To teach is to choose a challenging life. It requires passion in the profession, genuine love and interest in children, especially when one opts to teach young children. One must have a heart and needs to be ethical, reflective, caring and hopeful. It requires faith in yourself and respect for individual children, willing to work against the odds in order to contribute to an evolving environment. Ayers’s book, To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher is a book, I consider a work that strives for educational reform. Ayers write from his personal experience and then draws his educational philosophy around those experiences. William Ayers writes, as teacher, parent, student and observer, of the children he has known, and of the things that actually …show more content…
A teacher’s life is a collection of varied experiences and is full of invention, imposition and determination. Teaching is always a teacher’s own. Ayers sees the pieces of his own teaching everywhere. He then recounts the story of playing a Spy game with a child who, when he spied something brown, proudly pointed out herself. She had been educated to admire and proud of her difference. In the second chapter, Seeing the Student, argues that teaching requires seeing a child as a whole and a unique individual as the teacher interacts. It also presents the story of his youngest child, Chesa, who had a dogged determination while his family was worried of his stubbornness which might raise a problem. He then relates a story of working with ten-year-old kids, asking them to describe themselves to reveal their characters to their class and the teacher. Most teachers see and label their students which deprives them from the class. Ayers argues that teaching means going beyond labels. In the third chapter, he argues that one of the main aspect of teaching is creating or constructing a laboratory that promotes learning. This entails careful and thoughtful planning to enhance student learning, accommodate and celebrate one’s diverse …show more content…
According to him, curriculum is not a “thing” people need and need to learn. It is something communicated to children through a teacher. It should be conceived as a dynamic aspect. It should be tailored to children’s individual needs and interests making it more fascinating and meaningful to them. Keeping track on students’ progress and further development is another important aspect that a teacher should do. But how should teachers manage this? Ayers, like Ken Robinson had been criticizing standardized tests. They, and I for one, firmly believe that standardized tests play biases and do not really measure one’s skills, abilities, emotions and creativity. It kills students’ creative ideas. Ayers belief is that to reform education for the better, we must go in the exact opposite direction, away from standardization of curricula, teaching, and assessment. Educators should have thought differently about education, allowing students to tap into the motivation of students to raise student achievement and honor the diversity of students. Instead, a different sort of education, one that harnesses the intrinsic motivation and creativity of students is
Toni Cade Bambara wrote the short story “The Lesson”, and in this story she writes about a teacher who not only teaches her students educational things, but she also teaches them the ways of life. Or another way to put it, she teaches them that they must get a good education in order to make something out of themselves. The class that the story is based on is mainly poor children and some wealthy children. Miss Moore is the teacher and she takes the class to a “rich people” toy store, and she lets the children walk around the store. When the children find something that interest them, Miss Moore will teach them accordingly to what the item is. The theme woven throughout the story is life lessons, particularly about how school relates to the world around the children, how money does not define them, and how society uses money in the wrong manners.
In his work, “A Talk to Teachers,” James Baldwin poured out his point of view on how he believed American children should be taught. Throughout the essay, Baldwin focused on a specific race of school children: Negros. Perhaps this was because he himself was an African American, or even for the mere idea that Negros were the most vulnerable for never amounting to anything — according to what the American society thought during the twentieth century, specifically the 1960s when this piece was published. With the focus determined, the reader is able to begin analyzing Baldwin’s main appeal through the essay. At first glance one could argue that the essay has no credibility with Baldwin’s lack of not being a school teacher himself; however, when further evaluated one could state that whether or not he was a school teacher has nothing to do with the fact that he establishes his credibility, he appeals to morals, emotions with authority, and values, which thus outweighs the possible negativities associated with his argument.
In Diane Ravitch essay “The Essentials of a Good Education,” argues about testing students in schools on basic skills that led to many public schools to abandon the importance of social skills and life choices. In her essay, it states that the federal law has demanded that all students must be proficient in mathematics and reading and that every state has been required to test those two specific subjects. Why do they demand that we are tested on mathematics and reading? Well in our lifetime, we will have to know how to do the math and also have reading skills for our career jobs. In the “No Child Left Behind” was an act in 2001 passed by congress that requires states to test children’s basic skills to qualify for federal funding. All students
Teachers who lack passion and desire to teach what they are given can translate and manifest its way to students as they also lose aspirations to come to school and learn only what will be on exams they are supposed to take to show that they are “learning.” Students come to school to learn things they did not know prior and with the acquisition of knowledge it can many a times create a drive for students to expand upon a particular subject, which can ultimately determine their careers and goals, but this whole process is shutdown with standardized tests, as many topics and subjects are limited to a few basic ones that put out the fire students are expected to have.
