Video Gaming Post One

Growing up, video gaming was never really incorporated into the curriculum that I had throughout my childhood. We were only allowed to play on coolmathgames.com, but that was during computer class, which we only had once a week. Talking with my group, we saw that there were serious benefits to allowing children to play educational video games.

Some of the most important things that we talked about as a learning community were that video games should be efficient, effective, and of academic rigor for the appropriate grade level. Even so, students aren’t always going to be on the same level as each other, so having differentiation involved in your video game play is vital. We also discussed the importance of comfortability with video games as a teacher. For the students to understand the video game, the teacher must understand it and be comfortable with it as well, or else they will not be able to help the students learn the video game efficiently.

Some take aways from the MindShift article were the research behind games in the classroom. “Game-based learning in the classroom can encourage students to understand subject matter in context, as part of a system. In contrast to memorization, drilling, and quizzing, which is often criticized because the focus is on facts in isolation, games force players to interact with problems in ways that take relationships into account” (Shapiro 8). This was very interesting to me because though memorization is something that we learn very early in education, it is not always the answer. But, when it is almost necessary, gaming is a way to engage the students, as well as also help them practice what they are learning in a fun way.

A website that I had encountered was starfall.com. You can pick which grade level you’d like to start at on the home page. I chose to go to the grades 1,2,3 category, since this semester I will be observing a 2nd grade classroom. I decided to choose 2-3 grade English, and played a game called Jurassic Zoo.

In this game, you would choose the correct prefixes for the words that are given. The dinosaurs would act out the word in a video, and then they would give you the prefix options to choose from to create the new word. I think this would be really great practice for students, because as learned in my phonics course here at John Carroll, a lot of students tend to struggle with choosing the correct prefixes when first learning them. This was not something was challenging for me to complete, but the site offered a lot of fun games for different subjects and grade levels. Overall, I enjoyed this site and could see it being used for practice for some of my future lessons!

Class Survey

1. My name is Sara Spicer.
2. I am from Lakewood, Ohio
3. I really love music and hanging out with my friends and family. I am really passionate about education and I love being around kids. One thing I really love to do is travel to Key West, Florida, and it is my favorite place on earth to visit.
4. To feel comfortable taking intellectual and creative risks in a course, I really like to have respectful and mutual relationships with my professors and classmates. This will help me want to succeed in the classroom, as well as help build relationships for future endeavors after my time here at John Carroll.
5. An essay that I always find particularly interesting and helpful as a future teacher is The Top Ten Reasons Why Teachers Matter on the Global Teacher Prize. https://www.globalteacherprize.org/fr/nouvelles-et-blogs/the-top-ten-reasons-why-teachers-matter. This essay talks about the different things that teachers can teach their students. One of my favorite things that is written in this essay is “they help underachievers fly and keep overachievers grounded”. There are so many aspects of teaching that can really change a student’s life, such as overcoming their difficult situations that impact their lives inside of a classroom.
6. What inspires you the most about being an educator?

Power and Control In American Education

No Child Left Behind was implemented in 2001, and has essentially changed the American Education system based on high-stakes test scores. No Child Left Behind gives the state freedom to determine academic standards and test programs as well as requires local school districts to have a school-choice plan for students in failing school districts.

I believe a lot of negatives outweigh the positives with No Child Left Behind. This is because that most of the school’s funding depends on the students’ test scores, therefore the lower the test scores, the less funding that school will receive from the state. I think this is a poor way of distributing money, because if a school is failing based on their test scores, they should be able to get more money from the state to better their supplies, teacher salaries, and overall materials that are needed for a functioning school. A school that has adequate materials and after-school help for high-stakes testing is obviously going to have better test scores than schools that are unable to provide any of those necessities for their students, therefore the failing school should be receiving more money than the other.

It is also difficult to base funding on test scores because something could have happened the night before the ACT in a child’s household that lead them to get no sleep, and end up doing poorly on the test the next morning. Test scores are important to be able to see where students lie on the education scale, but I believe it should not make or break the entire school district’s funding.

