Final Blog Post / Post 10

    
Overall, I really enjoyed creating a weblog because I see it as an extremely useful tool. My weblog helped me to reflect upon new information and discover what issues in the field of education are important to me. Furthermore, my blog helped me to form and question my beliefs about education as well as track my ever evolving views and opinions.

     Looking back at various posts, one of my favorites was blog post two. For blog post two we were required to go to a public space and make observations. In my post, I noted that I was less likely to describe the race of individuals than was my partner Josh. I realized that I was uncomfortable discussing race, possibly due to my lived experience of attending a racially homogeneous high school. Before this activity, I was unconscious of my discomfort in discussing the topic. This post, therefore, gave me a better understanding of myself and helped to point out a weakness I possess. Overall, throughout the course, I became more comfortable discussing race because I realized that is an essential topic related to education. In later weblogs, I addressed race more often and felt more comfortable doing so. For example, in blog post four, I discussed institutional racism. I even discussed an example of institutional racism I had observed myself. I also enjoyed field blog post four because I received some very useful feedback from Dr. Shutkin. I had assumed that a school I tutored at, Wiley, didn't use textbooks because it was underfunded and could not afford them. Dr. Shutkin reminded me that schools in this area tend to be well funded. He implied that the choice not to use textbooks might be deliberate. He challenged me to examine textbooks as an educational tool and their potential weaknesses. I realized that textbooks can be particularly biased and, therefore, may not be the best educational tool.

      While my discomfort with discussing race changed, one thing that stayed the same throughout my course blog was my opinion that students need to discover the answers themselves. In blog post 3, I discussed and espoused the view that teachers should practice a Socratic Method style of teaching. This method involves the teacher asking the students questions so that they can form their own opinions and ideas instead of being told what to believe. This theme resurfaced later in blog post six when I discussed the negative aspects of banking education.

      Besides causing some of my views to evolve, my blog also helped me to reflect and clarify some views that I already held. For example, blog post five, which covered our reading about the LGBTQ community, helped me to clarify my beliefs about gay marriage and the rights of LGBTQ individuals. The reading and reflective blog post reinforced my belief that marriage between LGBTQ individuals should be legal. It also reinforced my belief that better resources need to be provided for LGBTQ students.

      My favorite blog post by far, however, is blog post six. Blog post six was a reflection on the reading that discussed the banking concept of education. I think the banking concept of education and its inferior nature compared to a more active form of learning has been the most important information I learned in this class. In this post I realized how I hated my classes that involved the banking style and loved my classes that encouraged discussion, creativity, and free-thinking. The need for problem-posing/ active education is the most important thing I will take away from this class as a potential teacher. I also think it may be the topic of my final paper.

     Overall, my course blog helped me to reflect upon assumptions I held about education. It also helped me to reflect upon new information and form new opinions. Due to my good experience blogging, if I become a teacher, I will probably have my students take part in blogging, or some other form reflective writing.