McHale-Rossi,Nolan

Something I know and why I am good at it

I know how to buss/serve in an upscale restaurant as well as cater to large private parties. Three years ago, I was hired at an upscale restaurant in providence at the tender age of seventeen. This is the point where I began building critical knowledge of how to work in a restaurant under the stressful, fast-paced conditions that often accompany the restaurant industry. When I first got hired, I spent a week shadowing other workers, observing what they did as they explained to me why they were doing it. This first week I learned so much, yet there was still a lot to be learned in addition. Some of the things I needed to learn could not really be taught to me, rather they were skills I had to refine all by myself. Skills such as balancing a large number of plates, pouring from a heavy pitcher without overfilling, and vacuuming an entire restaurant in thirty minutes or less. Skills such as these could not be developed by my coworkers; they were things I had to work on myself to get better at over time. Other aspects of the job did require a good deal of teaching for me to start understanding the big picture. Prioritization was something I was a little shaky on, and only with repeated advice from my coworkers was I able to learn what I should be doing first, and why that task was top priority. I learned prioritization not just through the advice I received, but by watching others and what they did throughout the night. Over the months and years I honed these skills and as others people left and came into the bussing position, I became the designated teacher. Surprisingly, I learned a great deal by teaching others to do what I do. Teaching demanded that I have a thorough understanding of what I do, and a clear understanding of why I do it. Any uncertainties I had about the job had to be laid to rest before I could properly teach someone else. Teaching people also showed me numerous ways of doing things, and helped me to understand that there is no single 'right way' to do things; rather there are things that work for some, and alternative methods that work for others. I would say that the majority of what I learned comes from verbal advice and observation, and the rest from personal improvement and the teaching of others.

