school grades, so I have always been able to talk to him about his experiences.  Talking with him about his class was always very interesting to me and made me happy to see how much he enjoyed being a teacher.  I have received a great deal of advice from him over the past few years since I have made the decision to become a teacher.  He has great ideas that I plan to incorporate into my classroom.  My grandma told me that he wins awards almost every year since he is such a great teacher and the children love him.  He has learned many fun ways to teach his classes, such as using animations and videos into his PowerPoints that the children love, which resulted in them getting more out of his class.  His students' grades also reflect his hard work and encouragement of his class.  If my grandma had not told me about these awards, I am sure he never would have, since this is not what matters to him....what matters to him is that his students are enjoying his class and having a good time.  As I reflected on the conversations that I have had with my uncle, I realized that a great deal of my attitudes towards teaching come from everything that I have learned from him.  He is a major role model for me as a teacher and I am lucky to have learned so much from him.

Diversity in Schools

Today the group that I was in had a few discussions that really got me thinking.  We talked a lot about diversity in race and socioeconomic status.  We also talked about private vs. public schools and how we found that in certain areas, the wealthier parents will send their children to private schools to avoid the diversity that exists in the public schools.  During these discussions, I was particularly interested in a conversation about the cost of college tuition.  We talked about how it is unfair in our country that a higher education is so expensive and there are many people who are unable to afford this opportunity.  Yes, there are loans to take out, but people know that they will be paying these back for many years after college and this could be discouraging for them to want to go when they could start working and making money after high school.  Also, some people whose family does not have much money, can not find a cosigner to be approved for them to take out loans.  Then, we talked about how many times people in other countries are able to go to college for free since they encourage everyone to go and they want everyone to have an equal chance.  It is so important to have a minimum of a Bachelor's degree now so I think that with such a high amount of people attending college, the cost should be much lower.  I know that there are many other factors that go into this, but I really do think it is sad that so many people do not get the opportunity to go to college due to the high tuition rates.  We also touched on that many people are just born into a certain lifestyle, whether it be upper/middle/lower class.  I think it just bothers me that there are some people who do not value all that they have or have been given when there are so many people who work so hard and never even get close to what they have.  I would consider myself neither rich nor poor, but I have seen both very deserving lower class people and ungrateful upper class people.  I know that this is something that will always exist but this is what was on my mind after our discussion today.


Since I mostly talked about diversity in SES, I decided to think about this aspect as a future teacher.  I went to a school where I really did not see much poverty, but I realize that I will definitely encounter this in my career.  In our group, we talked a lot about how everyone has certain biases and prejudices, but we must not ever let them be seen in our classrooms.  It is most important as a teacher to treat everyone equally and make everyone feel comfortable and safe at school.  I feel that if I notice students who are not as fortunate as others, that I would want to encourage them even more and to really be there for them.  I know it cannot be easy to pay attention in school when there is so many other problems going on in their lives, but this just means that we need to be ready to face these issues as a teacher and to be aware of our student's backgrounds so that we can keep them on track and not let them give up on education.

Debates vs. Arguments (Writing Circle Reflection 1)

Today in my group's writing circle, we discussed everyone's blogs and critiqued them, but we also got into a few other discussions.  I feel that because my post was not much of an opinion on a topic, but rather just stating my reasons to become a teacher and why I chose the prop that I had for class last week, I did not receive many critiques.  Rather, people basically said that they enjoyed reading it and then everyone shared a brief summary of why they had decided to become teachers themselves.  Courtney had also mentioned that she liked the perspective that I had on math and how there are often more than one way to solve math problems.  I decided that I will need to come up with some deeper thoughts for my next blog so that it can create more of a discussion in my writing circle that it had today. 

