Self Assessment Reflection Annotated Bibliography

Self-Assessment Reflection

1. What were your goals for yourself in writing this paper?  To what extent did you reach your goals?

In writing this bibliography I wanted to be able to gather the research on my inquiry and really be confident in what I was asking. I met my goals 100%. While I was sifting through the library resources I was able to reshape my question from what I originally thought to a more mature inquiry.

2. How did you use your time in developing this paper?  Did you use class opportunities to improve your writing?  Explain.  How did your use of time fit your goals?

I spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to do and what type of resource I wanted. I used the classroom example of the annotated to bibliography to guide me thru the process. I never wrote a work like this so I didn’t know how to even go about starting this work. I spent 5 hours at the library finding book and internet sources to aid me in my inquiry and I found an abundance of sources that ask the same question that I am.

3. How did you see your writing changing?  Did you take advantage of the responses from your peers?  Explain how you worked with your peers?

My writing didn’t change. I never wrote a piece like this before so I had no prior experience with this type of writing. My responses from my classmates did help me ask questions to further push my thinking. Each one of my peers as well as myself read through our writing and gave constructive feedback on how to better the work.

4. Who else contributed to your paper’s success?  Explain their role?

Megan contributed to the success of my paper. She showed me how to write this type of work and I was then able to use hers as a guide for mine.

5. What have you learned about yourself as a writer? What did you learn from others?

I learned that I am afraid of new techniques and types of works unless I can see a perfect example at the beginning. I need to see the end result of what someone wants in order for me to accomplish it and possibly enhance the method.

6. What was the hardest part of writing this paper?  Explain.  What was the easiest part? Explain.  Where did you take risks?  Explain.

The Hardest part of this paper was starting it off. Once I was able to start the summary the rest of the paper flowed. The easiest was sharing how I was going to use the article in my work. I also found it difficult at first to differentiate the summary from the analysis.

7. What parts of your paper are you proudest of?  Why?

I am honestly most proud of the citations. I have never been able to cite a work correctly prior to this assignment. This assignment forced me to finally learn the correct way to cite a source and do research on it.

8. What parts of your paper still need improvement?  Why?  How did you attempt to make these improvements before you turned the paper in?

I am pretty confident in the paper. The only place I can see room for improvement is in the questions that were raised. I feel that because a majority of my sources were government statistics and unbiased that no questions really could have been raised. I tried to think about the results and ponder why they were what they were.

9. Explain your writing process from brainstorming to now.

I first started off by searching terms on the library search system and then finding a source that lead me to a new search term and then I would find a source that was closely tied to the previous. This allowed me to keep my sources similar and also provided me with information in a timely and efficient manner. Now I am complete with the Annotated Bibliography and need to focus on the dialogue.

Annotated Bibliography Draft Two

Gray, Lucinda, Nina Thomas, Laurie Lewis, and Peter Tice. Teachers' Use of Educational

Technology in U.s. Public Schools, 2009: First Look. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Dept. of Education, 2010. Internet resource.

In this article the National Center for Education Statistics enlisted 4,133 full-time teachers in 2,005 public schools in the 50 states and Columbia to partake in a questionnaire about different technologies and how they use them in their classrooms. The survey was broken up into 10 specific topics such as “Number of computers located in the teacher’s classrooms every day and number that can be brought into the classroom”, “Availability and frequency of use for computers and other technology devices during instructional time” and “Types of software and Internet sites used by teachers for classroom preparation, instruction, and administrative tasks” to name a few.

The National Center for Education Statistics has taken a survey like this every year from 1995 (excluding 2004), with the adoption of new technologies. These questionnaires allow one to group and analyze data from either year to year, or allow one to see a more broad evolution.  The “Selected Findings” portion let one see the most noticeable statistics from the year and compiles them to allow for the reader to see what lies within the additional text. The article is designed to catch a readers’ eye, they use bullet points for important statistics and then paragraphs to explain what was asked and what the purpose of the question was. The use of tables allows for one to see answers based on a multitude of subject areas; community type, teacher experience, % of students eligible for free/reduced lunch, etc.

After sifting through the pages of charts, tables, and statistics I was able to see that I could use this article in more than one way. This article allows me to have hard evidence that is unarguable to use. In knowing that I have records that date back to 1995, I now have the ability to compare how teachers taught with technology back then and in this day and age. I am left with a question as to why there wasn’t a study done in 2004.

