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Chapter 1 Reflection - Intro to Education at UNCC

 

Joshua Harke      EDUC 2100 – 081             Chapter 1 Reflections     September 19, 2020

 

Reflection Questions #1

What areas ranked high for you on the survey? Explain why you think you scored this way.

1.     I loved being a teacher aid in high school with the little kids and occasionally the middle school kids. I scored it a 4, it impacted me to want to entertain being a teacher.

2.     At least one of my family members is a teacher, my mother was an administrator in a couple of pre k – daycare schools and was a teacher. My cousin, Mark is a teacher in NY.

3.     Doing the same thing in the same way repeatedly doesn’t appeal to me, I scored 4 on this because I love stability of going to work but doing the same thing every day in the job is monotonous. Being a special education teacher would be great because I get to see lots of kids and work with them on different skills and help them adapt to get to do new things.

4.     Being with children/adolescents is something I enjoy and look forward to – I scored it a 4 because I like kids more than all of the needy adults that I’ve worked with for my entire life. Kids are more entitled to be helped than adults who feel some type of way about their alcohol, sports, or how much they can get for nothing. I love getting hugs from kids when they are happy and I love giving them comfort when they are sad. I’m a protector and it’s nice to have fun with them. They are like little sponges, some of them.

Reflection Question #2 (Slide 12)

What are your thoughts about these statistics? Were you surprised by any of these numbers? Reflect on your teachers from the past.

1.     It’s not surprising the statistics about the gender ratio. I hope more men become teachers. Fatherless children do better in school with a male teacher as a role model. Boys relate to male teachers at a young age and can connect most of the time better. I feel that the reason why the stats are so heavy for women is that the nurturer side of things allows for more women to be drawn to teaching. Could be wrong on that.

2.     The racial demographic isn’t surprising either. Peer pressure in high school determines where some kids end up. I wish teaching was more ethnically diverse so kids can see someone succeed that looks like them.  Color is important in the scope of teaching kids towards the future that color will no longer matter. (fingers crossed).

3.     Well with the baby boomers dying off or retiring there are more positions available for the under 50 demographics to become teachers and move up in tenure.

4.     I’m kind of surprised by the married/single chart. I do understand the need for money and teachers need to make more to attract single people to become teachers. At the income that teachers make it’s doable in a marriage.

5.     Well it many teaching positions don’t need a doctorate to teach in a k-12 setting, so 1% seems appropriate. I think that it’s pretty cool that there are 49% of teachers with a Master’s degree.

Reflection Question #3 (Slides 13-14)

Which reasons appeal to your interest in teaching? Why?

1.     Value of education to society appeals to me because of how education was so important in my household as a kid and even my little brother, Jasper’s education as a special need’s child.

2.     Opportunity for a lifetime of self-growth appealed to me because I want to be on the board of education one day representing the exceptional children of CMS and I want to dual influence Charlotte Mecklenburg as a whole with my foundation helping special needs kids and their families with networks of help and lots of information to make their lives easier and more enjoyable with their kids.

Reflection Question #4 (Slide 17)

Which teacher bio stands out to you the most? Why?

Renee Ayers’ bio stood out the most to me. It stood out because that’s my writing style and the way I try to help myself. I would love to take her approach to help kids. It can range from a wide variety of uses in helping children/adolescences understand how they got from August to June. I would want to instill pride in them for growth.

Reflection Question #5

What are your thoughts about the teacher pay for Charlotte, Miami and Oakland? What place would you like to live and teach? **You must review the information on slide 18 of the weekly PowerPoint in order to effectively answer this question.**

Well for starters it’s sad that Charlotte has so much money and we can’t pay teachers more than $41k in a ten-month period. That’s why I stated that it’s easier for married teachers to be able to live on a teacher’s salary. I would live in Oakland and teach because I probably would like the Oakland area. I sound like I’m from Cali. I love Charlotte and I’ve always found a way to stay living here. I don’t want to teach anywhere else. I have so many goals that money isn’t my priority at the moment.

Reflection Question #6 

Are these dispositions (slide 27) part of your personal beliefs? What other dispositions do you think contribute to being a teacher who promotes academic rigor and developmental appropriateness? 

I like The Partnership for 21st Century Skills program, I believe that teaching on those beliefs with that knowledge base can prepare US children to stay equal on the global playing field.  I think that Ethics and emotional intelligence would help curve the path that kids take as an adult where it won’t be needed to be stressed by HR in companies. Whereas teachers are trained to uphold those values very highly.

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