McCarthy states “there must be an optimal level of obedience and cooperation in a reasonable society, but obedience, as any other virtue that is carried to an extreme, may become a vice.” And then goes on to give an example like the Nazi’s in Germany. I want children in my classroom to think for them selves. Yes I want them to be under control but to an extent. I want them to explore the boundaries of rules and in life. I don’t think you can get the most out of learning and life if you don’t see how far you can go, in any aspect. “The real problem is…an irrational fear of the mildly unusual, a pervasive attitude … are about to run amok and need constant control.” I have been in classrooms like this, and they are no fun. I think everyone has experienced a fearful teacher, so they go to the extreme on discipline. I know I will be afraid of my students becoming chaotic, but I hope I have enough direction so that I can keep the kids in a balanced, loose state of mind so that their minds are capable to focus and also have fun!
Shapiro made an excellent point about what we are teaching children in our schools, teachers are now more concerned on how to keep their jobs, so they teach to the test. It mentions only the most exceptional teachers “seek to make their classrooms places that are creative and expansive in their practice.” I hope I can be classified as one of the most exceptional teachers. I absolutely do not want to teach to the test, I want more from my students. I want them to be able to take knowledge and critically think, imagine, and use it in the real world! Although to keep your job, you need to have a huge emphasize on test I want to be able to teach the test in a critical thinking level. Using hands on, creative, real life, activities that will make the student truly understand and not just memorize. My ultimate goal as a teacher is to get my students wanting to come to school and being inquisitive to want to know more.
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2 comments:
I like that you talked about your future classroom a lot in this blog. Some of us education majors are still stuck in the school mode where we don't realize that what we're doing now is real and will be daily life shortly. From this passage you wrote, I now have an image of what your classroom will be like, and that's really fun to think about! Keep it up because it will be happening before you know it!
I hope that you're able to live up to your dream, especially given the realities of current educational practices that make doing so much more complicated than in other times. I think you're point is a good one - we can confuse classroom civility with intellectual obedience. While the two are related, we can teach students to have rebellious, critical minds, while also helping them to work peacefully together. I think this is the heart of Dewey's argument, by the way.
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