Mrs. Maryellen Elizabeth Hart Secondary Science Education

Academic - Significant Educational Philosophies for USA Education in the Third Millennium

Education is a comprehensive word describing the system of guiding learners into mastery and transfer of focused objectives. Many factors influence the success of a learner’s ability to accomplish educational objectives, many Educational Psychologists have listed needs associated with a good learning environment, as well as listing the necessary steps or stages leading a learner to mastery. Secondary Educators scaffold, inspire, guide, plan, develop, and create pathways for personalized learning and mastery of standards based educational objectives to the highest levels of learning that students could not achieve on their own. Educational philosophies are the teacher’s guide in developing curriculum and successful lesson plans for a classroom of diverse learners.  

The Classic  Educational Philosophies as described by Bloom, Piaget, Vygotsky, Skinner,  Gardner are the core philosophies of my Secondary Science classroom. 

Contemporary Educational Philosophers who greatly influence my classroom Methodology are the philosophies of David Rose of CAST, "Universal Design for Learning"; Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe "Understanding by Design" (UbD), The 12 Touchstones of Good Teaching. A Checklist for Staying Focused Every Day. By: Bryan Goodwin, Elizabeth Ross Hubbell, and  John  Hattie "Visible Learning For Teachers: Maximizing Impact On Learning". 

 These philosophies provide methodology that leads differentiated learners into higher levels of learning. In a culturally responsive differentiated classroom students will try and make sense of, and integrate, their learning according to district and state educational objectives for personal and vocational application as good citizens within a multicultural pluralistic free globalizing republican democracy (U.S.A.).

Cognitive Development by Lev Vygotsky Paraphrased by Maryellen Elizabeth Hart 

Vygotsky's main work was in developmental psychology, and he proposed a theory of the development of higher cognitive functions in children that saw reasoning as emerging through practical activity in a social environment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Vygotsky

Vygotsky also posited a concept of the Zone of Proximal Development, often understood to refer to the way in which the acquisition of new knowledge is dependent on previous learning, as well as the availability of instruction.

His philosophical framework includes insightful interpretations of the cognitive role of mediation tools, as well as the re-interpretation of well-known concepts in psychology such as internalization of knowledge. Vygotsky introduced the notion of zone of proximal development, an innovative metaphor capable of describing the potential of human cognitive development. Internalization can be understood in one respect as "knowing how". For example, riding a bicycle or pouring a cup of milk are tools of the society and are initially outside and beyond the child. The mastery of these skills occurs through the activity of the child within society. A further aspect of internalization is appropriation, in which the child takes a tool and makes it his own, perhaps using it in a way unique to himself. Internalizing the use of a pencil allows the child to use it very much for his own ends rather than drawing exactly what others in society have drawn previously. Zone of proximal development.

"Zone of proximal development" (ZPD) is Vygotsky’s term for the range of tasks that a child is in the process of learning to complete. The lower limit of ZPD is the level of skill reached by the child working independently (also referred to as the child’s actual developmental level). The upper limit is the level of potential skill that the child is able to reach with the assistance of a more capable instructor.

Vygotsky viewed the ZPD as a way to better explain the relation between children’s learning and cognitive development. Prior to the ZPD, the relation between learning and development could be boiled down to the following three major positions: 1) Development always precedes learning (e.g., constructivism): children first need to meet a particular maturation level before learning can occur; 2) Learning and development cannot be separated but instead occur simultaneously (e.g., behaviorism): essentially, learning is development; and 3) learning and development are separate but interactive processes (e.g., gestaltism): one process always prepares the other process, and vice versa. Vygotsky rejected these three major theories because he believed that learning always precedes development in the ZPD. In other words, through the assistance of a more capable person, a child is able to learn skills or aspects of a skill that go beyond the child’s actual developmental or maturational level. Therefore, development always follows the child’s potential to learn. In this sense, the ZPD provides a prospective view of cognitive development, as opposed to a retrospective view that characterizes development in terms of a child’s independent capabilities.[22]

