Critical and Cultural Perpectives in Education

the course, Critical and Cultural Perspectives, provided me with an opportunity to forge new concepts of a bigger picture utilizing the themes of democracy, capitalism, and religion. I hadn’t examined these concepts as a whole unit and their respective contributions to our educational society. Through our class conversations, it became more apparent how not only our democratic process has affected our educational policies, but the religious and corporate powers, despite specific laws excluding them. I appreciated the class input and experiences with the relationships between their schools and the influences they have received from occasionally benign contributions from these powers.

                I feel as if I have gained knowledge of the theories and research related to the multifaceted sociological foundations of education through our readings and class discussions. I enjoyed reading many of the articles and found them to be supportive of my theories and informative in new ideas. I do believe that some of the articles have helped me transition my thinking. I feel more likely to question common beliefs for more evidence as well as be more cognizant of my role in the process.  One example I found to be important to my belief system is the role of our justice system and educating the prisoners. The resounding issue that I heard from the perspectives of the inmates was that they knew no other path. When they leave the prison, they often have few supports, no money, no place to live, and a requirement to hold down a job, have a stable house, and continue to pay fines while not re-offending. This seemed to be particularly difficult for those who were incarcerated for drug offenses. The standard that we are setting for them is that they be positive and contributing members of society, however we don’t teach them the skills to be successful. Instead our response is consequence and a never-ending loop of negative outcomes. The cards are stacked against them, and this gave me just one small example of how our educational system is failing our citizens. It showed me that not only is our income inequality a massive problem in our country, but the government supports the gap growing wider. I was inspired to begin thinking of ways that I could contribute to helping, whether it means that I am teaching in a DOJ facility or simply being a voice that says that this is not the way we create positive change and help our citizens. I would like that some change begins with my actions.

                Through our group project, we were required to work collaboratively and identify our relative strengths and leadership opportunities within the project. Our group as a whole, despite spending the past two years together in classes, we were able to get to know each other better, both professionally and personally. I felt that the project provided a necessary framework for us to end our educational studies with each other and I am leaving with a higher respect and knowledge of my cohort.  Although the outcome of our project was not received positively by all, I felt that each of us were proud to have made the video. Our intentions were not to humiliate or use our colleagues as examples of everything wrong, we put a lot of effort and thought into our project and the simple fact that we were able to acquire so many interviews from our colleagues show that they felt comfortable and invested in our education to have us conduct them. I would be eager to show the video to my colleagues to gain a better understanding of areas for improvement. I heard the recommendation that we remove the text from one interview, and I believe that could be the number one change to shift that perspective. I also believe that delineating the question and answer portion of our interviews may help the viewer gain a clearer understanding.

                Looking forward, I see myself as a behaviorist; however I would be amiss if I did not acknowledge the large role that teaching plays within my career. I work with teaching BI’s to work more effectively with students and changing their behavior for the positive, I work with students to develop more skills, I work with professionals to aide them in better understanding behavior, and I work with my colleagues to forge positive paths and options for our families. All of these responsibilities require that I am an effective and compassionate teacher to everyone that I encounter in my work. I see this as an opportunity promote diversity and encourage personal advocacy and feel honored each day that I make some small successes with my clients and their families.

                Ultimately, the role of education in a democratic society is to teach our students how they can create change, express their views, and participate in the very process that determines the fate of their country. The proof is in the voter turn-out, the quality of living in our country, the feasibility of comfort, the shift in sexist and racist practices in our job markets. All of these things need to be influenced by the citizens of this country. First and foremost, providing the students we serve with as much information and opportunity to practice. The teacher spotlight system that we have now is not student centered and only tells our students that their thoughts are insignificant, they are just one in an entire classroom. We need to revise our approach so that students are the focus point and we are the leaders not because of our paycheck or station but because of our guiding role in their education.

Evaluating Academic Characteristics

Evaluating academic characteristics promotes success in schools through active reflection on student's strengths and weaknesses and then allowing for opportunities to individualize and implement effective accommodations for individuals. It encourages teachers to become active in the education of individual students, as well as administrators and other team players to come together to support a child.

This semester, I took Evaluating Academic Characteristics with Rob Schulze, with the thought that the curriculum content would be around the formal assessment known as the Woodcock Johnson. Through this course however, I have had the opportunity to have an in-depth look at various assessments through all grade levels, IEP accommodations, IEP Goals, how to understand and interpret test scores, as well as problem solve specific student needs through in class and out of class assignments. This encouraged me to think critically about how I can best support a student in a realistic and effective manner. I appreciated connecting the knowledge of disabilities between learning disabilities and behavioral disabilities as qualifiers for IEP's and how accommodations would vary depending on the situation.

Prior to this class, I was not able to interpret assessment scores to extrapolate learning disabilities and strengths. I know feel that I have acquired the knowledge necessary to effectively interpret data, assess student needs, develop strategies for the student, as well as link the connection between assessment scores and individualized instruction opportunities.

