Gabcast! Ashley Education Auto Blog #1
Monday, November 26, 2007
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Action #5 Become Active in Your Community
Throughout my entire life, I have always been active in the community. Throughout high school, I was investing my time out in the community through the clubs I was involved in.
I was an active member of National Honor Society and each month we had to complete six hours of community service. I was also involved in Athenian Corps, which helped with various activities around school.
One organization I was highly involved in and still is, is called PRIDE Youth Programs. PRIDE is a drug and alcohol prevention program that uses performances to spread our message. Each year, I would make skits, PSA's, dances, posters, etc; all spreading a positive message to the youth of today. I would also travel around the country for conferences and to perform for local schools in my area. I made lasting friendships with a team from Sao Palo, Brasil and traveled to Washington D.C. to talk to US representatives about the issues of today. I gained three sisters from Brasil and a new appreciation for other cultures. I was immediately placed as a role model in my community and around the country, I was on fire for the youth; wanting the very best for them. I learned so much through this group and I am still highly involved in what they stand for and accomplish throughout the year. My senior year of High School, my PRIDE team was rewarded for our efforts and we were named "National PRIDE Team of the Year." The following is a link to the PRIDE website, honoring our team.
http://prideyouthprograms.org/conference.php?year=2006&event=2
While here at Goshen, I have tried to stay involved with my PRIDE team. I have volunteered at some of our local conferences and performances, taking pictures or helping with the various duties. I also volunteered as the official photographer for the 2007 National Conference in Charleston, West Virginia.
Originally from Crawfordsville, Indiana; a hick town if you will. You could consider me a farm girl. I participated in 4-H for ten years and was part of the Jr. Leaders club as well. I completed projects ranging from flowers, sheep, dog, cats, arts and crafts, geology, scrap booking, and woodworking. Another part of 4-H was the Montgomery County 4-H Queen Contest. My sister did it for four years and I look up to my sister in many ways. As soon as I was eligible at the age of fifteen, I signed up and found myself looking out at a crowd of over 500 people; answering a pop question in a formal gown. The Montgomery County 4-H Queen Contest is highly looked upon in my county and the Queen is supposed to be a positive representative of Montgomery County. My third year running for the title, I was crowned Miss Montgomery County and I've been a role model ever since. I passed out ribbons at the county fair, gave speeches around the county, sat through the Christmas parade, and am one of only 50 women in the last 100 years who holds this title. After receiving that title, I competed at the state level and spent a weekend around the Indiana State Fair, truly feeling like royalty.
Upon receiving this title, I gained the obligation of helping with the next year's contest, helping the girls to get through their nerves and giving them the best advice I can give as a past queen. I also volunteered to teach the dance portion of the contest, taking on a second responsibility for the summer. I am also teaching the dance again this coming summer. I just can't get away from that contest and all the opportunities it gives me to lead in my community.
While here at Goshen, I have volunteered myself to work in the nursery of various churches and I have lead songs at Campus Worship Night. Even though I may not have a lot of time to volunteer myself completely during the school year, I have been trying my hardest to do little things that are just as meaningful as the big things.
I was an active member of National Honor Society and each month we had to complete six hours of community service. I was also involved in Athenian Corps, which helped with various activities around school.
One organization I was highly involved in and still is, is called PRIDE Youth Programs. PRIDE is a drug and alcohol prevention program that uses performances to spread our message. Each year, I would make skits, PSA's, dances, posters, etc; all spreading a positive message to the youth of today. I would also travel around the country for conferences and to perform for local schools in my area. I made lasting friendships with a team from Sao Palo, Brasil and traveled to Washington D.C. to talk to US representatives about the issues of today. I gained three sisters from Brasil and a new appreciation for other cultures. I was immediately placed as a role model in my community and around the country, I was on fire for the youth; wanting the very best for them. I learned so much through this group and I am still highly involved in what they stand for and accomplish throughout the year. My senior year of High School, my PRIDE team was rewarded for our efforts and we were named "National PRIDE Team of the Year." The following is a link to the PRIDE website, honoring our team.
http://prideyouthprograms.org/conference.php?year=2006&event=2
While here at Goshen, I have tried to stay involved with my PRIDE team. I have volunteered at some of our local conferences and performances, taking pictures or helping with the various duties. I also volunteered as the official photographer for the 2007 National Conference in Charleston, West Virginia.