Scaffolding is a concept closely related to the idea of ZPD, although Vygotsky never actually used the term.[23][24] Scaffolding is changing the level of support to suit the cognitive potential of the child. Over the course of a teaching session, one can adjust the amount of guidance to fit the child’s potential level of performance. More support is offered when a child is having difficulty with a particular task and, over time, less support is provided as the child makes gains on the task. Ideally, scaffolding works to maintain the child’s potential level of development in the ZPD. An essential element to the ZPD and scaffolding is the acquisition of language. According to Vygotsky, language (and in particular, speech) is fundamental to children’s cognitive growth because language provides purpose and intention so that behaviors can be better understood.[25] Through the use of speech, children are able to communicate to and learn from others through dialogue, which is an important tool in the ZPD. In a dialogue, a child's unsystematic, disorganized, and spontaneous concepts are met with the more systematic, logical and rational concepts of the skilled helper.[26] Empirical research suggests that the benefits of scaffolding are not only useful during a task, but can extend beyond the immediate situation in order to influence future cognitive development. For instance, a recent study recorded verbal scaffolding between mothers and their 3- and 4-year-old children as they played together. Then, when the children were six years old, they underwent several measures of executive function, such as working memory and goal-directed play. The study found that the children’s working memory and language skills at six years of age were related to the amount of verbal scaffolding provided by mothers at age three. In particular, scaffolding was most effective when mothers provided explicit conceptual links during play. Therefore, the results of this study not only suggest that verbal scaffolding aids children’s cognitive development, but that the quality of the scaffolding is also important for learning and development.[27]

Piaget

As far as considering Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Processes in combination with our review of “A Private Universe” Heather was an excellent model. Piaget suggests the stages of learning are: 1. Schema 2.  Assimilation (Adaptation)   3.  Accommodation (Adaptation)   5. Equilibration. These stages are illustrated in Heather's honest struggle with describing "earth's revolution, seasons, moon phases" (1. Schema).  Her drawings (mental representations organizing knowledge) show both a rotation of the earth and a revolution around the sun. Her little loops at opposite sides of the ellipse were her effort to integrate a drawing she remembered from her book. 2.  Assimilation (Adaptation) Heather used toys to model the earth, sun and moon and represented the Assimilation and Accommodation stages well, “integrating new perceptual, conceptual materials or experiences into an existing schemata”. 3.  Accommodation (Adaptation) And when her theories did not properly resolve the problem, For the second inquiry of Heather, Heather revised her approach as much as she could with whatever information she was drawing upon. I was surprised the Investigative Reporter didn’t give her access to previously existing information before the second inquiry, (what is already known about the topic: the first stage of scientific investigation) and then ask her to try to re-explain basics of earth's revolution, seasons, and moon phases. We never really observed her at the Equilibration stage and I imagine she reached one. She was obviously bright and capable. I probably answered this portion of the discussion essay in my paragraph above. 

 The role of the teacher in learning.

Philosophy Constructivism (Piaget) Social Learning (Vygotsky  “Constructivism , like existentialism puts the learner at the center of the educational stage   Constructivism asserts that knowledge cannot be handed from one person to another from a teacher to a learner, but must be constructed by each learner through interpreting and reinterpreting a constant flow of information.  Constructivists believe that people continually try to make sense and bring order to the world.  Piaget and Vygotsky reflect the view that the essence of learning is the constant effort to assimilate new information. In a constructivist classroom, the teacher builds knowledge in much the same way, gauging a student prior knowledge and understanding, then carefully orchestrating clues penetrating questions, and instructional activities that challenge and extend a student’s insight.  Teachers use scaffolding, questions, clues, or suggestions that help a student link prior knowledge to the new information.  The educational challenges facing students in a constructivist classroom, could be creating a new way to handle a math problem letting go of an unfounded bias about an ethnic group or discovering why women’s contributions seem all but absent in a history textbook.  In a constructivist classroom, students and teacher constantly challenge their own assumptions, 

Constructivism runs counter to the current emphasis on uniform standards and testing.  It dovetails with authentic learning, critical thinking, individualized instruction, and inquiry project-based learning.  Jean Piaget:  Adaptation, Assimilation, Accommodation, Disequilibrium, Focus on Individual   AND   Social Learning (Vygotsky) Internalization  Zone of Proximal Development Scaffolding Inner speech Focus on Groups.

