American Schools

I hope to teach the lower elementary grades, ideally kindergarten or First.In considering ways to develop responsibility among younger children, i think that the
following strategies would be a good place to begin. To develop responsibility in the area of classroom management, i would first of all let the students help to choose the rules for the classroom. This way, they would participate in a sense of ownership of the classroom and would also be more likely to follow rules that they thought through and established themselves rather than rules decided by the teacher alone. Next, I would lead them in deciding and agreeing upon logical consequences for breaking these rules. for example, If a child said something unkind to another child, they would have to write an apology note and only play with that person for the rest of the day. Responsibility in the area of instructional strategies could be more difficult among younger grades. The best way that I can think of to be affective on this area is to once again, have the students establish basic guidelines and consequences. For example, each child would be responsible for keeping their desk neat, for putting their work in the right place, etc. Since parents are such a big part of the homework process at this age, i would try to not punish the students if their parents did not do their homework with them. Of course, among older students, fourth or fifth grade and above, students can be held to greater responsibility for homework and other out-of-class assignments. I believe that the ideal early elementary school would be would have uniform standards and basic rules, but would allow each teacher great personal freedom in both the areas of instructional and management strategies. As a teacher, this would allow me to implement the strategies that I believe best serve the students in my classroom.

American Students

In terms of the "dimensions of diversity" discussed in class, I analyze myself in the following way: I am a White Female, and a natural U.S. citizen. I am fluent in the English language, and i consider myself to be middle social and economic class. I have an average ability level and my religious orientation is christian. My personal experiences with these dimensions of diversity in relation to my education are as follow: in terms of race, gender, and national origin, I am the average American Student. Since i was home schooled K-12, the only dimension that i can think that may have had an important impact on my education is national origin. Since I am a U.S. citizen, I enjoy many benefits and privileges that people in other countries do not-for example, women in middle eastern countries do not receive equal education with men. In this sense, i have received a better education because of my National origin. In terms of Social and economic class, I believe that these have impacted my education in the sense of the way i was educated. Since my parents were comfortable financially, my mom was able to stay home and home shcool me. In terms of Ability level and religion, i was strongly influenced. My mother spent a lot of time teaching me directly, thus improving the quality of my education. This is one of the primary reasons that i believe that nurture is a stronger influence in ability than nature. She also raised me in the Christian faith, influencing my beliefs to this day. in terms of how these personal experiences will affect my ability as a teacher, my views are as follow: Since I had a very limited exposure to any other types of diversity and to diverse learners, i think that i will need extra work in this area in order to prepare to an effective teacher of diverse learners. One way that I believe that I can improve in this area is through my practicums. By observing how experienced teachers effectivly teach diverse learners, i will gain insights on how to teach them myself. However, I do believe that a positive result of my being home schooled is my belief in nurture and that all students can learn.

Educational Philosophy

Since I was home schooled, my mom was my primary teacher all the way from kindergarten through high school. It is difficult for me to look back and analyze my mom’s teaching style. Since she was trained as a nurse and not as a teacher, she probably was not consciously aware of any one philosophy that influenced her teaching. I suppose that she would best fit into the perinnialist school of thought. As a devout Christian, one of my mom’s primary educational goals for us was our moral development as well a our intellectual training. The curriculum that she used was quite varied, but it emphasized the enduring ideals and morals of Christianity, and focused on basics such as reading, writing, math, science, and literature. Her teaching methods were to first work with each of us directly, one-on-one, and then assign us tasks to complete independently. However, not all of her ideals fall under the perinnialist view. For assessment, she simply monitored our learning and occasionally gave us informal quizzes rather than formal tests, falling much closer to the progressivist view in this area. Also, our learning environment was very relaxed and informal, also much closer to the progressivist view. As for the implications that this will have for me as a teacher, I am not sure yet how much this will affect me, but one thing is clear: because of my mom’s influence, I will always believe that the educational philosophies will work much better in unison than they do apart. By incorporating the best elements from each, we as teachers can become more competent, affective, and adaptable.

Educational

choice of book for critical review