Montessori Education.

   



       Maria Montessori, an Italian educator, developed an approach to education known as Montessori Education. This type of education emphasized freedom within limits, respect for children and their natural development, and independence. There are 5 main elements of the type of education. The first is mixed age classrooms, generally age 3 to 9. The seonc id the choice of activity students have, withing a set of options the teacher provides. The third is a "discover" model, where students work with materials in order to learn, instead of being given direct instruction. The fourth is uninterupted sets of time working. The last one is specialized educational material,which Moterssori developed.
       Montessori educartion is a model of education with respect to fundamental human development. There are two basic elements; children and adults enganging in self-construction through interaction with their environment, and children having an innate path of development. One of the key concepts of Montessori education is the child's freedom to choose what they learn about, from sets of options teachers provide. She believe that their choice to act freely and choose in a school environment would produce the best outcome in regards to education and development.
       Montessori belived that there were certain innate characterisrtics that we all shared; order, exploration, repetition, abstraction, self-preservation, communication, and orientation to the environment, to name a few. She thought that it was important to take these into consideration when creating a model for education.
       There are a variety of dirrent programs that favor Montessori Education. In Montessori Infant/Toddler Programs there are "nests", which are classrooms of a few children ranging from a few months old, to 15 months. The next step is classrooms called "Young Child Community", which have more children from ages 15 months to about 3. Montessori Preschool and Kindergarten classes are often reffered to as "Children's Houses". They have roughly 20-30 children, of mixed age groups between 3 and 6. Elementary Classrooms have varying amounts of students, and mix age groups between 6 and 9, and 9 and 12. Highschool Classrooms are frmo age 12 up.
       Overall, the Montesorri model of education is very open-minded, and allows the student a lot of freedom and choice in their own education. I really like this model of education. I think that if you give students a choice and let them choose what they want to do, they will be more open to learning. I know when I was in school I used to hate when teachers assigned specific books. I never read them. But when we had a choice of a few books, I could pick what I wanted to do, and I always did those assignments. I think this model of education allows children to feel like they have some control over that, and it makes them more apt to want to learn.


http://www.michaelolaf.net/1CW312MI.html
http://www.akgmag.com/article/The_Montessori_School_Philosophy.htm
http://www.nndb.com/people/189/000108862/

Teaching Columbus Day and Thanksgiving

"In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue...." I'm sure we've all learned this poem about Columbus, I know I have. When I was in elementary school I was taught that Columbus was brave explorer who sailed the world looking for new land, and when he found it in America, helped the Native Americans, and treated them with kindness and respect. This poem even says that. It says he rejoiced at the sight of the Native Americans. According to the article "We Have No Reason To Celebrate An Invasion", that wasn't the case. The article states that Columbus' invasion of American caused the Native Americans much demise, and still destroys they're people today. The Native Americans agree that Columbus did give them some useful things, such as horses, which they use to high military art, and beads, which they used to a high art as well. Despite those things, the Native Americans claim that Columbus is the reason they are the poorest people in America, have the highest teen suicide rate, and are ill-housed and in poor health. Obviously, this stuff isn't taught in schools. When I looked up lesson plans online I couldn't find any that taught these types of things. A few briefly states that the Europeans and Native Americans had opposing views some times. For the most part, they all told the same story, the one I remember learning in elementary school. I would teach Columbus Day in a way that showed both sides of this. I would obviously use age appropriate books and activities. 

When I was taught about Thanksgiving in elementary school we did many things. We made turkeys with outlines of our hands, made pilgrim hats out of construction paper, and put on plays about the first Thanksgiving; which showed pilgrims and Native Americans sitting at long tables, happily passing side dishes around, laughing and smiling together. A lot of the lessons plans I found online showed many similar activities. However, the article "Rethinking Thanksgiving" showed some new and interesting ways to teach about Thanksgiving. One idea that could be used to show the different sides and opinions of the pilgrims and Native Americans would be to read stories that explain how Native Americans may be offended by the celebrations and Thanksgiving. Some other ideas for new ways to teach Thanksgiving would be to have students research harvest festivals from different countries, and compare them, read stories, poems, ect. from Native American authors, and having students look for stereotypes of Native Americans in advertisements and bulletin boards. As a teacher, I would try to incorporate some of these ideas into teaching about Thanksgiving. 