Intrinsic Motivation Carol Dweck, Sasha Barab, Internal Focus, Dependent on Task Relies on Autonomy Expands Attention Generates Interest.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Immersive approach 

1.  Knowledge

2 Comprehension

3.  Application

4.  Analysis

5.  Synthesis

6.  Evaluation

 1.  Creating  2. Application 3. Evaluating  4.  Analyzing 5. Comprehension 6.  Knowledge 

Socrates influenced learning by repeatedly questioning disproving and testing the thoughts of his pupils on such questions as the nature of love”  or the good” he helped his students reach deeper, clearer ideas. 

It challenges the conventional ideas and traditions of 

Socrates I think was a Constructionist combined with Progressivism (guide and integrate learning activities so that students can find meaning) Progressivism:  flexible, integrated around the needs and experiences of students.   Learning by doing, natural sciences Teacher guide and integrate learning activities so that students can find meaning.

 students and teachers 

Intrinsic Motivation (Carol Dweck, Sasha Barab) 

Student Centered Philosophy: Progressivism (Learning by doing) _ Existentialism 

Teacher Centered Philosophy Perennialism 

Deductive and Inductive Reasoning

Deductive reasoning  Teacher present their students with a general rule and then help them identify particular examples and applications of rule  Inductive Reasoning Teachers help their students draw tentative generalize  after having observed specific instances of a phenomenon.

Accompanied with interactive hands-on curriculums (“Project Based”),  and on-line education technology reaching students “multiple intelligences” and inherent curiosity and desire for discovery learning (inductive and deductive), are leading today’s students into higher levels of learning and applications of learning.}

Education is evolving. Neighborhood and charter schools (“heritage” (race) focused (see attached links) are creating wonderful learning environments where heritage is celebrated and teachers who are embracing identical strands of love of heritage are finding their “easier to teach students” of like mind. On-line education is homogenizing (integrating: globalizing) and at the same time writing curriculum to honor and to celebrate our multicultural pluralistic globalized society and multiple intelligences. Today’s educational technology (on-line You Tube learning medias: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8FkAUxMWpc )  are a genius integration of “Disney style engaging entertainment” which teaches and reinforces rote memorization as well as allowing students control of their learning within a media students can relate to according to their style of intelligence.   Appropriate (“an idea whose time has come”) “evolutionary and revolutionary” concepts of new charter schools (for those who seek a charter “heritage” honoring education or a  magnet schools (such as International Baccalaureate) accompanied with interactive hands-on curriculums (“Project Based”),  and on-line education technology reaching students “multiple intelligences” and inherent curiosity and desire for discovery learning (inductive), are leading today’s students into higher levels of learning and applications of learning.} 

Project Based learning  http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning-overview-video  use of the Scientific Method of Investigation style of interactive, hands on learning (gestaltism), according to Piaget stages of Cognitive Development and Vygotsky’s ZPD social interactive supports (scaffolding). The video shows many examples of applications of this style of learning.

The “Project Based Learning style” of learning is engaging, fun, and places students in the driver’s seat of their education. Ancient standards (Three Rs: “Reading, Riting, Rithmetic”) become useful and meaningful and students discover their need to improve in those standards and even accept the advantage memorization (rote) gives them in analyzing and forming predictions.  The discovery process is best described using the process described as “the Scientific Method of Investigation”. Student’s curiosity leads them into reading about what is already known (researching), forming a hypothesis, designing a test of the hypothesis, gathering data from experimentation (using Metric system of measurement), analyzing the data using math skills (data tables, graphs, charts, probability and statistics); Art: drawings and illustrations, and  writing skills (drawing and forming a conclusion (Piaget “Equilibration”). Seymore Papert, Director of Edutopia “Project Based Learning” enthusiastically promotes and predicts this style of learning across the curriculum. Seymore Papert describes this style of learning as the style promoted by the founding fathers of Educational Psychology, Jean Piaget, John Dewey, Vygotsky, Freud, etc.  I agree. 

