Planting a tree.....

At first I was having a hard time with this blog because I did not really have my own metaphor for teaching. So I have always thought that tree's were good tools for metaphors because they can mean so many things.

I look at teaching like as if I was planting a tree. The first step to planting a tree is finding the right place to put it. I feel that parents are the ones who find the right school for their child to attend, I believe that's the first step to creating a base for the children to learn.

From the moment the roots start to grow into the ground they become the base for the tree. Once the place is found we dig a hole and plant the tree. From that point on the tree needs water and care for it so it can grow older and wiser and as time goes by more and more branches grow making the tree more and more complex.

I use the tree as my metaphor because I believe that once the tree is planted and starts to grow, it becomes more complex as time goes by. The branches start to grow and expand. I believe that children are just the same. They come to school with a base of knowledge and as they move ahead to each grade their minds grow bigger and open to new knowledge. Children begin to acknowledge different ideas and their minds become more complex then they were in the beginning. Children's minds start to develop at a rate where they want to reach out and learn everything.

I feel that the tree in a good metaphor for children because they grow older and their need for knowledge becomes great. Just as the tree becomes older and it's branches extend longer and longer and their need for water becomes great. But once it is done growing it's there to beat the test of time. As children grow and learn they are their to be our future leaders and educators. And the tree's that we plant are there to help this planet survive.

Human Trafficking

How could we stop human trafficking??

Human Trafficking also know as the sex slave trade is still a huge problem for millions of people (both male and female) across the world. There is an estimated 2 million women and children that are sold to the sex trade each year from around the world. Sex Trafficking is a form of modern day slavery of a person under the age of eighteen who are forced into sexual activity.

TUPA- stands for the Enactment of the Trafficking Victims Protection act of 2000. This act made sex trafficking a serious violation of federal law in the United States. But there are still girls being brought into the U.S at an alarming rate, but not as high as western Europe. The "Commercial Sex Act" States that any sex act where anything of value is given or received by any person is considered a violation.

Sex traffickers use phycological as well as the physical minipulation to force young people into submission. Victims of sex trafficking can be any gender any age but women and girls are the majority of the people being forced in the sex trafficking. Traffickers lure their victims in to sex trafficking by promiing good jobs in other countries, false ideas of marriage or being sold into the trade by parents, husbands or boyfriends or kidnapping.

Some of the various methods that sex traffickers use to condition their victims include rape, abuse, starvation, threats of violence to victims and their familes, these are just a few of the methods that sex traffickers use. The health risks that these victims face are things such as drug addition, physical injuries ( broken bones), suicide, STD's or forced aborations and many more.

Types of sex trafficking:

• Prostitution
• Pornography
• Stripping
• Live sex shows
• Mail order brides
• Military prostitution

The John Hopkins University has a project called " Protection Project". The Hopkins University is located inWashington D.C and is a researched based institute. This protection project is to promote human rights and values around the world. The research, train and exchange with people and other programsn throughtout the world. The goal for this project is to educate people and help in creating a global civil society. A place where people are safe from harm no matter where they live.


http://www.acf.hhs.gov
http://archives.cnn.com
http://www.protectionproject.org

Charter schools

I picked Charter schools because I never really knew what they were about and wanted to know more. Charter schools are designed to challenge traditional public schools and create a system that the community needs. Charter schools are independent public schools supported by state funds but in some degree are not held to the same regulations. These schools are based on contracts between school organizations and sponsors like the board of education or universities. Organizations are in control of the hiring and firing and budgeting money. In exchange for allowing these schools to run they are expected to exceed the expectations of a typical public school when it comes to test scores and such. This is one debate about charter schools, that they are spending all this money and the kids will test the same or worse. I believe that we need to keep experimenting with different type of schools, so we can figure out what's best for the children

Since legislation began passing in 1990 three thousand new charter schools have opened. Charter schools teach their children reading, writing and arithmetic just like a normal public school but they are allowed to change the style of teaching if desired. They have more money to spend on programs in the art's such as music and drama, extensive art classes. This is a wonderful thing in a time where public schools only care about tests scores and are eliminating classes like art and so on. I am a firm believer that children need classes that expand their creativity not take them away.

Educational Philosophy

"Education is life itself". -John Dewey

John Dewey is the philosopher that I would align my own views with. John Dewey was born in 1859 and died in 1952. During his time he was looked at as one of the greatest educational thinkers of the 20th century. He was born in Burlington, Vermont and stayed there until he graduated from the University of Vermont then he received his PH.D from John Hopkins University. Dewey started his career at the University of Michigan where he taught for just about ten years. From Michigan he became a chairman in the department of Philosophy for the University of Chicago. He was then elected president of the American Psychological Association and the American Philosophical Association. Dewey taught for over twenty years at the University of Chicago. Dewey supported many social issues a few of them being Woman's suffrage, Progressive education, Educators rights, Humanistic Movements and world peace. He wrote many articles and such on these matters. Some of the writings in education that Dewey wrote were called Education and Democracy,The Child and Curriculum, Schools of To- Morrow, Art and Education. Some of the shorter articles are The teacher and Society, Education and social order. Dewey helped moved forward the "progressive education movement" and developed the " Experimental education programs", such as "Outward Bound"

(Outward Bound is a non-profit educational organization that serves people of all ages and backgrounds through active learning expeditions that inspire character development, self-discovery and service both in and out of the classroom. Outward Bound delivers wilderness-based programs to participants across the country and focuses its outreach on underserved youth. Customized courses provide curricula developed for struggling teens, groups with specific health, social or educational needs and business and professional organizations. Expeditionary Learning Schools Outward Bound offers a whole school reform model to more than 150 elementary and secondary schools throughout the country./www.outwardbound.org

Dewey's Philosophy on Education:
John Dewey believed that learning was active and schooling unnecessarily long and restrictive. Children come to school to do tings and live in a community which will give them real life guided experiences that would help them learn how to adapted and become contributing memebers of society. Real-life taks or challenges is how children should learn.

If we look back to chapters 14 nd 16 both of these school settings are putting their students in real life settings and guiding them in the right direction . I believe that John Dewey was the reason why schools such as The Met or Summerhill could run the way they do. I feel that THe Met school would be more up Dewey's ally though. Becuase he also beleive that education needed some sort of guidence.


I align my view with Dewey because I agree with him that learning should be active and the school days are too long and boring. I think that if their were more hands-on activities in school then the days would not feel so long. I think six hours is good but it's the dragged out lessons that kids are tuning out before they even begin. I feel that the education system is out of date and all the testing is stressing kids out. If they had a more relaxed setting with more activities they might want to come to school. They should feel that they are part of the classroom, not just little robots repeating the information that is given to them. I would like to of met him.

http://dewey.pragmatism.org/

http://www.wilderdom.com/experiential/