·         “Ninety-seven percent of teachers had one or more computers located in the classroom every day, while 54 percent could bring computers into the classroom (table 1). Internet access was available for 93 percent of the computers located in the classroom every day and for 96 percent of the computers that could be brought into the classroom. The ratio of students to computers in the classroom every day was 5.3 to 1.” (13)

·         Teachers sometimes or often used the following for instructional or administrative purposes: word processing software (96 percent), spreadsheets and graphing programs (61 percent), software for managing student records (80 percent), software for making presentations (63 percent), and the Internet (94 percent) (table 6).” (13)

·         The percentage of teachers that reported that the following activities prepared them (to a moderate or major extent) to make effective use of educational technology for instruction are 61 percent for professional development activities, 61 percent for training provided by school staff responsible for technology support and/or integration, and 78 percent for independent learning (table 9).” (14)

McIntyre, Beverly Kesler. "Teachers' Beliefs and Practices regarding the Role of Technology in

Literacy Instruction: A Mixed Methods Study." The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2011. United States -- North Carolina: ProQuest. Web. 26 Mar. 2013.

           

Beverly McIntyre wrote this dissertation to partially fulfill the requirements to obtain her Doctorate in Philosophy in Curricular and Instruction. She wrote her dissertation on teacher’s beliefs and practices regarding the role of technology in literacy instruction. She did a broad study at first and then honed in and did an in-depth study in three teachers to see what role technology played. Throughout the dissertation she explains what she defines technology as and then goes through and talks about what she witnessed in each classroom regarding the integration of technology and how it affected the teacher’s instruction to the class. She breaks it down into 7 chapters, each leading into the next. The first three chapters are each teacher and their beliefs on technology, as well as how they use it, and then how that teachers beliefs were portrayed in class.

            McIntyre took a general survey based on technology and then narrowed it down to three teachers. This allows her to really analyze each case and having three teachers allows her to get enough data to formulate a conclusion. Having each teacher be of a different technology class, meaning one frequent user, one moderate user, and one infrequent user, allows her to see what commonalities each has and if technology can be implemented to ease outside pressures and be on a level of common understanding with students.   McIntyre remains unbiased throughout the entirety of the portion I read; using just her findings to illustrate points and gather enough data to formulate and accurate statement.    

            The article was a key piece to my inquiry project. McIntyre asked the almost the same question I am asking, her dissertation not only afforded me valuable insight and facts, but leads me to addition sources. I plan on using her dissertation as one of my most heavily used sources due to the fact our inquiries are so closely tied. I want to know more about the teachers she researched and if three was enough to be able to make a strong connection between technology and teaching.

·         “…technology use in the teachers’ literacy instruction was influenced by such factors as their pedagogical beliefs, perceived administrative support, the amount and type of professional development teachers received, the ease of access to technology, perceived barriers to technology integration, and teachers’ attitudes towards technology.” (4)

·         “The current generation is now referred to as digital natives because they are born into the digital age” (16)

·         “Of teens aged 12 – 17, 93% use the Internet daily, 55% maintain profiles on social etworking sites such as Facebook or MySpace, and 89% report holding virtual conversations which stem from online posts of photos. Of the 55% who use social networking sites, 42% of them also maintain blogs, 70% read others’ blogs, and 76% post comments on either the blogs or social networking sites of their friends. Teen usage of the Internet is growing rapidly. Just two years prior, only 90% of the same aged teens were Internet users and seven years prior only 76% of those teens used the Internet (Lenhart, Madden, & Hitlin, 2005).” (16)

Pedró, Francesc. Connected Minds: Technology and Today’s Learners. OECD Publishing,2012. Print.

            Pedró writes about how technology isn’t about the device itself or the person using it. It is about the connectedness of the individual with the technology and the rest of the world. He goes and speaks about the different decades and how Information Technology (IT) started out in the 80’s as knowledge of computers and word processing, then to the early 90’s with DVD’s and flash discs, to the mid 90’s in to today where IT encompasses all technology and how it interacts with the world. Pedró separates the book in to three chapters that focus on three categories: making the case for NML (New Millennium Learners), contrasting hypothesis with empirical data, and drawing implications for policy, practice and research.