According to “Project based Learning” as described by Seymore Papert, Director of Epistemology and Learning Group, M.I.T. and Bruce Albert, President of National Academy of Sciences,  students are learning to mimic what scientists do with real world interactive (gestaltism) hands on laboratory activities and science fair type projects, (both using the Scientific Method of Investigation). I believe this style of learning (Project based Learning) is an idea whose time has come. I believe State Curriculum Guidelines (Core Standards), School Districts, and Educational Programs (Social Groups (GS, BSA, LWV, faith groups, etc.) Clubs, Businesses will

 Developmental psychology Notes from Wikipedia Research

 "Zone of proximal development" (ZPD) is Vygotsky’s term for the range of tasks that a child is in the process of learning to complete. The child’s lower limit of ZPD is the level of skill reached by the child working independently (also referred to as actual developmental level). The upper limit is the level of potential skill that the child is able to reach with the assistance of a more capable instructor. Vygotsky viewed the ZPD as a way to better explain the relation between children’s learning and cognitive development. Prior to the ZPD, the relation between learning and development could be boiled down to the following three major positions: 1) Development always precedes learning (e.g. constructivism): children first need to meet a particular maturation level before learning can occur; 2) Learning and development cannot be separated but instead occur simultaneously (e.g. behaviorism): essentially, learning is development; and 3) learning and development are separate but interactive processes (e.g. gestaltism): one process always prepares the other process, and vice versa. Vygotsky rejected these three major theories because he believed that learning always precedes development in the ZPD. In other words, through the assistance of a more capable person, a child is able to learn skills or aspects of a skill that go beyond the child’s actual developmental or maturational level. Therefore, development always follows the child’s potential to learn. In this sense, the ZPD provides a prospective view of cognitive development, as opposed to a retrospective view that characterizes development in terms of a child’s independent capabilities.

Scaffolding is a concept closely related to the idea of ZPD, although Vygotsky never actually used the term.[23][24] Scaffolding is changing the level of support to suit the cognitive potential of the child. Over the course of a teaching session, one can adjust the amount of guidance to fit the child’s potential level of performance. More support is offered when a child is having difficulty with a particular task and, over time, less support is provided as the child makes gains on the task. Ideally, scaffolding works to maintain the child’s potential level of development. The results of this study not only suggest that verbal scaffolding aids children’s cognitive development, but that the quality of the scaffolding is also important for learning and development.

Cognitive Processes Quoted from: http://www.slideshare.net/GlenwoodDesignandMedia/piaget-theory

1. Schema – As child seeks to construct an understanding of the world the developing brain creates schemas (actions or mental representations that organize knowledge) E.g.: Classifying object by size, shape and color, how to drive a car and how to balance a budget.” http://www.slideshare.net/GlenwoodDesignandMedia/piaget-theory

2. Assimilation - Process of integrating new perceptual, conceptual materials or experiences into an existing schemata. http://www.slideshare.net/GlenwoodDesignandMedia/piaget-theory

3. Accommodation - When existing schemas is not possible, new schemas will have to be developed in order to adapt to new and unique experiences. Both processes are used simultaneously and alternately throughout life.” http://www.slideshare.net/GlenwoodDesignandMedia/piaget-theory

4. Organization – The grouping of isolated behaviors and thoughts into a higher order system; children organizing their experiences. http://www.slideshare.net/GlenwoodDesignandMedia/piaget-theory.

 5. Equilibration - State of balance between accommodation and assimilation Cognitive Processes Quoted from:  http://www.slideshare.net/GlenwoodDesignandMedia/piaget-theory

5. Why is it important to have a Philosophy?

 “I would love to see objective testing accomplished on line, so educators could spend their time evaluating real time project based learning assessments in the classroom.” MaryEllen Elizabeth Hart 2014

6. Implementation. What it should be taught in school (knowledge, skills, and dispositions). 

. Our world since World War II and United Nations Declaration of Human Rights has become kinder in focus

7. Professional Goals. 

Conclusion (revisit your thesis statement, summarize the main points of your philosophy). 

