Save Our Schools (Honors Experience #2)
I was excited to take Save Our Schools for one of my honors experiences because I was happy to be able to combine honors and my major in a class. When I first started the class, I was a bit nervous that I would not understand all the laws, regulations, and politics that go into making decisions for our public schools, but by the end of the class I felt I had a good handle on all that knowledge and was able to apply it to both the final presentation to those involved in education reform and to my future career as a teacher.
Interestingly, most of the students in the class were not majoring in education or a related field, which provide the other two education majors in the class and me with a chance to talk about our majors and how complex and challenging our majors are. We found that many in our class originally thought teaching was not a major for which one needs a high skill set and genuinely had no idea of all the work that goes into preparing to teach. This class really allowed for education majors in honors (which unfortunately has so few education majors) to have an opportunity to show how studying education is more than being good with children; it involves understanding different developmental levels, complex culture ideas, political mandates, changing educational standards, and so many more things. By the end of the semester, I felt that the non-education majors formed a greater appreciation for those going into the education field and for any of their former teachers.
For our final presentation, we were split into smaller groups to work on big topics in the education reform community. We had almost the whole semester to work with our groups and constantly had the assistance and guidance from our professor, Dr. Sarah Stitzlein. My group consisted of another education major and someone preparing to go into Teach for America (TFA) and out topic was Common Core State Standards, something that was going to affect us all the next year (for student teaching and for TFA). We had a few really productive group meetings, some relevant text and email conversations, and a committed work ethic. One thing I I can always count on when I am in an honors class is that during a group project, I know everyone will work hard and pull their weight. My group completed all of our work early and would send early drafts to Dr. Stitzlein to gain some of her feedback. Our final paper (attached below) consisted of 16 heavily researched pages and over 15 different sources, which was great preparation for our final presentation to a senator and representative for the state of Ohio.
My group finished our paper early so we could focus on making our presentation organized, focused, and researched. We sent in early drafts of our presentation to Dr. Stitzlein, so we could again better it through her feedback and notes. When the time came to present, my group and I were very confident in our presentation (also attached below) and in answering all the questions the senator and representative had about our plans for Common Core State Standards. This class changed my life because it showed me how much politics is involved in education and introduced me to Dr. Stitzlein, who is incredible mentor in my life. Through this class, I also made a best friend (the other education major from my group) and Dr. Stitzlein recommended us both for an organization that involved presenting the Ohio Senate Education Committee on an education reform topic (information on this can be found in my year in review under Ohio Student Education Policy Institute).
Interestingly, most of the students in the class were not majoring in education or a related field, which provide the other two education majors in the class and me with a chance to talk about our majors and how complex and challenging our majors are. We found that many in our class originally thought teaching was not a major for which one needs a high skill set and genuinely had no idea of all the work that goes into preparing to teach. This class really allowed for education majors in honors (which unfortunately has so few education majors) to have an opportunity to show how studying education is more than being good with children; it involves understanding different developmental levels, complex culture ideas, political mandates, changing educational standards, and so many more things. By the end of the semester, I felt that the non-education majors formed a greater appreciation for those going into the education field and for any of their former teachers.
For our final presentation, we were split into smaller groups to work on big topics in the education reform community. We had almost the whole semester to work with our groups and constantly had the assistance and guidance from our professor, Dr. Sarah Stitzlein. My group consisted of another education major and someone preparing to go into Teach for America (TFA) and out topic was Common Core State Standards, something that was going to affect us all the next year (for student teaching and for TFA). We had a few really productive group meetings, some relevant text and email conversations, and a committed work ethic. One thing I I can always count on when I am in an honors class is that during a group project, I know everyone will work hard and pull their weight. My group completed all of our work early and would send early drafts to Dr. Stitzlein to gain some of her feedback. Our final paper (attached below) consisted of 16 heavily researched pages and over 15 different sources, which was great preparation for our final presentation to a senator and representative for the state of Ohio.
My group finished our paper early so we could focus on making our presentation organized, focused, and researched. We sent in early drafts of our presentation to Dr. Stitzlein, so we could again better it through her feedback and notes. When the time came to present, my group and I were very confident in our presentation (also attached below) and in answering all the questions the senator and representative had about our plans for Common Core State Standards. This class changed my life because it showed me how much politics is involved in education and introduced me to Dr. Stitzlein, who is incredible mentor in my life. Through this class, I also made a best friend (the other education major from my group) and Dr. Stitzlein recommended us both for an organization that involved presenting the Ohio Senate Education Committee on an education reform topic (information on this can be found in my year in review under Ohio Student Education Policy Institute).
common_core_paper_final_draft.docx | |
File Size: | 60 kb |
File Type: | docx |
charter_schools_paper.docx | |
File Size: | 121 kb |
File Type: | docx |
administrator_interview_paper.docx | |
File Size: | 50 kb |
File Type: | docx |