            In writing this book, Pedró shares his bias towards technology and explains where we as a society came from and how we got where we are now. In “Connected Minds”  he explains that technology is creating and expanding existing processes through the means of Information, from production to access, from accumulation to sharing; Services, be they are commercial or free, public or private; and People, so as to reinforce existing social networks or to be incorporated into new ones. He strays from the topic of education and focuses more on the Global perspective and how we as one world need to afford every person the ability to “plug in”.

            I liked the book, but am unable to use major parts of it due to the fact that he strays from education to a more global perspective. I was able to find good facts and findings that I can use to reinforce my findings in other sources.  I was left wondering about the globalization of technology and how we as the human race connected with one another.

·         “Technological change has made the state of being connected, or not, far more important today for the economy, for society, and for individuals than the vast array of technology…” (16)

·         “Being connected does not necessarily translate into immediate benefits.” (17)

·         “The emerging knowledge economy, so permeated by technology, not only transforms businesses but also shapes the labour market by having an impact on skill demands.” (35)

Lanahan, Lawrence, and Janet Boysen. Computer Technology in the Public School Classroom:

Teacher Perspectives. Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, 2005. Internet resource.

           

This Article is sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics and is about technology within a public school system classroom from the teachers perspective. It covers the 2000-2001 school year and was published in 2005. This article asks a few simple questions such as, “Which types of classroom technology do teachers consider to be essential?” and “Do teachers feel technology is sufficiently available in their classrooms. This article is short but full of information. There are bar graphs that allow one to see which technologies were available to the masses and which technology was limited to a lucky few.

            This is a very cut and dry piece. There isn’t any room for bias. Because the article was administered and published by the National Center for Education Statistics, they take the data gathered and lay it out for one to see, the positive and the negative. Being that there is no bias, one has the ability to use the data in either as a positive or negative re-enforcer or as just a filler fact.

            I plan on using this article to supplement facts about the early 2000s and how the technology has changed from 1995 to 2000 to 2010-2013. This article allows compiling from multiple years with the same question being asked. I am able to go and find each year’s data and use the questions that were asked year after year to paint a picture of the change in the technology and the lesson plans. I am left wondering how many teachers in which states were asked to participate in the survey. I feel that the results will vary depending on which socioeconomic group the schools located in.

·         “From 1994 to 2002, the percentage of public schools with access to the Internet increased from 35 to 99 percent”

·         “Of the teachers who considered themselves “reasonably familiar and comfortable with using computers,” 60 percent agreed that technology was sufficiently available in their classrooms, compared with 48 percent of those who did not report being “reasonably familiar and comfortable with using computers””

·         “35 percent of teachers reported presentation software (e.g., PowerPoint) as essential. The items least frequently reported as essential were multimedia authoring programs (e.g., HyperCard), full page scanners, and video cameras (21 percent, 20 percent, and 18 percent, respectively).”

Unleashing the Potential of Educational Technology. Washington, D.C.: Executive Office of the

 President, Council of Economic Advisers, 2011. Internet resource.

           

This article comes from the Executive Office of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and talks about how technology in schools is the key to improving our students. The article talks about how technologies differ from region to region because of producer’s ability to spread the tech across wide areas unless they are the largest suppliers in the country. It talks about how because each state ha different standards that technology is needed differently in different states but because of Common Core State Standards, technology is now in need of a wider spread to allow for states to hit the same standards.  It goes on to talk about the US in a global scale and then about the five largest school districts in our country and the expenditures per student.

The article spends a lot of time on talking about Common Core Standards and how with each state jumping on board allows for technologies to penetrate fragmented markets and allows them to become one. This is easing tension of school districts to get better tech. The tech is becoming more wide spread and cheaper which allows for districts to be able to buy more of the tech and implement its use.

            I plan on using this article to explain the importance of technology in schools and how teachers aren’t always the ones to blame for lack of use. Some districts can’t afford new tech or if they can they can’t afford to buy every teacher one to use therefore some students are receiving a tweaked instruction method. This article doesn’t leave with any questions that haven’t been able to be answered further on in the article. It is set up to ask a question and then explain both sides of the argument within the following paragraph.   

·         “Educational technology holds the promise of substantially improving outcomes for K-12

Students”

·         “The spread of broadband Internet and Common Core State Standards have improved the landscape for educational technologies, but these factors alone are likely insufficient for a “game changing” advance.”

·         “The Internet is a standardized and widely understood platform, making it possible for sellers to develop scalable products that almost any purchaser could employ without the need to purchase specialized hardware or equipment.”