Originally from Crawfordsville, Indiana; a hick town if you will. You could consider me a farm girl. I participated in 4-H for ten years and was part of the Jr. Leaders club as well. I completed projects ranging from flowers, sheep, dog, cats, arts and crafts, geology, scrap booking, and woodworking. Another part of 4-H was the Montgomery County 4-H Queen Contest. My sister did it for four years and I look up to my sister in many ways. As soon as I was eligible at the age of fifteen, I signed up and found myself looking out at a crowd of over 500 people; answering a pop question in a formal gown. The Montgomery County 4-H Queen Contest is highly looked upon in my county and the Queen is supposed to be a positive representative of Montgomery County. My third year running for the title, I was crowned Miss Montgomery County and I've been a role model ever since. I passed out ribbons at the county fair, gave speeches around the county, sat through the Christmas parade, and am one of only 50 women in the last 100 years who holds this title. After receiving that title, I competed at the state level and spent a weekend around the Indiana State Fair, truly feeling like royalty.Upon receiving this title, I gained the obligation of helping with the next year's contest, helping the girls to get through their nerves and giving them the best advice I can give as a past queen. I also volunteered to teach the dance portion of the contest, taking on a second responsibility for the summer. I am also teaching the dance again this coming summer. I just can't get away from that contest and all the opportunities it gives me to lead in my community.
While here at Goshen, I have volunteered myself to work in the nursery of various churches and I have lead songs at Campus Worship Night. Even though I may not have a lot of time to volunteer myself completely during the school year, I have been trying my hardest to do little things that are just as meaningful as the big things.
Action #8 Practice Democratic Principles
I've always thought of myself as having a certain group of friends, but then again; I
have so many friends from other groups that sometimes I don't like labeling myself to one specific group. My closest friends consist of five girls and I basically tell them everything, but I definitely have a couple close friends that are male. There is a larger ratio of females in my group of friends, but I still have a lot of friends that are male as well.As far as my group being balanced in diversity, I have several friends from different ethnic backgrounds and from a homosexual lifestyle. They are definitely the minority in my group of
friends, but they aren't treated that way at all. I don't see myself as racist or homophobic at all,so I don't appreciate racist and homophobic comments. I do usually speak up when someone makes those comments because it really bothers me. They are rude and disrespectful and I don't like sitting back and letting those people think it's okay to make those comments.
Because of this assignment, I've started to speak up more often and to people I wouldn't normally speak up to. I can
see a huge difference in their reactions and I can tell that they realize that it bothers me. In some cases, after I speak up about a comment someone made; I can tell that they realize that their comment was indeed rude and disrespectful. In other cases, the person just makes fun of me for speaking up and tries to say that I can't take a joke. It all depends on who the person is that I speak up to and the people that are around at the time.
I am very open in group settings and I'm not afraid to speak up in a conversation. But that all depends on who the group of people is. Within my close group of friends, I find myself dominating the conversation or at least being highly involved in the conversation. If I am in a group setting where I don't know a lot of the people or where I am not comfortable, I usually sit back and let other people dominate the conversation. No matter which situation I am in, I never cut people off because I know what it feels like to be cut off and I wouldn't want to do that to someone else.As a future teacher, I must be able to practice good democratic principles within my personal life and my life at school. It is very important as a teacher to not discriminate against different ethnicities. There will be many different types of students in my classroom and I can't show favoritism to any certain type of student. I should also become comfortable in large group settings that I'm not used to because there will be many instances where I will have to sit down in front a large group of parents and be the center of attention. That does not sound like a comfortable situation to me.
Action #3 Take Your Education Seriously
As a teacher, you must always realize that education is a constantly changing area. The Physical Education department is always changing in the different games that are being played, the length of class periods, and how many times a week students should be physically active. Through my experience with this year's Inclusive Schooling class, I've learned about new games that are being played in the classroom and that the meeting times have indeed changed.But there is one thing that I've recently done that has introduced many new games and teaching styles for the Physical Education world.