Extra Information of Interest: Khan’s video we listened to illustrates one possibility of making the classroom become more alive using creative, responsive software programs available on line twenty four hours per day seven days per week.  Technology allows students to experience thought provoking and entertaining programs sequentially leading them through the curriculum they need. Student’s intelligences are respected and reached with the interactive process. Collaboration is even allowed and encouraged. Teachers receive important feedback and may immediately respond to the needs of the students. The processes of classroom preparation, materials and methods used and stored is transformed. Teachers really have time to motivate, encourage, direct, guide and teach. I love interactive, hands on activities and am happy to know I may be integrating these processes in my classroom. I enjoy using multimedia software such as PowerPoint and videos in addition to standard secondary science laboratory activities. With schools and districts responding and administrating some of the many available grant programs, I am hoping good software is available for our classrooms so we may reach all students (even those challenged with poverty, or intelligence that are not always reached or encouraged). Collaborative, on line learning in an on line live chat room with a drawing board is a great asset. Students experience interactive or sometimes  live discussion (chat) area on line, Cooperative and collaborative learning is really the strength of an education program. The immediate social rewards (interaction, fun), and ability to ask questions and get immediate answers from peers or the instructor, and ability to hear replies how to apply our learning to our own personal point of reference is really the biggest strength I see it this program.   

Multiple Intelligence By Howard Gardner

Intelligence is not fixed. Intelligence is a predisposition of an individual to successfully master new information and integrate it into everyday processes. Intelligence is strengthened (or not) by environmental factors, social structure, learning environment, types of stimulus, disposition and predisposition (physical and emotional), and type of intelligence being measured. Many leading thinkers and world leaders have been quoted in various ways acknowledging the learning process associated with failure. Khan reinforces students’ progress and success, and does not dwell upon what they have not achieved. Technology has the ability to develop and assess all types of intelligence (Howard Gardner's list of seven (or eight) are described in our text book Page 39). The key to the future success within Education will be in Educator learning how to direct individual student's Individual Education Programs (IEPs for everyone) using the many software programs available. Immediate reward is also important (Pavlov). Immediate positive reinforcement allows divergent thinking to produce creative approaches to problem solving. The advantages of technology are both in its ability to reach all types of intelligence and immediately reinforce student success, assess progress and record achievement. Furthermore, technology will allow educators to continue developing standards of measurement and compare standards internationally. Globalization (making our world "multicultural" and neighborly (smaller with technology)) is reforming every content area in the classroom. Technology will allow customization in the individual classroom, as well as within each student's individual laptop, notebook or smart phone. Globalization will allow sharing of ideas, intelligent applications, and technology; however, the strength of education and technology partnering is the programs will be individualized. Students will have IEPs (Individual Education Program). Their “tablets” and notebooks will have menus allowing them to select and customize their learning program according to their blend of types of intelligences, their other important learning identities such as: gender, heritage, age, size, gift, challenge, religion, or political affiliation. The core curriculum will be created by the individual states, fostered by individual school districts, and individualized by each student and their family (a Real and True Individualized Education Program!) I believe Khan's programs will only be a small portion of fertile soil from which new educational software, technology and online interactive classrooms will grow and bring fruit.  I feel Education is in the dawn of the free compulsory education movement began in 1860, and challenged and changed by the myriad of many international immigrants into United States between 1860 and 2014. Education was further changed by the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s to an important inclusion of multicultural respect. Education was further changed by the technology boom of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and the third millennium. Our future classrooms will be increasingly connected and interactive.  Instruction and assessment will be personalized for individuals 

1. What was is and should be the purpose of schooling in the United States? 

The purpose of school is to provide an atmosphere so students can discover and develop  their identity.  The purpose of a physical school is to provide abundant creative materials, methods, human and physical guidance and modeling (“scaffolding”), so students can engage in self directed purposeful learning. In self-directed student learning, students discover their passions, their skills and abilities in relationship with their individual natural gifts, culture and heritage. The true purpose of school is to form good human beings, strong citizens of moral conscience, capable of life-long learning, growing, continually developing into the person God created them to be, interacting positively within a globalizing society, with work skills capable of competing in a multicultural pluralistic republican democracy (USA) and within a globalizing world.  

