GOODBYE EDU 100!

Education is like baking cookies. There are a lot of factors that affect it, such as the quality of the teacher, the size of classes, and willingness of the student to learn, these things are like the temperature of the oven, what kind of cookie sheet you use, and how long you put them in the oven. There are many areas of study, such as Mathematics, English, Science, History, Art, Music, and much more, including basic skills we learn as children. These things are like the ingredients in the recipe. You have to be careful not to put too much of one ingredient in the recipe, or not to forget one. You also need to understand that each ingredient is equally important to the outcome of the cookies, or students. There are also many different kinds of cookies; different shapes, sizes, colors, flavors, and all with different ingredients. Similarly, every student is different and unique. Baking is an exact science, and something you need to put great effort into, to get the perfect outcome you desire. Many would say teaching is the same thing.
Over the course of the semester, I learned a lot about education, and myself. A few of these things stand out as most important. First, I learned that teachers have a lot more obstacles to surpass than I was aware of. I knew they'd always faced problems that made their job tough, but I never really realized just how many they had. Second, I learned that each state has much different legislation regarding education regarding many important issues such as special education, religion in schools, discipline in schools, extra curricular activites, and race. The third thing I learned through this course is that my decision to teach infant/toddler and preschool is the best decision I could have made, and I'm completely happy with it. I was originally and Elementary Education major, and over the summer I began working at a day care center in Salem. I absolutely love it, and realized that I work better with these younger children. Then, when we had to observe for this class, I realized the great differences between elementary classrooms and day care classrooms, and it became even clearer that I was meant to work with younger kids. My decision to be a teacher has never changed, but my choice of age groups of my students has, and that is in part due to this class.
I think the blog assignments were really beneficial in this course. They have allowed us to take different topics relevant to education and not only research them, but also write our opinions about them. We were able to see a lot of different perspectives about a lot of different topics. Although some of those perspectives and opinions may be different from our own, they are still beneficial to us, and help us learn more about the topics.

Missed Blog: Election

       The 2012 Election was one that would greatly affect our country in many ways. One of the subjects that candidates talked about in depth was education. Both Obama and Romney have their own platforms on the subject. Here are their main points and objectives.

       Mitt Romney – Romney wants to restrict education to the local and state levels. This means no federal interference in education, which in turn means no federal money. Federal money is used for Pell Grants, and Loans for many college students. Romney is also very focused on hire the best and brightest teachers, but doesn’t have an action plan on how to make such great teachers that he demands. Romney also wanted to eliminate the Department of Education, when he ran for senate in ’94.

       Barack Obama – Obama has already exempt many states from some of the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act. He wants to grant more federal aid to students, and to teaching programs at colleges across the country. He wants more vigorous teacher preparation programs, and strives to improve the quality of future teachers. His wife also has a platform for bringing healthier food into schools, and getting kids to stay active and exercise often. Shortly before the election the NEA, or National Education Association, came out saying that they supported and endorsed Barack Obama, and his platform.

       From this information it’s clear to me that Barack Obama has more realistic goals when it comes to education in the United States, and has already taken action to reach them. Over the past year he’s already exempt some states from some provisions of the NCLB Act. Additionally, he is more focused on finding the root of the problem in the education system, and fixing it from there, before he moves forward, rather than ignoring it and starting from here. 

Missed Blog: Why Teach?

        

       Teachers are underpaid. Teachers have to bring their work home with them. Teachers deal with large groups of young children all day, every day. Teachers often need to buy their own supplies for their classroom. Teachers are often overworked. These are all reasons why  being a teacher can be hard at times.

        I’m a teacher at a daycare center.  I make minimum wage and work 40+ hours a week. I spend my entire day with children under the age of 3. I always end up buying things like markers, glue, construction paper, and sometimes even baby wipes and diapers when my boss doesn’t buy them for us. It’s stressful and really hard sometimes. But through my experience I’ve realized some amazing things about being a teacher, that outweigh all those negative things, and make it all worth it.

1. Children are hilarious. They do and say funny things all the time. There have been times when I’m just so stressed and overworked and burnt out that I just want to walk out, come home, and cry. But then, one of my kids will say something funny or do something silly and I’ll smile and regain my perspective.

2. Children care. When they see other kids get boo-boos, then come over and hug the child.  They always give us hugs. There have been times when I’ve had a rough day, and one of my kids will come over and sit on my lap, play with hair, and say ‘Miss Jenna, you’re my favorite teacher!”. It’s like they can tell how we feel, and it makes you feel so much better when things like that happen.

3. Parents do appreciate us. The parents of our kids send us Christmas card picture of their kids and stick little thank you notes in their child's lunch boxes for us when we do something extra for them. The days of the hurricane a few weeks ago, we stayed open while all the public school closed, and we even stayed open an hour later than usual, for parents who got stuck in traffic and couldn’t get there by 530. The next day, one of the mom’s came in with Dunkin Donuts gift cards for all of us. She said “After your long day yesterday, I figured you could all use some coffee.” 

4. People say laughter is the best medicine. I laugh all day at work. Whether it’s my kids or my co-workers, we’re always cracking up. Either the kids do or say something that makes us laugh, or we’re all just so overtired and overworked that we start doing and saying sill things ourselves. Either way, we’re always laughing and having fun.

5. It’s the most rewarding job in the world. Teaching can be a hard job, but it’s with out a doubt the most rewarding career I could imagine. When you struggle to teach a child something for a while, and then they finally understand it, and you can see it click with them, and you know it’s because of you, it’s the best feeling in the world.