EDUC 5220 Discussion Unit 2 PDF

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Discussion Post Unit 2...

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As an educator, I feel it is of utmost importance for me to create, understand, apply, analyze and evaluate my “purpose” in my school community as well as to ensure that I can use this “purpose” in a positive manner to connect with my students, colleagues, administrators and parents. I feel that one of my purposes as an educator is to enhance my students’ learning opportunities by fusing academic growth and skills development. At my school, I feel that our mission and vision statements encompass our core beliefs of being passionate to achieve what matters anywhere in the world, learning should happen in and out of the classroom, change is almost always a force for good and that we achieve more if we work as a team. These educational purposes do well in maintaining the importance of the students being at the core of everything we do. We have far more than three purposes for education but I will focus on being inspired and building resilience, passion in achieving what matters and developing a safe and supportive learning environment for our student community. The first purpose is based on the phrase “We ensure that everyone in our community becomes inspired and resilient.” To me, this statement means that achievement is not the only thing that matters in our community and that we are all responsible for ourselves in the process of adapting in the face of adversity or significant sources of stress. In addition to the resilience aspect of the statement, the inspired portion refers to the academic achievement that is centered on the learners as an active part of the learning environment. The achievement in this context focuses on student’s self-actualization, personal creativity, reflections on experiences, academic as well as personal - social - emotional growth, and a flexible mindset. These characteristics are reflective of learners in a student-centered community. Our teachers nurture these skills and attitudes towards learning in the classroom by developing engagements that are concept driven and they act as facilitators of learning rather than placing an emphasis on the final product. As Schiro (2013) attributed, our growth model is also based on the students’ own unique social, emotional, physical and intellectual attributes. When walking around the school, you can look into any classroom and witness students thinking outside the box, interacting with one another, collaborating in small-group discussions and project-based learning engagements. In addition, students explore learning mathematics through their environment and later apply that learning in the real world through the use of manipulatives and identifying symbols and other representations in their environment. This is an example of experiential learning that falls into place. Alvior (2014) states that students must experience what they learn in order for it to be meaningful. Overall, the classroom engagements and growth model exhibited at our school are based on the principles of student-centered ideologies. The purpose of education described above encompasses a scholar academic ideology alongside a student centered ideology with a hint of social efficiency. The second purpose of education applies to the student centered ideology. Our mission says that students show “passion in achieving what matters.” In our learning community, this statement references our passion for learning and includes all stakeholders. It shows that we are inspired in our commitment towards achieving excellence in the arenas of our choice. It also means that the commitment to excellence can be achieved through the combined efforts of teachers, students, parents and administrators. Moreover, to achieve a culture of excellence in our milieu, personal growth is considered as the central theme (Schiro, 2013) and individual learning exists through the support of the community by means of collaboration which results in an opportunity for more ideas, deeper thinking and reflection. The third and final purpose for this post is nurturing “a safe and supportive learning environment for our school community.” This is based on the concept that everyone in our academic community supports a conducive learning environment that makes learning fun and engaging and where all participants develop naturally according to their own innate natures (Schiro, 2013). The nature of a safe and supportive learning community leads to individual growth in line with students’ own unique attributes (Schiro, 2013). To achieve a supportive

learning community, we have taught and encouraged our students to be well behaved law abiding individuals who follow rules and procedures in an effort to create a positive relationship with one another. This is not to say that they are taught to accept everything, they are also encouraged to speak their minds and share their opinions but they are encouraged to do so in a respectful manner. Our vision of student discipline encourages our students to become respectful, reliable, reflective and responsible individuals. This is an example of Schiro’s (2013) social efficiency ideology where the goal is to train our youth in the skills and procedures they will need in the workplace and at home to have productive lives and perpetuate the functioning of society. The purpose of education and having a safe and supportive learning environment applies to both the ideologies of student centered and social efficiency. Further modifications that can be considered at our school might be to enhance what we are doing in terms of social efficiency. Although I believe we are moving in that direction naturally, I feel there is still room for growth in this area. If we are to expect students to become a functional part of the ever changing society, we need to do more in terms of developing social productivity methods for our students to function effectively. This assignment reminded me of one of the previous courses where we studied social reconstruction. Reconstructionists claim that the purpose of education is to facilitate the development of a new, more just society which offers satisfaction to all of its members. A philosophy like this would benefit our students in the importance of becoming more socially aware. There is no perfect curriculum or philosophy for all schools. I believe that the curriculum should be selected based on the needs of a particular school and should be contingent on the development of students’ knowledge, skills and values. Our main focus is on being inspired and building resilience, exhibiting passion in achieving what matters and developing a safe and supportive learning environment for our student community. These top three educational purposes of our school are all rooted in our mission and core values. References Alvior, M.G. (2014). Six Famous Curriculum Theorists and their Contribution to Education. Retrieved from http://simplyeducate.me/2014/12/03/six-famous-curriculum-theorists-and-their-contributionsto-education/ Schiro, M. S. (2013). Curriculum theory: Conflicting visions and enduring concerns (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc. Retrieved from: https://talkcurriculum.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/schiro-m-2013-Introduction-to-the-curric ulum-ideologies.pdf...