This past Thursday,
September 15th, we discussed our reading from "To
Teach: the journey in Comics" by William Ayers and created a skit with the props we brought that
related to the reading. Each group showed their own interpretation of the three
chapters we read before Thursday. I learned that there are different ways of
teaching kids especially ones that don’t fit into a nice little box. Each group
used different analogies and situations to express the same underlying theme. Students
who are deemed extra work or the difficult ones that are often diagnosed and
given medication to “solve” those issues. These different skits that were
presented in class made me reflect on my own experience with such titles and
medication issues. My younger brother was diagnosed with ADHD in seventh grade
when he had difficulties with teachers and he chose not to do his work. The counselor
decided that instead of trying to help him cope through tough teachers they
went straight to medication. The side effects of the medications they put him
on hit him hard. He went through a really rough depression period that he kept
hidden from my parents for a long time and I was his only friend that he told
about what was going on so I encouraged him to stop taking the medication and that’s
when my parents noticed something was up. They got him the help he needed and activities
that made him happy. He is doing very well and is still on medication. The dose
is smaller and is on a different medication. So my question is why do
counselors and doctors automatically turn to medication to help the troubled
kids?
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
Monday, September 12, 2016
WebPost 2
Teaching
has been in the back of my head throughout my life but Psychology and special
needs has continuously peeked my interest. I originally thought about teaching students
with special needs. I asked the teaching staff at my high school and they told
me that it takes a lot of patience and love. I can handle that. I think all teaching
requires that but this job would require a little extra. They then informed me
that the down side is that once I am in that field I will most likely be stuck
there for my whole career. The word “stuck” didn’t sit well with me so I began
to discover other areas of study that fused the two. The one I found that, one
of the multiple programs John Carroll offers, was the Psychological Science. I don’t
see myself being a Clinical Psychologist instead I think I will continue with a
research component in my future. Over this past summer I switched my major from
Adolescent/Young Adult (AYA) with a
focus in Mathematics to Psychological Science with a Mental Health component. I
didn’t want to completely disregard my interest in Education so I took this
course to either confirm my instincts or shatter them completely. Fun stuff
right?
One of the multiple reasons I wanted to become a teacher
was because of my love for the competition to find new ways to communicate the
same material to people. It may sound silly but no one really learns the same
so for the teacher it’s their job to find new ways to communicate the same information
in different ways to every student. Some common ones are visual aids. Seeing
the information through photos helps others than text on a page. Another way is
with graphs, for those mathematically inclined.
I don’t want to get into teaching for the wrong reasons
like Kohl said and I hope this class will guide me to the right decision for my
future.
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
WebPost 1
1)
My name is Jillian and Jillian or Jill
is fine.
2)
Warren, MI which is about a half
hour north of Detroit and about three and a half hours away from JCU.
3)
I am a freshman and would like to
teach high school math and psychology.
4)
Service projects, volleyball,
cards, and Lutheran. Planning to get all A’s but realistically get B’s. Get
involved in clubs and maybe a sorority on campus.
5)
A lot of things matter to me but I’m not very
active in those activities. I have however seen people who are active in things
I care about. She is from Detroit and performed a poem at the ELCA National
Gathering that touched me and I would like to share that experience.
6)
I prefer hands on activities and
having the ability to discuss about the learning topics between classmates is
important.
7)
My favorite classroom experience was
in my Psychology class because we discussed the material and how it related to
our lives at that time.
8)
The curriculum at my high school isn’t
updated and I feel needs a community service component.
9)
Since I am thinking about education
will this class help me decide whether teaching is for me?
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