In my own experience, I was not able to transfer credits from my high school AP classes because I received two 2’s on my AP tests instead of receiving a 3 to be able to transfer the credits into college. This test essentially erased my entire semester of taking AP classes because I was not able to perform well on the day of the exams, but received A’s in the class overall. I now wasted my junior year of high school taking AP classes when I could’ve taken easier versions of those class and still would not have received college credit.

Queer Theory

As educators of the future, it is important that all of the students feel included and recognized in a classroom setting in order to build their characters and become strong adults as they grow older. It is vital to make sure your students feel comfortable when they are in your classroom because a student is not able to learn in an uncomfortable environment, especially one where they feel like they are excluded from the rest of the students.

Elizabeth Meyer writes, “The issue of bullying and harassment is one aspect of school violence that has received a significant amount of attention from the media as well as from school officials and community members.”(16). Student go through a lot during their time in school, such as discovering who their friends are, what their hobbies are, and their own sexuality. As a teacher, it is important to take those things into consideration when managing a classroom because students transform outside of the classroom as well.

Things we can do as teachers is create a “safe-zone” in our classrooms to ensure that students know that they are able to be themselves. It is important that the students know that everyone is different, and everyone has different feelings. Most children repeat what they hear at home, and they come from very different opinions. To avoid students regurgitating offensive opinions that they learn at home, stressing the “safe-zone” is important for students on both sides of the matter. It is important to tell your students that they are able to express their opinions, but they need to do it in a respectful way that does not incite bullying in a classroom.

Service Learning

1. There are several examples of cultural bias described by Dunn-Kenney in this week’s reading. When reading through the journal entries, many people were overall surprised at their experiences at the site due to their unconscious biases. One girl wrote, “Overall, I really enjoyed our visit. It dispelled the myth that children living in poverty don’t have manners.” Another student wrote, “This experience gave me new perspective on poverty. I realize now that the parents truly care for their children.” These are all instances of cultural biases before they even knew the children they were about to work with. They had preconceived ideas about children and families living in poverty. With that being said, these students were learning something new and opening their minds. On the other hand, some biases increased such as “Jamie’s” biases. She did not understand how the children could even be happy in their own lives because of their situations. According to Dunn-Kenney, “She had an impulse to remove them from their homes and care for them properly”, and assumed that they were unloved and came from violent homes.
2. My service at the Domestic Violence Center has been life-changing because I have met some of the most wonderful people throughout my 2 months at the center. In ED253, we learn about the school systems in the inner city and how a lot of them, especially in Cleveland, are struggling very badly. One of the children at the center told me that her teacher forgot to show up to class so they played in the classroom for a long time until the principal had to sit in the classroom with them and watch them. This is definitely something we have learned about and how a lot of schools in the inner city are struggling to find substitutes and pay them enough. Also, there were obvious struggles in the school to keep children safe because they were without a teacher in the classroom for a long period of time and no one noticed. I am not allowed to know which school this child attended for safety reason, but I do know it is in the Cleveland inner city because she said she went to public school in Cleveland.
3. Just last Tuesday night, I did what they call “open art” at the center with some mothers and older children living there. This is a time where you are able to do anything artistic in the art room, such as paint, draw, knit, etc. After open art is over, we sit around the table and talk about what we made and why we made it. One of the 8th graders said that she was painting one thing on her canvas, and then ended up not liking it, and painted all over it to create a big dark purple canvas. She said, “I messed up, but I still think my painting is beautiful.” One of the younger mothers that was with us who was not this child’s mother said, “That’s what is challenging about life. You can put a lot of effort into something and get frustrated with it and fail. But in the end, it can still turn out to be a beautiful thing.” This is something that will stick with me forever. This was an a-ha moment for me because these women and children have to pick up their entire leaves and leave in order to be safe, and what the mother said was so amazing and true. Life throws so many things at you for unfair reason but if you can pick yourself back up and keep pushing, everything will end up being okay.
4. I am learning that my service is very particular about how they treat and act towards the children. You are not allowed to tell the child “no”, but instead you must give them an alternative to what they are doing. For example, if a child is trying to throw something you are not allowed to yell “no”, instead you say, “I have a better idea than throwing. Why don’t we try a different game that is safer and everyone can play!” You have to be cautious about what you talk about to each child because they all have had different experiences that may have been traumatic for them. For myself, I am learning that this can be applied to everyone, not just the children living here. Instead of jumping to raising my voice, I can be more calm and still be effective in what I am trying to say when I disagree. I am learning how to calm down children, and how to work alongside their mothers in order for the children to have a great time with us as volunteers.

