Meganism Video

Here is my "Meganism" slide show presentation in video format.

Presentations in Meadow Lake

There were many amazing presentations today. The use of technology and the new ideas of my classmates were excellent. The presentation styles varied and watching them has given me ideas that I may try to incorporate into my spring presentation. My technological skills, although slow, are advancing. I now feel I have a much greater understanding of Power Point. I thought it was interesting that some of our class members argued that curriculum should produce a functioning member of society while others believed that nurturing the individual should be the goal. Like Schwab, I believe the truth is somewhere in the middle. I really appreciated Peter's closing words about curriculum. His message was that his definition of curriculum is open and is always changing. I would like to apply this philosophy to my own definition of curriculum.

Weekend in Meadow Lake

I would like to comment about some of the topics that were discussed by our cohort this weekend. I found it interesting that some members believe that children enter the school system too early. It was suggested that boys in particular need more time to play in an unstructured environment. I believe that 5 is a reasonable age for children to enter into Kindergarten. During this year there is a strong emphasis on play, yet students are learning how to socially interact with others and acquiring basic skills. Many children come from homes where both parents work so if school started at a later age it would mean more time with the babysitter not necessarily more time being educated by parents.

I also want to respond to a comment about change being implemented with greater ease if a staff consisted of all first year teachers. As a beginning teacher I disagree that change is more easily embraced by someone new to the profession. In my first few years of teaching I have been somewhat resistant to change. There are so many new tasks to learn as you enter into teaching that when someone tells you what you just learned is no longer relevant it is easy to become overwhelmed. As I am progressing along in my teaching career, and feel I have a basic understanding of the principles of teaching, I am more prepared to change.

I found it interesting to look at the new curriculum guides. I like their abbreviated style. They give the teacher more academic freedom to teach in their own manner.

The Paideia Proposal

The article "The Paideia Proposal", by Mortimer J. Adler, illuminated a major issue in education. As the article states there has been great gains in human rights in the last century. Universal suffrage and universal schooling are two great achievements that were reached during this period. Social gain continues to be made. Who would have imagined a Black American president 50 years ago? The author believes that education is not equal for all, but I believe the problem is worse in the United States than it is is Canada. (I am assuming that the author is American.) Public education seems to be the route that most Canadians chose, especially in Saskatchewan. In my opinion our public education system provides the same opportunities if not more than its private counterpart. In the United States the public education system is thought of as secondary. It seems that if you have money you will pay for your children to be educated in a private setting. Where does this leave those children who are socio-economically disadvantaged? This is an injustice that Adler speaks out against, and something that needs to change.

An interesting video on public versus private schools can be found using the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP0xi0vKxNE. It shows the American Democratic presidential nominees of 2008 answering whether they send their children to public or private school.

Freire Video

I watched an interesting video called "Paulo Freire and Critical Pedagogy" on YouTube. The link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFOhVdQt27c. There were a few statements that I found interesting. One was that, "Critical pedagogy is teachers asking why and students being allowed to freely ask the same question". Critical examination of teaching material will lead to a better understanding of the framework in which it was designed. Why are we learning this? Who is it benefiting? Another statement was, "3 0r 4 kids in one class properly taught and educated can multiply". I like the idea that if you can reach a handful of students with a message this can lead to overall social change.

Freire Reading

Reading Paulo Freire's article, "Pedagogy of the Oppressed", was informative. In an ideal world Freire's ideas of emancipation for all could be achieved. One of the main goals of education should be to create social change to better the lives of all people. It should inform the masses of injustices and create a new social order base on equality. Freire’s ideas are idealistic and sometimes lack practicality. Freire states, “But while to say the true word – which is work, which is praxis – is to transform the world, saying that word is not the privilege of some men, but the right of every man.” (pg. 125) I agree that every person in society has the right to be valued equally, but I am unsure if every person has the ability to implement social change. An interesting endorsement of this reading can be found in the following link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj4SGO4iO9M .

Meganism- Take 2

As my paper nears completion I can see that a stronger theory of Meganism has emerged. I learned a lot about what is important to me in education as I sat down and hashed out a 15 page theory. Some of the things I initially thought were of great importance did not get incorporated into my framework because of their superficial nature. There are other ideas that I had not initially thought of that became greatly important to my theory. It feels great to be almost done. Now on to the presentation...

Schwab

I found an interesting quote while reading Schwab's "The Practical: A Language for Curriculum." Schwab states, “A curriculum based on theory about individual personality, which thrusts society, its demands and its structure, far into the background or ignores them entirely, can be nothing but incomplete and doctrinaire, for the individuals in question are in fact members of a society and must meet its demands to some minimum degree since their existence and prosperity as individuals depend on the functioning of their society. In the same way a curriculum grounded only in a view of social need or social change must be equally doctrinaire and incomplete, for societies do not exist only for their own sakes but for the prosperity of their members as individuals as well.” (pg. 108) I liked his balanced view that both the individual learner and the role that they assume in society is important.

Final Paper

I am currently working on my final paper, which is the development of the theory of "Meganism". It is interesting to "hypothetically" be in charge of creating an education system. It helps define what I believe is valuable in education. In the pre-writing stages I thought that my theory of education could be summed up in approximately five pages or less. As I am writing it I am surprised to see how many topics I feel passionate about either defending or changing in education. I am six pages in and feel that I have many more ideas to develop and explore.

