"Can education develop students as critical thinkers, skilled workers, and active citizens?"
"You must arouse children's curiosity and make them think about school".
I believe the answer to the first quote lies within the second one; in order to make students critical thinkers and skilled workers, schools need to make them use their brains with their opinions. I think it is a good idea to ask students why does the government force us to go to school. It gets children thinking and also teaches them why school is important. I believe if a children think of answers by themselves they would want to go to school more often and perhaps wouldn't hate it. This also gets them thinking and is a way for them to socialize which is an important part of schooling. By teaching children at a young age how to think for themselves this will benefit them in the long run for further schooling and careers. This related to the Anyon reading because middle class schools teach based on the right answer and how that answer was achieved.
I know throughout my schooling teachers never cared for my reasoning behind anything or what I thought and when I got to college it was completely different. In college most professors ask students why they think of certain things and care about their opinions. For example, my Math 144 class is all about discussion and what we think. Instead of my teacher just teaching he lets us figure it out ourselves and then we discuss the correct answer together as a class. If someone comes up with a different answer my professor does not tell he/she is wrong but instead asks how and why we got that answer. Another class were opinion is important is this FNED class. At first, I was hesitant to say my opinion because I was not used to it but then as class continued I became more open. If I was taught at a young age that my opinion counts I would not be as scared to speak my opinion today.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Schooling with Down Syndrome-Kliewer
"I started to notice that I didn't like the classes I was taking called special education I had to go through almost all my life. I wanted to take other classes that interested me. I had never felt so mad, I wanted to cry".
Reading this article I immediately connected with it. This quote frustrated me because I think that children with down syndrome and any mental illness should be allowed to take other classes other than special education. In high school I participated in a class called Teaching Pathways; this program was one period were select students worked with the special ed children. This was my favorite class because I got to interact with these children and learn their personalities. The students in this class ranged from severe down syndrome to a speech delay. They not only learned a lot from us but we learned a lot from them. They all had special talents and I learned not to judge a book by its cover. In my high school these children had a separate room where they spent most of the day and then for a few classes they joined the rest of the high school population. Even though sometimes this caused problems such as teasing, it helped the children socialize with the rest of the school. It also helps them to not feel left out. I think that the only way teasing will stop is for them to interact with others because children tease because they are afraid; afraid of the unknown or the different, but if they learn they are like normal children just a little different then it will help them fit in. I remember sitting in my art class with a few of the special ed children in it and when one of them had an outburst the rest of the class didn't know how to handle it. But because I was around them I knew it was nothing to worry about and that the aid would handle it or it would blow over soon. So having them involved in so called regular classrooms also teaches everyone how to act. I think all schools should have their special education children in normal classes for some period of the day to benefit everyone.
Reading this article I immediately connected with it. This quote frustrated me because I think that children with down syndrome and any mental illness should be allowed to take other classes other than special education. In high school I participated in a class called Teaching Pathways; this program was one period were select students worked with the special ed children. This was my favorite class because I got to interact with these children and learn their personalities. The students in this class ranged from severe down syndrome to a speech delay. They not only learned a lot from us but we learned a lot from them. They all had special talents and I learned not to judge a book by its cover. In my high school these children had a separate room where they spent most of the day and then for a few classes they joined the rest of the high school population. Even though sometimes this caused problems such as teasing, it helped the children socialize with the rest of the school. It also helps them to not feel left out. I think that the only way teasing will stop is for them to interact with others because children tease because they are afraid; afraid of the unknown or the different, but if they learn they are like normal children just a little different then it will help them fit in. I remember sitting in my art class with a few of the special ed children in it and when one of them had an outburst the rest of the class didn't know how to handle it. But because I was around them I knew it was nothing to worry about and that the aid would handle it or it would blow over soon. So having them involved in so called regular classrooms also teaches everyone how to act. I think all schools should have their special education children in normal classes for some period of the day to benefit everyone.
Social Clas and the Hidden Curriculum of Work-Anyon
In reading this article I noticed several things were different between middle class schools and working class schools. Middle class schools teach based on process while working class schools teach based on getting the correct answers. In working class schools "teachers rarely explain why the work is being assigned, how it might connect to other assignments, or what the idea is that lies behind the procedure or gives it coherence and perhaps meaning or significance...Work is often evaluated not according to whether it is right or wrong but according to whether the children followed the right steps". I do not think is necessarily a bad way to teach because on a test if they got the answer wrong but understood the steps they wouldn't be down graded as much. However, I do not agree with having them memorize the steps because they are not learning anything and will not remember it later on it life and they definitely will not understand it. Another thing that irritated me is when Anyon explains that after kids still did not understand how to solve a specific problem the teacher "made no attempt to explain the concept of dividing things into groups or to give them manipulations for their own investigation. Rather she went over the steps with them again and told them they 'needed more practice"'. I do not think this is the proper way to teach and everyone should be taught like the middle class.
The middle class teaches based on the right answer and how you got that answer. Here, instead of just giving them steps teaches explain how to solve problems and when children get the wrong answers they do not degrade them and say you need more practice but instead ask how and why they got the answer they got. This will help children understand better and remember these facts for the future.
I feel like I can relate to both of these classes because some classes I have taken are middle class and others were like working class. My biology class in college was like that of a working class because we only had to simply memorize facts and not necessarily know how they worked or how to do them. For that class I simply just memorized facts and when I was done needing them it was as if they left my brain and got ready for more facts to memorize. However, my math class is like the middle class because it explains how things are done and why they are done that way. I feel like every class should be taught that way.
The middle class teaches based on the right answer and how you got that answer. Here, instead of just giving them steps teaches explain how to solve problems and when children get the wrong answers they do not degrade them and say you need more practice but instead ask how and why they got the answer they got. This will help children understand better and remember these facts for the future.
I feel like I can relate to both of these classes because some classes I have taken are middle class and others were like working class. My biology class in college was like that of a working class because we only had to simply memorize facts and not necessarily know how they worked or how to do them. For that class I simply just memorized facts and when I was done needing them it was as if they left my brain and got ready for more facts to memorize. However, my math class is like the middle class because it explains how things are done and why they are done that way. I feel like every class should be taught that way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)