Nature of Schools - What I learned.........

This class was by far one of the most interesting classes I have had so far. I really didn't know what to expect. This was my first online class as a graduate student. I am a traditional classroom student and prefer that method of learning. This class changed my views on online teaching. I was challenged and enticed to use my independent urge for learning. I was eager to research the topics of the course and to be a supportive group mate for my group (collaborative learning).

I was fortunate to work in a group with two other fantastic women. We worked extremely well together and seemed to have the same work ethics. We were all flexible and were able to arrange several meetings on WizIQ, which allowed us to create great presentations as well as have in depth conversations on each course topic. I believe that made this class more enjoyable as well.

I am obtaining my masters in education as a second career. After being in the business world for 22 years I have decided to make a career change. Much of what I am learning is very new to me as I have only seen the surface of the education system as a parent. This class opened up a whole new dimension for me. I understand now, how important technological change is in the educational system. How necessary funding is. How so many people, groups and politics are so influential to our education system. This course encourage me to think about what I would expect in the "perfect teacher" and what I think schools should be like in the future. And most importantly how necessary change and reform are. We need to become teachers of the future and keep our students interested in education by incorporating into the classroom the new technology they are accustom to outside the classroom....

Let's all get on the "Change Train".

Changing Paradigms

This lecture with Sir Ken Robinson was well worth the 55minutes running time. His views on the need for education reform here in the United States is right on. I like his thoughts on what and why we need to change. One particular statement was "Trying to meet the future by doing what they did in the past." I agree with his take on the hierarchy of our education during the enlightenment and how we now need to change hierarchy. We no longer need to focus on just math, science and english, with the arts at the bottom. The majority of the work force in no longer the blue collar worker.


I particularly like his view on the increase number of students diagnosed with ADHD and his analogy about tonsils. People had their tonsils taken out because that's what they believed. The same is true for children diagnosed with ADHD. They are diagnosed with a "fake disease". His believe that these students are bored. We are not grabbing their interest, so we are diagnosing them and anesthetizing them with medication. His quote "we education from the outside in rather than what interest and drives people."

Why not promote the arts, technology, dance, and theater if that's what's a students interest.
Our children are born of the technological age. We have read so many articles in this course stressing how we need to change, reform, get with the times. His lecture reinforced all that we learned in this course. We as educators need to make the change!

Click here to listen and learn "Changing Paradigms Lecture"

Our School of the Future

My group; Krista, Lisa and myself were assigned to create a school of the future. Our school "The Children's Learning Academy" included all the things we felt were important and would benefit students in the changing world we live in. We created our school on LetterPoP, which was a first for all of us. It's a very cool software program which allows you to create advertisements, newsletters, and invitations.

Click here to visit our school of the future

Please read and comment, we would love to hear your comments.......

Types of Schools

Types of Schools.... Should we have so many choices?

Most of the students who do not attend public elementary and secondary schools attend private schools, for which their families pay tuition. Four out of five private schools are run by religious groups. In these schools religious instruction is part of the curriculum, which also includes traditional academic courses. (Religious instruction is not allowed in public schools.) There is also a small but growing number of parents who educate their children themselves, a practice known as home schooling.

Public: Regular public schools are organized and structured according to the policies and regulations of the local school district and state in which they operate. Magnet schools are public schools that focus on a special study area, from musical talents to gifted education. Many magnets were formed initially to promote desegregation. Funding is key to success of public school systems.




Charter Schools: These are public schools. They are typically created by a group of parents, teachers, administrators, community leaders or a local community-based organization.
They usually created when a group of parents, teachers and community leaders petition a local school board or county board of education for a charter to open an independent school in their community.


Why Choose a charter school? Parents and teachers choose charter schools primarily for educational reasons--high academic standards, small class size, innovative approaches, or educational philosophies in line with their own. Some also have chosen charter schools for their small size and associated safety (charter schools serve an average of 250 students).




Private Schools: Private schools have been around for a long time and the offer an alternative to public schools, especially in larger cities. An example of these types of schools are catholic schools which stress the religious aspect towards education. People feel that these schools are "safer" than public schools in bad neighborhoods. The fact is in many cases, these schools are understaffed and have non-certified personnel. Plus these schools are not free, and tuition must be paid. A plus can be the smaller class size and more individual attention the students receive.


Homeschooling: In many places homeschooling is a legal option for parents who wish to provide their children with a different learning environment than exists in nearby schools. The motivations for home schooling range from a dissatisfaction with the schools in their area to the desire for better academic test results.




Why Choose Home schooling? Many home-schooling parents do it for religious reasons, (they have been called ideologues), while others choose home schooling because they are disappointed with the nature or quality of the school program. (This group has been called pedagogues.) Home-schooled children generally outperform students in public schools.




Private - For Profit Schools:
There are two types of For-Profit Schools:
The first is a type of business. It collects and receives fees from students.
The second is called and EMO, or educational management organization. EMO’s usually have a specific teaching pedagogy or mission.

Why choose private for profit schools? For-profit schools operate very efficiently, making them more cost effective than a traditional public school. For-profit school serve more low income and minority students. For-profit schools do not have to follow government regulations.


Advocates believe that choice will break the public school "monopoly" on education, and create more efficient and effective schools. Poor parents will have educational options, as rich ones now enjoy, and incompetent teachers will be removed, rather than protected by tenure.