Nolan McHale EDC 102 9/21/14 My school experience vs. that of a student in SI The grade level I have chosen for my context statement is secondary school level (high school). My high school experience is hard for me to define as good or bad. My high school (Barrington High School) was a well-funded suburban school in a mostly white, upper-middle class town. From what the class has read in Savage Inequalities, it wouldn't be inaccurate to make the assumption that a well funded school in a wealthy town offered me a good education that would prepare me for college. Unfortunately, I squandered this privilege, and nearly flunked out of school my junior and senior year. Constant absenteeism is the largest reason for my shortcomings as a good student. Without my attendance, I missed the due dates of assignments as well as instruction for new assignments. In a school as academically demanding as Barrington, it did not take long for me to fall behind grade-wise. I have no valid excuse for missing so many days and failing to take advantage of the great education offered to me. It hurts to know that my mother, who was a single parent, moved us to Barrington for the sake of my education despite the costly property tax she could barely afford. My behavior can only be explained by my demeanor at the time. I was incredibly depressed and had a very poor self-image. To me, truancy was just a drop in the well of self destructive behavior. To put it simply, I didn't care. The only thing I can blame Barrington for is a lack of sincerity. The sterile, professional relationship between student and teacher made me feel as though I had no allegiance to my school, and that my school did not really care about me. I became bitter and agitated by the fact that the school boasted the highest test scores in Rhode Island yet failed to be warm and inviting on a personal level. Each year the students of Barrington High School took a survey, and on that survey was a question that asked 'how likely are you to share a personal problem with a teacher/guidance counselor?' Below this question (or some variant of this question) would be a range from 'not at all likely' to 'very likely'. The answer in my case, and the case of almost every other student, was 'not at all likely'. Despite the school's reassurance that students were free to open up with teachers, the teachers themselves did not offer this 'vibe'. I do not blame the teachers for not being as receptive as the school proclaimed. It seemed that teachers were almost afraid of the students. There were no close friendships or bonds made between teacher and student. No inside jokes or mutual understanding. Not even the slightest knowledge of our teacher's background or personality. In fairness, there were rarely any fights with teachers either. The only thing you could hate about a teacher was their class, because you would have to know your teacher personally to like or not like them. My mother is a teacher at Shea High School in Pawtucket, an underfunded urban school only twenty minutes away from Barrington. Shea is mostly black and hispanic; white kids being the minority. And though Barrington kids had the academic advantage, it seemed that Shea students were much closer to their teachers. The way my mother and other teachers have joked with students could get that same teacher fired at Barrington. The fear is not present in Shea amongst teachers like it is in Barrington, thus the teachers are not afraid to 'bust balls' and, in the process, form genuine bonds between themselves and the students. School spirit even seems to be more intimate at Shea, where the day of the pep-rally at Barrington has an air of forced enthusiasm and apathy. It comes as no surprise really, that a bitter, depressed teenager would feel no real guilt about bunking when there seemed to be no real relationship between the school and I. The school seemed to be a place I was supposed to go for seven hours, and nothing more. Barrington was soulless and bleak, not physically, but on an interpersonal level between faculty and student. We were their cash crop, nothing more. But this is no excuse for my behavior, and neither is the depression. It only serves as an explanation for what happened and why it happened...it does not make it okay. I failed my senior year, yet I graduated along with everyone else. Why? Despite the school's long winded tangents about ethics and academic honesty, Barrington had no problem changing the marks of a student so that they passed, thus upholding Barrington's enviable statistics with regards to drop-out and flunk rates. Ironic, I know, but I can't complain. I failed film studies my senior year, because film studies was first period of the day and I always came in an hour late. The course counted as an English credit, but there was no summer school offered for film studies. Failing the course would mean redoing my senior year, and I know that if they had made me repeat my senior year for something as arbitrary as film studies, I most certainly would have dropped out. Perhaps my school drew the same conclusion. In retrospect, I am grateful for their decision, even if it was less-than-honorable. My actions seem so immeasurably arrogant when I read of the plights of urban schools in Savage Inequalities. Students whose destinies have already been determined by their sub-par education. Kids in their junior year of high school with who read at the level of a fourth grader. Dreary old buildings with poorly equipped laboratories and facilities. Parents who are also the victims of a bad education do not have the money or the understanding to lift themselves and their kids out of poverty. A perpetual cycle of poverty, illiteracy, low graduation rates and low standards of living, all created by an inept and unequal system. These urban students are still feeling the ripple effects of racist systematic injustices that took place generations ago; forced to live with the repercussions. My school had a computer, clock, television, and smartboard in almost every room. The smartboards cost thousands of dollars, not to mention installation costs. The schools in SI lacked things as trivial as up-to-date textbooks and Bunsen burners. My school had one of the biggest student parking lots out of any high school in RI. Needless to say, most of the urban high school students in SI did not even have their own car. My school had perfect ventilation, cooling, and heating despite having lots of windows and skylights. Many of the schools mentioned in the book had inadequate or nonfunctioning heating/cooling systems and a lack of natural light via windows. The list could go on, but the point is that I received a better education in a better environment, and I most certainly am not more entitled to this than my urban student counterpart.

EDC 102 Class 4 understanding/summary of chapters 2 and 3 Reading chapters two and three of the FAE textbook, I could not help but to consider the philosophy of education, the current problems with education, and the possible futures of education, not just for the United States but for the world. Starting with the philosophy of education, I very much agree with the teachings of Socrates, and his use of the Socratic Method. The concept of constant questioning to extrapolate truth, to discern what we know from what we think we know. Using questions to erode what is not based on reasoning and evidence, allowing the student to continue forward on the right trajectory. This appeals to me from a logical standpoint, however this is purely opinionated. I also appreciate the concept of trivium and quadrivium which distinguishes seven overarching liberal arts. I appreciate this because I think there should be a core collection of knowledge share by the population. Of course, what is relevant and practical information and skills to the population is not a constant. What I mean is that perhaps education should reflect societal needs. From here, it is easy to digress into a discussion of government systems and culture, because these things are all interrelated. When it comes to the current problems in education (mentioned in chapter three) I feel overwhelmed. I ask myself if there is one correct way to teach. What if the correct way to teach is to teach in different ways? What are the different ways we should teach? Who decides how to teach the masses? Should the population unify or stratify when it comes to learning? I cannot answer any of these questions. Concepts like analysis of teaching and effective teaching all seemed to be laced with opinion. What if we, as a population, are moving in the ‘wrong’ direction? And this is what leads me to think of the future of education. I feel that sometimes it is advantageous to utilize technology, and technology is a rapidly evolving field, especially with regards to computers and other social media. A satirical movie by Mike Judge, Idiocracy, depicts a dystopian future United States where the population is incredibly uneducated, and society has regressed in almost all fields of understanding and knowledge. I think of the eloquent writing of Shakespeare hundreds of years ago (though many of his works could have been regarded as pulp fiction for the times) and compare this to the writing abilities of the average person today in the US. It might be unfair to compare them to Shakespeare, but I am merely trying to illustrate the idea that education seems to be declining in some ways. I firmly believe that the worth of a population is based on its education. Uneducated people are not as valuable and indispensable as educated people. This is a harsh and rather extreme statement, I know, but as Socrates once said, knowledge is virtue.