Annotated Bibliography Draft 1

Gray, Lucinda, Nina Thomas, Laurie Lewis, and Peter Tice. Teachers' Use of Educational Technology in U.s. Public Schools, 2009: First Look. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Dept. of Education, 2010. Internet resource.

In this article the National Center for Education Statistics enlisted 4,133 full-time teachers in 2,005 public schools in the 50 states and Columbia to partake in a questionnaire about different technologies and how they use them in their classrooms. The survey was broken up into 10 specific topics such as “Number of computers located in the teacher’s classrooms every day and number that can be brought into the classroom”, “Availability and frequency of use for computers and other technology devices during instructional time” and “Types of software and Internet sites used by teachers for classroom preparation, instruction, and administrative tasks” to name a few.

The National Center for Education Statistics has taken a survey like this every year from 1995 (excluding 2004), with the adoption of new technologies. These questionnaires allow one to group and analyze data from either year to year, or allow one to see a more broad evolution.  The “Selected Findings” portion let one see the most noticeable statistics from the year and compiles them to allow for the reader to see what lies within the additional text. The article is designed to catch a readers’ eye, they use bullet points for important statistics and then paragraphs to explain what was asked and what the purpose of the question was. The use of tables allows for one to see answers based on a multitude of subject areas; community type, teacher experience, % of students eligible for free/reduced lunch, etc.

After sifting through the pages of charts, tables, and statistics I was able to see that I could use this article in more than one way. This article allows me to have hard evidence that is unarguable to use. In knowing that I have records that date back to 1995, I now have the ability to compare how teachers taught with technology back then and in this day and age.

·         “Ninety-seven percent of teachers had one or more computers located in the classroom every day, while 54 percent could bring computers into the classroom (table 1). Internet access was available for 93 percent of the computers located in the classroom every day and for 96 percent of the computers that could be brought into the classroom. The ratio of students to computers in the classroom every day was 5.3 to 1.” (13)

·         Teachers sometimes or often used the following for instructional or administrative purposes: word processing software (96 percent), spreadsheets and graphing programs (61 percent), software for managing student records (80 percent), software for making presentations (63 percent), and the Internet (94 percent) (table 6).” (13)

·         The percentage of teachers that reported that the following activities prepared them (to a moderate or major extent) to make effective use of educational technology for instruction are 61 percent for professional development activities, 61 percent for training provided by school staff responsible for technology support and/or integration, and 78 percent for independent learning (table 9).” (14)

McIntyre, Beverly Kesler. "Teachers' Beliefs and Practices regarding the Role of Technology in Literacy Instruction: A Mixed Methods Study." The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2011. United States -- North Carolina: ProQuest. Web. 26 Mar. 2013.

            Beverly McIntyre wrote this dissertation to partially fulfill the requirements to obtain her Doctorate in Philosophy in Curricular and Instruction. She wrote her dissertation on teacher’s beliefs and practices regarding the role of technology in literacy instruction. She did a broad study at first and then honed in and did an in-depth study in three teachers to see what role technology played. Throughout the dissertation she explains what she defines technology as and then goes through and talks about what she witnessed in each classroom regarding the integration of technology and how it affected the teacher’s instruction to the class. She breaks it down into 7 chapters, each leading into the next. The first three chapters are each teacher and their beliefs on technology, as well as how they use it, and then how that teachers beliefs were portrayed in class.

            McIntyre took a general survey based on technology and then narrowed it down to three teachers. This allows her to really analyze each case and having three teachers allows her to get enough data to formulate a conclusion. Having each teacher be of a different technology class, meaning one frequent user, one moderate user, and one infrequent user, allows her to see what commonalities each has and if technology can be implemented to ease outside pressures and be on a level of common understanding with students.   McIntyre remains unbiased throughout the entirety of the portion I read; using just her findings to illustrate points and gather enough data to formulate and accurate statement.    

            The article was a key piece to my inquiry project. McIntyre asked the almost the same question I am asking, her dissertation not only afforded me valuable insight and facts, but leas me to addition sources. I plan on using her dissertation as one of my most heavily used sources due to the fact our inquiries are so closely tied.

