30 June 2011

Utilizing Local Resources in Education

There are A LOT of resources out there for teachers and many of them, are no further than your own city. Many socially-conscientious community organizations and businesses recognize the importance of education and offer free curriculum, education resources and often, free materials and facilities for teachers and their students. With budget cuts an ever present reality, the key word is "FREE".

But "FREE" is not the only benefit to utilizing local resources for education. For one, utilizing community resources connects students with local employers and provides practical experience that students will need when they graduate high school. The school should not be a cloistered institution but a vibrant and actively contributing member of the communities in which they serve. Tapping into the "funds of knowledge" present in any given community gives students a sense of pride in their communities and helps them see, with greater clarity, the value of the people and organizations that live and work around them. J. Gatto, an education critic from Pittsburgh, argues that the community itself is the most effective classroom for any student.

In this blog, I would like to highlight Jumpstart! Jumpstart is a local theater troupe with a keen eye for arts-based education. They offer the following curriculum for FREE to teachers who want to incorporate the arts into their teaching. One of the saddest realities of the streamlining of education has been the de-emphasis on the arts. But even if your school no longer offers jewelry making, theater arts, or photography, doesn't mean you can't use these artistic forms of expression in your classroom to teach. Engaging students in learning through the arts is one of the most effective ways to motivate students to learn while easing the transfer of complex concepts and objectives. Feel free to browse Jumpstart's arts-based curriculum. Hopefully you will find some ideas that you can use in the classroom to motivate your students to learn. I personally recommend the "ecological mural". It's a great way to incorporate arts and creative/critical and evaluative thinking into a science lesson design.
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1 comment:

  1. Mr. TJune 30, 2011 at 11:30 AM

    just click on the title for the link. Go to "education" and open their curriculum pdf.

    ENJOY!

    ReplyDelete

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My Philosophy of Teaching

My Philosophy of Teaching:

I just finished my masters in Curriculum and Instruction. I have a firm commitment to my continuing education and strong love of teaching. My greatest draw to education is the opportunity to work daily with students, particularly students for whom success has been elusive or who struggle in the academic setting. I strongly believe in preventative behavior management and, as a student teacher, I have turned the success of lower performing students around using differentiated instructional techniques including collaborative learning, project-based learning and service learning. I do not accept the notion that some students fit a profile of failure and should be side-tracked. I am committed to the success of each and every one of my students. I believe no student should be given up on. I love that none of my students are the same and I value their diversity, linguistic, behavioral, cognitive or otherwise. I do not accept the notion that a student's difference is, necessarily, a hindrance towards their learning and hold the onus upon myself to find ways to facilitate learning for all of my students. Finally, I am aware of the importance of collaboration between faculty and staff. Cross-content instruction is not only important for the student's cognition, but is also important for a teacher's professional development. I believe strongly that a teacher's classroom is a place of constant innovation and improvement, and the sharing of ideas between faculty and staff, as well as the close cross-content collaboration of teachers, is important in improving the overall success of teachers, and, by proxy, our students. We are all responsible for the success of every student in the school, not just those who are in our classroom.