Teaching metaphors!

When i first saw this assignment i click all the links that were given and i could not think of a teaching metaphor at all! So i did a little bit of research online and found one that i really fell in love with. IT talks about how teachers have to dig deep through the fogg the snow and rain to get a childs true protential out. It discusses how when a child over comes an obstacle how happy and proud the teacher becomes. Thus all the fog and drearyness of the day clears up and the sun starts to come out. I also think that an example of this would be when a child is having a hard time understanding a topic that the teacher is disussing in class. When the students asks questions the teacher can better explain it to the student! Most likely there are several other students who are having the same trouble. When they all start to understand there knowledge of that topic is no longer foggy.

A teacher can also be like a weatherwoman! Because as a teacher youa re telling the children what they are going to be learning over the coarse of a year etc. You are instructing them the best way to do things and the way in which is correct. Like weather people ar doing with the weather they are saying what is going to be happening over a certain period of time and what to expect.

weather metaphor for teaching

website found this metaphor on is http://www.uwsp.edu/Education/sslick/metaphor/a_metaphor_to_teaching.htm

social justice *Poverty*

The social justice isssue that interst me and i think is really imporant is the poverty issue. Poverty is a big part of the stuggles in the United States today. Not only among the homeless but children that are effected by it. Poverty has a great effects is school, because children come to school with certain needs that schools and teachers are not prepared to meet. Because of the children who are raised in poverty is makes them become one of the children who are refered to as "at risk." Which means that they are more at risk of failing or not able to complete school. With parents who are obviously in poverty it becomes a vicious cycle.

With the issue of poverty issue becomes the learning issue. Because parents are raising children it poverty it means that they develp certain learning disabilities that children who are not living in poverty. It is said that children are commonly unwilling or unable to interact with peers or adults in school. aLong with the child being unprepared in class with assignments because there parents might be constantly working and not have time to have to sit down with their children. Which has a major impact on the child because they may get the impression that school is not imporatant.

Not only does this effect the children in the poverty situation but it effects the students in the class. Other students notice the types of clothes their classmates if their classmates go to class etc. So if you have a child in poverty who is always poorly dressed and comes to school here and there, other children are going to ask questions. Pretty soon this child that comes from practically nothing is going to get made fun of or talked about by the other students. Even though it's not this students fault because his or her family has a low income if an income at all, he or she is still going to made fun of.

I come from a city of diversity and i guess you could say a city that has alot of poverty. I live in a small city called Everett outside of Boston, where i have defintely seen alot of poverty and its sad to watch or even see. There are students who go to school without jackets in the winter. Not because their family chooses not to get them a jacket but because they cant afford to get a jacket for their children and feed them.

http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/teaching/poverty/2/

vocational schools

I would have to say that Vocational-Technical Schools are a great idea and if i had no idea what i wanted to do after high school i would have definitely thought about going to a vocational school. Vocational schools are great for teenagers who struggle with school or can not stand to sit in a classroom for seven hours a day. Vocational schools offer specific trades for students which help them explore what they want to do either before they graduate or while they are in school. They even help to student get a job after high school. For example my cousin Chris went to a vocational school for high school, and was trained in electrical. He loved it and decided that when he go out of high school he'd be able to get a job. Which he did and he is now working not quite as an electrician but as an apprentice to an electrician, which is great for him.

I would definitely recommend a vocational school for those student who know that they want to do something that a vocational school offers whether it be electrician or culinary. It's a chance for a student to grow and learn outside the classroom. Although it is in a classroom but when you learning something you want to learn about it makes it easier to follow. It becomes fun and a learning experiences for all students involved. If a child decides they do not want to do a certain thing, they can easily try something else that is offered. But are giving the opportunity to explore different options for their future, which is a great thing. Because they can say that they never tried or had the opportunity to try something they always wanted to do.

The reason why i picked vocational schools to learn about was because my cousin went to the voc, as well as a few of the boys that i hang around with. For my cousin Chris it was a learning experience as well as a great opportunity to learn new things. For some of my friends they were offered the experience and really didn't use it to there advantage. Which a lot of kids tend to do, they do not use this program to their advantage. Which is a major disadvantage for them because they could possibly have gotten a job like my cousin did.

Marie Montessori

The educational philospher that i chose to align myself if with Marie Montessori. Marie;s philosphy is said to apply more to elementary education than any other area of eduication. Her philosphy states that children at an elementary level have different needs that elementary teachers need to be sensative toward.Which i totally agree with there are things in a kindergarten class that a teacher needs to be sensative or careful toward that a fifth grade teacher wouldnt do. She says that from birth to age 6 "children are sensorial explorers wtudying every aspect of their enviroment" such as culture language and the actions of other. Which i totally agree with because everyone one has had an experience when a parent accidently slipped out a bad word in from of there child and they repeat it over and over again. Just proving that a child is learning language by observing the enviroment that they are in.

One of her philosphies are that children at age 6 through 12 start to go through different stages where they are developing "new powers" and there imagination is growing. Which is completely true age 6 is when a child is in first grade and is startting to learn and understand and comphrended what is going on around them. They start to build an imagination, which can br brought out by drawing pictures etc in a classroom.

Marie Montessori also says that " a childs work is creates the person he or she will become." In order to become this person that there striving to be they must be taught the proper things in education. Which is a big part of her philosphy as well, she thinks that if a child is not taught young good learning skills by there teachers then it will be harder to teach them when there older. She thinks that teachers should recongnize the certain stages that a child is going through and use these persiods of time to indivulaize the chiild and use the appropriate matterials to benefit them in a classroom enviroment. Which i totally agree with when a child is going through differnt stages the best thing to do is to capialize on those points in time and make it benefit the child in so many ways.