On November 9th, 2007, I attended the Indiana Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance conference
It was a three day conference in Indianapolis, Indiana and there were various workshops and booths providing information on the latest trends in Physical Education. As I searched through the various booths and workshops, I was so intrigued by the new activities and games that are available for P.E. I enjoyed doing them all myself and I know that the younger students would enjoy doing them just as much.
Some of the various new activities included rock climbing, Speed Stacking, Dance-Dance-Revolution, Skiing and Snowboarding, and walking tours.
I've heard about all of these activities, but I never thought about actually incorporating them into a Physical Education curriculum. They are activities that both the students and the teacher can enjoy. They can also instill in the students the idea of how being physically active can be fun and a lifetime activity. As a Physical Education teacher, it is important to instill these thoughts in the students and make sure that the activities they are doing are fun and enjoyable. I now know some new activities that I can possibly incorporate into my future lessons and how easy and accessible those activities are.
The following are various brochures that I received from the conference:
Action #2 Get Political
The two following articles are from Education Sector:
"Education Sector is an independent education policy think tank devoted to developing innovative solutions to the nation’s most pressing educational problems. We are nonprofit and nonpartisan, both a dependable source of sound thinking on policy and an honest broker of evidence in key education debates throughout the United States."
L.A. Story: Can a Parent Revolution Change Urban Education's Power Structure?
The first article talks about Steve Barr and his efforts to rally thousands of mostly Latino parents to the cause of school reform and how he can use that to enforce changes in the Los Angeles Unified School District. He is the chief executive of a nonprofit network for the Los Angeles charter schools and is taking his education entrepreneurship to the working class parents, hoping to start some change in the public school system. At the time that this article came out, Barr hoped to be the newly appointed charter school operator and do the following:
"Barr, however, claims that he will not use the power if he receives it, at least not immediately. Instead, he is using the threat to create new charter schools, publicly funded but largely autonomous elementary and secondary schools, to persuade the politicians, bureaucrats and union leaders who run LAUSD to reorient its 858 schools around six principles—small, safe schools with no more than 500 students, high expectations and a college-preparatory curriculum for all students, local control with extensive professional development and accountability, more dollars directed into the classroom, parent participation and keeping schools open later for community use. These are the guiding tenets of Barr's Green Dot charter network, which now numbers five high schools and will double to 10 this fall, bringing the total number of charter schools in the city to 105."
The article goes on to discuss the various organizations and unions that Barr started to submit change for the needs of the LAUSD's students. A "parents union" was started and this is something that is not uncommon in American education. The one difference in this situation is that a massive amount of parents have risen to the tasks of actually challenging the school system's basic principles. In my experience, parents are always complaining about something at their child's school and that they will never be satisfied. But through this article, I have learned that there are some places in this country that are in dire need of change. Not only are the Latino students suffering major in this situation, but the other students are as well. A child's curriculum should prepare them for college and the later years of life and it shouldn't be up to the parents to fight for that in the school systems. Teachers and faculty should also have a say in what their students are learning. As a future teacher, I should stand up for what I believe is right and what's best for my students.
Eight for 2008: Education Ideas for the Next President
The second article is about eight possible education ideas that can be used for the 2008 presidential campaign. The article states how important the education system seems to be in the various presidential elections and how if it is a "top-10 priority," than why aren't we upgrading our education systems to their potential. The eight ideas were made up by Education Sector and they are "pragmatic solutions to real problems that both parties can get behind."
The following eight ideas are proposals that could possibly make the public schools the "engines of equal opportunity they should be."
