MAIT 402 Response #3

When I was a freshman in college I was required to read The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal. The Sunflower is a short ninety-nine page non-fiction story dealing with an incident in which Wiesenthal, an inmate at a concentration camp, was asked for forgiveness from a dying Nazi soldier. This work stuck with me because 1) I have always been fascinated with the Holocaust (Go figure! I'm a Catholic, Mexican-American) and 2) the book and assignment required a lot in introspection. When it was my turn to teach college freshman I knew I had to teach The Sunflower. I wanted my students to have the ability to really question themselves, their values and express them concisely and eloquently. I also wanted them to be able discuss the topic with others and persuade others if necessary.

My first task was to impress on students the magnitude and severity of the Holocaust. To that end I visited the United States National Holocaust Memorial Museum website http://www.ushmm.org/, where they have an entire section titled Education which has amazing resources including a short overall history (10 pages) and a chronology (16 pages). Images and short summaries beginning in 1933 and ending in 1948 are scattered throughout both documents.

My second task was to engage them in a seminar style discussion. Luckily for me, this required little to no scaffolding because of SMC seminar program. Also provided for me was the question to begin discussion as Wiesenthal's final line in the story asks readers, "What would you do?", after Wiesenthal explains that the meeting left him speechless and when asked for forgiveness he just walks away from the dying SS soldier.

My third task was to arrange for the class debate after our discussion. I separated the class into 2 groups, asked them to choose a group leader and then presented the debate format we would be using which was the same format used by the SMC Debate Team. The closest web link I could find to explain the format was http://www.csun.edu/~dgw61315/debformats.html#policy. Using the book, their own views and outside resources such as laws, psychology articles, quotes from authors/speakers from other genocides and religion my students were able to conduct (in my opinion) an amazing debate which encompassed not only critical thinking about the writing, but of human nature, personal motives and materials which color our perspective. After the debate, each student wrote a persuasive essay ( 1,000 words minimum). It was wonderful to read about how the debate and their research influenced their initial answer to Wiesenthal's question.

My favorite teaching cartoon

MAIT 402 Response #2

     It’s been a week of questioning and from the reading of Ravitch I’ve learned that it’s okay to question, reevaluate and retract your stance. Ravitch writes on page two of The Death and Life of the Great American School System, “I have a right to change my mind.” As a teacher I take this to mean that I have the right to try new methods, explore alternatives to the conventional and shift my stance on views or practices. If a supporter of NCLB can come to the conclusion that she was wrong surely I can change my mind about almost anything. The thing that stood out the most to me was Ravitch's emphatic words regarding a "quick solution" to the problems of the American Educational system. "...I have consitantly warned that, in education, there are no shortcuts, no utopias and no silver bullets," writes Ravitch. I think this is the most refreshing and realistic statement that she can make. In a profession where many burn out in less than five years it may help many idealistic new teachers (of which I am one) to understand that only in movies are problems solved in under two hours or the equivalent of an academic year. Ravitch also states that “Doubt and skepticism are signs of rationality.” I just love the implication of continuous thought being a sign of evolution and life-long education.

      A well educated person to me is a person who can think for themselves. ANAR states that, “A high level of shared education is essential to a free, democratic society and to fostering of a common culture, especially in a country that prides itself on pluralism and individual freedom.” The high level of education mentioned in ANAR cannot be achieved by individuals who cannot think for themselves. What is an independent thinker you may ask? An independent thinker to me is a person who can sift through information, analyze how that information jibes with their own knowledge and values and produce a stance/belief that is their own. I believe that any well-educated person today should know how to think for themselves and does think for themselves.

       The best part about the MAIT program and our class discussions is that we are all independent thinkers. We have taken the same information fed to us by the KSOE in the credential program and used our personal experiences and ideals to interpret Ravitch’s work. From our discussion I can say that we have different schools of thought in our MAIT classroom, but while we approach teaching differently the discussion revealed we all share a desire to help our students reach their full potential.

       Speaking of full potential there is one thing stopping me from reaching my full potential as a teacher: grammar. I hate grammar. I FEAR teaching it, because I never blatantly learned it. My friend (Heather R.) suggested grammaruntied.com for some basic pointers; I have used the Little Brown Handbook as an instructor to help my students and myself in a past course. In my efforts to overcome this obstacle I found an article titled, “Effective Grammar Teaching: Lessons from Confident Grammar Teachers”, which I hope will further guide me in openly teaching my students grammar.

      This is what it’s all about right? The journey from student to teacher and you can’t be the latter without being the former.

This week I responded to : Sasha, Ranell and Tanya