Thriving Minds

After teaching back to back Mini-Lessons in my Curriculum in Middle and High School class, here is evidence of my learning including a description, analysis, and reflection of the process. You can find the DAR at this link

After attending both the screening of the movie "Girl Rising", and the author talk with Tanya Lee Stone, I had several important take-aways from the experiences. The first is the incredible privilege that receiving an education is. Starting with my reading of the book, and supported by the girls stories in the movie-- I realized that an education, and knowledge is what most of these girls yearned for the most. This put being a future educator in a whole new perspective. I will be responsible for the education that actual, real life students, will receive-- an experience that some children (and adults) both domestic and abroad desire more than anything. The second take away was the importance of educating people on what they can do to help. Tanya opened her author talk with an anecdote of going to see the movie Girl Rising with her daughter and her friends. She had not yet written the book, but was inspired to do so when she asked her daughter and her friends a few months late...

The “curriculum philosophy” presentation assignment for ED 361 had us investigate and report out on a few outlooks of curriculum that we found particularly aligned with the ways we want to implement curriculum in our future classrooms. This assignment relates heavily to the second pillar of the Saint Michael’s College Education Department Mission Statement which states that, “our graduates are reflective and contemplative practitioners”. The main connection comes from the statement that SMC graduates “draw from a solid theoretical base to guide their instruction and leadership decisions”, as this is the exact content that the curriculum philosophy project investigated. We looked into widely accepted theories of curriculum, and critically analyzed which ones we felt could be the most effective for student learning in our future classrooms. The curriculum of a classroom has an enormous effect on each students learning experience, and thus it is important that we make the decisions ...

Discussing issues around LGBTQ+ may seem intimidating. It is often uncomfortable for not only the students but the teachers as well. However, it seems, at least to some extent, that it is the responsibility of the teachers to set the tone for how issues surrounding gender and sexual orientation will be addressed in the classroom. After all, the teacher sets the tone for the behavior that should be modeled in class.     While exploring PBS NewsHour, I found many informative resources on topics of LGBTQ+. As a future educator, this can be a place I look towards for learning more personally, professionally, or for resources to utilize in a classroom setting. Here is the link--  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/2015/06/teachers-guide-to-lgbt-youth-resources/ . As teachers, it is important that we keep up with current events, as they are shaping our students development and the classrooms we teach in. For example, after perusing the PBS page I learned something quite pe...

In a different take on a book report, I would like to update you on the YA novel my PLC group and I are reading by comparing the characters to astrology signs! Each character in this novel has a distinct personality, which will make this more fun! Hope you enjoy! ********** Starr Carter, a 16 year old, lives in a poor neighborhood, but attends a fancy suburban prep school. As if this complete culture crash was not enough for an adolescent brain, these worlds are shattered when she witnesses the fatal shooting of Khalil, her (unarmed) best friend, at the hands of a police officer. His story becomes a national headline, and many are calling Khalil a "thug" or "drug dealer", when in reality these could not be further from accurate. Rallies begin and protesters start protesting in Khalils name. Some of those in power attempt to intimidate Starr and her family, in attempt to learn what really happened that night. Only Starr truly knows, and this novel follows her ex...

My school placement is at Williston Central School in the Swift House. This house is comprised of 6-8 grade students. Myself and two other St. Mike's students go once a week, for an hour, to gain firsthand experience of working with ELL students. We are usually there during their writing time, which is an excellent opportunity to work with ELL students. It is important to note that while other districts in the greater Burlington area may have a large spectrum of diversity, Williston Central does not, as there are only about 3 ELL students in the Swift House. Before I met the students I've been working with ( a 6th grade boy and 7th grade girl), their teachers explained to me that they speak English at a very high level . In fact, they are fluent and can understand and react appropriately in a normal classroom. Their teachers told us that what designated them technically as ELL students was the fact that they speak a different language at home. This was important for me to kn...

The Socratic Seminar method is a conversation model which aims for deep understanding and dialogue about a topic or text. It is student centered and encourages students to lead the conversation rather than the teacher controlling the conversation. There are a few different ways to run a Socratic seminar, some being more structured than others. The type used in our Adolescent Development class had two circles-- an inner and an outer. First, the inner circle discussed the text while the outer circle sat on the outside, and had specific behaviors they were observing, such as body language, how the group deals with confrontation, etc. This outer group was not allowed to contribute to this conversation, they were merely observing the mechanics of the conversation. After a certain amount of time the two circles switched, and so did their roles. Now, the initial inner circle sits on the outside observing. This allows both groups engage thoughtfully in the text AND observe the positive behavio...

 One theory of  development that I am interested in learning more about and eventually incorporating in my classroom is constructivism . The idea that a majority of new learning is built from prior knowledge  aligns with how I want to encourage my students to approach learning. This concept can also be applied outside of the classroom. From a young age, students can use the skills they are learning and keep building upon them in new and dynamic ways. This also encourages  a growth mindset which  I believe to be a healthy way to approach challenges both inside and outside of the classroom.    There is also a focus on allowing students to shape the way their brain is developing, which empowers the individual, and gives them a sense of ownership of their education. As an educator, my role would be to help guide this way of learning and create learning opportunities that can support these ideas. My one worry on this approach would be how to engage students...

As a hopeful future educator, it is important to acknowledge the fact that it can be extremely difficult for a student to focus on and learn from classroom instruction if their personal and psychological needs are not being met. It is simplistic to believe that a student going through a personal crisis will be able to focus on and interact with content material in the traditional way.   Jasmine Wanga addresses this in her YA novel, “My Heart and other Black Holes”. Aysel, a 16-year-old growing up in a small southern town, is convinced that her father’s prison sentence for homicide against a hometown hero is inescapable. Feeling tightly wound to the sins of her father, she sees suicide as the only option. The “black slug” inside her, which is how she refers to her depression, follows Aysel throughout the day, and creeps into the classroom. She acknowledges its presence in her English class, as she is frustrated with the seemingly petty interpretations of poets her peers. While...

Astro Teller, a Google engineer, in his 2016 TED talk on failure, highlights the necessity of failure for innovation. He claims there are two aspects that go into every dream which interplay dynamically. The first is "unchecked optimism" , which fuel our visions. The second is "enthusiastic skepticism" which breathes reality into our visions. Teller elaborates on this relationship by describing his fellow engineers procedure of "creating" and "killing" ideas inside his moonshot factory. The unchecked optimism is what generates the elaborate and revolutionary ideas. Their next step is what seems rather contradictory-- their next task is to try as hard as they can to find evidence against their ideas, thus killing the project, and moving on. This way, you get to know the flaws of a a project at the beginning, rather than in the ninth inning. This is the "enthusiastic skepticism" that Teller described earlier. Now, this may seem rath...

Hello, and welcome to my blog! My name is Maria Loughran and I am a  Secondary Education and English student at Saint Michael's College. My hobbies  include running, philosophy, rugby, and anything outdoors. Follow my blog to see all I am  learning  in becoming a teacher and helping to foster thriving minds!