In the future, I feel confident that I can look at a WCJ score, or any evaluation that utilizes the reviewed scoring system (T-scores, Standard scores, Percentiles, Stanines, etc) and be able to identify information that will help further my student's academic and behavioral success.

Educational Studies Course Reflection

Educational Studies Reflection

During this course, I had the opportunity to combine my everyday work with my graduate class, and then take both to a whole new level of understanding and commitment. This application of knowledge was reassuring to me that this was the right choice for me to further my education. The inquiry project was immeasurably helpful for me to gain perspective and gather additional feedback from peers. I looked forward to the check-in times so that I could bounce ideas off of my classmates, as well as David McGough. It was evident that with our varied jobs and backgrounds that there were a myriad of experiences and knowledge that each student brought to the table. The highlight of this course, in addition to the application based project, was having the experience of so many different people who are all on different major tracks. Although as I and my peers move forward, we will begin to focus on our chosen fields, having a broad array of graduate degree seekers in our first course sections was reiterated by many as the most important aspect of the class.

The legalities of special education and the specifics of simply being in a school in general, is so extensive that it can be overwhelming. One of my goals this semester was to learn more about the laws that have created positions such as mine, and how the laws affect my everyday work. I felt satisfied that my goal was met when we had the chance to speak with a principal at a local school who broke down the different regulations and implications of following regulations. Although there is always debate on whether or not the laws are doing more harm than good, it became more clear the reason behind their existence.

One of my major worries as a new graduate student, was around figuring out APA and proper citation. As a science major in my undergraduate, I was surprised that my prior standard MLA format was not the best suited for "scholarly" work. David reassured me that learning APA would not be my downfall and took the time to explain the basics.
Overall, my main goals for this course, were to learn more about educational theorists and their influence on today's educational philosophies, as well as identify my own beliefs. I also aimed to learn more about special education laws.  I can confidently say that I learned much more about the theorists than I originally believed I would. Having the perspective of how learning theory affects our teaching philosophies allows for me to better deconstruct and reconfigure my beliefs and how I can continue to adapt and grow them for the future. In regard to the legal knowledge growth, I know much more than previously, but still have so much more to discover.

Characteristics of Diverse Learners

I went in to the course, expecting to learn about different ways to incorporate visuals, kinesthetics, and auditory components into lesson plans, and was enthusiastic when I saw that our focus was much deeper in to the unique talents, needs, and characteristics of students. In my day to day work, I am mostly with students who have higher needs, but so many of these topics focused on the "typical" student as well as the "atypical". It was all encompassing to see the advantages and disadvantages that the students face. I was astounded by how many different disabilities that so many of our students have. Although attention disabilities are common in my work, learning about fragile X syndrome, down syndrome, and hearing my peers share their experiences and what has worked well for them was immeasurably helpful. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to learn more about many of the most common disabilities in order to be a better teacher and citizen.

Creating the Universal Design Lesson Plan brought the particular needs of many students to the fore-front. I examined how pertinent it is to be cognizant of many options and needs in order to not discriminate against any student. Lesson plans were something that were easy to throw together and after you conducted the lesson, you went back and made changes. It also left you to have to make last-minute quick decisions in order to include everyone. Ultimately, it felt like no matter how ingenious you are at snap decisions, you were doing the student an injustice. With the Universal Design Lesson Plan, it allowed me to better prepare myself for all situations and put me a step closer to creating a fair classroom.

The classwork homework sections were always easy to connect with the over-arching goal of being able to diversify our teaching in order to meet the diverse needs of the students. The annotated bibliographies helped me continue researching some of the important topics that I see everyday. The scientific data also offered a unique perspective and great knowledge that  is difficult to obtain when working with a small sample of students.  The self-study and interview reminded me that although our goal is to keep our private lives separate from our work, we can not entirely separate ourselves from our actions. Our experiences and beliefs create our identity and play a large part in our reactions to various situations. I learned that no matter how hard we try to segregate them, it is in our best interest to embrace them and dig deeper. It is only when we know our past that we can predict our reactions and maintain a strong sense of professionalism.

As a new graduate student, my focus in my undergrad with writing was MLA, and in the first class I was told numerous times that the standard format for all graduates would be APA. This was overwhelming and I was unsure if I would be able to keep the different formats separate. Although I struggled with the in-text citations, it was helpful to go over some of the common mistakes in class and problem solve with peers. I would have loved to have had more time to go over APA in-depth, however I understand the the curriculum for this course does not allow for an entire APA section.

Going over the legal implications of our jobs and specific duties made it clear that being better informed is always in your best interest. I would incrementally pick up legal information in my current job, however having the chance to ask any legal question and receive responses that were often tied to interesting stories made it much more instilled in to my knowledge base.

Overall, I learned that every student is different and unique and it is my responsibility to recognize the differences and then treat every student in a fair and respectful manner.