The nature of Education is that of preparing students for living (serving + working) in our multicultural pluralistic, globalized society with respect to individual natural gifts, and heritage. The multicultural educator is saddled with the responsibility of creating a classroom culture able to prepare students within a content area through a perspective respecting their individual heritage, personal needs, personal goals and personal gifts. There are many approaches to accommodate respect of diverse origins languages, and values of students from the wide variety of cultures and languages groups who populate the schools of today previously discussed within this philosophy.  “Equity is Empathy in Action.” from “Wildflowers”Jonathan P. Raymond, the Stuart Foundation, improving life outcomes for young people through education. Jonathan Raymond says  “Advance equity and whole child education and what it takes to get started, by supporting existing programs in school leadership, social and emotional education, creativity and the arts.  Start with empathy and then add action. Before you know it you’ll be practicing equity too.”

Good purposeful schooling in USA contributes to a person’s life in three ways: 1.) Equips USA citizens with common knowledge, and wisdom, for both personal development as well as understanding of the USA and the world. 2.) Develops a person’s skills to be used in a vocation using the tools of literacy, the 3Rs Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic, Science, History, Geography, the Arts, Finance and Economics, etc. ) to compete internationally in research, development, and in employment economic sectors  3.)  And last of all, but not least, schooling in USA prepares a K12 student for citizenship, with effective, competitive, globalized awareness. 

Spring, Joel H.

Deculturalization and the struggle for equity: a brief history of the education of dominated cultures in the United States by Joel Spring ( eighth edition.) 

1. What was, is, and should be, the purpose of schooling in the United States?

The purpose of schooling in USA is three fold: 1.) To equip USA citizens with common knowledge, and wisdom, for both personal development as well as understanding of the USA and the world. 2.) To develop skills to be used in a vocation (tools of literacy (3Rs Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic). 3.)  Last, but not least, to compete internationally in research, development, and in employment economic sectors with effective, competitive, globalized awareness.  

The Cost of Being in School:

Implicit bias and classism

Module 2: Locating and disrupting hierarchies of class, race, gender, sexuality, ability, and language in schools and communities

Privilege, Power, & Oppression:

Gender, Sexuality, and Heterosexism in Schools and Society

2. What is your role as a future teacher in fulfilling that purpose? 

I am a teacher who scaffolds (inspires, plans, develops, and creates) the success of a learner’s ability to accomplish educational objectives and lead students to levels of accomplishment they could not achieve on their own (“true learning”). “Within a globalizing world and economy, we the people of United States are called to embrace our multicultural pluralistic free globalizing  republican democracy (USA) with mutual respect where knowing about the cultures and heritages we live with is key both to successful coexistence and key to celebrating the personal uniqueness endowed to us by our Creator (both in our citizenship and vocation: “the true purpose of school.”)  I am a “Multicultural Educator” within the content area of Secondary Science Education, students gain wisdom (intelligence) and skills using many educational methodologies in preparing for life and employment.  My methodologies include the educational philosophies of Progressivism and Essentialism while developing student learning using Bloom’s’ Taxonomy: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation (Assessment).  In a classroom where a teacher’s philosophy is “Progressivism” the focus is flexible, integration of subjects with “across the curriculum connections”.  My Secondary Science classroom is experiential, collaborative, project based and interactive around a core curriculum of traditional academic topics with purposeful assessments testing development of particular skills to compete in the world.  Essentialism teachers are modeling academic as well as moral value.

I am a teacher who is an: Administrator of good sound teaching methods enriching the lives of many others using diverse cross cultural (multicultural pluralistic) processes which assist learners in their cognitive development (learning new skills); A Good planner (resourceful, creative, persevering); A Good presenter (enthusiastic, organized, creative, fun, wise);A Good classroom Manager (organized, interactive work stations, including “time out station”, appealing to diverse learners, clean, neat, attractive, content area focused, with multicultural interests); A Good Evaluator of student achievement (both Cognitive and Affective assessments); A Seeker of Personal and Professional growth; A Leader involved with campus student life (compassionate, enthusiastic, wise, and fun.) Teachers accompanied with interactive hands-on curriculums (“Inquiry Project Based”) such as “cooperative learning”, and online educational technology reach student’s “multiple intelligences” and inherent curiosity and desire for discovery learning (inductive and deductive), are leading today’s students into higher levels of learning and applications of learning. In my role as teacher, I am planning on focusing upon the philosophy “Constructivism”: Piaget and Vygotsky (Social Learning). “Constructivism” like existentialism puts the learner at the center of the education.  The nature of Education is preparation for living within and serving (within our chosen vocation) our multicultural pluralistic, globalized society (also known as “dominant culture”) developing and using one’s gifts as an expression of one’s heritage, culture and nature. The multicultural educator is saddled with the responsibility of creating a classroom culture able to prepare students within a content area through a perspective of mutual respect.

