Kaizen and Gambatte are two Japanese terms that are vital to Pacific Rim (Seider, 2012). Kaizen has a uniform meaning to the faculty members at Pacific Rim; they believe that kaizen serves as a “commitment to working for the continuous improvement of the community” (Seider, 2012, p. 164). Gambatte means “to persist or never give up” (Seider, 2012, p. 164). Administrators and faculty members at Pacific Rim brings both educational practices, kaizen and gambatte to life in various ways to their students (Seider, 2012). For example, the students get the opportunity to engage in meaningful debates on topics of importance, hence Philanthropy (Seider, 2012). Character Education class is a requirement of each grade level. They are taught about civic …show more content…
One way that they focus of community in schools that stood out to me, was the book discussion. I firmly believe that the reading and deciphering of Seedfolks thoroughly explained communities and showed the students how people of different backgrounds and succeed in a diverse country, The United States. Seedfolks strategically used residents of various ethnic groups to show diversity among people in the community (Seider, 2012). The dedication from each teacher is revealed whether it’s in simple one-on-one conversation with a student or in a mass group discussing “What’s Your Contribution?” (Seider, 2012). The results of each of the lessons on civic character is strongly felt on the premises at Pacific Rim. These results include students’ feedback on their demonstration of perseverance, working as a group to maximize their learning environment, demanding character education class, and conceptualizing kaizen in an elaborate way (Seider, 2012). The results are also shown at the award presentations (Seider, 2012). The Kaizen-Gambatte Award is given weekly and approximately 12 students are recognized monthly (Seider, 2012). The purpose of the character education class is to strengthen students’ comprehension of community and their contribution to the community (Seider,
In the book Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman there are many different characters, and even some of them cross paths. A community garden was started just by one person therefore everyone follows. They all learn how to get along with other people, how to not stereotype so much, and how to depend on each other in their community. All of them struggle with something, whether it's with family, friends, or feeling stereotyped. They learn the importance of a community, and realize how much they really depend on each other. Having a community is important for all people to incorporate diversity, culture,and unique stories into their lives. You don't realize how much people depend on their community until its gone. The importance
As Pollock states, “Equity efforts treat all young people as equally and infinitely valuable” (202). This book has made me realize that first and foremost: We must get to know each of our students on a personal level. Every student has been shaped by their own personal life experiences. We must take this into consideration for all situations. In life, I have learned that there is a reason why people act the way that they do. When people seem to have a “chip on their shoulder”, they have usually faced many hardships in life. “The goal of all such questions is deeper learning about real, respected lives: to encourage educators to learn more about (and build on) young people’s experiences in various communities, to consider their own such experiences, to avoid any premature assumptions about a young person’s “cultural practices,” and to consider their own reactions to young people as extremely consequential.” (3995) was also another excerpt from the book that was extremely powerful for me. Everyone wants to be heard and understood. I feel that I owe it to each of my students to know their stories and help them navigate through the hard times. On the other hand, even though a student seems like he/she has it all together, I shouldn’t just assume that they do. I must be sure that these students are receiving the attention and tools needed to succeed,
For this activity I chose to read the book “The Last stop on Market Street” by Matt de la Peña. The story is about a boy (CJ) and his grandmother (Nana) taking their daily Sunday bus trip across town. However, this Sunday CJ seems to be noticing the differences between himself and others on the bus. On the bus ride CJ’s Grandmother shows him how to respectfully interact with different races of people. As well his grandmother shows him to see and respect the beauty in the low-income neighbor that they are in. I believe this book is of good use when teaching a unit centered on living in communities. This book will provide students with a structure that will help them discuss their own communities and how to treat others of different races.
For example, when trying to talk to a typical student about a test, he or she might say “I do not care, forget about it.” However, as the years went by, I realized that I was overestimating myself. The issue was that I completely focused on the academic discourse. As a result, I rarely had the opportunity to experience a social discourse in my community, which meant I lacked the ability to mingle with my friends. In “Home and Away: The Tensions of community, literacy, and identity,” Bronwyn T. Williams writes to researchers and teachers so that they understand that various backgrounds cause students to learn distinctly. Specifically, the family background tends to affect this academic discourse. In order to achieve this aim, he uses three moves: referencing other work, comparing and contrasting, and proposing a policy. After reading his work, I question how my former peers managed to succeed in class while balancing the academic and social
Education has begun to be taken for granted, not realizing what an impact it has on culture. In the television show Community, the view of education differs in many of the characters. There are both positive and negative stereotypes revealed throughout the show which were discussed in a way so that the issues present could be changed. Even though the show Community is presented as a comedy, with many mishaps, it presents education as something which is important and should be treasured. Education in our culture is many times underappreciated, looked at as an entitlement rather than a privilege; however, Community, forces the audience to reexamine education and why such a high value is placed on it in our culture.
