Blog Post # 10

Do you teach or do you educate? 

 This assignment is a tough one. I am to write about how I will be an educator verses a teacher. I know the differences but I don't know how to go down that path. There is such pressure to pass the tests it is hard to actually do anything in the classroom. In Alabama we have E.Q.T.s (end of quarter exams). The students have to pass this. Basically if your students fail this then you are an awful teacher. So here you see a lot of teaching the test. I find it very hard to stray away from that. I haven't done my student teaching and I've only done twelve hours of field experience so I don't know much but from word of mouth this is what happens end of story.

 To be an educator with so much pressure on passing the test is in my eyes hard to accomplish. I do however strive on values being placed in my classroom. I want them to do something for themselves not because we need them to be a number. I want high moral standards. I want them to know that doing the right thing is not bad. I want them to have an imagination and grow into wonderful people. I want them to have freedom to be creative and not be critized because their sky is green or their ocean is smaller then everything else. I want my classroom to be a safe zone. Where the students can feel safe in being whoever they want to be. I want what they learn and experience in my classroom to carry on with them for the rest of their lives. I'm still on this journey so I'm not sure how to do this yet but I have big dreams.

Tom Johnson's Don't let them take the pencils home!

 When I first read this post I was a little confused. I knew from the beginning it was a little sarcastic. He tells a conversation that happened between him and this specialist women. Well she states that the students cannot take home the pencils because of lower test scores. He says that if we give them something to do with them they won't want to just play with the pencils. In my aspect I see this conversation really being about technology. So many people hear that word and freeze. They thing of only one thing entertainment.

 This argument was presented in my opinion in a sarcastic manner but it caught your attention and made you think about what is really being said. Of course you can take this so many ways but I like to think it is about technology. He makes a valid point that if you give this to the student and give them something to do with it they will be so distracted they won't even think about using it for entertainment. Technology can help in so many ways but people think it is the end to education when really it is the beginning. The students can master so many skills without even knowing it because they will be doing something engaging. People really need to take a step back and rethink every aspect of teaching. Don't be afraid! Educate yourselves and be open.