One of the hardest parts about teaching through the Virginia Standards of Learning is finding the right balance between two subjects. Within our middle school classroom, Ben and I have been working towards a collaborative project that incorporates the disciplines of English and Political Science. As an English major I find English very flexible in that it can be applied to nearly any subject or context. However, the Political Science side of this proposed project has proven more difficult for me to connect towards in a way that makes sense to eighth graders. One blog article that I have found particularly helpful in tying the two subjects together inside the classroom is “Politics and English Language Teaching.” Inside this brief blog post, the author addresses the issues that modern teachers face when teaching curriculum that involves these two subjects. While applying any form of politics into the classroom may sound intimidating, especially under today’s sensitive political climate, this article argues that “politics is already there” inside the classroom. Every textbook, teacher, and classroom environment has a political stance which in turn influences the student. No matter how hard school systems try to be politically neutral, it’s simply not possible. And while some classrooms do incorporate the use of political curriculum, this material is often extremely black and white; the author refers to these as “bland topics.” In order to truly learn about politics and themselves, the student’s ideas need to be challenged. Rather than presenting students with more ‘bland’ or ‘sanitized’ politics, this author suggests controversial topics such as “corporation tax, abortion, the death penalty, atheism, and NAFTA.”

You may be asking yourself now how all of this also applies to English?

In order to best accompany the introduction of political learning, students should also be presented with the right tools to analyze material and express themselves professionally. Knowing how to formulate arguments and engage in civil discourse is an essential skill in the outside world. While Ben and I understand that our eighth grade students probably won’t grow up to be the next senator or congressman, we want to build a foundation for future success. Through this project Ben and I want to give our students the confidence to speak out, to have a voice, and to most importantly to think for themselves. This collaborative project will not only build towards these goals, but also falls in line with the Virginia Standards of Learning model.

https://malingual.blogspot.com/2018/06/politics-and-english-language-teaching.html

Expeditionary Learning as whole can seem like there are many moving parts, and could get a bit much. Nonetheless, the result from this unique type of learning delivers a positive impact. In a case study by Emily Klein and Meg Riordan Wearing The Student Hat, we uncover how transitioning from a listening classroom into a constructive classroom proves the success of expeditionary learning. In specific, Klein and Riordan provides an example of how to kickstart the professional development teachers need to lead their students. The two start off by explaining how before students can engage in the real world academic investigations, teachers must first groom themselves out of the traditional ways in which they were taught. The Outward Bound Process Model serves as a baseline for teacher’s idea of what the student role should be.  “A learner is placed into a unique physical or social environment, then given a problem solving task that creates a state of adaptive dissonance, leading to mastery which then leads to reorganization of the meaning of the experience”(39). The case study was conducted with this model in mind. It took place in the New York school system and eight teachers were selected. These eight teachers were observed for “twenty days of professional development and networking activities through the year”(42). From this observation they came to the conclusion that the success of expeditionary learning was dependent on four things. These included “immersion in student experience, initiation into discourse communities and networking, reflection of those experiences as a teacher, and acquisition of general strategies through specific content”(43). Immersion in student experience means for teachers to involve themselves in a version of the expedition. By doing this, they are able to adapt to obstacles as the students preformed them on their own. The initiation into discourse communities involves teachers using and understanding the same type of language when discussing experiences. By doing this , teachers are able to communicate with other expeditionary learning teachers and learn from each other without a gap of misunderstanding. Reflection on professional development is vital because misunderstandings applied to the classroom environment can create a multitude of problems. An acquisition of general strategies through specific content means that skill building is most effective when applied to real life context. After following these key components, the eight teachers saw an improved response by their students to expeditionary learning. I think it would be beneficial for all teachers that are using this type of learning to adapt the four focal points and it may improve the guidance of your students.

Klein, Emily J., and Meg Riordan. “Wearing the ‘Student Hat’: Experiential Professional Development in Expeditionary Learning Schools.” Journal of Experiential Education, vol. 34, no. 1, July 2011, pp. 35–54. EBSCOhost, doi:10.5193/JEE34.1.35.