1. Unlock the Pre-K Door
2. Offer Teachers a New Deal
3. Create a National Corps of "Super Principals"
4. Open New Schools in Low-Income Neighborhoods
5. Launch Learning into the 21st Century
6. Reward Hard-Working Immigrant Students
7. Give Students a Roadmap to Good Colleges
8. Help Students Help Others
Each idea comes with a description of the problem, a plan to fix it, and the politics behind the situation. After reading about all the ideas, I've come to the realization that there are so many more problems in the school systems that I have never been aware of before. I made it through all of my schooling with flying colors and had the opportunity to attend a University on various scholarships and funds. This is not an equal opportunity for all the students in this country and it is definitely something I wish could happen for all. In order for something drastic to happen in the education system, you have to go to the highest authorities and try and evoke a change in what they want for the education system as well. As a future teacher, I must being willing to stand for change in the education system and possibly get political myself. I can do this by joining a professional organization, write to legislators, or stay involved with local educational groups. I have the power to evoke change and if I want to see change, I must put in the effort to make it happen.
"Education Sector is an independent education policy think tank devoted to developing innovative solutions to the nation’s most pressing educational problems. We are nonprofit and nonpartisan, both a dependable source of sound thinking on policy and an honest broker of evidence in key education debates throughout the United States."
L.A. Story: Can a Parent Revolution Change Urban Education's Power Structure?
The first article talks about Steve Barr and his efforts to rally thousands of mostly Latino parents to the cause of school reform and how he can use that to enforce changes in the Los Angeles Unified School District. He is the chief executive of a nonprofit network for the Los Angeles charter schools and is taking his education entrepreneurship to the working class parents, hoping to start some change in the public school system. At the time that this article came out, Barr hoped to be the newly appointed charter school operator and do the following:
"Barr, however, claims that he will not use the power if he receives it, at least not immediately. Instead, he is using the threat to create new charter schools, publicly funded but largely autonomous elementary and secondary schools, to persuade the politicians, bureaucrats and union leaders who run LAUSD to reorient its 858 schools around six principles—small, safe schools with no more than 500 students, high expectations and a college-preparatory curriculum for all students, local control with extensive professional development and accountability, more dollars directed into the classroom, parent participation and keeping schools open later for community use. These are the guiding tenets of Barr's Green Dot charter network, which now numbers five high schools and will double to 10 this fall, bringing the total number of charter schools in the city to 105."
The article goes on to discuss the various organizations and unions that Barr started to submit change for the needs of the LAUSD's students. A "parents union" was started and this is something that is not uncommon in American education. The one difference in this situation is that a massive amount of parents have risen to the tasks of actually challenging the school system's basic principles. In my experience, parents are always complaining about something at their child's school and that they will never be satisfied. But through this article, I have learned that there are some places in this country that are in dire need of change. Not only are the Latino students suffering major in this situation, but the other students are as well. A child's curriculum should prepare them for college and the later years of life and it shouldn't be up to the parents to fight for that in the school systems. Teachers and faculty should also have a say in what their students are learning. As a future teacher, I should stand up for what I believe is right and what's best for my students.
Eight for 2008: Education Ideas for the Next President
The second article is about eight possible education ideas that can be used for the 2008 presidential campaign. The article states how important the education system seems to be in the various presidential elections and how if it is a "top-10 priority," than why aren't we upgrading our education systems to their potential. The eight ideas were made up by Education Sector and they are "pragmatic solutions to real problems that both parties can get behind."
The following eight ideas are proposals that could possibly make the public schools the "engines of equal opportunity they should be."
1. Unlock the Pre-K Door
2. Offer Teachers a New Deal
3. Create a National Corps of "Super Principals"
4. Open New Schools in Low-Income Neighborhoods
5. Launch Learning into the 21st Century
6. Reward Hard-Working Immigrant Students
7. Give Students a Roadmap to Good Colleges
8. Help Students Help Others
Each idea comes with a description of the problem, a plan to fix it, and the politics behind the situation. After reading about all the ideas, I've come to the realization that there are so many more problems in the school systems that I have never been aware of before. I made it through all of my schooling with flying colors and had the opportunity to attend a University on various scholarships and funds. This is not an equal opportunity for all the students in this country and it is definitely something I wish could happen for all. In order for something drastic to happen in the education system, you have to go to the highest authorities and try and evoke a change in what they want for the education system as well. As a future teacher, I must being willing to stand for change in the education system and possibly get political myself. I can do this by joining a professional organization, write to legislators, or stay involved with local educational groups. I have the power to evoke change and if I want to see change, I must put in the effort to make it happen.
