School Board Meeting

         The school board meeting I attended was different from how I thought it would be. There was a lot of people there (I think this was from a bunch of students from SUCO attending), and there was not as many  parents attending as I thought. There was a few parents that shared their story with the board, and there were also community members present to share their ideas to the board.The process of the school board meeting was very formal. They had an agenda of what they needed to discuss and gave time for others to present what they needed to.
         There was many different issues discussed. The school board had a presenter come to show them his suggested plans of renovation in the three schools. I thought it was important that he presented ideas on how to make the school safer with cameras and scan cards to get in and out of the building. A parent also shared her story with the board about her son being hurt on the school bus twice. I thought that it was sad she did not get the answers she was looking for and that her son had to go through that pain twice. I think that the school bus garage should be able to influence the actions of the drivers and push them to make safer conditions on the bus. I was surprised that the school board did not answer any of the questions that were asked by the audience but instead just heard what they had to say.
         I wish I had witnessed more participation within the audience. I was glad that I saw some parents voice their concerns but it would be interesting if I was able to see members of the school itself presenting information to the board. I think to get more people involved with the school board I would allow for a time during the meeting for more of a dialogue between the board and concerned parents. The school board even stated during the meeting that it was not a meeting that had "dialogue." Which I thought was odd, the parent had to wait until after the meeting to get her questions answered.
         In chapter 9 of Teachers, Schools and Society, I thought it described the purpose of the school board well. I thought it was interesting to see the plans of the renovation being presented to the board and suggestions made to them. I think the discussion between the board members about the presentation had very good points. Overall I enjoyed my experience at the board meeting and would like to go to another one to see what other topics they cover.

Reflection

          As I read through my posts I can pull out a few different key ideas that I repeat. I am going to reflect on why I feel they are so important to me and how they shape me as an effective educator.

• Student-Centered Curriculum: I realize that this idea is something that I bring up throughout alot of my posts. In my eyes I feel this is important in the classroom to have students learn to their full potential. By using a hands-on learning, interactive environmental learning, I believe students learn best. These ideas are supported most by the Progressivism approach. In Teachers, Schools and Society, 8th ed. it is quoted as "flexible, integrated study of academic subjects around the needs, and experiences of students...learning by doing" (page 332). I feel that as a teacher, every single classroom I have will be changing as new students come in. It is my job to change the curriculum and classroom activities to match the needs of the students at the time. In my classroom I feel that using the environment to help students learn will show them examples and real-life situations that will create a memorable experience for them.

• Experiences Shape My Beliefs: Throughout my blog so far I have discussed teachers that influenced me, my environment, movies, media, etc. I believe that all the experiences I have had so far have influenced who I am going to be as a teacher. Looking at my favorite teachers, I realize that alot of what I did in class with them I plan on using in my own classroom someday. When I was in school I never thought about how my classes then were going to effect me other then academically. But now I realize that the way they taught, or the activities they did in class stuck with me and influenced me enough to want to write about them in my blog. Media as a whole, influences everybody, in positive ways and in negative ways. Media in my life, I feel has made me look more at the different view points in the same situation. The different communities I have lived in throughout my life have also influenced me positively. I was able to be apart of three very different school districts and now I am able to see the differences between them all. I attended a very large city school in Buffalo, and also a small rural school. These different experiences will prepare me better for whatever school I am teaching in, someday in the future.

          Out of all of my blog's I feel these two points explain best my repetitive beliefs. I enjoyed learning about the philosophical theories of education to learn more about where I stand. It is interesting to me to go back and re-read all my posts to see the points that I bring up a few times. I feel that this reflection has helped make me feel stronger in my beliefs as a future teacher.

Philosophy of Education Checklist

          From doing the Inventory of Philosophy of Education I learned what type of values I have as a future teacher. After doing the checklist I found that I agree most with Progressivism, followed by Social Reconstructionism. Both of these are student centered philosophies.  Through this activity I was able to learn what philosophers I agree with and learn what I value in the education field and in the classroom itself.
         The following are the three best statements from Progressivism that I agree with:

•  "The school curriculum should be designed by teachers to respond to the experiences and needs of the student."
• "The gap between the real world and schools should be bridged through field trips, internships and adult mentors."
• "Schools should prepare students for analyzing and solving the social problems they will face beyond the classroom."

I feel that I agree most with these points because I do not believe school should only be based on academics. A lot of the students that I will be teaching in the future will need to learn social problems and information about the real world before they enter it themselves. I think education should be student based and teachers should alter the curriculum with every new group of students they have. The same curriculum may not work for all of the same students.
         The philosophies that I had the least amount of points for were the perennialism and existensialism. I do not agree with a 100% teacher centered curriculum, as the teacher is not the focus of learning. The student is. I do not agree that students should only "absorb" information or learn from a Great Book of everything. I agree students need a base of knowledge to work off of but not get it all from one book and that is all.
         When I was doing this activity I began thinking about in school and when I am in school subbing what it would be like if the curriculum was teacher centered. I believe hands on activities, field trips, and adult mentors only add to the classroom and help create a better learning environment. In the future when I am a teacher my curriculum will be based on the individual needs of the student. I will allow for more social issues to be discussed and provide a hands-on learning type of environment. I think this checklist was a great idea to learn what I really value in the classroom.

Philosophy of Education

https://sites.google.com/site/ed206philosophyofeducation/