Chapter 14: Succeeding in Your Teacher Education Program--and Beyond

There are two types of concerns when it comes to becoming a teacher for me. The first really has little to do with my ability and is out of my control however I can not help but worry about it. I fear that I will get a position in a school that will be forced to make teacher cuts in the following year or two and I will be out of a job. I know that it is not truly a reflection of the teacher, but having to reapply to another district after losing a position I think would reek of poor teaching skills. While most schools are probably aware that good teachers can lose their jobs, it seems more realistic that the hiring committee would have a predetermined opinion that the candidate was a poor teacher. My other concern is that I will be ineffective for some students. I am fairly confident that I can develop lessons and activities that will get allow all students to learn the material. However I fear that there will come a time when a child asks me a clarifying question and I will not be able to make the math "click" for them.

The area of concern I would fall into would be the Unconcerned and the Impact areas. I will focus on the Impact area because the Unconcerned worry really is out of my control so time would be wasted giving it too much weight. There was no Self or Task concerns in my thought. I am confident in my ability to talk to a class and teach them math. I am also ready to prepare lessons and activities. Being prepared will be the easy part of teaching, the hard part will come in when "the last two students", as named in the book, need help clarifying. Everyone sees math differently that it might be like trying to win an argument when you do not know what the other person is thinking. The stage of my concern is number four. I fear most that I will not be able to reach a student and let them see how the material is pertinent to their personal sphere.

Chapter 13: Improving Teachers and Schools, and School Reform

The most important and obvious addition to my resume will be a college degree. At long last will my professional resume be at a level that will open many more opportunities. I also wish to do my student teaching in a program that is known to be strong in math, so having that location on my resume can be a credit to my training. I feel those two aspects of the college experience are the only ones that will add credibility to my resume.
The additional certification that has grabbed my attention is the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification. Creating a portfolio of work that demonstrates to the trained eye that you are an effective teacher carries a lot of weight. I am not convinced that getting the certificate will mean that I am a better teacher. The major reason I would strive to achieve that certification would to survive. With all the economic turmoil that schools are being subjected to right now there is a constant worry for young teachers that they may lose their job. I feel that being Nationally certified would weigh heavily in my favor if the choice between my job and another teacher's job ever came up.

Chapter 7: Thinking about Teaching and Learning

The following list is composed of ideas that I would like to include in my philosophy of education from the material in chapter 7 of The Joy of Teaching, written by Gollnick, Hall, and Quinn (2008):

• The Socratic Method (p. 264) seems like a good idea to get children involved in the material. Asking multiple questions to build to an answer instead of just asking a question to get one answer is a method I think would work well. Questions and answers are a good way of assessing if the students are understanding the material.
• The first assumption of Hilda Taba I completely agree with. It says that "Thinking can be taught" (p. 267). I feel like students should be encouraged to think and be given tools and opportunities to further advance their abilities to think and construct ideas.
• An idea that will work well in math is the Confucius method. This is where the material is given in three ways, reflection, imitation, and experience (p.275). In math that would be introducing the new concept, doing some examples together as a class, and then letting the students experience the material on their own and see how they work through it.

References:
Gollnick, D., Hall, G., & Quinn, L. (2008). The Joy of Teaching: Making a Difference in Student Learning. Pearson Education Inc., 258-291.

Chapter 6: Social Context of Schools

I created a template for a classroom contract against low language towards other people. It is located at www.nctmjosh.wikispaces.com. The areas of the page are left blank because I believe that in order for the students to really own the rules they have to be the ones to come up with them. We will have a brainstorming session in class to establish the guidelines for the contract. Once we have agreed on a good set of rules, all of the students will sign the bottom of the contract. The scale of the paper is off; this activity would be done with a large piece of poster paper that can be hung on the wall.

Chapter 5: The History of Schools in the United States

The curriculum taught in schools has evolved over the last 300 years to meet the needs of society. At the end of the nineteenth century America was becoming industrialized; this created a lot of jobs that immigrant workers would come to the country to get. The school system was focused on preparing the children of the immigrants to be ready to work in assembly line type situations. The schools were trying to control people by controlling what they learned. This style continued until some educators decided that learning should be done by way of group work and activities instead of lectures. The thought was the children would learn to be a useful part of society and have higher moral character. During the cold war there was a strong focus on math and science, supported by government funding, the goal of the school system was to create future scientists that would keep America ahead of the Soviets. In the 1990's, in order to include all demographics in the curriculum, National Standards of what will be taught were introduced that make all sectors of society represented in the material covered in schools.

The curriculum of schools has never been a black and white subject; there have always been debates about the right things to focus on. When the colonists first came to America they attempted to force the Native Americans in the school system in order to teach them the ways of the Anglo Saxons. The American Indians, of course, fought against the forced change of life and were moved from their homes to lands farther west. After the Mexican-American war there were many Mexicans living in the United States that were promised citizenship, but the government made them attend schools before they would grant the citizenship. The problem was that they also made laws that made all instruction to be done in English and even made it forbidden to speak Spanish in schools. This forced the Mexicans to attend private or Catholic schools in order to receive bilingual instruction until the government finally created programs for English Language Learners.

Chapter 4: Schools as the Workplace for Students and Teachers

The compare and contrast topics in this chapter were not talked about by my team so the answers about our Culinary Institute are only mine and will probably vary from Roger, Heath, and Shane.