Bobbitt

I found Bobbitt's article, "The Scientific Method in Curriculum Making", an interesting read. There are a few ideas that the article presented that I would like to address. I found his statement, "A program never designed for the present day has been inherited" (pg. 9), thought provoking. I do agree that education must change with the times but many of the basic skills (reading, writing, and arithmetic) that we teach remain the same over centuries. Bobbitt's belief that we should teach to the shortcoming of pupils is a practical one but does this approach leave room for development of critical thought by the individual? Critically questioning our society is the first step to implementing social change.

Weekend in North Battleford

There was plenty of interesting discussion during our weekend in N.B. I found the explanation of Schwab's article particularly insightful. Honestly, the language of the article was so confusing that I could not get through it in my first attempt. Now that I have a basic understanding of it I am going to try again. I also found the debate on the new curriculum interesting. Although I am a relatively new teacher, I think less prescriptive guides are a step in the right direction. I am an educated person and should enjoy more academic freedom.

Meganism - Take 1

Meganism is a traditional educational model which has the ultimate goal of producing caring and productive citizens. It will begin with mastering the 3 R's and then evolve to developing critical thought. It will promote an interest in local and world events. Curriculum guides will be no more than 20 pages in length and be less prescriptive then they currently are. This will allow teachers some time to teach what they are passionate about. This model discourages teachers from "bandwagon jumping" and believes that only fundamental problems in education need to be addressed. The job of the teacher is leader and role model. While it is the teacher's duty to maintain order and a structured environment, students must also view them as approachable. The role of the student is to master basic skills and then investigate their surroundings to develop a worldview. There will only be one school system so all children are unified in their experience.

Counts

From a historical perspective George S. Counts' article, "Dare the School To Build a New Social Order?" is very interesting. At first I thought it was written in modern times but then it became glaringly obvious it was written during the Great Depression. It discusses the impact of industrialization on the nation. It also states the importance that the role of the teacher and the education system have in regard to implementing societal change. Many of his suggestions are "Utopian" and looking forward into the future, they have yet to be implemented. His writing style is full of imagery but long winded at times.

P.S. If I would have looked at the heading of section 1, "Looking Back: A Prologue to Curriculum Studies", there would have been no doubt in my mind that this article was not modern.

Addams

I enjoyed reading Jane Addams' article, "The Public School and the Immigrant Child". The best part about it was its brevity. It did raise a few interesting points that made me look at the education of immigrant children in a different way. It has never occurred to me that American education is widening the gap between immigrant children and their parents. Another interesting statement was, " We bring the young to see Italy, but we do not utilize Italy when it lies about the school house." (pg. 27) There are so many times when we can bring culture into our school by inviting certain community members into our classroom, but it is something that is often overlooked.

Tyler

I enjoyed reading Tyler's article, "Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction". His style is clear and concise. The article caused me to reflect on why the objectives that I teach to my students are important. I am not totally convinced that everything I do teach is applicable or relevant to my pupils. Tyler raises this concern when he discusses the limitations of objectives that are too advanced and technical, leading many students unable to see how they could apply to their lives. Like Tyler, I do agree that objectives must not be static. There are some objectives that were of importance 50 years ago (handwriting) that are not particularly relevant today, although there are some broad objectives (reading, writing, and arithmetic) which remain the same. I like that Tyler states the importance of the interest of the individual child when determining objectives. It is interesting that this article was written in 1949 but is still relevant today.

Dewey - Part 2

John Dewey's Article Two in "My Pedagogic Creed", raises some interesting points about the social nature of the school. He views the school as an extension of the social community in which the child exists. I agree with this in principle but there are a few limitations of this theory. Dewey assumes that home is a place of moral training and it is the job of the school to strengthen the values of the home. In most situations this is the case but every year I run into students that have not had the privilege of having a positive adult role model to teach them right and wrong. Some of my students are more or less raising themselves and are not coming to school with appropriate social values. Is it my duty as an educator to teach them what I think is ethical? What if education is not overtly valued in my community? I can not in good conscience, as a teacher, endorse this belief. I try to the best of my ability to endorse the values of my community but I still bring my preconceived ideas to my profession.

Dewey- Part 1

Something struck me as I was reading "My Pedagogic Creed", by John Dewey, that I have been meaning to address for some time. On pg. 18 he addresses preparing children for the future, which I think is the primary aim of education, and how it is impossible to do so because the ever changing nature of society. Although his creed was written in 1929, this is a similar view expressed in the clips we watched in Turtleford. While I agree that technology is rapidly changing our society, it is ridiculous to assume that virtually nothing will remain the same. It will still be essential that students learn the 3 Rs (reading, writing, and arithmetic). They will still need to have social skills. The videoclips that we watched in Turtleford expressed that educators are inadequately preparing students for the future, and how can they because they do not know what it holds? This is a cop out. Are we supposed to sit by and teach nothing because the jobs students will be working at probably do not exist today? If I look back at my limited 27 years on earth I do not believe that the world has changed to such a degree that some are suggesting.

There is an interesting video on Youtube called Viral Education 2.0. Here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX8LTMf_c8Q. It expresses a similar sentiment to the videos we watched in Turtleford.

Primary Aims and Supporting Principles of Education

The most vital role of education is to assist students to be functioning members of society. The principles that support this goal are teaching students social skills, basic skills (reading, writing, and arithmetic), as well as critical thought. The environment where education takes place should be safe and nurturing so that students develop a sense of self-worth.

Definition of Curriculum

Curriculum is a plan that endorses the values and norms of society's governing body. It is used in education to guide what content is taught in classrooms. There are two layers present in the curriculum guide. One is the material that is overtly taught, and just below that is the norms and values that this material endorses.