Action #1 Get Experience With All Types of Learners and Their Families
As a child with two loving parents and an older sister, I grew up in a safe and comfortable environment. Yet for some children, this is not the case.
On Sunday November 11, 2007; I attended the Fall Mainstage Step on a Crack.
The director's notes are as follows:
"Sometimes we think our imagination and creativity are frivolous - things to be added in to our lives only if there is time, energy and money left after all the 'important' things are taken care of. But our creative selves also help us survive. They have the power to guide us through life's rough spots, giving us outlets to process and grow through challenges and come out safely on the other side..."
- Michelle Milne
This play was a prime example of how different and hard family situations can be for some people. Everything was in a different perspective for Ellie and I personally can't relate. My parents are still together and I've had the same mother my whole life. For the first time in my life, I could hear what that feels like and see it in numerous situations. I have friends that have been through a divorce in the family but I don't always get to see what goes on day to day or everything they are thinking. I could get that through this play and it hurt to see what actually goes on. Everything turns out okay in the end of the play, but that's not always the case in real life.
As a teacher, I might never know what goes on at home for the various students. I have to care enough for the students individually to make the effort to push them in the classroom and hope for the best in each of them. Everyone has little secrets and struggles that go on beyond the classroom setting and I have to be aware and able to deal with that. I have to be there for the students whether they want me to or not and I must let them know I care.
On Sunday November 11, 2007; I attended the Fall Mainstage Step on a Crack.
The director's notes are as follows:"Sometimes we think our imagination and creativity are frivolous - things to be added in to our lives only if there is time, energy and money left after all the 'important' things are taken care of. But our creative selves also help us survive. They have the power to guide us through life's rough spots, giving us outlets to process and grow through challenges and come out safely on the other side..."
- Michelle Milne
One of the main challenges the main character, Ellie, had to go through was the fact that her dad remarried after her mother had passed away years before. Throughout the entire play, you could tell how hard it was becoming for the whole "new" family to adapt. Ellie wanted her dad's attention back and the stepmother, Lucille, only wanted to be a mother to Ellie. Everyone started to snap and tension build up to where Ellie couldn't take it anymore.
This play was a prime example of how different and hard family situations can be for some people. Everything was in a different perspective for Ellie and I personally can't relate. My parents are still together and I've had the same mother my whole life. For the first time in my life, I could hear what that feels like and see it in numerous situations. I have friends that have been through a divorce in the family but I don't always get to see what goes on day to day or everything they are thinking. I could get that through this play and it hurt to see what actually goes on. Everything turns out okay in the end of the play, but that's not always the case in real life.
As a teacher, I might never know what goes on at home for the various students. I have to care enough for the students individually to make the effort to push them in the classroom and hope for the best in each of them. Everyone has little secrets and struggles that go on beyond the classroom setting and I have to be aware and able to deal with that. I have to be there for the students whether they want me to or not and I must let them know I care.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Action #6 Volunteer in or Join an Organization or Get Involved in a Group Comprised of People Who Are Significantly Different Than You
There are many organizations here on Campus that grant many opportunities to learn about different people. One organization that I choose to get involved with is the Black Student Union. I attended their Red Carpet Event this past Saturday here on campus. I went with a big group of girls and danced the night away to R&B and Hip-Hop music. I am also a part of the Campus Activities Council here on campus and we have decided to
team up with BSU for some of the on-campus events this year. Another group that I've decided to get involved with this year is the Latin Student Union. They have weekly salsa lessons in the Java Junction and I attend them almost every Sunday. Dancing is something that I really enjoy and it is fun to learn a style that I am not familiar with. I've also gained a new love for Latin music because of my various friends involved in LSU or that have been on SST in Spanish speaking countries.
Goshen has allowed me to learn about different cultures through many clubs, organizations, and just by the people I come encounter with. This will allow to be a teacher that is aware of the different cultures around me and how to react in those situations. It will also help me grow as a person in this very diverse world.
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