Nolan McHale 10/5/14 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">EDC 103 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Summary and understanding of Chapter 4 in the FAE textbook <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Reading chapter four of the FAE textbook made me think of education in a new light. It would seem that in the world we live in, we educate the youth on what would be considered important to the modern world. That is, teaching people what they need to know to improve the quality of their lives. But what is important; what we need to know, is subjective, and relative to the world we live in. Who should decide what needs to be taught by educators to students everywhere? Fields of study that might be considered important by some may not be considered important by others. I am a firm believer in practical, useful knowledge that has been geared towards an individual’s learning preferences and interests. I believe that people should follow through on their academic interests, and thus, educators should follow through as well. For example, a student who is interested in architecture should be learning curriculum geared towards this field. This is very similar to how the real world operates, where students receive education relevant to their field of interest. This is practical in my opinion, however this personalization of education does not really take off until college. Up until this point, a student receives virtually the same education about the same curriculum as any other student in their school. I wonder how helpful it would be if we started teaching students based on their future career interests at a much earlier age. It would be interesting to review some data that compared students who started receiving career-oriented education at an early age with students who did not to determine who was more skilled, who did better in school, etc. Logically, if the students do better on average when receiving a ‘tailored’ education that fits their needs and interests, then this method should be adopted for the good of education. It is hard to define logical thinking, but it would seem that when a concept makes logical sense, most people recognize it very easily. If the vast majority concludes that one method of teaching is better than another, I feel it is safe to assume that this conclusion was reached logically, because so many people draw their conclusions using some sort of logical process. The real issue seems to be bridging the gap, (as the chapter mentions), between principle and practice… seeing what will and will not work regarding practicality. What I was suggesting earlier seems to fall in line with the idea of prophetic thinking… that is, what should be within the context of how to teach students. It is my thought that through trial and error, and careful analysis of what works, we as a society may progress to ‘better’ ways of teaching.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Nolan McHale

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">10/20/14

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Response to reign of error and short careers

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">EDC 102

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Reading the articles, I have come to agree with the school of thought known as progressivism; an educational philosophy that emphasizes that ideas should be tested by experimentation and that learning is rooted in questions developed by the learner. This makes sense to me because it is through experimentation (trial and error) that we strip away methods that don’t work and are left with a core understanding of how we learn and thus, how we should teach. This seems to be a practical and easy way to develop the best kind of education practices. The Socratic Method also seems to be of use, which is, forming our understanding of a concept by questioning everything in order to separate what we know from what we think we know. I feel that both students and teachers should pose questions frequently so that there is a mutual understanding of a concept, and so that any confusion can be clarified. In the article reign of error, it is mentioned that personalized instruction should be utilized. Though the article is referring to the misuse of this method, I do think that when properly used personalized instruction can be very helpful. This may not be considered a school of thought, but I like the method of ‘tailoring’ an education to each student individually. One of the other schools of thought that I appreciated is called Positivism which asserts that rational statements can be explained scientifically. This seems to have its own quandary which I have wrestled with before I knew what positivism was. The issue is that opinions can be rational statements, but opinions cannot always be proven scientifically, otherwise they would be facts. I can state that education is important, which most would consider to be a rational and acceptable statement but this is still an opinion. There is no way to scientifically define what is important, and thus impossible to verify if education is important or not. But if most people conclude, logically, that education is important, then there should be evidence to support our opinion. Thus the opinion is not scientific but the evidence that supports it is, at least, this is what I have concluded and this seems to be what Positivism focuses on. In education we choose what to teach based on what is considered important, and we cannot decide what is important without Positivism. The final school of thought I wanted to mention is essentialism, which seems to go hand in hand with education. In our current education system, we teach what we feel is important and relevant to our culture/society. We are teaching the essentials and not the extraneous. This is essentialism, and I completely agree with it. It is logical to me to teach the essentials, that is, what we need to survive and thrive in our world. This seems to be the most natural approach. I compare it to a wild animal that has been conditioned to survive in a specific environment. The animal knows what it needs to know to thrive and not much else. It would not be helpful for that animal to know how to flip a coin but not how to catch food. We have a finite amount of time in our lives, and I believe we should spend it learning what we want to know and what we need to know to survive and be happy. Unfortunately we often learn things we do not need to know and don’t know things we needed to learn. Essentialism is about practicality, and nature is about practicality. In this way, I feel like we do not need to deviate from the basics. Sometimes the simplest methods are the best for us.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">11/3/14