The Cost of Being in School: Implicit bias and classism

Locating and disrupting hierarchies of class, race, gender, sexuality, ability, and language in schools and communities

Privilege, Power, & Oppression:

Gender, Sexuality, and Heterosexism in Schools and Society

 How does schooling continue the existing order?  

In a good way, USA schools attempt to bring forth understanding of USA core mission and purpose: life, liberty and pursuits of happiness for all blessed citizens. USA schools attempt to teach  healthy citizenship and a strong sense of moral character founded within USA culture. USA schools attempt to teach USA history and politics from the eyes of a multicultural pluralistic free democratic republic (democratic means each citizen of USA is equally valued and holds an equal vote; republic means government by representation.) USA schools try to keep abreast of international academic standards, expectations and accomplishments and transform those benchmarks into realized merit in USA citizens. USA education system tries to maintain a sense of identity from its’ patriarchal foundation (i.e. freedom won through three hundred years of GREAT out-of-pocket sacrifices (blood, sweat and tears) of multicultural, pluralistic founding citizens and military.  

Education is THE GREAT EQUALIZER internationally. In civilization, LITERACY (the fruit of education) is the key to improving the quality of life for oneself and one's society. Throughout history of civilization, a good education increased the opportunity for leadership and thriving in society regardless of race, religion, gender, age, or political affiliation. “A good education transforms a being from limiting self-focus to a globalized thinker and servant of common good.” (Hart,   2018)

Education is the key for a strong republican democracy. Democracy is the governing of a society using a collective vote of the population. Republican Democracy is the collective vote of a population as represented by elected individuals, representing that specific population (usually according to physical location or region).  Democracy represents an opportunity for an individual’s fulfillment of the agreed upon opportunities, privileges and rules living within a society. Democracy is the liberty for an individual to seek, express personal choices, and achieve personal realization within the collective multicultural pluralistic society. 

 How does schooling continue the existing order?  In a good way, USA schools attempt to bring forth understanding of USA core mission and purpose: life, liberty and pursuits of happiness for all blessed citizens. USA schools attempt to teach  healthy citizenship and a strong sense of moral character founded within USA culture. USA schools attempt to teach USA history and politics from the eyes of a multicultural pluralistic free democratic republic (democratic means each citizen of USA is equally valued and holds an equal vote; republic means government by representation.) USA schools try to keep abreast of international academic standards, expectations and accomplishments and transform those benchmarks into realized merit in USA citizens. USA education system tries to maintain a sense of identity from its’ patriarchal foundation (i.e. freedom won through three hundred years of GREAT out-of-pocket sacrifices (blood, sweat and tears) of multicultural, pluralistic founding citizens and military. 

The New Jim Crow” By: Michelle Alexander  “Following the collapse of slavery, the system of convict leasing was instituted - a system many historians believe was worse than slavery.  After the Civil War, black men were arrested by the thousands for minor crimes, such as loitering and vagrancy, and sent to prison.  They were then leased to plantations. It was our nation’s first prison boom.  The idea was that prisoners leased to plantations were supposed to earn their freedom. But the catch was they could never earn enough to pay back the plantation owner the cost of their food, clothing and shelter to the owner’s satisfaction, and thus they were effectively re-enslaved, sometimes for the rest of their lives. It was a system more brutal than in many respects than slavery…” We must be awake from our colorblind slumber to the realities of race in America.  And we must be willing to embrace those labeled criminals--not necessarily their behaviour, but them, their humanness.”