Socially Just Curriculum

In the first article, the section about how textbooks and children's literature generally value the lives and standpoints of the most dominant groups. One of the examples was about Columbus, and how textbooks taught children that Columbus' goals and dreams, and his side of the story, but failed to show the Native American's side, and made it seem as thought they had no rights. I've seen this a lot in textbooks. When I was in high school we had to read a chapter about slavery for my history class. It was from the perspective of the slave owner, and told the stories from his side. It never told us the story from the slave's side, or perspective. I agree with this article and see how many times history lessons can disregard the lives and opinions of women, people of color, and working class individuals. History lessons also often teach students to see things from the side of the dominant group. I think that needs to change. The sides of the story that are not told in history books are just as important as the ones that are told. The side of the Native Americans in the story of Columbus is just as important as his side. The side of the slaves is just as important as the side of the owners. I think that textbooks and curriculum need to open up and share these sides with students more. If they did, it would not only be socially just, but if both side were presented to the students, it would allow them to form their own opinions about things that happened in history, and they wouldn't have to only see the opinion of the person who wrote the textbook or taught the lesson.

Existentialism

My topic for this week will be Existentialism.

What is it? 
Existentialism basically means that every person is the subject of their own reality, and no two realities are the same. Existentialists believe that in the importance of choice. People make their own choices in regards to who they will be and where their life will go. They also believe that we are free to make our own decisions regarding those things.

 What does it mean for education?

The goal of existentialist education is to develop individuals who exercise their freedom of choice and take responsibility for their actions. The students are encouraged the develop independence  self-discipline, set challenges, and solve problems. The teachers encourage students to philosophize about life and recognize and fulfill their personal freedom. The teaching methods most commonly used within existentialist education are discussion, analysis, and examination of choice making in the student's lives as well as the lives of others. The subjects studied through this type of education are Art, History, Social Studies, Literature, and Drama.

*I searched online to find information about my topic, but in all honestly, couldn't find anything helpful. None of really explained how it was put to use in a classroom; it all just summarized it and said that a lot of teachers use it. So, I got all of my information from our textbook, because it was the only source that went into any amount of depth about the subject. 

Inclusion.

I think I might sound a little bit redundant in this post. Last week, when we had to pick a topic, I chose to write about inclusion and the multicultural classroom. Now this week, the assignment is about inclusion, so I'm probably going to end up repeating a lot of what I said last week :( But, I'm going to try to put a different spin on it, so it's not so repetitive.

So, here's my question for this week. Obviously, there's a lot of debate over whether or not inclusion is beneficial or not for the student who is being mainstreamed. But, what about the other students in the classroom that the child will be included into? Do they benefit from it? Or does it hurt them? Basically, if a student is mainstreamed, will his or her peers be helped or hindered by it? If a student who has disabilities is put in a mainstream classroom, what affects will that have on his/her classmates?

I guess the best way to start looking at this question would be to define inclusion. So, what is inclusion? It's essentially when students of varying intellectual and developmental levels are in one mainstream classroom. The way I'm talking about it, it means that a student with disabilities is placed in a mainstream classroom, where most other students do no have disabilities. 

Now what does that do to the other students? That can depend on a few factors. Is the students disability mild, moderate, or severe? If the students disability is mild, it's likely that the teacher can run their classroom in relatively the same manner as they would if the student was not in it. The student won't require additional staff, resources, or extended amounts of time from the teacher. The other students won't miss out on anything. If the student's disability is moderate, that could require extra staff, resources, and teacher's time. The other students may not get as much time and attention from the teacher, and some topics may not be discussed as in depth. If the students disability is severe, that could be detrimental to the other student's learning and successful outcomes. The student will without a doubt need additional resources, and the teacher may need to spend an extended amount of time with the student. However, if the teacher has another staff member in the classroom to help her, then it may not be as big of a problem. That's another factor that can affect what mainstreaming does to other students. If the teacher is alone they may be require to spend extra time and attention on the student with the disability, which will be time and attention taken away from the other students. However, if the teacher has an additional staff member in his/her classroom to assist the student with the disability, then very little of his/her time and attention will be taken away from the other students. 

Sometimes things like language and culture can cause barriers between a student who is being placed in a mainstream classroom and the teacher and other students of that room. If there is no way to translate or communicate between the student, teacher, and peers, then how can the student be expected to learn? And how can the other students be expected to interact with them? If the barrier of language and culture are not severe, and communication can be made among the student, teacher, and peers, then that can become a great situation for everyone involved. The students can all learn about each other, and it gives them an opportunity to learn about people who are different from themselves.