Casey Marchant

ERH- 411w

4/1/2020

HR: See works cited. Citation from Taylor Francis group (the sight where I accessed the article)

Blog Post #5

The source that I looked at is Media and Moral Education: A Philosophy of Critical Engagement by Laura D’Olimpio. This text essentially sets out to show that an education in philosophy is essential to education, and more specifically how we treat other. These is increasingly important as the mediums of communication are growing in ability and accessibility. In the abstract of the introduction D’Olimpio writes “Media and moral education: A philosophy of critical engagement addresses this oversight by demonstrating that the study of philosophy can be used to enhance critical thinking skills that are sorely needed in today’s technological age.” The text argues the importance of a specific responsibility to provide a moral and ethical philosophy regarding technology and information.

The information and ideas provided in this text are massively important for the world today. Not only does it explain that philosophy needs to keep up with the changing world but also why it does. This is key as while philosophy has a plethora of ideas regarding ethics and morality the world is changing so much and the amount of information and disinformation is so incredible that it can become easy to be overwhelmed and loose sight of basic ethical and moral principles in the world which is so complicated due to the aforementioned overload of material. This texts offers information and ideas where these basic ideas can handle the firehose of complex situations that we are exposed to because of technology and growth of the world. These ideas could stop or at least fight in the war against the moral degradation of the world caused by the issues brought on by technology.

The best way to share this information with teachers is to simply to expose the problems which society is facing from the explosion of technology. This is key as if the problem is not made clear then we cannot start to solve it. Once the problem is identified we can start crafting the solution. The solution must be simple since the problem is so complex. The solution is found in the text that I have reviewed. So we supply the text and start to implement the teaching of philosophy into the current educational model. Not only must we teach the philosophical concepts we must also show how to apply them. This is best done by including as an element of project based learning and directly showing the application.

Works Cited:

D’Olimpio, L. (2018). Media and Moral Education. London: Routledge, https://doi-org.vmiezproxy.vmi.edu/10.4324/9781315265452

Reginald Leon Green’s research article, “Nurturing Characteristics in Schools Related to Discipline, Attendance, and Eighth Grade Proficiency Test Scores,” explores the importance of educational environments possessing nurturing characteristics and provides lessons that build off of Boss and Larmer’s recommendations for managing activities in Project-Based Teaching (2018). Green references various studies that analyzes different schools in all different environments, to include urban, rural, and suburban. He wants to find evidence that supports that the new school reforms, with the onset of concepts like Expeditionary Learning and Project Based Learning, miss out on emphasizing the importance of nurturing in a student’s learning development.

Green found schools that possessed an environment that students and teachers deem more nurturing, tended to perform better on standardized testing and student behavior. Specifically, the studies assessed nurturing through looking at the relationship between students and teachers, the surrounding environment, the professionalism of the administration and faculty, and the student’s feelings about themselves. And those schools that scored well in each of these categories, from 1 to 4, seemed to serve as more productive educational environments. In the end, An analysis of the data comparing the five most nurturing schools with the five least nurturing, utilizing the measurements referred to previously, revealed a significant difference between the two groups of schools on their ranked proficiency test scores, however, not in terms of student behavior.

In conclusion, Green’s research emphasizes the importance of nurturing in today’s evolving educational environment. He provides suggestions for each characteristic as well. Explicitly, past research shows that in order to develop a positive relationship between student and teacher, the teacher must establish trust with the student. For the surrounding environment, the teacher should stay persistent in getting to know the students and providing the administration ways to mold the environment in ways that may enhance each student’s learning. Additionally, constant professionalism is required in all interaction in order to set an example for students, which assists in developing mutual respect. Lastly, ensure to create a solid balance between pushing and rewarding students throughout the learning process to mediate any feelings of failure or discouragement in students. Teachers may want to ask themselves on a daily basis, am I engaging to the best of my ability with my students? No teacher is perfect, however, constant self reminders for a teacher may end up making all the difference in the educational journey of a young student.

Work Cited:

Green, Reginald Leon. “Nurturing Characteristics In Schools Related to Discipline, Attendance, and Eighth Grade Proficiency Test Scores.” American Secondary Education 26, no. 4 (1998): 7-14.