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role of education in our society
the philosophy of education
role of education in our society
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Philosophy of Education
A famous author once said, “When you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” There is truth in that statement when we look at the nature of humans today. Today’s society is filled with people who are wondering around with no purpose or direction in life. People today are content with this helpless lifestyle and so generation after generation will continue until the society has no leaders. I attribute this directly to the education of these individuals. As a future teacher, I must look at what the nature of students has become, the nature of knowledge, and ask myself why we have public education. In order for me to be an effective educator, I must reevaluate my philosophy of education and what it means to me.
Many years ago, students were more focused and determined in their pursuit of an education. One of the factors for this was due to the emphasis that was put on memorization of information, and being able to recall this right down to the letter. As society has changed though, so has the nature of the students. Today’s students are more liberal, and are encouraged to be free-will thinkers. Educators’ expectations have been lowered, and are no longer concentrating on whether or not the students truly learn what is being taught. Today, many educators are satisfied with a student just being able to remember the information for only short periods of time. So rather than encouraging the students to be dedicated to learning the material and traveling their own path in life, we have encouraged them to simply get by and follow the lead of the current trend. This is not true for all educators, but the vast majority of teachers have fallen into thi...
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...heir students. Students today are different from the students of yesterday; therefore teachers must conform to reach this new style of student. Knowledge is relative and depends entirely upon the person, place, and or time. We must understand that the facts are not the same in every social setting and must master this in order to conform to the student’s nature. All curricular areas are important to a total education. I feel that my area of P.E. and HED are particularly important in helping kids think for themselves and make healthy life decisions. My philosophy of education is to view students as ever changing, knowledge as relative and changing with the students, and to help the students to become independent thinkers, free from the coercion of this trendy world. I feel that helping students to become independent thinkers is the best skill I can give them.
Moving along with Melinda difficulties in life, it's already mid year at Melinda meets a new friend named Heather. When Melinda meets Heather she
Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is a story written in the first person about a young girl named Melinda Sordino. The title of the book, Speak, is ironically based on the fact that Melinda chooses not to speak. The book is written in the form of a monologue in the mind of Melinda, a teenage introvert. This story depicts the story of a very miserable freshman year of high school. Although there are several people in her high school, Melinda secludes herself from them all. There are several people in her school that used to be her friend in middle school, but not anymore. Not after what she did over the summer. What she did was call the cops on an end of summer party on of her friends was throwing. Although all her classmates think there was no reason to call, only Melinda knows the real reason. Even if they cared to know the real reason, there is no way she could tell them. A personal rape story is not something that flows freely off the tongue. Throughout the story Melinda describes the pain she is going through every day as a result of her rape. The rape of a teenage girl often leads to depression. Melinda is convinced that nobody understands her, nor would they even if they knew what happened that summer. Once a happy girl, Melinda is now depressed and withdrawn from the world. She hardly ever speaks, nor does she do well in school. She bites her lips and her nails until they bleed. Her parents seem to think she is just going through a faze, but little do they know, their daughter has undergone a life changing trauma that will affect her life forever.
As the story progresses, you get to see Melinda “grow” and finally speak out about what happened to her at the party. In some cases during the story there are flashbacks. Some would be good and some would be bad.
In the beginning of the book Melinda was very shy and self conscious. Since everyone thought she called the police they didn’t want to be friends with her so she was going into high school with no friends." I have entered high school with the wrong hair , wrong clothes , the wrong attitude . And I don't have anyone to sit with . I am an Outcast.” (4 Anderson) This made her very shy and she just minded her own business. On the first day of school Melinda was getting on the bus and she didn’t know where to sit. She thought if she sat in the back she would get made fun of but if she sat in the front she would look like a little kid. She chose the front because she doesn’t want to walk down the bus aisle past her friends because they were mad at her. She was being shy and didn’t want to make up with her friends. This also happens at lunch because her old friends didn’t want to sit with her so she was going to sit with another new girl Heather but she didn't get the chance to. She thought, “I am Outcast” (Anderson 4). She didn’t want people to judge her on where she sat so she was debating. At lunch she was walking back from buying her lunch and a ...