So, there can also be a lot of debate over whether or not mainstreaming a student will benefit his/her classmates. There are some situations in which it will only hinder the classmates learning and progression. Other times, it can only benefit all those involved. There are clearly many factors that can affect this. I think this is another thing about inclusion that needs to be considered on a case by case basis.

http://www.newsforparents.org/experts_inclusion_pros_cons.html

http://www.learningrx.com/against-special-education-inclusion-faq.htm

Multicultural Classrooms

   
                                       

       Is inclusion and mainstreaming really the best option for multicultural classrooms? In my opinion, it can be, but it depends on the situation and the individual student. Again, I chose this topic because I learned a little bit about it in my Developmental Disabilities class, and it interested me, so I wanted to further research it.
      Inclusion is education designed and offered to all people regardless of their physical, social, emotional, or intellectual characteristics; most often used to refer to education provided in mainstream classrooms. So what does that really mean? Well, it basically means that all students will be placed in mainstream classes, where the curriculum is directed towards students of average developmental and intellectual levels, regardless of their cultural or linguistic backgrounds. Students spend most of the day, if not all of it, in these mainstream classrooms, learning with their peers.
      So, when is this a good idea rather than a bad idea? I think to find that answer you need to look closely at each individual circumstance and student. Obviously, if a student spoke virtually no English, this might not be a good idea. How could the student understand the teacher? How could they learn? How could they become social with their peers? In situations like this it may be better for them to learn in a bilingual classroom with their native language until they learn more English, and can succeed in a mainstream classroom.
      But what about the student who is bilingual, but their English is not perfect and they may require a little extra help? Well, then in that case inclusion is most likely the best way to go. If they can understand most of what the teacher is saying, can socialize with their classmates, and learn despite the small language barriers, then I see absolutely no reason why they shouldn't be in a mainstream classroom.
       In some cases the student may require so much personalized attention and help from the teacher that it may greatly take away from the other students ability to learn. In that case, inclusion may not be the best option. But, in cases where all they require is a little extra help and the teacher can still meet the needs of all other students as well, then it can only benefit everyone involved. The multicultural student will become more mainstreamed, and be just like every child. The other children in the class can also benefit from it, by learning about the students culture or language, and can learn to accept and understand people that are different from themselves.
       Obviously this topic can be debated from either side. There are always going to be positives and negatives about it. But, when it comes down to it, the most important thing to keep in mind is which way will benefit the child the most, and get the best results for them.

http://thechp.syr.edu/incdoc2b.htm

http://www.sedl.org/change/issues/issues43.html

Hot Topic: Obama and Education

      I decided to write my hot topic blog about Obama, and the plans he has for education in our country. I chose this because I had to do a little research about it for my Children with Developmental Disabilities class over the summer, and thought it was really interesting. So, I chose to further research it. A big part of his campaign in '08 was about his plans for the educational system, and he's already done a lot with it.
      One of Obama's plans was his "Together for Tomorrow" campaign. He created this plan in an attempt to promote community culture where everyone is involved in educational improvement. This includes teachers, parents, school staff, community organizations, volunteers, and the child's family. This programs is focused on family and community partnerships, and their ability to boost students outcomes in areas such as behavior, attendance, course performance, and college access. This campaign also spotlights programs that are under way, which have a great possibility to manage school-community partnerships and demonstrates progress in those areas.
      In the next ten years, over 1.6 million teachers will retire.Obama plans to transform public education by recruiting, preparing, and training new teachers to take over those spots. Obama feels that not enough teacher prep programs offer rigorous, clinical experience that prepares students for the reality of teaching in a classroom today. He wants to better these programs for many reasons. One of those is that better teacher prep programs will help further his reform of the No Child Left Behind Act. The best programs will get better, and the worst will substantially improve. He wants to implement scholarship funds to recruit this new generation of teachers to attend the best programs across the country. He plans to prepare 200,000 future teachers each year. He was to implement institutional reporting and state reliability. He plans to do this by developing regulations to focus data collection conducted under the Higher Education Act on the most important indicators of quality. He wants to reform financing of students preparing to become teachers. He plans to do this by advancing presidential teacher fellows initiative in support of rigorous state-level policy reforms. He plans to direct scholarship aid to top performing teacher prep programs. He wants to target support to institutions that prepare high quality teachers from diverse back rounds. He plans to do this by seeking funding from the Hawkins Centers for Excellence Program at minority serving institutes.
      This is all the research I found about Obama and his plans to better education and the educational systems in the U.S. I personally think that some of these are great ideas. I love his idea of bringing community into the school and classroom as much as possible. I may be a little biased, but I personally love his idea of giving more financial aid to students in teacher prep programs as well.