1. The staff and organization of American public schools and the Culinary Institute vary in terms of responsibilities however the staff shares some similarities. In the American schools the principal is responsible for hiring and supervising the teachers, in the Culinary Institute the board of directors carries out those tasks. The department chairs in the American schools are the same as the members of the board in the Culinary Institute. The different members of the board are the top instructors of their fields, like just like the heads of the department are the top teachers in a certain academic field. The difference being the chairs meet to talk to with the principal and the board members meet as an equal group.
2. There are very few, if any, similarities of a public school's relationship with the state and the Culinary Institutes' relationship with the state government. In the public school system the state governor, the superintendent, and the school board can all make policies that impact the daily operation of the school. Only the board of directors can make those decisions at the Culinary Institute. Public schools receive funding from the state government every year in a budget but the Culinary Institute is a private school that gets no state funding. One of the only similarities may be that the public schools have to deal with the states health laws and the Culinary Institute also has to deal with those laws since it is running a public restaurant.
3. While the state government offered a couple similarities between the public schools and the Culinary Institute, there are even fewer similarities between the Institute and the federal government. The laws that protect teachers from termination or dictate curriculum like "No Child Left Behind" are not in effect at the Culinary Institute. Being a private entity allows us the freedom to come up with our own "laws". When a teacher is hired they sign a waiver/agreement that states they are a right to work employee which means the institute can terminate them for any reason not based on discrimination. There is no tenure at the Institute. There is also no way for the federal government to decide what is taught at the Institute or to dictate that all students must pass through the system. We became a private entity to make sure we afforded ourselves these freedoms that can make it so a school is offering an education instead of finding ways to avoid the red tape.
4. When it comes to schools generating money that is where it hurts to be a private entity. Part of dealing with the policies made by government for a public school is that compliance ensures that schools will receive their part of the taxed money. Income taxes, property taxes, and lottery taxes all add money for the government to distribute to the public schools. At the Culinary Institute the school makes money by the tuition cost to the students and by operating the public restaurant. There are even situations that arise where corporations hire our students and staff to cater an event for them, all the money from those events goes back to the Institute to help with the budget. While receiving money from the government is nice (and necessary) for public schools, the board of directors at the Culinary Institute have decided that the freedom of being private outweighs the funding that could be provided.

Chapter 3: Families and Communities

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 10 percent of all kids in school are English Language Learners, therefore it is not a stretch to think that all students can become proficient in English. 70 percent of those English Language Learners can speak English with no difficulty. This leaves a very small amount of students that need to be brought up to a proficient level of English. Given the resources it is reasonable to believe the school system can raise a focus group 5 to 10 percent. There are programs for students whom English is a second language for as well as many bilingual programs available to help the children become effective. If schools were asked to get 5 percent more kids to know their multiplication tables, and they had extra classrooms designed for students having difficulty with the math, no one would think that was an unattainable goal. The process of learning English and becoming proficient in it will take time, so it is unreasonable to think a high school senior who has never spoken English before can transfer in and become proficient before graduation. There are exceptions to every rule. The goal for all students to become proficient in English is a goal for the American school system, a child who only spends his/her last year or two of school in our system is not a product of the system. There is no question that all students, given the resources, can become proficient in English as they progress through the education process.

Chapter 2: Today's Students

In chapter 2 of "The Joy of Teaching" the authors address the growing number of students in the school system that speak a language other than English in their homes. The increased number of English Language Learners is due to immigration from other parts of the world for a variety of reasons, the most common being political oppression, famine, or employment. While immigrants come from all over the world to be in America the biggest populations are from other North American countries and Asia. The education level of the immigrant children varies from very well educated to a child who has never attended school, however the American public school system draws no distinction and allows all children the right to be in school. The authors argue that students who are able to speak more than one language will have an advantage in the global economy. While the students may present a challenge to the teacher because of their lack of English speaking ability, that is in no way an indicator of their capacity to learn. English language learners should be taught like all other students whenever possible.

Chapter 1: Becoming a Teacher

The following parts of the chapter gave me some joy when I read them:

• Intrinsic Rewards- The section that mentioned how a teacher feels when a child finally understands a math concept made me smile. I like that helping a child learn is going to bring that feeling of accomplishment to the teacher as well as the student.
• National Board Certification- Before reading this chapter I did not know that there was a national certification. I like that going that extra step in your career will result in a pay increase. Some extras will be done for the intrinsic rewards however it is still nice that some others will be rewarded financially.
• Field based Supervisors- No matter how much I feel I can be an effective teacher, when I start my first year there will be a lot that I am unaware of. Knowing there are people out there that will look out for me and make sure I am doing a good job provides some peace of mind.

The first chapter however was not entirely joyful, here are some aspects that made me frown.

• Immorality and Unprofessional Conduct- The example about the West Virginian teacher that was fired for continuing to make sexual comments after being warned to stop made me angry. People like that should not become teachers, there is no room in a safe school for a teacher to act in a sexual manner.
• Job availability- The specific part of this section that bothered my was that 1 of 5 new teachers are not teaching after 3 years. A 20% drop out rate seems high for a career that is so different from any others. I was shocked that so many would mistake what being a teacher is actually going to be about.
• Small Private Schools- I did not like small private schools thinking a professional such as a teacher is willing to take a smaller salary. The sad fact of the world is there is no choice sometimes. Nobody gets into education to become rich but private schools paying less than a public school is a slap in the face for the work they expect.