Blog Post Number 10

Do You Teach or Do You Educate?
Teaching is something that I've always seen myself doing. I feel like I have always been a teacher even though I hadn't gone to school for it. I was the student who helped out the other kids who just couldn't seem to grasp the concept of multiplication. Not only do I feel as if I was teaching back then, I feel like I was educating other people around me by showing them the way and helping them rather than just telling them what to do.

I hope to bring this in my classroom when I am a teacher. I hope to keep kids inspired to learn and for them to trust in me that I have their best interest in mind. I think a main way to educate is by example, by showing the students right from wrong in everything they do.

Tom Johnson's: Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home!
In this blog, Mr. Johnson is arguing with Gertrude the "School Curriculum Instructional Interventionist Academic Specialist." Mr. Johnson allows his students to bring home pencils so they can do their homework. Gertrude argues back that he can't do that because it will lower test scores! She had just read a journal article that stated students who come from a low income neighborhood and bring pencils home ultimately have lower test scores. Mr. Johnson replied back that students view pencils as a source of entertainment, to play hangman and other games like that. He continued, that he met with the parents and they agreed that pencils could be used for learning. Mr. Johnson made up fun interactive ways for the students to learn and therefore bring pencils home and actually WANT to use them to learn, not to play. But if they wanted to play then so be it, because they are probably learning from that to.

I think the main point of this blog is that students are always learning. We can try to influence the way the students learn by urging them to to do something (bring your pencils home to do your school work) but if they still don't do what you tell them to then they will more than likely still be learning in some way. Maybe they will learn that they should have done their work, because now they have a bad grade for not doing it. This will then make them do their work because they want good grades. Therefore, a lesson has been learned to always do your school work. Even if students aren't always learning things that are part of the curriculum, they are continuously learning life lessons.