Response for 10/6

Kahne & Westsheimer studies 10 different programs that focused on educating for democratic citizenship. Identify which of these programs best "fits" with your educational philosophy and your conception of citizenship. Also, think about which of the teachers' experiences described by Wade most closely mirrors your own, or what your expect to encounter in the future.

Coming from a very history oriented family, I have always been very connected to studying history and using history to study our modern-day society. Because of that, I connected very closely with the Overground Railroad project described by Kahne & Westsheimer. This is EXACTLY the kind of project I would love to do with my students one day. By looking at the historical sites from and speaking with people who were actually involved in the Civil Rights Movement, the students learn about a time when injustice and inequality ran rampant, and it helps them to understand inequality in the present-day. I also connected with the idea of introducing students to positive role models. This was mentioned in the Overground Railroad project, but I agree that it should go farther than that. It should include people in the students' own community who are leading fights and making a difference. It could be anyone from the head of the school board, to the mayor, to one of their fellow classmates who is actively doing service work. I believe role models don't just have to be people who were involved in important historical moments but the "ordinary" people, as the article calls them.

In regards to the Wade article, I can only say what I expect to encounter in the future as I am not yet working in a school. The story that resonated the most for me was the very first one describing Laurie's classroom of fourth-graders and the girls fight to "integrate" recess. Though the goal they were fighting to achieve is important, I felt more of a connection with the fact that Laurie's classroom was a place that the girls knew they could come to, speak their minds, and be heard. I can only hope that I will be able to create the same kind of space for my students. I firmly believe that one of the biggest hindrances to education is that fact that students are not always allowed to speak their minds about what makes them unhappy in their experience. They are just expected to sit down, be quite, and learn something. I want to foster an environment of open communication in my classroom so that, if my students are unhappy, they are comfortable telling me why so we can work to rectify the situation.

The second part of the reading that I could see myself encountering was the section about parents. My highest goal is to work in a secondary level boarding school. More often than not, these college-prep schools are populated by the kind of students who have very active and vocal parents, and with good reason since they spend a great deal of money to send their children to the school. Because of this, I could see myself having some problems with incredibly involved parents who do not understand the methods I hope to use in the classroom. This is where the advice to connect with the parents personally and create a positive relationship with them will hopefully come in handy in stemming some of the problems!