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...