Since this was about all of the feedback that I received today, I decided to talk a little about one of the discussions that we had during our writing circle today.  One discussion that we had came from Courtney's blog that had to do with two opposing parties and an argument that she had experienced personally.  During this conversation, we talked about the differences between and argument, in which people are fighting and not respecting one another's feelings, and a debate, in which people choose a side but are more respectful of one another.  I thought that this was an important discussion since people often get carried away with their side of a situation and forget to consider the other person's rights to have their own veiwpoint.  This is an important aspect in this class and is an important concept to be aware of in any situation.  As we talked about this, I reflected on times where I have been in a debate and tiems when I had been in an argument.  I realized as I thought about this that all of my memories of arguments gave me a bad feeling.  From this discussion, I decided that I will be more thoughtful about where other's may be coming from when I do not agree with what they are saying. 

Reasons for Teaching

Today I am going to focus my blog on the reasons that I have decided to teach.  Although I found today's readings and class discussions to be interesting, I found that I related more to the readings from "Educational Foundations" that we had for Thursday last week.  As I read the experiences that other teachers had with the students in their classroom, it got me thinking a lot about why I chose this career and why I think that it is the best fit for me.   The “Death at an Early Age” section of the reading really stood out to me as I thought about the type of teacher I want to be.  It angered me to read about the art teacher who treated Steven so poorly and made me question why someone like this would ever want to become a teacher in the first place.  This idea led me to think about my own experiences and it was also what helped me decide what to choose for a prop.  When I was just beginning school, I remember doing well in all of the subjects except math.  I really struggled with my basic math facts and disliked that math was all about numbers.  The teacher I had for kindergarten was a tough, unsympathetic woman that seemed to be the opposite of what you would expect for a kindergarten teacher.  As I grew up and had some of the best teachers in math, I realized that I was actually pretty good at it and really enjoyed solving the problems.  This was why I chose a calculator as my prop.  It is funny now to think that the subject I once despised is now the subject that I will be teaching my future students.   I think another reason why I liked math so much as I was growing up was because there was always more than one way to solve a problem in math, even if you were told to do it a certain way.   This tied into my group’s discussion today about the common system of education.  We talked about how education is often focused on what to learn rather than how to learn.  I think it is very important that students learn to think for themselves and I believe that it should be completely acceptable if a child solves the problem a different way than is asked of them in class.

Web Log 1

WebLog 1: CLASS SURVEY
Personal information
1. Jenna Rezac, Strongsville,OH, jrezac15@jcu.edu
2. Jenna
3. middle childhood math/science
undergraduate degree:human development and family science 
4. I enjoy spending time with my family, boyfriend, and friends.  I like hanging out at my pool in the summer with friends.  I also enjoy going to concerts and Cleveland sports events in my free time.
Learning Style and more:
5. For me to feel comfortable taking intellectual and creative risks in a classroom, I would need to feel like people are respecting my opinions even if theirs are different. I would need to feel comfortable with the students and teacher in the classroom.  I would hope that if someone were to disagree with my any of my points, that they would do it in a respectful way.
6. I am always prepared for class by doing any papers, homework, or projects that were assigned. I make sure to attend class unless I have a valid excuse. I participate in class when I have something that I believe will make a contribution to the discussion. I learn well by working in groups or by doing activities that go along with the material.  If I am having trouble understanding something, I make sure to keep trying until I get it. Many times, I will also ask someone who does understand for help.
7.I learn best by working with others.  I get easily distracted when a teacher just lectures the whole class.
Education Past and Present
8. A memory that I have as a student is about a teacher that I had in elementary school.  This teacher was always my favorite and was extremely helpful whenever I struggled with anything. This teacher influenced me to become a teacher myself so that I could be a positive role model for my future students.  Another memory I have is about a professor that I had in college.  This professor only read the powerpoints and did not interact with the class.  I could not focus with this type of teaching and had to spend time out of class teaching myself the material.  This experience encouraged me to always have activities and other interesting ways to teach in my classroom.
9. Some issues that affect me as a future teacher are the lack of jobs or the difficulty of finding a job, the lack of resources in some schools, and the negative attitude that many people have towards teachers. Another issue that is often talked about in class, is that of standardized testing. 
10. 1) group projects and activities  2)important topics for all teachers (teaching styles, history of teaching, etc.) 3) friendly and respectful to one another 4)busy work that is not useful and very time consuming
About Dr. Shutkin:11. What do you think is the most important thing for us to get out of the class?