Critical Pedagogy & Paulo Freire

There are two styles of education and teaching that Paulo Freire discusses, and they are the banking concept of education and the problem-posing education. The banking concept of education is described by Freire as, “the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits.” In other words, the teacher is the be-all-end-all of information and knows everything about what they are teaching, and the students merely regurgitate the information back to them because they know nothing. Banking education minimizes creativity in the classroom. In my experience, I had many teachers who acted this way, such as one of my theology teachers from high school. She would sit us down and tell us what she thought we needed to know, and if we did not agree with her, then we were wrong and she was always right.

On the contrary, in problem-posing education, “the teacher presents the material to the students for their consideration, and re-considers her earlier considerations as the students express their own” (Freire 111). This is basically the teacher is more open to learning new ideas from the students from the things she has taught, rather than having a mindset of being the authoritative power with all of the knowledge in the classroom. My 6th grade reading teacher was very much into this style of learning. When we would read stories, she would tell us what her interpretations of the book were, and then let us openly discuss what we thought what each character was thinking or doing, and she tell us that she never thought of it that way and thank us for opening up her mind.

In order to be a successful teacher, it is important that you can effectively incorporate both styles of education into your lesson plans. In regards to the banking concept, you do need to know what you are about to teach to the students, and go in with the mindset that some of the students may be coming into the classroom with no prior knowledge of the material of the lesson, so you need to be thorough with your explanations and ideas so the students are able to understand what you are teaching. Freire says that students will be feeling challenged and obliged to respond to that challenge because it will lead to them thinking critically and feeling less alienated. This is where problem-posing education can be incorporated into your teachings, letting the kids discuss with you what their views and ideas are about the problems at hand, and then as a teacher you can think about how they might be seeing the materials from a different point of view.

Equality of Educational Opportunity II

I personally have never experienced prejudices in a classroom setting, yet I have seen it happen to classmates firsthand. I went to a Catholic high school, so in theology class we talked about what we should be believing and learning as young Catholics.

Every year, we always discussed the topic of homosexuality in theology class and how it is viewed in the Catholic Church. A classmate of mine came out as homosexual my sophomore year, and she was in my class with a teacher with very strong views about homosexuality. My teacher was very persistent about this idea, and repeatedly said that you will simply not be allowed into heaven if you are a homosexual. This of course created a hostile and awkward classroom environment for everyone, but especially my classmate who was homosexual.

My teacher was unaware of my classmate’s sexuality, so my classmate spoke up. She said, “Do you believe I will not get into heaven?” and my teacher said, “Of course I do not believe that.” My classmate then said “Well I am a lesbian.” My teacher paused for a moment and then said, “Well then according to the church, you will be going to hell”. My classmate was very upset and even other classmates tried to stand up for her by saying that there is nowhere in the Bible that states that she will be going to hell because of her sexuality. My teacher was unable to be punished or even talked to about it because technically the Church believes that homosexuality is a sin.

This was a very bias and close-minded conversation coming from an adult teacher to a student, and it is something I will never forget. Especially in a Catholic school, I can see the difficulties that these students have to face going to theology class and being told that they do not belong in the community. This relates to what my group, LCIV, discussed about how this can be detrimental to your learning if you feel you are being discriminated against in any way. It is hard to try to create a more inclusive environment to people of different sexualities in a Catholic school, but I feel that this teacher in particular needed to be more inclusive in explaining what the Church believes, but then having an open discussion about how people can oppose this idea. If you do not talk about it, then prejudices and biases cannot be fixed.

Equality of Educational Opportunity 1

As a child, I loved Sesame Street, and I have not seen an episode since I was really little. After watching the introduction to the television show, I noticed way more than I would have as a toddler. One thing I definitely noticed right off the bat was the diversity of the children in the clip, who had different age ranges as well as different races. Aside from the children being so diverse, the characters are as well. You have Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Elmo, and all of the other characters that differ from each other playing with the children.

