Education Reflection Paper

What is education? Two words probably jump out at most people: learning and school. Yet, how much students are actually learning must be analyzed because passing through is not the same thing as experiencing. In the same case learning is the same thing as receiving information and moving on. Even so, schools are blindly addressing the two as the same thing because secondary institutions have compressed education into numbers that signify intelligence. However, when education and school become two entities, children are not able to reach their full potential which then leads to them being unhappy in life as an adult.

During the month of November, I became our school’s acting testing coordinator. Our testing coordinator was in an accident and went out on medical leave. She was suddenly out for an undetermined amount of time and with a severe concussion was unable to remember what she completed and what she did not. During her absence, there were two assessments and a survey that needed to me completed. These assessments included SAT 10, FFT (Teacher Survey) and MAP-R. This was a very demanding experience.

I almost flunked the eighth grade. Struggling through school, I never asked for help. I went to school everyday pretending I knew everything, convincing everyone, including myself, that I was doing fine academically. The teacher told me once,“this may be an F, but it’s a higher F than last time." It wasn’t until my teacher made that comment about my work, that I really thought about my future. So after a long crying session, I decided to get my act together.

Some might ask, what is education? We could go by the dictionary definition which says “education is the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.” However, this definition does not explain the hard work, long hours, devotion, and responsibility it takes to truly get educated so that you can become a well-rounded and successful person.

After completing Module Two, I feel I have a clearer understanding of each of the five core competencies of SEL, and how to begin implementing in the classroom to help the students develop the social and emotional skills, which will help them in education and in life.

The year is 2011 and it is the start of a new year in a new school. I was quite nervous, as I had not met a lot of the kids coming from the other elementary school that would collaborate with my school to create Driver Middle School. I knew these would be the kids I would be with for the rest of my school career until college, so I knew I had to make it a good year. That’s when it happened; the atrocious news article for our school paper.

The information gained during this assignment was insightful, and the information will be useful in my future classroom. When conducting my teacher interviews both of the teachers spoke of how crucial it is for new teachers to understand the importance of pre-assessing students and the importance of continued assessment of students throughout the year. According to the answers from the teacher interviews, the data collected throughout the assessment process is the best way for teachers to determine how to group students. For example, Miss. Phillips states, “When analyzing data for say my kindergarten reading group I may group students based on who has one to one, comprehension, fluency, high-frequency words, and meaning when reading.” On the other hand for math Miss. Phillips states, “…I generally use my standards and then group based on abilities of one-to-one counting, number recognition, numeral writing, addition/subtraction, etc. I use assessments to analyze the data and even regroup students as I need to for both math and reading.” Furthermore, when Mrs. Haynes was asked the same question she responded with, “Having heterogeneous groups for math and literacy workstations is very beneficial. Students are able to model and demonstrate work for other students. This allows students to potentially work independently, while teachers pull small groups (for guided reading, guided math and guided writing).”

To begin the Faculty assignment I first started by trying to email professors using the faculty information document provided. Of all the specialties available under the Business degree, management and marketing most interested me. This is due to the fact that I have an ample amount of experience working in restaurants. Often while performing tasks such as endlessly sweeping floors, scraping gum off tables, talking down agitated customers and so on, I found my mind wondering. Aside from thinking about how much I was utterly and wholly adoring my tasks, I thought about what it would be like to run the establishment. I wondered what it would be like to manage others and plotted ways in which I could improve upon my manager’s skills in the area of management. Because of my curiosity for management I really wanted to speak with someone who is knowledgeable in the area. After sending a few emails to multiple instructors and not receiving any reply I decided it was time for a face to face interview.

In the classroom that I am observing my teacher teaches government and econ. On Friday September, 22nd I observed an econ class where the teacher said he was going to use his brother as an example for a credit card debt work sheet that he put up on the projector screen. The sheet used the highest possible interest rate (23%). The teacher than gave the students the formula to calculate how much interest would be paid on a sum of money. In this example the teacher said his brother was fifty five thousand dollars in debt. The teacher then asked the students to find how much interest his brother would have to pay. At this point in the class a few of the students moved quickly to remove their calculator from their backpacks and worked to figure the equation and give the teacher a correct answer. One student who we will name Jane gave the teacher an answer. The teacher then asked the class if they thought Jane had given the correct answer they all nodded their heads in agreement. The teacher then told Jane good job and moved to the next question. Before the teacher could explain the next question a student we will name Rick asked why the interest rate was so high. To which the teacher replied “well Rick in your case when you get you first credit card your interest rate will be close to this amount” to which Rick replied why is that. The teacher then explained how credit worked and that interest rates were based off of your credit and how likely you are to pay back a loan. The

This reflection focuses on ELCC Standard 4.1, due to the fact that I had to collaborate with administration, teachers (regular and special education), board members, facilities, parents, and students in order to develop a topic, plan, and carry out a Parent University. After discussing topics with my mentor, we decided that the topic for this Parent University should be the new PowerSchool Unified Classroom Program. The purpose of getting this new PowerSchool program was to improving the overall educational experience for students and parents by having one program that parents, students, and teachers can use to access grades, attendance, discipline, and teacher websites/homework information. The district transitioned to PowerSchool Unified Classroom as a result of parents and students complaining about having to go to five different sites just to get homework (Moodle, Schoology, etc.). Parents and students can not only view all of these components, but this program also streamlines communication between the school and home. In order for the use of Unified Classroom to actually improve the educational experience, parents need to know how to use the program.

Throughout the courses of ELED 4311 and ELED 4312, my knowledge of science had definitely changed in a positive way from the beginning of the course up until now. With the help and guidance from Dr. Wong, Professor Gokus, and Professor Donze, I was exposed to a variety of activities that I would like to incorporate into my future classroom. Not only will I be teaching science, but I can also collaborate it with other subjects such as math, reading, writing, and social studies.

My objectives in practicum this fall semester was to use developmentally appreciate practices, recognize and use effective classroom management strategies and develop and implement appropriate activities. This school year was my first time working in an infant and toddler classroom. During my time working in the classroom, I accomplish a lot beyond my goals I created.

Initially, when I began this project, I applied to a school which I went to called Abington Senior High School. I wanted to observe at this school, so I could see my old teachers and learn from them again. Unfortunately, that did not happen. When I applied, I provided the school with all the necessary clearances and I sent an email to the head of the education department as they instructed. However, the department head did not respond to any of my emails.

Education has always extremely important to me and I believe it is the most important tool anyone can have. Growing up with well-educated parents always showed me what an education can give you, but it also gave me an environment where learning was something to be proud of. As both a Salisbury University student and a Salisbury native, I have invested a lot of time and effort into this city. I am a product of the Wicomico County Public School System and I could not be more proud of that. My experiences in minority-majority schools taught me lessons that go beyond the classroom—lessons about how our world works. Attending primarily underserved schools (Wicomico Middle/High) showed me where public school education both succeeds

We all have our opinoins of school, you either love it or you hate. Teachers are the ones who give us impression of school. Most of the time your opinion of school is due to your classroom inviroment. Your classroom enviroment depends on your class mates or your teacher, but in my opinion your teacher makes or break your how you feel about being a school. The way that a teacher operates her classroom can either be very enjoyble and make you wanna be there or make you miserable and make you dread having to attend her class. I don’t really remember much about my school days, but I do remember my fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Harrel, was the best teacher ever. A teacher you could never forget. I can’t remember any of my other teachers so I am gonna use my son’s Pre-K teacher as an example of a bad teacher. His teacher’s name was Mrs. McRee, she was not a partent’s favorite teacher. These two teacher was totally opisite of eacher in many, many ways.