Since the U.S. Congress passed the No Child Left Behind program, standardized testing has become the norm for American schools. Under this system, each child attending a school is required to take a standardized test at specific grade points to assess their level of comprehension. Parents, scholars and all stakeholders involved take part in constant discussions over its effectiveness in evaluating students’ comprehension, teachers’ competency and the effects of the test on the education system. Though these tests were put in place to create equality, experts note that they have created more inequality in the classroom. In efforts to explore this issue further, this essay reviews two articles on standardized testing. This essay reviews the sentiments of the authors and their insight into standardized examination. The articles provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate that standardized tests are not effective at measuring a teacher’s competency because they do not take into account the school environment and its effect on the students.
Every teacher’s worst nightmare – that is the setting to which Madame Esme Raji Codell stepped into as her first job fresh out of college. In this sink or swim world Esme, unknowingly, became a lifeguard to thirty one youngsters, as she seemed the only one who could protect the children from the rough waters that are inner city Chicago. Through studying her very candid and personal diary, I am awe stricken by her extraordinary display of pedagogy as she exemplifies what it truly means to be a teacher. Esme’s proficiency in her dealings with situations surrounding equity, creating a safe, relaxed and positive classroom environment, expectations as a teacher, gender, diversity learning, multicultural competence and accommodation are, at times,
The book Lives on the Boundary, written by Mike Rose, provides great insight to what the new teaching professional may anticipate in the classroom. This book may be used to inform a teacher’s philosophy and may render the teacher more effective. Lives on the Boundary is a first person account composed of eight chapters each of which treat a different obstacle faced by Mike Rose in his years as a student and as an educator. More specifically in chapters one through five Mike Rose focuses on his own personal struggles and achievements as a student. Ultimately the aim is to highlight the underpreparedness of some of today’s learners.
I think that I have always wanted to be a teacher. Being the eldest of four children, I have always enjoyed being that helping hand and using my talents and abilities to help others. In the remainder of this essay, I will explore how my personal background, development as an individual over time, and how experiences as a student have influenced my attitude towards education and prompted me to choose teaching as a profession.
One of the biggest problems with standardized testing is that it limits diversity and creativity. When preparing for these standardized tests, teachers are expected to be responsible for a majority of student’s success. This causes teachers to teach to a test and does not allow for growth far beyond the minimum requirement. When one class has a broad range of students, academic wise, t...
According to William Ayers teaching should involve every part of a teacher and not restricting themselves towards performance of an assignment. He thinks that teachers today should go beyond traditional teaching techniques to help out students. This will need teachers to put in extra efforts and face many challenges. Ayres says that “ Its often myths that young teachers must fight against”.
By having a standardized curriculum schools are not challenging students. They are creating students that do not challenge what they are learning. Holt (2013) thought that standardized curriculum destroyed student’s freedom of thought, right to question, and the freedom to spread ideas. Every student is the same in a way. Every student is tested the same. The problem is that every student is not the same and every studen...
She thought that if she was going to be in a bad mood, she was going to take
Mrs. Smith created an environment that allows students a primary role in their pursuit of knowledge, through the lens that each student is unique, but most importantly targets students potential. Another noteworthy aspect of Mrs. Smith’s ideology is her various perspectives of educational expressions. She provided her students the “what, how and why” of learning, which many may confuse with teacher pedagogy. On the contrary, in this case, it refers to her rooted ideologies and how they are showcased in the classroom. In other words, Mrs. Smith gave each student the tools needed, by placing equal expectations on her students, to see the lesson fruition. This, I believe, is the start of neutrality in teacher ideology that adheres to the call of salient changes in ideology that has been echoing for
I have decided to become a teacher because I love children. I enjoy watching them grow, and I want to make a difference in the lives of my students. As a teacher, I will do everything that I can to ensure that each becomes a productive, successful citizen in life. In order for me to obtain this goal, I will create a loving, positive, respectful, and safe learning environment where each student will be treated equally and be encouraged to do his or her best. Keeping this in mind, there are four elements that I must remember which includes (1) how young children develop, (2) what they should know and be able to do, (3) instructional strategies that I have learned, and (4) my feelings regarding parent involvement.
Along these two weeks we have been prompt to make a recall to our own way of learning and why we became a teacher: Was it because coincidence, due to life circumstances, maybe because family tradition, was it a conscious decision or because someone influenced us? Whatever the answer is, we have to face reality and be conscious that being a teacher does not only means to teach a lesson and asses students learning. It requires playing the different roles a teacher must perform whenever is needed and required by our learners, identify our pupils needs and preferences, respecting their integrity and individuality but influencing and motivating them to improve themselves and become independent.