Final Blog!

Wow. Already at the end. I know it's kinda corny to say it, but this semester really did FLY by! Looking back, I definitely learned more in this course than I did in any of my other semi-pointless classes (history, english... the basics) Throughout this class I learned more about education than I ever thought I could learn in such a small amount of time. I learned most of the basics of what education is all about. I discovered my own thoughts and theories on education, along with a lot of other peoples. I feel that I got to interact with my classmates thoughts and opinions a lot more than in a regular classroom because here, we were all required to post all the time and read and respond to eachothers thoughts. I really liked this aspect because I feel like I actually had some educational conversations throughout this semester, while in most of my in-class classes, there's only a few students who voice their opinions, and I'm ususally not one of them. I had a hard time accepting 3 online courses. Looking at the work load for this course almost scared me away... yet after taking a week to realize how organized it was, it really wasn't bad at all! So enough about my enjoyment of the course, onto my thoughts on education now, four months later---

I have studied lots of different philosophies in education, and, as I'm guessing most of you now know, I am in love with Rudolph Steiners methods of education and his Waldorf education system. It is all about celebrating the developmental stages of a childs life, and freeing them from fear of adults. It pressures them less on academic achievment at such a young age, and focuses more on celebrating their creative minds. I think this is super important because I feel that kids are pressured at too young of an age to read and write and excel and progress. If they are given time to develop on their own, there will be less stress about "learning disabiliities" and low test scores. They will be able to develop creative minds which will make them unique and happy kids for the rest of their lives!

I feel like learning is like a tree, the roots are super important because they give the tree its strength and ability to grow nice and strong. If the roots of education, AKA the early years and beginnging in getting one interested in learning in general, if these roots are weak, the tree is bound to fail or achieve less than it's full potential. I also enjoyed the metaphors like building a bridge. The teacher is the support beams and helps the students to get over all sorts of obstacles throughout lessons and years in school.

Overall, this course has inspired me more and more to teach. As I said in the beginning, I have changed my career goals atleast a dozen times since my senior year of highschool. Even getting into this course I was really skeptical of teaching because of the economy and the low salary that teachers are said to make. I was so worried about a life ahead of me with financial struggles and perhaps not being happy. But after all of the things this course has taught me, I finally feel comfortable with where my life is going. I am so excited to teach, I think everyone close to me can feel it and are finally happy for me. It's good to know that I'll actually be happy doing what I'm doing. I learned a lot of this acceptance and happiness through getting to know the teachers that I observed for throughout the semester. She gave me a lot of insight into how comfortable her life is, how happy and stress free her job is, and the plus of an amazing schedule every year!


I've also been nannying throughout this semester. This experience has also taught me of how much I'd rather be a teacher than a babysitter. When your a teacher, your students know that you're the boss. They look up to you for guidance and directions and listen to you constatnly. You have the power to send them to the office if they're being bratty and out of control. I recently had to quit my nannying job because it was just too much to handle. The kids would not listen to me because "I'm not in their family" and the fact that they were spoiled rotten did not help the situation! Anyhow, everytime I was there I thought, "Wow, when I'm a teacher, I won't have to deal with this severity!" I mean, kids will be kids, and I love kids, just not having to act like a second mom to them!

The link I used was our classes WebCT. I couldn't really think of anything more logical than that. Within this link holds all of our discussions, all of our blogs, papers, topics, and ideas. It contains everything I've learned. I've enjoyed this semester thoroughly and I can't wait to make a difference in education when I graduate (and hopefully get a job) about a million years from now thanks to Salem State's endless required classes! :)

EDU 101 WebCT