Orientation at Arts High School

I am still in awe of everything I have seen today. I still can not stop talking about Arts and everything I have seen there. My boyfriend could no longer sit and listen to me talk. I have to say Art completely changed any preconceived notions I had of Newark and their public school system.

My Expectations

I have to admit I was not expecting much from Arts. I have spent some time in Newark and the surrounding towns because my boyfriend went to Seton Hall University. I never thought it was the nicest neighborhood. I didn't think Arts would be anything special. However, I was sadly mistaken. Arts High School and its student blew me away. It just shows you that making assumptions is not alway the best thing to do.

My Visit

I was not to sure of how to get to Arts so I decided to follow Dr. Goldstein. When I arrived at Arts I did not think it was anything special. The neighborhood looked nice but the building didn't look like anything special. However, as soon as I walked into Arts, I knew Arts was a special place. We were greeted by students and with friendly and inviting faces and escorted by other students to the auditorium. Waiting in the auditorium had to be the worst part of the trip. It was very cold in there.

After a few minutes of waiting Dr. Brown greeted us introduced the vice principle. We then here from a few teachers and Dr. Brown addressed us again. She truly seemed to love what she does. She took much pride in her school and her students. She also seemed to truly want to help us, as future teachers. I am very impressed from what I seem from Arts. The students who talked to us were also very enthusiastic about Arts. They both stated that they loved coming to school. That says a lot about a school.

I was also impressed with what I saw on the student given tour. We walked through the school and stepped in on a few classes. It was a unique atmosphere, unlike anything I have ever seen in a high school. The students honestly seemed to be engaged, enthusiastic, and motivated. There was full participation going on in all the classrooms I walked into. We walked into a dance class of students practicing a routine, a drama class running through lines, and a history class engaged in a debate. The students were willing to talk to us and answer any questions we had. They were all very helpful.

Reaction

I have to say this is probably the best experience I have had so far on my path to becoming an educator. Arts changed all the assumptions about Newark and urban schools all together. I am very excited to get back there for my first observation. I think it will teach me a lot. I am in love with Arts. I am not even in any field involving fine arts but I would love to teach at Arts or a school like it one day.

My Inquiry Project

I am very excited to be starting this project. It seems like a good opportunity and learning experience. When we first were assigned this project I had so many ideas running through my head. It was even hard to sort through them and work them all out. It took me a long time, and much editing, but I finally came to the question.

I am a history major and I am very passionate about one day becoming a high school history teacher. I wanted to pose a question that would be meaningful to me, but also supply me with useful concepts and knowledge. I wanted it to provide me with practices I COULD ACTUALLY USE in the classroom. I think that my inquiry question will do that.

Inquiry Question:
What factors contribute to and enhance a student's historical understanding, thinking, and engagement.

I think that my inquiry project will have a profound impact on the future of my teaching career. The knowledge I gain through this inquiry could be the difference between me being a marginal teacher and being a great educator. If I can discover methods and guild lines for getting students engaged, and I am successful at doing it in my teaching, it would be striking gold. I really think this is the best inquiry question for my needs and field. I know it is going to be an amazing experience.

Subjectivity Activity and How it Will Help Me

Assignment:
Conduct an ethnographic study of a location

Location:
Quad between University Hall and Dickson Hall

This activity taught me a useful lesson in subjectivity. I went to my location and tried to record everything I saw but only what I actually saw. I did not write about anything that might be objective. This helped me to avoid making assumptions. This activity will really help me when I am doing my observations at Art. I can avoid making assumptions and skewing my data if i keep this activity and the concept of subjectivity in mind. If I am not subjective while collecting data it will not be very actuate. If I fail to remain subjective all of my work could be compromised.

Parker Piece

Parker Response

“An idiot is suicidal in a certain way, definitely self-defeating; for the idiot does not know that privacy and individual autonomy are entirely dependant on the community.”

In American society people have become extremely self absorbed. Over consumption and greed are moving our citizens towards idiocy. Many Americans have lost their sense of community. A large percentage of Americans don’t even vote. In order to strengthen the democracy in which we live, we need to change our concept of community. As future teachers, this is something we can start to do in our classrooms, with our own students.

According to Parker, “puberty is the transition to public life”. Puberty is seen as a time for individuals to grown and shift from idiocy into the public sphere. As a future high school teacher I will be surrounded by adolescence going through this change in life. This is a crucial time in the development of teens. They discover their responsibilities and their role in society and democratic life. It will be one of my responsibilities to ensure that they develop into involved citizens. In order to maintain the freedom and liberty in which they live they must be active citizens. “idiots are idiotic precisely because they are indifferent to the conditions and contexts of their own freedom”.

According to Parker, schools are on the right path to educating for citizenship but they are not entirely there yet. As a future teacher I will have the ability to educate for citizenship. In my opinion, this can be done by instilling the values of democracy in your students with the activities and lessons you do in class. You can plan lessons to include the values of democratic life. Getting your students to participate in an activity that could impact the entire community is a perfect way to do this. If you can get a student to cause real change in the community you may be able to teach them the importance of democracy, community, and citizenship. You can fight idiocy in America by simply starting in your own classroom. This is after all the best place to start and will most likely bring about the most change in our society.

Education for Democracy

"The free common school system is the most American thing about America." -Adlai Stevenson

Before the time of Horace Mann there was no real system of public education. Our country could not go on without finding a way to educate the citizens of America. Great Americans, like Horace Mann and Thomas Jefferson, knew that in order to maintain a democracy we would have to have well educated citizens. Mann once said that schools had the ability to be great equalizers. Mann made huge contributions to public education in America. He believed every child should have equal access to education and materials. He also wanted conformity in schools. He wanted all schools to have the same things.

As time went on the focus of schools changed. As more and more immigrants came in our population was becoming more diverse. Our schools leaders thought that it was now important to Americanize our students. They now believed that the focus of schools was to assimilate these immigrant children into American society. Schools were where these children learned the customs, practices, and ideals of American life.

Between schools being seen as a way to educate youths for a democracy and for assimilations, they really are the most American thing about America. They are the places children learned about democracy and how to be an American. You can’t get more American than that.