·         “…technology use in the teachers’ literacy instruction was influenced by such factors as their pedagogical beliefs, perceived administrative support, the amount and type of professional development teachers received, the ease of access to technology, perceived barriers to technology integration, and teachers’ attitudes towards technology.” (4)

·         “The current generation is now referred to as digital natives because they are born into the digital age” (16)

·         “Of teens aged 12 – 17, 93% use the Internet daily, 55% maintain profiles on social etworking sites such as Facebook or MySpace, and 89% report holding virtual conversations which stem from online posts of photos. Of the 55% who use social networking sites, 42% of them also maintain blogs, 70% read others’ blogs, and 76% post comments on either the blogs or social networking sites of their friends. Teen usage of the Internet is growing rapidly. Just two years prior, only 90% of the same aged teens were Internet users and seven years prior only 76% of those teens used the Internet (Lenhart, Madden, & Hitlin, 2005).” (16)

Pedró, Francesc. Connected Minds: Technology and Today’s Learners. OECD Publishing,2012. Print.

            Pedró writes about how technology isn’t about the device itself or the person using it. It is about the connectedness of the individual with the technology and the rest of the world. He goes and speaks about the different decades and how Information Technology (IT) started out in the 80’s as knowledge of computers and word processing, then to the early 90’s with DVD’s and flash discs, to the mid 90’s in to today where IT encompasses all technology and how it interacts with the world. Pedró separates the book in to three chapters that focus on three categories: making the case for NML (New Millennium Learners), contrasting hypothesis with empirical data, and drawing implications for policy, practice and research.

            In writing this book, Pedró shares his bias towards technology and explains where we as a society came from and how we got where we are now. In “Connected Minds”  he explains that technology is creating and expanding existing processes through the means of Information, from production to access, from accumulation to sharing; Services, be they are commercial or free, public or private; and People, so as to reinforce existing social networks or to be incorporated into new ones. He strays from the topic of education and focuses more on the Global perspective and how we as one world need to afford every person the ability to “plug in”.

            I liked the book, but am unable to use major parts of it due to the fact that he strays from education to a more global perspective. I was able to find good facts and findings that I can use to reinforce my findings in other sources.  

·         “Technological change has made the state of being connected, or not, far more important today for the economy, for society, and for individuals than the vast array of technology…” (16)

·         “Being connected does not necessarily translate into immediate benefits.” (17)

·         “The emerging knowledge economy, so permeated by technology, not only transforms businesses but also shapes the labour market by having an impact on skill demands.” (35)

Dialogic Journal

Active Reading

I tried to export the document however it wanted me to pay and then then annotations wouldnt show up. Here is what i highlighted and then the last two pictures are what each highlight means.

Conference Reflection

Conference Reflection

Today I had my conference with Megan and three other classmates. My initial idea for the inquiry project was how technology has changed students and teachers. That was a very broad topic and I knew that going into the conference. I wanted some help from my group and Megan in order to hone in on a more detailed topic so I can delve into the research in depth and with great focus.

1)      I received a lot of feedback and advice regarding my inquiry topic.  My topic started off being very broad and I had a myriad of directions I could have taken it. The first piece of advice I was given that I could focus on the mental development of the students. I loved that idea but it didn’t pertain to education in a specific way so then the idea was thrown in that I can use mental development but that I also needed to have an additional part of the question that brought in education. The question was raised if technology is a “crutch” or does it allow for more advanced development than without it. The next piece of advice that was brought up was watching 60 Minutes, TEDtalks, or listen to NPR to get some in depth facts on the subject matter.

2)      The most helpful piece of advice I received was to take two time periods of students and take the technology that was available at the time and see how students were taught information. I liked this because the course material has been the same for decades in schools, but the methods of teaching them have changed with advances in technology. I want to now ask this question and find out how the different methods effected cognitive development.

3)      The least helpful piece of information I received was thinking of technology as a crutch. It is a very good idea that made me push my thinking but the other advice I received was more beneficial to the development of my inquiry.

4)      I felt that the conference was definitely beneficial. I liked getting other people’s feedback and ideas outside of my inquiry group. My inquiry group is awesome but we have been reviewing each other’s work for half a semester and I can kind of guess what each member will hit on. Having these different groups allowed for new ideas from different perspectives. This group also helped me hone in on what I specifically wanted to ask. They helped me formulated my question so I now am able to start my research.

5)      All of my questions did get answered and then some. Questions I didn’t really think about or know I wanted answered got answered.

6)      I now am able to start researching and gathering all of my information. I am going to start at the library and find a book and a few articles from experts in both the technology and education fields. I plan on finding a few TEDtalks that will further push on my ideas as well as lend me facts to use in my paper. 