The school curriculum is highly concentrated in the history, literature, science, social studies, and geography of the dominant group while it ignores the perspectives of novelists and poets who reflects the history and experiences of the minorities. (Henry and Carol, 2009, p. 201). This structure of the curriculum is problematic because students from the racialized minority groups are denied the opportunity of having the complete knowledge of their history. An example is seen in the “Being Black in Canada” video that was shown in class. The first set of Black settlers and the roles they played in the early years of Canada is never included in the history of Canada teachings in schools. Most students, including myself were shocked to realize that African-Canadian actually played important roles (which is worthy to be termed “heroic”) in the building of western Canada. This realization brought about a new sense of purpose and willingness to do more
Hardman, Michael, Drew, Clifford , and Egan Winston. Human Exceptionality: School, Community, and Family. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.
Therefore, teachers teach the whole child since they maintain cultural identity of a student not only do they emphasize on the importance of academic achievement. Consequently, when promoting academic community for students, teachers play a role in responding effectively to the learners needs (Gay, 2000).
It challenges America’s status quo by breaking the standards of American classroom traditions. Back in the days, the typical American classroom was taught by white women and white men, filled with white students. They all came from the same background, culture and economic status. There is no wrong in having people of the same culture, and race, come together in one classroom, but students and teachers do not gain as much opportunity or rich experience as they would if they were surrounded by diverse students and teachers.... ...
Community involvement provides a setting where we develop the skills and attain the knowledge that will help us make a difference in our vast shifting society. It endeavors to provide us opportunities to make choices and stimulus to content our academic needs conscientiously and successfully.
The learning environment connects the classroom to the community through a democratic approach. This community based learning brings the world into the classroom so students can implement social change and challenge social inequalities. The curriculum focuses on student experience and taking social action on real problems such as hunger, violence, and discrimination. It is important to instruct students to explore in group settings so they can work together to analyze and develop theories that can help each other and make a real different in the world. As a future educator, it is important to not only to teach my students the issues in our world, but how we can work together to find
In a society with a vast array of different beliefs and mediums through which these beliefs are presented, children can get lost in an overwhelming sea of influential ideas and concepts not necessarily intended for their eyes and ears. Character education is a concept that calls for teachers and school curriculums to guide students in learning what Edward F. DeRoche and Mary M. Williams (2001, p. 25) described as “core values held sacred by a democratic society.” Parents are generally considered the teachers of morals, but if values like sharing, compassion, and honesty are never enforced or addressed outside the home, these values may never be established as a stable foundation in the child’s mind. Character education’s purpose is to help children choose to be well-mannered, stable, cooperative individuals. Character education is not in every school system, but its support is growing along with the amount of research evidence increasing in its favor (Viadero, 2003). The teaching of values in education has evolved into character education, and today there are different studies, designs, and resources for character education programs in schools to foster moral growth and citizenship in children.
It forced me to consider how deeply diversity is a realm in education. As the world is changing, it is becoming increasingly more important to be culturally aware. I think it is easy for teachers to look over the gloss of cultural, religious or physical diversity and just teach the standards. I feel like teachers are getting caught up with obeying the standards and teaching only to the test, which is causing a less diverse context in their classroom. Growing up, I felt as though I missed out on focusing on other diverse communities. This didn’t help my understanding of how cultural beliefs fit in the context of history and the rest of the
The parents and families play a pivotal role in the development of citizenship education. However the schools and other educational organizations help to produce and motivate responsible learners to relate positively to each other to staff and the surrounding communities. It also enables people to make their own decisions and take responsibility for their own lives and their
As a teacher it’s my job to constantly reflect on information that is being introduced to me and by doing so I feel I will have a greater influence on my student’s educational growth. With reflecting over our reading of “Social Structure and Culture” I learned such a great amount of information from this reading dealing with our schools social norms. The reading gave me great insight for what to really notice with our student’s social changes and culture in our constant changing environment. By noticing culture differences within our students, we will better understand them and not offend any of them.