Special Education

I am very passionate about special education, because my older brother is autistic and I feel he did not get the education that he deserved. This is probably why I want to become a special needs teacher. Special education is now becoming inclusive. I am not sure how I feel about this. I think it can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending how a lot of variables. In elementary school I think inclusive education could be okay, because the child should be learning the same things such as, spelling, and simple math, but depending on the child and their disability they may need an aid. There are so many types of disabilities on the spectrum from ADHD, autism, or Down syndrome and it may be very hard for a teacher to help each student and their specific needs let alone the other children without a disability that are in their classroom.

I think coding is a good thing, as it may give children the help they need to do well in school and in life. For example, I think diagnosing someone with autism is a good thing as that will help them and help people understand that person, but disabilities that are not very extreme, as the person can function in our society, like ADHD may have a stigma that is unnecessary. People with ADHD can live a perfectly normal life, but diagnosing them in school may be good so they can get the help they need to do well in school and succeed in the school setting, but hopefully that diagnose does not hinder them their entire life.

I think this subject is very complex, as every child is different and has different needs in their learning. Unfortunately the way our school system is set up it does not cater to all these types of learners. I think teachers need to try their best to accommodate all these needs, but it can be hard when there are 30 students in their classroom. Therefore, I think a Learning Coach is a good idea, as I think teachers need resources to go to help them provide a prime education for every student.

This is a picture of my brother, Eric he is autistic. He and my parents had a very hard time with his schooling and fighting for his education. When he was in elementary school there were not as many problems, as there was in middle school and high school. He had problems with aids and his special needs teacher in middle, so my parents kept him home a lot because of this. Then is high school it did not get much better. He stopped going to school in grade ten and my mom tried to provide a program for him from home. When Eric reached middle and high school he was not able to learn the same thing his peers were learning. Therefore, I think inclusive education is not always a good thing. Eric needed to learn more life skills. Being with other students may be good for some things, but an aid should still be with Eric at all times to make sure he is acting appropriate with the other students. Having inclusive education may be good for other students without disabilities, as they can understand different types of disabilities and not be afraid of them, so I think that can be a good thing, but the student’s aid needs to try to educate the students and explain why that student may be acting a certain way so the other students understand and are accepting of that. I think aids need to be educated more than they are. Many aids to not have an education and I think it should be required, so they can understand the student they are dealing with and teach other students about disabilities.               

The Science of Happiness and Potential

We watched a video in class the other day called “The Science of Happiness and Potential”. Shawn Achor goes to Harvard and he was talking about positive psychology. He was talking about Harvard students are not very happy, as “80% of the students at Harvard are depressed”. Those students are very much stressed and have high expectations on them from other people and from themselves. I think this is not only relevant at Harvard, but it is relevant in all colleges and universities around the world. Stresses come from everywhere and students have an extremely hard time with that. Achor stated that “depression rates are 10 times more than they were in the Great Depression”. I think that is crazy. People have so much more things now than in the Great Depression. Therefore, people should be happier right? With all the technology and material items we have, people are not happy, as there are so many pressures to have those things. Achor did a study where they got people to do a task. One group did the task. Then the next group did the task, but before they did the task they told them to think of something that made them happy. The people that were happy before they did the task were 50% more productive and more successful than the group that was not happy before they did the task. Therefore, if students are happy before they write a test or write a paper then they will do better. That is crazy. I think finding a balance between doing school work and doing the things that make you happy is extremely hard, as you want to do well in school, but also need to have fun and be happy. I think school is a lot of pressure now and it can be too much for students. The stress of school can overcome people and become all they focus on, which is very sad. They need to find that balance, but it can very hard to find it. 

Here is the video from Shawn Achor "The Science of Happiness and Potential" (there are 3 parts to it):   

Gender Ideals

I think gender ideals definitely are placed in our heads at a very young age. School is definitely a place where gender is socialized. I remember I was in pre-school and I was wearing my brother's old Spiderman shoes and one boy said they were boy’s shoes, so after that day I never warn them again just because someone said they were “boy’s shoes”. I think teachers and parents need to be sensitive of children’s gender and not try to treat them differently. There is one couple in Toronto where they are raising their child, Storm without a gender. Here are two links with more details about this: http://soniamarsh.com/tag/raising-kids-without-gender and http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/05/26/raising-their-children-without-gender-restrictions-had-no-ill-effects-say-parents/

This story is very controversial, as they are letting the child decide what gender they want to be. In a society that gender is strongly influenced on us, I thinking living without a gender would be very difficult, especially in school I think the child would feel out of place and not sure where they fit into society and where they fit in school. I think other children would be confused, as to how they would treat this child.

In class we had an activity where we were to select some well-known person as representing the ideal of each femininity and masculinity. Some of the people we listed were:

Masculinity	Femininity
·         Brad Pitt	·         Princess Diana
·         Channing Tatun	·         Marilyn Monroe
·         Tom Brady	·         Kate Milton
·         George Clooney	·         Katherine Heigl

In class we stated that masculinity was someone that was strong, muscular, caring, emotional but not overly emotional and attractive. We stated that femininity was someone that was attractive, well put together, and independent but not overly independent, as all the women we listed still want a man to take care of them.