Proposal

Dear Megan,

I have always been interested in technology and how it being in schools affects students. I want to know how technology has changed what students learn and different methods they use now. I have some theories as to what technology has done to students and I look forward to researching more on it. One thing that I want to find is how technology has effected standardize test scores. I want to know if SAT and ACT scores have gone up or down due to the avenues technology has allowed us to use. I want to see if technology has “dumbed” down students. I know that English and language arts have suffered due to computers and the advances of word processing programs. I would like to see facts and statistics regarding student’s English abilities from today’s students and from students of the early 90’s.

            Moving past the English topic I want to then look at other subjects. I want to look into digital dissections and whether or not they truly give the student the same experience as a hand on demonstration. When it comes to subjects like math, I want to know how graphing calculators and smart boards have changed what and how teachers are teaching. How did students in the 80’s and 90’s solve derivatives and integrals without the calculators of today? I know that I was never taught how to solve these by hand and to rely solely on my TI-89. I know that it hindered my ability to expand my critical thinking abilities and I want to know how it affected other students of today.  

            When I start my inquiry project I want to start off with a simple search. I will search for technology in schools and what impact it has had in student development. I am not taking a side in this, I want to see the pros and the cons and just be able to bear witness to the information. I really want to see how technology has improved my generation of students but also want to know what our shortcomings are and pitfalls due to the technology we take for granted.

            I will possibly look at other developing nations that have a strong educational system and see how they are taught without all of the technology we have. I know that there are other countries that have education system that rival, and some surpass that of the United States. I want to understand the how and why, not just the who and where.

            I plan on starting my research at the library by gathering books, and articles written by experts in the education field. I then plan on compiling the data in to two or three categories and then I will start to draw my own conclusions.  

            Overall, my question is simple, How has technology affected, in both a positive and negative way, the development of students in today’s society?

Sincerely,

            Joshua Antonious

            

Exploratory Essay 2nd Draft

After reviewing the pieces we have read over the course of the semester thus far, three articles jumped out to me with one large connection. “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work”, “What is a 21^st Century Liberal Education”, and “Montessori Education – American Montessori Society” all focus on students and how they are taught/ how they learn. Two of the articles discuss certain styles of educating students while the third focuses on the social class structure and how that effects the differentiation of education.

The first thread that I noticed was that the environments in which students learns and develop. The author of “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of work”, Jean Anyon writes about the differences in the classes of schools and how they operate and how they go about teaching the students. Anyon speaks of the elite class, saying that they are designed to “develop one’s analytical intellectual powers.” (Jean Anyon, Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work) This is a key concept that the Montessori education system has nearly mastered. “It is a view of the child as one who is naturally eager for knowledge and capable of initiating learning in a supportive, thoughtfully prepared learning environment.” (American Montessori Society AMS, Montessori Educaiton) This quote sums up the basis of the Montessori Education system. The environment these students are fostered in is designed to harbor creative freedom as well as the ability to self-teach and grow as an individual. They allow the students to have a “learning triangle” made up of the student, teacher, and learning environment.  “.. younger children learn from older children; older children reinforce their learning by teaching concepts they have already mastered.”(AMS, Montessori Education) When Montessori schools allows students to teach they are empowering the students, thus allowing for their intellectual potential to reach its peak. When an individual can teacher another a piece of information it not only allows for the person receiving the information a new insight on a topic, but also allows the person who taught the material to further mature the knowledge in their mind. Now of course, the system isn’t perfect. In order for a student to be successful at a Montessori school they need to be driven, capable of critical thinking, and the ability to lead others. Not all students in these schools have these imperative qualities, nor can they be taught through years of schooling; they must be born with them. The Montessori Education system is providing students with the environment to reach their full potential.

 For those students that don’t have an option or qualifications to go to a Montessori school, they are still able to find environments that nurture their potential and teach the valuable qualities that ensure a successful future. I personally have always gone to a liberal education school based in an elite class ecosystem. I was fortunate enough to receive a Montessori, Liberal Education mix. I loved having a general knowledge of the world but a more intimate relationship with the subjects that sparked my interest developed my yearning for knowledge.