Luckily, for Melinda she found the strength she needed in a special person and project to support and encourage her expression. So many victims of sexual assault are trapped inside their minds, kind of like the way this book reads. Like a series of letters, trapped from within someone else's mind. They are afraid to tell their story, for fear they will not be believed. But finding that one outlet that builds your inner strength gives you the courage to face your fears. The character transformation that Melinda made was remarkable. She started her freshman year out as an outsider and ended up feeling confident and rejuvenated.
In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda, the main character, goes through a series of events that affect her in the long run and shape her identity. Melinda goes through an eventful evening at a party and keeps it to herself for a long period of time. This is just one of the things that affects her. Some other turning points in Melinda’s life is when she finally tells someone about what happened at that party, as well as losing her friend Heather. These are all things that
My throat is always sore, my lips raw. When I wake up in the morning, my jaws are clenched so tight I have a headache. Sometimes my mouth relaxes around Heather, if we’re alone. Every time I try to talk to my parents or a teacher, I sputter or freeze. What is wrong with me? It’s like I have some kind of spastic laryngitis” (50-51). There are multiple reasons why Melinda might have trouble talking to this extent. Perhaps she’s afraid nobody will hear her, and if they do, they won’t believe her or they might refuse to listen to what she has to say. She might be trying to make herself less noticeable and panics whenever someone she’s not comfortable with tries to pick her out to interact. Part of it may also be a fear of Andy and what he could do to her if she revealed his secret. Over time, Melinda starts to overcome this fear and reaches out to more people, such as Heather, David, Ivy, Mr. Freeman, and eventually Rachel, who is the first person she tells about the rape. Melinda remains quiet for the most part, though, until Andy tries to attack her again in the janitor’s closet: “A sound explodes from me. ‘NNNOOO!!!’.... I scream, I scream. Why aren’t the walls falling? I’m screaming loud enough to make the whole school crumble” (194). Finally,
What is head knowledge when you cannot apply it? What use is academics when you cannot make rational decisions? Why would you go to school if you do not yearn for knowledge? As a teacher, I want to instill in my children these desires and the abilities to not only succeed academically but as a whole person as well. I believe that the role of an elementary teacher is not only to teach the “Three R’s” and the “Four W’s”, but also to foster within children a desire to learn and the ability to make wise choices. In our classrooms, we are raising the leaders of tomorrow, if all they know is what 2+2 equals or how to spell “beautiful” are they really going to be the future that we need and look forward to? Through the hard work of teachers promoting their students’ success and ability to do good work and make good choices, we can see the world change in radical ways! When we as teachers understand that not only do our students need to know the what but also the how, we can help them succeed in building critical thinkin...
