Inquiry

After much discussion on democratic settings throughout segregated schools, I would like to further explore this in the inquiry project. Moving from one town to another, I have been part of both diverse and non diverse communities. In urban schools how does the diverse community affect their social and academic growth. Who are the students, and does it matter? I would have to say yes just from my experience in education and school thus far. Without a mixed classroom there are fewer non traditional ideas and beliefs, supporting stereotypes and misunderstandings. With schools becoming more segregated I am curious to what settings will be most beneficial to students.

schools and democracy

What role should schools and schooling play in the United States? In democracy? Although things have changed since schools were first developed, educating students to be good citizens is one of the standing beliefs still held. While there is debate on what subjects and information to be instructed there is an understanding that in public schools we need to teach our students to work together, critically thinking and solving problems.

“As it turns out schools are the ideal sites for democratic citizenship education(Parker3)”. Public schools unlike home life for individual students can bring a mixed interaction of various races religions and social classes. If students are able to interact with one another in a classroom setting it can be a new and enlightening experience for each individual. Once there is interaction their can be discussion and debate on topics that are concerns for all the students regardless of their differences. As it applies to the country as a whole, we all have problems and concerns that are surpass individual differences.

Being able to deliberate on common concerns, as Parker says produces a community to weigh out the pros and cons and come together in decision. School can also provide answers and knowledge for students’ inquiry and debate to be substantial and meaningful. Without the proper facts answers and assumptions may be uneducated and incorrect. There is always more than one way to look at a situation, and by having information to support these ideas different values and cultural perspectives can become new knowledge to different students. .

As in his title “Teaching against Idiocy,” Parker shows the importance of our society working democratically together in order to keep our freedoms intact. With idiocy there is self interest and concern rather than concern for the whole. Following this type of idiotic lifestyle is not only detrimental to the group, but to the individual as well. Because schools produce the perfect setting for democratic interaction, they play a vital role in democracy. If we start with the ideals of communicating and coming to conclusions with children of worldly differences, hopefully these democratic values can be progress later in life.

Franklin

For my art education curriculum class we are doing an art program call backpacks at Franklin Elementary school in Newark. I decided to attend a few extra days in order to serve my community service requirement. I was so excite to spend a few more days with the kids after getting so attached. The kids I have worked with this semester really have grown in my eyes with their artwork, and learning in general. Because of the diverse atmosphere and the type of class setting that was being run I got to learn so much of my own teaching abilities and hardships. Working with most of my kids who were ESL and not knowing any Spanish experimenting with different communication techniques was the first hurdle that I had to jump. Because the art program gave them vocabulary and led to conversations about the artists and their work, I was surprised to see how quickly they opened up with one another. The linking literacy to art part of the program was great because it was able to make the readings fun for the kids as they moved along with the language, and comparisons to thoughts or ideas that their backpack artists and the book had. I have grown myself as a teacher and have began to understand some of my own strengths and weaknesses. While I can get the students involved and participating in assignments I lack discipline skills when they do act up. There is so much I have to learn about other cultures around me, and they have made me aware of how vital it is to know who your students are and what is going on in their own lives. I am sad to leave but excited to start in a new classroom with new faces ideas and experiences.

Haiku

searching for answers
time is the path to clearness
wait and you will see










With so much information being brought forward to me in all of my classes sometimes it comes too much too quickly. When stress takes over it can push me back even further and having a dark hole to climb into can look like the best solution. Being able to have some time to myself to just think is what i have found to help me the most. Put aside the readings, the books, the sculptures and let the thoughts just role. Time is sometimes the best answer to the solutions in which we seek.

and to the Republic for which it stands One nation under God

So as the comment towards our four fathers in our last class, the building blocks on which these men set up now in some way lead to the way our schools are constructed today. Being able to produce good and moral citizens of the Republic was the initiative of the men who put together our educational schools, with a little bit of historical knowledge wedged in their. Their first bias was to limit to who the educational systems would serve. If we can not educate ALL of our citizens how is it that the thought of a republic society in which we all serve to act right and justly can be produced. Many of this was unfortunately new to me, and that is my own academic dilemma. When we know where our education system was started and how it aids to understand how it is run in the present time. Like our country as a whole education started as a segregated and unbalanced system of how we provided knowledge for our children. If those who vote elect our representatives, have to be educated, and only those educated represent a selection of the entire nation in which we live in the country is set up to neglect most of its citizens. Although education has changed over time it is important to realize where education values and issues started off.

a few terms i had to brush up on in case anyone had the same questions about them
despotism - the rule under an absolute authority
shibboleths a word that distinguishes one group or class from those of another
draconian- harsh laws linked to a ruler Draco of Athens
inculcating - to impress upon the mind with frequent repetition