Diversity in the Classroom

I was born and raised in Rocky Mountain House, which is near two first nation reserves. Therefore, there have always been a few first nation students in my class with me. That has been the only diversity in my schooling. Their culture is very different than ours; therefore, I think teachers still have to be award of this. The two reserves are not run very good and have bad reputations and many first nations’ people who come into town are drunk, so they do not have a very good reputation among the people of Rocky Mountain House. I think teachers and parents had to deal with this. I remember when I was in grade one we had about four native students in my classroom of about twenty-five students. All these students were not raised or living with their parents. One was living with their Grandma and the others were living in foster care. I remember the girl living with her Grandma was difficult and did not have a lot of friends because of this, looking back she probably had a lot harder life at age six then I did. I think she was discriminated against. Their culture is very different than ours even though their culture is a part of our Canadian culture. I think teachers should try to educate the other students about the aboriginal culture. There are many opportunities to do this, as in social studies there are many units that are about Canadian history. I think if teachers try to incorporate more of the aboriginal culture and include the first nation students in teaching the other students it would be really beneficial for everyone, as it would help make the first nation students feel included and special and also teach the other students about the wonderful and beautiful culture. I remember in grade 4 the girl’s Grandma came into our classroom to talk about their culture, because we were learning about first nation culture and the fur trade. I remember that the girl was very excited that her Grandma came in and she was able to help her Grandma explain some things about their culture. I also remember in grade 10 we learnt about residential schools and that were when many people in my grade had negative views about first nation’s people. Our teacher was from Kalona where there is a big reserve there, but it is run a lot better than the ones near Rocky, so she had a more positive view about first nation’s people. When we were learning about the residential schools there was two native girls in my class that knew people that went to a residential school, which gave another perspective that my classmates and I wouldn’t have had unless those girls were in our class.

When I become a teacher I hope I can teach students about other cultures and help other students feel proud about their culture. I think most of my teachers and schools tried to do this, as on first nation day we had assemblies where first nation’s dancers came in to share their culture and dances with us. I think I would maybe also try to encourage first nation students more, as they may not have that encouragement at home compared to other students. If I was a high school or even middle school teacher I would maybe try to “be on them more”, such as making sure that they are getting their homework done and coming to school, as their culture does not encourage school as much as ours does.   

These are two pictures of first nation’s dancers. I think some of their costumes are very pretty and unique. I worked at the Rocky Mountain House Historic Site this summer and we had a Powwow there. It was very interesting to see all their costumes and their dances. Working at the Historic site was very interesting, as I learnt a lot about the aboriginal culture and our Canadian culture.      

Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

Gardner’s 10 types of multiple intelligences are:

Mathematical

Verbal

Musical

Bodily Kinaesthetic

Interpersonal

Intrapersonal

Naturalist

Spiritual

Existential

I think the multiple intelligence that I mostly identify with is interpersonal. I have done many intelligence tests and they always seem to be different or not very consistent, but for the most part I think I am interpersonal intelligence, because I think I notice how other people are feeling and feel sympathy for them. I think people can be more than one of the multiple intelligences, but they may do better in one than the others. I think it would be difficult to incorporate all the 10 multiple intelligences in your teaching. That is why school is structured the way it is. Here is a link for a multiple intelligence test, so you can find out your multiple intelligence: http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/questions/choose_lang.cfm  (I do not know how creditable it is but they are sometimes fun to do). My results were I was very high in interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence.

TED Talk: Sir Ken Robertson

Today we watched a video in class called “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” by Sir Ken Robertson from the series TED Talk. Here is the video:

Sir Ken Robertson is talking about children being creative and the structure of schools is killing that creativity. He states “we don’t grow into creativity we grow out of it”. Schooling is very structured. He also states that “the purpose of education is to produce university instructors”. Therefore, we are losing creativity and making everyone the same. He gave an example of Gillian Lyn who as a young girl she had trouble sitting in her desk and concentrating. Then her parents put her into a dance school and she did very well. Now-a-days if a child has trouble sitting in class we diagnose them with ADHD and give them a whole bunch of drugs. If children are not doing well learning in the structural school setting then there must be something wrong with them. The school setting is hindering some children’s learning. I think applying creativity into schools will help improve student’s grades. I think applying creativity to my college education would be helpful and may help me be a more positive, happy person, as I could expand the ideas I am learning in class and try to think outside the box. I think I may do better in school, as I could be more creative in my projects and hopefully understand the material more. I think applying creativity in my classroom in the future would make learning more fun and interactive for my students and also help students learn that do not learn in the normal lecture style of teaching. I think this blog assignment is a good example of this, as we are able to do whatever we want to do with it. We can be as creative as we like with this blog assignment. We can make videos, put pictures up and state our opinions. The blog assignment is not structured very much, as we can do whatever we want to, be creative with it and we are able to think outside the box. This kind of scared me at the beginning, because throughout my schooling everything has been structured, as the teacher tells us what to do and what they expect and that is what I do, but with the blog assignment the teacher did tell us what he expected and what he wanted, but it was still up to us where we take it and what we want to do with it and that is different than many assignments I have done in the past.