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Nolan McHale

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">EDC 102

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Diversity in education

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the past, my experience with diversity has come from a variety of things, but mainly from my time spent as a camp counselor. I grew up in a mostly white suburb and attended a mostly white school. Because of this, most of the people I have been in contact with throughout my life have been white. My job as a camp counselor changed this dramatically. I was a camp counselor for inner city kids struggling in school (between sixth and ninth grade). Most of the kids were black or Hispanic, and had very different upbringings than me. I found it refreshing to hear different perspectives on lots of topics like raising children, religion, and the meaning of friendship. As corny as that sounds, I often forget that such concepts are not thought of in the same way, and often times different cultures have entirely different views about the same concept. When I talked with the kids, I found that many of them had close friendships that they put a lot of energy into. A sense of unconditional loyalty, and with that, a lot of secrecy. Many of the kids were religious, but in a very relaxed way. The only people I had been around prior were either not religious or very religious, almost pushy. These kids showed me that having religion does not always consume the person’s individuality, as I thought it did. Many of them also seemed a bit more mature than their suburban white counterpart. One girl discussed how she started working so that her family could afford internet. Another boy talked about how the prison system reflected the systematic racism that seems intrinsic in American culture. Though he did not know words like ‘intrinsic’ or phrases like ‘systematic racism’, he clearly understood the bigger picture from what he was saying. Unfortunately many of these kids who are very bright are not getting the proper support to keep up with the curriculum of their grade level. When I helped them with their academics, many of the kids struggled with reading and writing. This was exacerbated by the fact that many of the kids spoke English as a second language. Many of the kids at the camp were also behind in mathematics. These are some of the educational differences I noticed. Even things as trivial as food and sports were viewed with differing degrees of importance. Many of the kids were football fanatics (that’s soccer to us). Many of the girls were very keen on proper cooking and sewing, mainly because it was installed in them by their mother. Overall I thought it was intriguing to see how others think, and how what we think is shaped by our upbringing and our culture.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Chapter 11 quiz: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">

12/8/14 What Makes a High Quality Teacher?

Becoming a high quality teacher does not seem to be an easy task, especially when so much education reform has taken place president to president, year to year. Still there are some principles that stand the tests of time (and reform) when it comes to good teaching. Chapter 13 of the FAE test mentions the use of evidence based practice, meaning teaching techniques and curriculum guidelines that are based on evidence that these techniques and guidelines work best. Indeed it makes sense that the practices that yield the best results are often the best. Areas that need attention in the teaching field are addressed through the school improvement process. “The annual activities that school staff members engage in to identify and resolve shortcomings in student learning.” This is important because without identification of a problem, we cannot resolve the problem. If the problem is not resolved, things have not improved, and the teaching is no longer as high quality as it should be. I believe it is important for teachers and education professionals to communicate with each other. Teachers teaching teachers. This is actually praised in the textbook as an ideal form of improvement and I agree. A high quality teacher also exhibits certain characteristics such as parent and community involvement, continuous refinement and testing of new approaches, visionary leadership, and data-driven decision making. I find it to be really important that the teacher attempts to help students when they fall behind, and makes a meaningful connection with the class. When the teacher seems engaged and interested in the curriculum and the students, the class seems more meaningful. If I personally like the teacher, I will work harder.