Chapter 2: Respect, Liking, Trust, and Fairness

Students respect good teachers even though they hate the subject or dislike the teacher on a personal level. This jumped out at me because this seemed way too mature to be coming from most of the kids I went to high school with.

I must admit, I was not this mature. I had biases and hated certain teachers whether they were good teachers or not. I learned ALOT in my chemistry class. I still to this day hate that teacher because of who he is as a person. He's not a bad man or anything like that. We just don't see eye to eye on a lot of issues. I think that the above statement is true only on a very small scale or on a superficial level.

Chapter 1: Knowing Students Well

Something that stood out to me was one of things that "Tiffany" said about a chemistry teacher she had. She said that the teacher never asked the class if they were understanding or if they were confused. The teacher kept on talking, "teaching to the whiteboard" so to speak.

This jumped out to me because I have had a few teachers more interested in covering the curriculum or getting through the lesson plan than if we were understanding it. One particular teacher I had was doing this when she realized how quiet the room was. My teacher turned around and looked at us. We all just stared at her with blank looks. So she asked, "does anyone have any questions?" This was definitely a speak now or forever hold your peace kind of question. When no one else even moved, I raised my hand and said, "I don't have a question, I'm so confused that I can't even think of one. All I know is that I don't get it." The teacher looked at me, rolled her eyes, and then continued teaching more material. I guess she thought I was being a smart Alec. I really don't know.

Chapter 4: Schools as the Workplace for Students and Teachers

• Staff and Organization- The way staff is organized in the United States is with a linear system and a chain of command. Students are on the bottom with teachers, then the principal, and finally the superintendent of the school district is at the head. The teacher reports to the principal first before the superintendent, this is how the school district is organized. In the school that I created the organization would be similar, except that there is no superintendent. Each school is its own separate entity that reports to the Province Director of Education.
  
• The school district relationship with the state- The school district is a geographic area and includes all the schools in that area. This is how the state is divided into manageable sections. In my country we do not have school districts, each principal reports to the Province Director of Education in each province. Those directors report to the Adviser of Education to the Chairman.
  
• Role of federal government- In the United States Constitution the role of education is reserved to the states' jurisdiction. The federal government can influence education through legislation, Supreme Court decision, and executive policy. The federal government can not force states to incorporate the federal policy but it can withhold federal funding to that state. In my country all decisions about education originate and are dictated by the federal government and are adopted completely and intact into the curriculum.
  
• How schools are paid for-The United States funds schools through different taxes, including, income, sales, and property. My country funds the schools by property taxes in the community. Each community is responsible to fund its own school.
  

Chapter 6: Social Context of Schools

I devised a lesson to discuss and deal with name calling in schools. The details and an example of a follow up assignment is posted on this wiki page.

Chapter 14: Succeeding in Your Teacher Education Program and Beyond

As a beginning education major I definitely have some concerns. As a teacher I am not extremely confident that I will be able to explain material in multiple ways so different students can understand it. I am not sure I have enough knowledge of the material to know how to instruct students "frontwards, backwards, and sideways" in my teaching. I also want to present material in my lesson to appeal to students of all abilities. As a student I remember being bored in some classes when the teacher went to slow and lost in other classes when the teacher covered the material too quickly. I also am concerned that in a classroom I will not have adequate classroom control. I do not feel confident that high school students will respect me because I am not much older than they are. I am also concerned that if I notice that a particular lesson has fallen "flat" I do not know if I can change lessons half way through teaching. These are the concerns I have as an education major about my future teaching career.

In the Joy of Teaching concerns a beginning teacher usually has been lumped into four major categories: Unconcerned, which is no concern about teaching, Self, which is deals with doubting your skills, knowledge, and control of either the subject or the class, Task, deals with managing time for class, preparations, and other aspects of life, and Impact, concerns generating ideas for improving teaching and student learning. The two categories that I was not concerned with are unconcerned and task worries. My concerns were about Self, such as controlling the class or knowing enough information. My concerns were also about Impact, like having ideas that would increase student learning and my effectiveness as a teacher.

The stage of concern for Self for me is personal. The stage of concern for Impact for me is consequence.

Chapter 7: Thinking about Teaching and Learning

Reading chapter 7 in the Joy of Teaching textbook I have discovered a couple of new ideas and theories that I will incorporate into my teaching philosophy. One of these was the discovery method theorized by Jerome Bruner. In this theory, he states that students learn better by discovering the truths about the world around them on their own, through experiments and questions. Instead of the alternative of sitting in a straight back chair and a teacher standing at the front of the room force feeding material into the students. Another philosophy that I considered helpful, which could in practice overlap with the discovery method was progressivism. Most of the time progressivism deals with a focus on the importance of science but other elements of progressivism would be helpful to my future history class. Especially, the idea that humans are social beings and can learn from each other, most importantly, if the topic can be related to something in our own lives or past experiences. This idea is the whole reason why I believe that history is valid criteria to teach in schools. The question then becomes how do I make my students see the connection and the relevance history has to their daily lives. This question was posed in extreme clarity in the case study involving Kenneth, a high school history teacher. A student asked him "why do I have to know this stuff?" and I know I will be asked that question because I have heard my own peers ask it. The book was not too helpful in answering this question. Kenneth's philosophies and ideals are not at fault for this lapse in understanding on the part of one of his students. It was suggested that he go back to the beginning and figure out a new way to present the material to portray to his students the relevance of the topic so they might connect it to something in their own lives and therefore learn and remember it better.

Chapter 13: Improving Teachers and Schools, and School Reform

Things that I plan on doing during college to improve my resume would be keeping good grades in all of my classes but especially in my major classes. I will student teach, observe and learn about different teaching styles, and have evaluations and recommendations to compliment my resume.

After I have become a teacher I plan on continuing learning. I want to earn not only my masters but eventually my doctorate by the time my career finishes. Along with the teacher workshops that each school has to have in its schedule throughout the year, I hope to attend other conferences to learn more. Eventually I want to receive the National Board Certification.