Which would you choose?

Technology as a Catalyst for Change”

The future in terms of the effects on human lives and the shape that schooling and education are likely to take.


Three Rs" just aren't enough anymore. Employers are demanding more and more complex skills, even from high school graduates. An increasingly global economy means that if one country's schools aren't providing those skills, companies will simply hire graduates from another country. http://ide.ed.psu.edu/change/why-school-change.htm
Many companies are currently outsourcing work to other countries.


The characteristics of a teacher in the new Informational era and the role of the process of professional career development.

Teachers today need to focus on obtaining the knowledge for effective teaching as well as the knowledge base for changing conditions that affect teaching. Teachers as change agents need to be able to work with all students by respecting diversity; race, gender,ethnicity and special needs. Teachers must also be able to maintain their moral goals as teachers by remaining close to the needs of children and youths, but simultaneously they must be able to engage in continuous renewal and change.


Predict the development of Education and Schooling in the future. If I were to predict the development of education and schooling in the future, I would like to believe there will be a considerable amount more technology within our schools. As we have discussed so many times in class this semester, times are changing and the education needs to change with it. Our children are so much more technologically savvy then we ever were. If we don't include technology in our curriculum we are going to lose the interest of our students. We as educators need to jump on the "change train" and catch up to our students so we can keep them interested, challenged and excited about learning.



How much does students’ education and school’s effectiveness depend on teachers? Teachers are one of the most influential people in our children's lives. They play a major role in the effectiveness of a students education. I believe if a teacher shows true enthusiasm and energy about the subject the are teaching it definitely effects a students learning, or want to learn. From personal experience. I will always remember my fifth grade math teacher, Mr. Detz. He had a true passion for his work and I can attribute my passion for mathematics to him.

Teachers as Change Agents

Why do teachers today need to become change agents?


Teachers today need to focus on obtaining the knowledge for effective teaching as well as the knowledge base for changing conditions that affect teaching. Teachers as change agents need to be able to work with all students by respecting diversity; race, gender, ethnicity and special needs. Teachers must also be able to maintain their moral goals as teachers by remaining close to the needs of children and youths, but simultaneously they must be able to engage in continuous renewal and change. Moral purpose keeps teachers close to the needs of children and youths; change agency causes them to develop better strategies for accomplishing their moral goals.

Teacher training and the educational hierarchy operates "status-quo", yet teachers are expected to engage in continuous renewal. The training teachers receive needs to focus on the changing needs of society and what our children are using in the real world.

Here is an example of what our group "Teachers in Training" felt the perfect teacher should consist of:
"The knowledge base for beginner teachers needs to focus on knowledge for effective teaching as well as knowledge for changing conditions that affect teaching."






































Learning for knowledge
Knowledge to teach
Teaching to change........



In today's world our children use so many more methods of technology then we ever could have dreamed of as children. We as teachers need to grow and learn, we need to catch up to the current technology and learn how to incorporate it into our methods of teaching. If the children are using it outside of the classroom, they need to be using it inside the classroom.

Social, Cultural, Economic, and Political Factors of Education and Schooling

This week we focused on the social, cultural, economical and political factors of education and schooling.

Our group focused on the social/cultural issues for this assignment.
We discussed in a power point presentation, Diversity, Multicultural Societies, Curriculum changes over the years based on social influences, and the History of Education.

Schools have tried to meet many divergent needs. Parents, teachers, and students alike expect schools to meet academic, vocational, social, civic, and personal goals.

Changing to the needs of a multicultural society, preparing students for the world of work, improving education, diversity, and providing social and economic mobility are major contributors to the education system.

There are many contributors to the educational curriculum; government, parents, community groups, Federal, State and local governments, professional organizations and special interest groups.

Social factors
Peer Pressure, adjustment and emotional problems, troubled adolescents. Many schools are increasing their focus on students social and personal needs as well as their academic needs.
Many schools have implemented extra curricular activities with hopes they will encourage students self-esteem, improve race relations, and encourage civic duties.

Culture
A significant curricular trend is the development of critical thinking skills. Educators believe that thinking must be taught directly and must be infused with the scope of subject matter content. Over many centuries this trend has evolved, but by the 1980's we were back to the basics. Triggered by the problem of declining test scores, this movement stressed achievement in the traditional subject-matter areas. Most reform reports urge a return to a core curriculum. Today we use National and State standards as a way of unifying and improving schools, of course this brings with it it's own form of controversy. Are teachers teaching to the test?

"Curricula have two functions. One function is to preserve and transmit to students the culture and traditions of the past. The other is to anticipate the knowledge, skills, and abilities that today's students will need in order to function effectively in tomorrow's society."

This leads us to next weeks topic "Teachers as Change Agents". Are teachers today Change Agents and can they anticipate the knowledge skills, and abilities that today's students will need in order to function effectively in tomorrow's society........

Getting Started

Our first meeting in person was great! It was so nice to meet everyone before we entered into our adventure online. It's always nice to be able to put faces to names. There is so much to cover over the next five weeks, we are definitely going to be a busy crew. I am looking forward to using Elluminate it's a new type of technology for me. I am also looking forward to this class. This is my first online class and I am very excited about it. I'm eager to see how things work. I'll let you know my thoughts as I travel through these next five weeks. Keep on reading.......