IQ Testing and Children

I was tested for a learning disability in grade 2, but nothing came out of it. I do not think it affected me. I think IQ tests may be helpful to help determine where that child is at that time. I think if a child is tested then they should be tested several times throughout their development, so they can be reassessed throughout the years. I think how a child does on an IQ test depends on the child’s mood and how their day is going as well, so I do not think an IQ test is the be end to end all. IQ test do have their place, as it may help children get the help and attention they need to help them to well in a school setting. If a child does poorly on an IQ test, then maybe that child is able to get help for what they need. IQ tests may bring out things teachers and parents may have not have seen before. For example, may be an IQ test will show teachers that that student does not do well with writing and the teacher can help them with that. IQ tests can also determine children who are gifted and teachers can challenge those students more. With that being said, students should not be judged from just one test. Therefore, students should be tested more than once throughout their development.  

Kohlberg's Theory

In class we discussed Kohlberg’s levels and stages of moral development. There is the pre-conventional level, which is where a person does not think about moral principles. Within the pre-conventional level there is the punishment stage where a person tries to avoid punishment and the hedonism stage, which is when a person moves towards something that they like to do. These stages are based on behaviorism. The conventional level is the level of moral reasoning for social approval or law. Within this level there is the “Nice girl/boy” stage where they are looking for social approval. Then there is the law and order stage where people do not do things because they are against the law. Then there is the post-conventional level, which is where morality is completely internalized and not based on external standards. There is the social contract stage where people act in a certain way, because that is what society expects of you. Then there is the universal ethical stage, which is the highest stage and not very people reach this stage. This stage is where human life is more important than profit. I think I would be in different stages in different situations, but I think I am mostly at the social contract stage of Kohlberg’s level and stages of moral development, because I act in a certain way that my society sees fit.   

This chart shows the 3 levels and 6 stages of Kohlberg's levels and stages of moral development.

Heinz’ Dilemma

The other day in class we discussed Heinz’ dilemma which is: Heinz’ wife is dying. One special drug, discovered by a local druggist, might save her, but the druggist is selling it at an exorbitant price. So Heinz, after failing to borrow the money he needs, pleads with druggist to sell the drug cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist refuses. Should Heinz steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not?

I think he should not steal the drug, because it may not work and if he does steal it he may get caught and go to jail and is that wroth seeing if a drug will work and losing valuable time with his wife? In today’s society many surgeries and medications are very expensive and some insurance does not pay for it, so people have fundraisers to try to raise the money or the family goes into debt to help to save that person’s life. People will try to do anything to try to take care of the person they love. Therefore, some people will resort to stealing.



This is a little picture of the Heinz’s dilemma that I thought was funny.

Erikson's Stages

The other day in class we learnt about Erik Erikson’s stages of human development. I will go through Erikson’s first five stages of human development and relate them to my psychosocial development, as I feel I have not gone through all eight stages of human development. I think I have only gone through the first five stages in my life so far. The first stage of the Erikson’s stages is trust vs. mistrust. During this stage in my life my mom stayed at home with me and my siblings so this developed trust in my parents. I was rarely left with other people. My mom was always there for me. The second stage is autonomy vs. shame, my mom was always there and often helped me with my self-governing. I was the second child but, my older brother has special needs, so I did have to do things on my own as my mom was busy with my brother. In the third stage, initiative vs. guilt, I dressed myself and took the bus by myself, as I always tried to be independent and I wanted to do things myself. During the fourth stage, industry vs. inferiority, I compared myself to my peers in how well they were doing in school and how well they were at sports compared to me. My parents and my teachers always said to not compare myself to others as I am the only one I should be worried about. The fifth stage is identity vs. identity confusion. I tried to decide what I wanted to do on my own, but my parents guided me to help me make the right decision for me. My parents also encouraged me and supported me in my decisions in what I wanted to do in life. They also listened to my problems and gave me advice if I needed it. I feel I am still in the identity vs. identity confusion stage, as I am still trying to figure out what I want to do with my life and who I am as a person. I think I was slowly moving into the sixth, which is intimacy vs. isolation, but I am not fully there yet, as I did move out of my parent’s house, but I am still dependent on my parents and ask for their advice. I do have a boyfriend, so I feel I am on my way to becoming fully connected to a relationship that is besides my family, but not quite yet. 

 This is a chart of Erikson's stages. I think it breaks down the stages nicely, so you are able to see the different stages and the different age groups you should be in.

This is a picture of Erik Erikson.