My Foundations of Education
Plan your projects and define important tasks and actions
1. Schools as Organizations
1.1. Majjor Stakeholders: Richard Shelby (State Senator), Michael Sentance (Superintendent), Bill Hopkins Jr. (local superintendent).
1.2. Elements of Change
1.2.1. Conflict is necessary for change, New behaviors must be learned, Team building must extend to the entire school, and Process and content are interrelated.
2. Philosophy of Education
2.1. Describe the particular world view of one of student-centered philosophy of education (pragmatism or existentialism).
2.1.1. Existentialism
2.1.2. generic notions- Existentialists focus on how their choices affect themselves and others around them. They also believe each individual has a choice to be who they want to be putting responsibility on the individual for their choices.
2.1.3. goal of education- Their goal of education is to focus on the needs of each individual student and prepare them for what they need individually.
2.1.4. role of teacher- The teacher's role is to understand their students enough to lift them up where they can make choices and act on those choices.
2.1.5. method of instruction- Existentialists believe that individual students have their own way of learning and that the teacher should find what way works best for each child and implement that for the child.
2.1.6. curriculum- The curriculum leans toward humanities because it encourages personal interaction. However, depending on each child's strengths and weaknesses different subjects should be integrated more.
2.1.7. key researchers- Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Martin Buber (1878-1965), Karl Jaspers (1883-1969), and Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1986).
3. Curriculum and Pedagogy
3.1. Curriculum Theory: Developmentalist -Developmentalists see teaching as facilitator of student growth instead of a transmitter. This approach is focused on the individual needs of each student and emphasizes different methods for different types of students.
4. History of U.S. Education
4.1. Choose and describe one historical interpretation of U.S. Education: All three perspectives are somewhat extreme making it difficult to choose the best one. A mix between the liberal and conservative perspectives seem to be the best. The liberals push for equity and expansion of schooling. Conservatives believe that evolution of education has diluted academic achievement. Both perspectives hold validity and could be compromised to incorporate the best qualities of both.
4.1.1. Choose and describe a reform movement that you think has had the most influence on education: The movement that had the most influence on education was probably when public schools became compulsory. Before these laws were made public school was voluntary. Although public schools might not be on the level we want them to be it is still better than children not going to school.
5. Sociological Perspectives
5.1. Define each of the theoretical perspectives concerning the relationship between school and society: functionalism, conflict theory, and interactionalism: Functionalism focuses on interdependence of the social system. It views society as different people working together to produce the energy that is in society. Conflict theories see society made up of struggles instead if working together as in functionalism. They view school similar to a battlefield where everyone is struggling against each other. Interactional theories mostly build on functional and conflict theories delving into behaviors and interactions of students and teachers. It is not consistently reliable in creating logical theories.
5.2. Identify and describe 5 effects of schooling on individuals that you think have the greatest impact on students as explained in the book.
5.2.1. Employment- The amount of schooling an individual completes generally has a significant effect on their employment. The more accomplished in school the more opportunities are available for employment.
5.2.2. Inside the Schools- Taking a look inside the schools can give an idea of what affects students. Factors such as school size and curriculum can impact students greatly.
5.2.3. Teacher Behavior- Our text tells us that teacher's expectations, demands, and praise for students can highly affect student's achievement levels.
5.2.4. Student Peer Groups and Alienation- Different labels and groups that students are in can highly affect their future. Students that participate in extracurricular activities perform better in their studies. Students who are labeled with violent or bad tend to fulfill those lables.
5.2.5. De Facto Segregation- Segregation is still happening in schools today. Sometimes it is merely because neighborhoods tend to house the same types of people which leads to schools that have less diversity. Studies show that integrated schools have a higher performance from students versus segregated schools.
6. Equality of Opportunity
6.1. Impact of Class, Race, and Gender on Educational Outcomes
6.1.1. Class -Schools represent the values of middle and upper classes. It is directly related to student performance. Race -Although the civil rights movement made huge bounds in the past race is still a high factor in school performance. Minorities tend to underachieve compared to majorities. Gender -Historically females had to struggle and fight to get an education but now females are less likely to drop out than males.
6.2. Coleman Study 1982: The first response was that school differences are only modestly related to a variety of outcome variables. The second response was that although there are fairly big differences between catholic schools and public schools, there is not a big change in the superiority of either educational outcomes.
7. Politics of Education
7.1. Four Purposes of Education
7.1.1. Intelectual: to teach basic cognitive skills
7.1.2. Political: to teach basic laws of society
7.1.3. Social: to socialize children into various roles, behaviors, and values of society
7.1.4. Economic: to prepare children for occupational roles
7.2. Perspectives
7.2.1. The Role of the School: The liberal perspective is ideal in that it would provide everyone with equal opportunities and allows individuals to develop his or her talents, creativity, and sense of self. Although the liberal perspective might be ideal the conservative perspective has valid reasons for rewarding those who excel.
7.2.2. Explanations of Unequal Performance: The liberals and radicals believe that school performance is based on economic and environmental factors whereas conservatives believe that performance is based on intelligence and initiative. Although it is true that outside factors make a difference on school performance students should not be held back to equalize schooling just because their lives are advantaged. All students should be given equal opportunities but if some are excelling then they should be allowed to progress faster.
7.2.3. Definition of Educational Problems: The conservatives believe that the educational system has had a decline of standards, cultural literacy, values or civilization, and authority since the liberals have demanded more equality. The liberals believe that schools place too much emphasis on discipline and authority and leaves out diverse cultures and groups the make up society. The radicals believe that the curriculum is classist, racist, sexist, and homophobic and leaves out cultures and groups that have been oppressed. Although all perspectives have some validity in their beliefs the system should find a way to take all the good from the perspectives and combine the concerns to create a curriculum that alleviates as many of the concerns as possible.