 “It seems that in America, we haven’t so much ended racial caste, but simply redesigned it.”  “We now have more African Americans under criminal supervision than all the slaves in the 1850’s.”  13th (The New Jim Crow)“After the Civil War, black men were arrested by the thousands for minor crimes, such as loitering and vagrancy, and sent to prison. They were then leased to plantations. It was our nation’s first prison boom.” (p.4)

 “As many as one in ten African American students has an incarcerated parent. One in four has a parent who is or has been incarcerated. The discriminatory incarceration of African American parents is an important cause of their children’s lowered performance...Parental incarceration leads to an array of cognitive and noncognitive outcomes known to affect children’s performance in school, and we conclude that our criminal justice system makes an important contribution to the racial achievement gap.” (Morsy, L. & Rothstein, R. 2016)   

 “Native Americans Deculturalization, Schooling, Globalization and Inequality”  By: Joel Spring “Deculturalization and the struggle for equality.”  “The problem for the US government was ensuring that Native Americans armies would never again challenge the incursion of white settlers.  To avoid any future challenges from the vanquished, the USA government instituted educational policies of deculturalization.  To a certain extent, these educational policies of deculturalization were effective. However, continued resistance by Native Americans led to demands in the latter part of the twentieth century for restoration of tribal cultures and languages. The federal government responded positively to these demands when Native Americans were no longer a military threat.”

 An examination of the Sociopolitical History of Chicanos and Its relationship to school performance. Jeffrey M. R. Duncan-Andrade SFSU Ca  “The underachievement of Chicanos in American Schools is well documented, and yet solutions to this problem remain elusive and unimplemented. 

Teaching Students Fluency in Multiple Cultural Codes 

By: Prudence Carter “The essential task at hand is to work toward acceptance, not mere toleration, of people from diverse linguistic backgrounds, while pursuing master of academic English as well. Teachers are the indispensable frontline professional who must help to model and instill values of linguistic acceptance and skills of linguistic fluency. 

 Integrating for Equity By Danny Cross Issue 59 Summer 2018 Teaching Tolerance 

“Gonzales is committed to “ensuring that schools are diverse and serving populations that are reflective and representative of the communities that they serve and then the cities that they're in.”  But it’s more than that...  “It's also that they are intentionally ensuring that teachers and curriculum and practice and school policy is inclusive and affirming the identities that our young people are bringing into the classroom, he says. 

The learning environment is multicultural and pluralistic in mainstream schools, however, in charter schools the learning environment is focused upon a culture expressed by the neighborhood served by the charter school. The Charter School culture may be focused upon one race, or one skill, or one philosophy, charter schools are independent and able to serve students who share a specific, common goal (example: Language and Culture immersion - French, Spanish, Native American Indian, African American Culture, Japanese, Chinese, German; Skill Focus: Performing Theater and Musical Arts, Cultural Arts, Visual Arts, Mechanical Shop Arts; STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math), and GLBTQ. Education is evolving. Neighborhood Charter schools (“heritage” (race) focused (see the following attached links) are creating wonderful learning environments where heritage is celebrated and teachers who are embracing identical strands of love of heritage celebrate teaching.  

12. Seven (7) Ways to bring out the best in your Special Needs Students By Thomas Armstrong April 2013 1. Discover your students strengths. 2. Provide Positive role models with disabilities. 3. Develop strength-based learning strategies. 4. Use assistive technologies and Universal Design for Learning tools. 5. Maximize the Power of your students’ social networks. 6. 

Help students envision positive future careers. 7. Create positive modifications in the learning environment. A movement is emerging in education called neurodiversity, which suggests that we view our students with special needs in terms of “diversity” rather than “disability”. By embracing this more positive perspective, and coupling it with differentiation strategies that build on students’ strengths, we can help ensure that our students with special needs achieve success both in the classroom and out in the real world. 

Summary: The nature of Education is preparation for living within and serving (within our chosen vocation) our multicultural pluralistic, globalized society (also known as “dominant culture”) developing and using one’s gifts as an expression of one’s heritage and nature. The multicultural educator is saddled with the responsibility of creating a classroom culture able to prepare students within a content area through a perspective respecting their individual heritage, personal needs, personal goals and personal gifts.