Day 1

Chapters one of “Foundations of Education” by Ornstein talked about the motivation, preparation and conditions for the entering teachers. The main focus of the chapter was exploring why people get into teaching in the first place. For me, I want to teach because I have a love for children and I think that there is a way that I can impact their lives for the better. I also enjoy the idea of challenging myself in teaching in a public school or high needs situation and to be the light in the children’s life. The first chapter talked about the salaries of a teacher and how it varies from state to state and improves with more experience and more certifications. In my first day at Nathan Hale Middle School I was able to pick up on some of the professional teaching standards my teacher was using. She seemed to have a great understanding of diversity as this classroom each hour was very diverse. I liked to see her interaction with the students and that respect that had been built within just a short period of time. Overall the first chapter was just a big introduction into teaching and it concluded with an outlook for teaching stating the ideas that there will always be a demand for educators  and that this profession is very important to society.

The seventh chapter of the Ornstein book talked more about the governing and the administering of public schools. I did not have much prior knowledge to school boards before reading this chapter so I enjoyed digging into what their role really was. I feel as though my school board back home has a negative name and there always seem to be more debates or problems with it rather than positive outcomes, but that might be just because people only speak about the negativity. The chapter talked about the election of the board and what types of people actually serve. The number of female and minority board members is less than 50%. The chapter also talked about the three types of board meetings. Two are open to the public, the regular and special and then the third, the executive is usually closed to the public and deals with “personnel issues, acquisition of property, or problems related to individual students” (203). The board is responsible for eight main things. They set the general rules about what is done in the school and who does it and how. They also hire all school district employees and they are responsible for employee relations, including collective bargaining with teacher unions. The board is responsible for getting the most out of every tax dollar and addressing the questions of student rights and responsibilities. The school board also develops curriculum and responds to parents and other members of the community. Finally, the school board is responsible for carrying out the requirements established by the federal and state agencies. The chapter also talked about the State Board of Education and the State Department of Education. Minnesota does not have a State Board and it just has a State Department. I am not sure why our state has it set up the way it does and I wonder what the benefits of either or would be to the education within a particular state? The end of the chapter talked about the nonpublic schools. They account for more than 10% of total enrollments in U.S. elementary and secondary schools with Catholic schools encompassing almost 46% of those enrollments and nonreligious, independent schools at 16% (221). This thought about the Catholic schools reminded me of what I read today from edweek.org. There was an article about parents receiving vouchers for their students to attend Catholic schools and some of these families were not even religious they were just getting governmental aid. This is the link to the article: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/05/18/31choice.h30.html?tkn=LNRFe4QBxhv%2FIyPKsCSNu6rEdUZa0FzgQnV3&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1 I just found it very interesting that even the text said that Catholic schools were at the top of the nonpublic enrollment and how ironic that I had just read about the controversy with the vouchers.

Tonight I was able to go to my first school board meeting. It was interesting because it started off with honoring the students within the district for young authors or grades or athletics. Also, I would like to point out that the districts are set up very differently in IL compared to MN. In MN there is one district for an elementary school (or set of them) a middle school or two and then a high school or two. In IL however, there might be a district for the elementary schools or the K-8 schools and then there is a different district for three high schools. Therefore, there is a break between the different age groups and there is a different school board and there really is not much help in that transitional period because a lot is changing between the schools. During the board meeting I could make a lot of connections to chapter 7 in our textbook talking about governing and administering public education. It was interesting to see that there were a majority of women on this board; in reality the only male on the board was the superintendent. The meeting did not have much in in but they did talk about the students, the community, the staffing a little bit and the curriculum and assessment. I was able to see the roll of a superintendent demonstrated and I was able to hear what he had to say about a recent consolidation plan that the state of IL is exploring. It was interesting to hear that in reality for their school this consolidation could cause costs to go up. He also stressed the importance of local control and his fear of losing curriculum and losing kids to other districts due to the consolidation. I really enjoyed seeing the active roll the superintendent seemed to play in the school district. It seems like it was a very agreeing board and they had a great direction and desired goal for their schools. Finally, at the end of the meeting they were going into an executive portion of their meeting which was closed off to the public.

For today I read the first few chapters of “Engaging in God’s World” by Plantinga. Within the first few chapters the author really wanted to stress the reason of why he wrote the book and what he wanted the readers to get out of it. The first chapter was about longing and hope. Right away Plantinga talked about how these longings that we tend to have will never be able to be fulfilled unless we are rooted in Christ Jesus. While reading this I was able to recall discussions in my Philosophy class this past semester. We dug into the ideas of faith doubt and reason and what it meant to believe. We discussed the same ideas of the fact that we will always have questions and wonder different things and whether or not we get those answers does not mean we’ll stop asking them. There will always be more that we want to know and we will continue to search for answers. However, we can find hope in God and that will help our longing to have a different direction. Plantinga pointed out that in “Confessions” by Augustine, Augustine prays, “you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you” (6). Plantinga also goes on to talk about the idea of living together as humans and creation in “shalom” or peace. I think that it is important to realize that much of the world longs for material things and emotional fulfillment. Many people see their goals as being at the top of their businesses or having a large house or a family. We as Christians can really find our deeper meaning in God. I think it is important that I start looking at my vision of the “good life” and what I want to portray that as to my students. Whether I teach in a private school or a public school I think there are ways to show my students the importance of education and introduce good values and morals without shoving the Christian faith down their throats.

                In the second chapter of “Engaging in God’s World”, Plantinga talks about creation. I thought it was interesting when he pointed out that self-giving love was important. He states “The persons within God exalt each other, commune with each other, defer to one another” (20). Our world today tends to be focused a lot on the individual and he talked about the idea of hospitality which is something for me, as a teacher to remember for my students and also something that I want my students to be examples of. Plantinga says, “Hospitality means to make room for others and then to help them flourish in the room you have made” (21). Once again that is drawing on the idea that each human being was created in the image of God and that they are unique. As a teacher it is important to realize that no two of your students will be alike. The chapter also goes on to talk about how we image God when we are living in a community together. It is important to remember that the school is a community but also each class is a community and how we live with our peers is a way to “worship” God.  Plantinga also talked about the importance of silence and rest. As a teacher it is easy to get caught up in everything and to forget to take time to reflect and really look at your work. I think that reflection time would be really beneficial for myself as a teacher one day to look at how I could better my classroom but also just some time to reflect with God as to what my purpose of a particular job is and how I can honor Him through my word and deed.