School and Classroom Environment
Environmental Influence
Environment definitely influences the role of the teacher. As we have seen from Eaton’s book, a child like Jeremy often is not exposed to much outside of his own neighborhood. This poses a problem for most teachers. Teachers who find themselves with a classroom of students with limited exposure must spend more time teaching background knowledge in order to explore a subject in more depth. A student’s lack of background knowledge can also affect reading. If a student is not familiar with an object or experience within the text it will make it harder to make inferences while reading.
I personally try to expose my students to as much a possible throughout the year. I take my classes on fieldtrips to align with the curriculum. I also bring in real objects to provide each student with experience that can be carried over throughout his/her life. For example, if we are talking about the season of fall, I will bring in leaves, acorns, etc. I have also begun to plan a class trip to a farm. Students will observe fall attributes and gain a valuable experience. The will see apple trees, pick a pumpkin, and take a hayride. Most every student enjoys this trip very much and it exposes him/her to a world outside of the low income neighborhood that very much mirrors the one described in “The Children in Room E4” Part One.
Philosophy in an urban environment
I think it is easy to practice an ideal educational philosophy in an urban setting. Easy meaning we do our best to teach passionately and do the best we can with the resources we’re provided with (which at times might not be much) and fill in ourselves where we can. I have been doing so for over five years. A lot of what we have drawn from Dewey and other philosophers can be applied in any setting. In fact, some of the things we have discussed are even more useful in an urban district. I have found that my students benefit from the real life experiences because they may not be exposed any other way.
My experience
When I was reading Part One of “The Children in Room E4” I was floored to read the mirror image of what I have seen throughout my experience in Bridgeport. Bridgeport is very much like Hartford. I have seen children walking the streets with no shoes on, Kindergarteners riding bikes with little or no supervision, parents yelling at children using obscenities, children eating three breakfasts after a long weekend, students falling asleep in school because they stay up late or his/her families were fighting, etc. It makes teaching difficult but it also reminds me why I am there and that these are the children that need passionate teachers the most.
Environment definitely influences the role of the teacher. As we have seen from Eaton’s book, a child like Jeremy often is not exposed to much outside of his own neighborhood. This poses a problem for most teachers. Teachers who find themselves with a classroom of students with limited exposure must spend more time teaching background knowledge in order to explore a subject in more depth. A student’s lack of background knowledge can also affect reading. If a student is not familiar with an object or experience within the text it will make it harder to make inferences while reading.
I personally try to expose my students to as much a possible throughout the year. I take my classes on fieldtrips to align with the curriculum. I also bring in real objects to provide each student with experience that can be carried over throughout his/her life. For example, if we are talking about the season of fall, I will bring in leaves, acorns, etc. I have also begun to plan a class trip to a farm. Students will observe fall attributes and gain a valuable experience. The will see apple trees, pick a pumpkin, and take a hayride. Most every student enjoys this trip very much and it exposes him/her to a world outside of the low income neighborhood that very much mirrors the one described in “The Children in Room E4” Part One.
Philosophy in an urban environment
I think it is easy to practice an ideal educational philosophy in an urban setting. Easy meaning we do our best to teach passionately and do the best we can with the resources we’re provided with (which at times might not be much) and fill in ourselves where we can. I have been doing so for over five years. A lot of what we have drawn from Dewey and other philosophers can be applied in any setting. In fact, some of the things we have discussed are even more useful in an urban district. I have found that my students benefit from the real life experiences because they may not be exposed any other way.
My experience
When I was reading Part One of “The Children in Room E4” I was floored to read the mirror image of what I have seen throughout my experience in Bridgeport. Bridgeport is very much like Hartford. I have seen children walking the streets with no shoes on, Kindergarteners riding bikes with little or no supervision, parents yelling at children using obscenities, children eating three breakfasts after a long weekend, students falling asleep in school because they stay up late or his/her families were fighting, etc. It makes teaching difficult but it also reminds me why I am there and that these are the children that need passionate teachers the most.