Melinda had several times through the year where if she had asked for help, her life would have drastically improved. An instant of such is near the beginning of the school year, where Melinda notices her friend Rachel in the bathroom. On page 21 the text reads, “I want to grab her by the neck and shake her and scream at her to stop treating me like dirt. She didn't even bother to find out the truth—what kind of friend is that?” No matter the attitude of Rachel, Melinda did not bother to communicate with Rachel, which prevented her from learning about what actually happened. If Melinda had spoken, she would have gained necessary emotional help from her friend, and it would have infinitely improved her condition during her freshman year. Melinda did not understand the power of words, until she could not speak. Luckily, after a few negative incidents throughout her freshman year, Melinda finds the courage to speak out and ask others if they can relate to her traumatic occurrence, her rape at the party. She scribbles a note in the bathroom stall, writing, “Guys to Stay Away From”, then proceeded to write Andy Evans name. And though this method was anonymous, it helped her find those that also stayed silent. “There's more. Different pens, different handwriting, conversations between some writers, arrows to longer paragraphs. It's better than taking out a billboard. I feel
She finds it increasingly difficult to speak to anyone at all. When trying to speak, “[her] throat is always sore... [Her] jaws are clenched… Every time [she] [tries] to talk to [her] parents or a teacher, [she] sputter[s] or freeze[s]” (Anderson 50-51). The beginning of the year is when Melinda finds it hardest to speak. She implies that every time she attempts to talk to anyone about anything, she freezes and can not seem to get the words out. Finally, Melinda builds up the courage to open up to her ex-best friend – Rachel. Melinda shows great character development by speaking to Rachel about the incident, as she is one of the most – if not the most – difficult person to tell. Although Melinda is nervous to tell Rachel, as she and Rachel converse, she writes a note explaining that “[she] didn’t call the cops to break up the party, [she] called – [she] put[s] the pencil down. [She] pick[s] it up again – them because some guy raped [her] under the trees. [She] didn’t know what to do…” (Anderson 183). Rachel asks “why [she didn’t] tell [her]”, and Melinda explains that “[she] could not tell anybody” (Anderson 183). Although Melinda was not ready to speak before, she is now ready to speak and that is what matters the most; she has grown significantly since the rape occurred. In autumn, Melinda’s character is selectively mute and has a lack of communication skills. Yet, by the end of the year,
Speak, is a novel written by Laurie Halse Anderson, about a girl entering high school, for the first time, with a heavy secret weighting on her. Melinda Sordino begins freshman year at Merryweather High School, being a complete different person. Over the summer, Melinda and her friends went to a senior party, where Melinda ended calling the police. This caused her friends and the people at the party to socially reject her, even though they didn’t knew that before the phone call, Andy Evans raped her. Due to the phone call, Melinda enters high school without friends and having to see Andy Evans everyday. Her only “safe” place in the entire school is art class, where Mr. Freeman is the teacher. Mr. Freeman is the only teacher Melinda doesn’t dislike or avoids, because he listens and understands her, but also shows her the value of honesty.
I believe that education should be looked as as a desire to acquire all possible knowledge, not as a requirement or something that can be formally examined by standardized tests. There are numerous ways that children learn and I want to be able to encourage as much learning as possible for each child. I believe that using many methods of instruction is the most effective way of teaching to these various ways of learning. These methods include group work, hands-on activities, buddy work, etc. Assessment of children should follow the same idea. When children get the chance to perform on different assessments, they can adequately show their strengths and weaknesses. I do not wish to rely on tests only to assess the students in my class. Some types of assessment that I think should be inlcuded in a classroom are journals, presentations, projects and interviews. I also think that the classroom should be run with the help of the children. By distributing jobs among the children and everyone participating in the classroom, the students will form a sense of togetherness. This will eventually create a community within the classroom. I feel that this community of learners is essential for the students to perform effectively and efficiently. They will feel comfortable in the environment and will not be afraid to take risks or ask questions. The teacher will also be a member of this community and will not be seen as unapproachable or as the only leader.
Education is a very important aspect of our lives. It is our education that makes us who we are and determines what we become. Therefore, education is not something to be taken lightly. As a teacher, my goal will be to provide the best possible education for my students. Every student is unique. I must see students for who they are individually and respect their ideas and opinions. Each student has a different learning style. I must take this into consideration because I want to provide a constructive learning opportunity for every student. I believe that every student has the potential to learn.
Becoming a teacher was not something I always knew I wanted. As I approached an age where I really started considering what I would like to do for a career I only knew that I did not want to work in an office behind a desk all day. I wanted a job that would be interactive, challenging and exciting. I also knew I wanted a job that would be important and would somehow contribute to the world in an important way. I thought being a teacher; particularly a teacher in the primary levels would fulfill those hopes and goals assuming I dedicate myself to becoming an effective teacher who has a positive influence on the lives of my students.
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.