This seems to look a lot like the model that we learned about in Chapter 3, categorized as the Common-School Model. The Common-School Model is defined as “everyone receives an equal and common education. Theoretically, this will ensure that every begins the economic race on equal footing” (Spring 71). Basically, no matter the child’s social or economic background, they will be receiving an education equal to those of their peers. The reason this mimics this specific model is because of the diversity of the children as well as the characters.

Everyone in the show is different, whether it be the characters or the children, yet they are all learning the same exact things. As one who has actually seen the show I can attest to that statement, but if I were to only see this introduction and nothing else, it is still apparent that everyone is learning the same subject at the same time as the person next to them. They all learn the letters on the blocks, the numbers from the Count, etc. This is what the Common-School Model would look like in classroom. This intro does not really coincide with the other two models, The Sorting-Machine Model or the The High-Stakes Testing Model simply because no one is ranked or put into special groups to learn more than the others. Each child and character is learning the same things, no matter who they are.

BlogPost John Dewey (LCI)

In all my years of schooling, I’ve had many teachers that have relied on just the psychological factors rather than sociological factors when they are teaching. One from high school that comes to mind right away was my senior year history teacher. She had been at my high school for years, even when my mom was there in the 90s, and her teaching style has not changed. She was a very smart woman who had many degrees from prestigious schools, but her teaching style just did not coincide with my classmates and I.

She was a lecturer. She would stand at the front of the room with a powerpoint and would read the powerpoint to the class, and not elaborate on the subject at matter. There were no discussions in the class between the students or even with our teacher. She relied on telling us basic facts about what we were learning, and nothing else. This was not an effective way of teaching, because students lost interest in class immediately. I would scan the room and see people doing other things on their laptops, such as online shopping, social media, etc.

In this class, we had one group project called History Day, and it accounted for 50% of our overall grade. It was widely known at my high school that this was one of the most grueling and time consuming projects in all the 4 years at Magnificat, and the grade was usually an average D. I feel that if there were more smaller group projects or class discussions throughout the entirety of the course, students would have been more prepared for a final project of this length. This would be a way for my teacher to improve her teaching styles, so that students would be more engaged in the class itself, and then have a better understand on how to do History Day. I would also like to add that even if there was not a History Day, I believe that with more sociological factors integrated in the course it would be more beneficial for the students overall.

I feel that there has to be a balance in the psychological and sociological factors of learning. Of course we need to know facts and stories, especially in a subject like history, but you can learn so much through discussion and group work while working with those facts that you have learned from power-points and note-taking. John Dewey would also agree with me, because his philosophy coincides with my argument. A quote that John Dewey uses is, “I believe that knowledge of social conditions, of the present state of civilization, is necessary in order properly to interpret the child’s powers.” This means that socialization in the classroom is vital for a child’s learning abilities. There is such an importance of being able to socialize with other people about things you have learned in school, because conversation and collaboration are very powerful tools to use in life.

BlogPost Neoliberalism

In How School Choice Turns Education Into a Commodity by Jason Blakely, the author talks about Betsy DeVos, and how her neoliberalizing education beliefs are essentially ruining the public schools in America. The idea of “school-choice” is that as a parent, you are able to send your children to schools other than public, such as private, charter, and for-profit schools using the voucher system through the city. This means that money that is going towards public schools are now being put into the voucher system so that children and parents can send them elsewhere.

Blakely touches on the idea that schools that are in dire need of funding are instead being more defunded so that more tax payer money can be put into voucher so they do not have to attend the public school system in their cities. He has the example of the Detroit public schools, which have become educational deserts because of the lack of funding towards their public schools. He then talks about how market choice benefits those who already have the wealth to move their children elsewhere to the other schools. He claims that as money is pulled from failing schools and put into the succeeding competitor schools, then the money can be redistributed to the upper class through the state.

I believe otherwise. I believe that it is fair to let people choose their schools, especially if they are in a city with a failing public school. I know many people from where I live that needed those city vouchers to be able to attend my high school, and not attend the Cleveland public high school in their area of the city. If the private or voucher school has the more resources for a better education than the public school, then I believe that it is right to give those that need extra funding to send them to those schools.