Is mainstreaming the proper approach?

Schools and teachers have continuously struggled throughout time with the idea of how to best assimilate special needs students, as well as students of different nationalities, races and income levels into a single classroom.  The preferred approach for multicultural education, according to McNergney, for years has been mainstreaming.  In context with the idea of a multicultural education, the approach of mainstreaming aims to assimilate new immigrants into the regular classroom, with the implication that they should learn as they go.  But is this strategy really working?

Of course a student who is a recent immigrant and does not know English would most likely be taken out of class for intervals of the day to help them learn the language, but it is my belief that initial mainstreaming for even half the day is not the right approach to take with a child who speaks so little English that they would not benefit from being in the classroom at all.  It really depends on the individuals situation, but I witnessed a few cases in which mainstreaming did not seem to help the child while I was in Elementary and Middle school.  When I was in third grade, there were two boys who came into our class sometime in the middle of the school year.  One boy had come from Russia, the other from Portugal, and neither one of the students knew even a little English.  They were each taken out of the class for an hour or so throughout the day, but for the most part, they were with the class for the whole day.  The poor kids sat there and looked confused for months on end, and the teacher was unable to communicate with them at all without drawing pictures, and that became very time consuming.  I don't think she knew how to handle the situation either.  Clearly, for these boys, mainstreaming did not help at all, and they probably should have been learning English with a different teacher before getting thrown into the classroom.  Socially, the concept of mainstreaming for immigrants is a positive one because it is supposed to help them meet people sooner, but it is difficult to make friends in the first place if you can't talk to anyone.  I am sure that it made them feel left out, and probably didn't help their confidence either, as I am sure they became frustrated and felt like they didn't know anything. In a situation where a child knows at least a minimal amount of English, this approach may work better if they are able to learn through observation, but it is my opinion that each case should be looked upon in an individual basis.  Mainstreaming is not always the best option.

MCAS Testing

MCAS testing is not only used in Massachusetts as a way to see what abilities a student may possess--but is also seen as a reflection on the student's teachers, as well as the school itself.  Is MCAS testing really an accurate reflection of the students, teachers, and the school?  I do not think that it is.

According to a recent article on wbur, teachers in Hingham mass have come to a general consensus that the "MCAS is misguided in evaluating teachers," as well as students.  Testing can be viewed as a high stress situation to many students, so even if you were to have straight A's in a class, and be an amazing writer, neither of those would necessarily translate into a passing MCAS score.  It is also highly stressful since it is a graduation requirement to pass the test.  In my opinion, testing in general is not always an accurate reflection of a students abilities, and the MCAS is definitely one of those kind of tests.  It is extremely unfair that the test scores also reflect back on a school.  My elementary, middle, and high school had very low MCAS scores in general, but there was never any mention of our test scores in relation to the percentage of students we had that spoke English as a second language.  The same goes for a teacher--if a particular teacher has a lot of students who speak English as a second language, and they receive lower test scores, this should not be seen as a negative reflection of the teachers abilities at all.  According to the Orange and Black article from Wayland Middle School, some believe that the testing is good because it allows a teacher to be more structured and know when certain material should be studied, but isn't that what a school board does for the teachers anyway?  From that same newspaper, others are quoted saying that it is more stressful than anything, and that it is much too long of a test to be accurate, since the students are exhausted by the end of it.  I understand that it provides a way to make sure that schools are on track, but there should definitely be a more accurate way to do it.  MCAS testing seems to be an unfair and somewhat biased test, which I do not think should reflect on the teachers or the schools, and that it should not be seen as a graduation requirement for students to fulfill.

Why Teach?

Why is it that people decide to teach?

Is it the prospect of working with kids in general? Of teaching them new things, and learning new things in return?  Is it simply for the paycheck, and the 10 week vacation time?  Or is it to be the teacher you never had--to help kids through what could possibly be the hardest time of their lives?  The reasons are endless.  The more important question at hand is whether these motivations for teaching are for good or bad reasons.

According to the WorksheetLibrary (http://www.worksheetlibrary.com/teachingtips/becomingelementary.html), there are ten reasons why a person should choose to be a teacher.  They are all very positive reasons that range from having a broad appreciation of the subject matter, to being a creative and a good communicator, to simply enjoying the company of children.  There is no doubt that these are all great reasons to go into the field, but Canestrari proposes that there are people who do go into teaching for the wrong reasons within his book, Education Foundations.  He proposes that if one had a negative experience in school, they might subconsciously use teaching as a way to "get back at" the offense made to them so long ago.  For instance, if boys were particularly nasty to them, one might treat the girls more fairly, or if one has a prejudiced opinion of some sort, that the teacher must be sure that this prejudice does not follow the individual into the classroom.  He states that an aspiring teacher may try to redo their mistakes through the kids-- which of course is impossible.

After reading several articles on the matter, it is clear to me that teaching certainly is still a wonderful profession, but that one should be careful to evaluate themselves and make sure that they are deciding to go into the field of education for the right reasons.  I originally was trying to decide whether to specialize in elementary education or middle school education.  I had a fantastic time in elementary school, and aspired to be the same type of teacher that I had in elementary school.  But at the same time, I had a horrendous time in middle school, and felt like I might have wanted to teach that age group to show those kids what I felt like I never had at their age, and to make sure that they didn't make the same mistakes that I did.  I feel like I made the right decision deciding to specialize in elementary education because I have so many reasons for loving children at that age, but my one reason for wanting to teach kids in middle school was for a more negative reason that had much more to do with myself than the actual kids.  Whether choosing to teach simply for the love of the children, or any other reasons one may possess, it is extremely important to thoroughly examine these reasons and make sure that you are choosing the profession for the right ones.  You must be able to understand the students, and be patient and able to adapt your teaching style to suit their needs.  Make it about the students, and not just about you.

About Me

Hello Everyone!  My name is Rachel and I am currently a student at Salem State University.  I very recently switched my major to Education with a concentration in Elementary Ed.  My mom is a second grade teacher, and I always admired her for doing that, and I would love to be a teacher like her someday.  I always knew I wanted to work with kids, but I wasn't sure exactly what type of environment I wanted to work in until recently.  The first class I am taking for the major is Premise of the School, which I am creating this blog for.  It is the first time I have ever blogged so it should be exciting!

This is a picture of me and one of the kids I babysit on a regular basis!  She likes playing with photoshop on my computer.

http://edu309.blogspot.com/