After reading about articles and realizing that the learning environment is one of the most crucial elements to a student’s success, I am left wondering, why haven’t all schools adopted a hybrid of Montessori and Liberal Education models? Why is it that only select student’s get to have a Montessori education, and that a vast majority of students must wait until college to receive a full liberal education system? It seems pointless to have a public education system that doesn’t allow each and every student to reach the pinnacle of their intellectual abilities. If the public education system was able to teach a full liberal education to every student then every student would need college and then a college degree would hold the same weight as it did 20 years ago. A degree wouldn’t be a necessity for an entry level position any more. Had education today be a mixed system then Anyon’s comment of “...schools in wealthy communities are better than those in poor communities.” (Anyon, Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work) then class distinction would ultimately not matter.

The next theme, which stood out more than any other, was that of being socially responsible. In each article, they talk about social responsibility regarding the student. From a young age, every student in every school, across every social class, has a preconceived notion of what they are going to amount to in their lives.  “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” goes in depth into what each child is expected to achieve based on what socioeconomic group in which they are a part of. Anyon made a very clear distinction of how each “wider word” (What is a 21^st Century Liberal Education, Association of America Colleges and university, AACU) subject was taught in each social class. A child that is raised in a working class family is only taught simple punctuation and rarely can make educational decisions, due to the fact the teacher makes them all for the students, because they are not looked at as being able to overcome the social stigma placed on them and better themselves for a successful future. Whereas the Affluent Professional Schools and the Elite Schools, are automatically pushed to be the best they can be. According to the article “What is a 21^st Century Liberal Education?” written by the AACU, liberal education is “...an approach to learning that empowers individuals and prepare them to deal with complexity, diversity, and change.” Liberal Educations model are typically used in the Affluent Professional and Elite classes as well as institutions for higher learning. This model of education is where “…students develop a sense of social responsibility.” (What is a 21^st Century Liberal Education, AACU) They are taught to inquire, to ask questions, and politely dismiss a classmate’s query if it is deemed incorrect, not that there is one concrete answer to only be found in a textbook. The teacher is merely there to steer their thinking and inquiries in the right direction. Anyon, regarding Affluent Professional Schools, states that “The students are continually asked to express and apply ideas and concepts.”(Anyon, Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work) This shows that students, depending on what class they are in, either are allowed to have their own voice, or have to merely follow the decisions made by the teacher.

 This country was founded on freedom of speech and freedom of expression, yet schools are the one place where those rights are suppressed and where those that express themselves are punished. Why is that? Why is it okay to tell a child they are wrong for what they say or do, and to punish them for wanting to go about learning a different way? I now see why having a liberal education is limited to college students and very few affluent and elite class schools. College students are deemed more mature and capable of holding intellectual conversations, whereas secondary education students, for the most part, aren’t deemed eligible. Every student is capable of achieving higher intellectual learning then their class reckons them able to. That is why those students go off to college; to increase their knowledge base. Why not just allow them to take more rigorous courses at a younger age? 

A big connection that I was able to see was that of the teacher. The teachers in each class system fit to their school. Anyon shares the thought of a Working- Class teacher; she says “Simple punctuation is all they’ll ever use.” She is already capping the knowledge taught to the children based on assumptions that they won’t amount to anything more than what their parents already are. Anyon makes a good point regarding the teachers and how they just state facts and steps without any reasoning of thought provoking questions, “Nor was there any attempt to relate the steps to an actual or possible thought process of the children.” (Anyon, Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work) Whereas in the Affluent Professional School when they learn about hieroglyphics, they write letters to a child in another class in cuneiform to be able to apply the knowledge they just learned to the real world and are forced to think about the information in new ways. This method comes from the Montessori education system where the student, “…begins the application of his knowledge to real-world experiences.” (AMS, Montessori Education) Teachers in the Elite class take teaching to a whole new level. When the Working Class teacher went about teaching the students about two-digit division the teacher gave them the steps and made them write them down. When her students were confused she simply said, “…It’s the same steps over and over again.” (Anyon, Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work)  When the Elite class was taught about two-digit division they were taught it as “a decision-making process” (Anyon, Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of work) where the teacher would ask questions to a specific student, in which she called by his first name. Having the students think about the “how” instead of the “what” allows for advancement in cognitive development at an increased rate.  

After analyzing the three articles I am left with a few questions. If they, the students, aren’t nurtured to reach their fullest potential then why are we wasting millions of dollars on a sub-par education system and teachers that place caps on a student’s intellectual level based on their social class? Who should be held responsible for the lack of cognitive development of these students?   And why does this country put a label on a student before they are even given the chance to prove they are different? These questions are of great interest to me and I fail to understand how these have not been raised by others in society that has the ability to change the system.