Ben+Richter

Benjamin Richter

Expertise Statement

 Last inning of the game, trying to clinch a playoff spot in what has seemed like a dream summer season. We are winning 1-0 against a very talented team, and we only needed three outs to secure a playoff spot. I had pitched the entire game up until then and came out in the last inning ready to win the game. Unfortunately, I am only human and made a mistake, I threw a bad pitch and the first hitter of the inning hit a triple. Now there were no outs, the tying run 90 feet away, and the 2, 3, and 4 hitters coming up in the order (In baseball those are typically the best hitters). It was not an easy task ahead of me, but yet for some reason I could not have been more excited. Fly out to the shortstop, one out. The next hitter strikes out, two outs, one more out needed. I remember the next series of events very clearly. The first pitch I threw got past our catcher and the runner on third base came running for home. I went to cover the plate; the catcher threw the ball right as the runner was getting there. The runner went to jump over me to try and avoid the tag, I tagged him but the umpire didn’t see it. As a result he missed home plate. I went to dive to tag him and again and he went to dive for home plate. I tagged him first and he was out. We had made the playoffs. We went on to win the championship that summer.  When you consider yourself an expert at something, you tend to have some vivid memories about it. I have many good and bad memories of myself pitching. The reason why I consider myself an expert though is because I could not only do it myself, but I could teach others how to do it. Pitching is the one thing, it didn’t matter on my mood, and it would just take my mind off of things and made me forget about life’s hardships. Whether it was just throwing to my dad out in the yard, or throwing in an actual game, I always loved it.  Pitching did not come easy to me by any means. I was not one of those kids who has been pitching there whole life and have succeeded at it at all times. I did not get a chance to pitch in a game until my seventh year of playing baseball, when I was 12 years old. I have a brother who is seven years older than me and he was also a pitcher, and was quite a good one I might add. When I was younger I really wanted to be like him. Always watching him pitch gave me this determination, which is why I never quit and practiced until finally I got my chance.  The way I became an expert was by watching, listening, and working hard. I would watch my brother perform well and that’s what gave me the desire to do it myself one day. I listened to whoever would give me advice. Whether it was my brother, my dad, a coach, or anyone, I would listen. Lastly, it was hard work that went into me becoming an expert pitcher. I would go to pitching coaches and just try to become better each time. I would go even before I had pitched in a game; I just had such a desire to be on the mound.  I continued to pitch from ages from 12-20. Over the course of those eight years I feel I have become an expert. I feel as if I am able to offer a lot now to others when giving advice as a pitcher. Being an expert means you know something well, I know pitching well. I can talk about it forever.  Over time pitching became something more than just pitching; it became a very special bond with my father. He was the one who would always drive me to my lessons. During the lessons he would stay there and listen and watch. On the drive to and from we would talk. Out in the yard, he was my personal catcher; he was the one that I would throw to. He was tough on me, always wanting me to be the best. During the games he was the one who I could always hear cheering me on. If I had a good game he was always there to greet me and tell me how sweet it was and always made the moment that much better. If I had a bad outing he was always there to talk about and tell me how I could build on it, always being positive. Partly, what kept me going to the lessons and kept me working so hard was the bond with my dad. I enjoyed every minute we spent together.  An expert is someone who has an excellent knowledge of a skill. I feel like pitching is a skill that I am an expert at. It is something where I feel very accomplished as a pitcher in baseball. Having the desire to be like my brother, enjoying the bonding with my dad, and the success I had kept me going as a pitcher which is what made me as an expert.

Reflection

**Globe Park Elementary School **

 The school I have chosen is Globe Park Elementary School which is located in Woonsocket, RI. The school system is a kindergarten through fifth grade school system. The reason I have chosen this particular school is because for my EDC 102 class I am in a fifth grade classroom at this elementary school. By doing my context statement on this school, I am able to have first-hand experiences at this school and learn more about this school system while I am in there.

 For the past six summers I have been a day camp counselor. At the day camp for two of the summers I have had third graders, for three summers I have had fourth graders, and this past summer I had fifth graders. Every summer I enjoy working with the elementary aged kids. I have seen the progressions that the kids make from third through fifth grade and it is a lot of transitioning. I have seen the kids become fresher, I have seen them have an interest in the opposite gender, and I have just seen them grow. I have always enjoyed getting to work with children of the 8-11 age level.

 Throughout my past experiences I have seen kids of all different kinds of backgrounds. There have been kids who come to the camp on the high end of the socioeconomic scale and kids on the low end. Fortunately, I have never had a kid who seemed to be in situation that the children from East St. Louis in //Savage of Inequalities// were in. The children on the lower end of the scale can receive scholarships to come to the camp. This is a local day camp so the children have access to well-known public schools, whereas in East St. Louis they do not. It is very interesting to make a comparison between the different environments.


 * FAE Ch. 4 Reflection **

 I have never taken a philosophy class in high school or in college so this concept was all very new to me. It is very important to have an understanding of philosophy in the field of education because it is the underlying meaning of things. As vague as a definition as that is, educators need to understand so many different things, just as anyone will throughout their career. Teachers need to evaluate and interpret many different students’ values as they teach throughout the years so it is very important.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> I am a strong believer that teaching should be done with ideas of both idealism and realism. The challenge is that there are so many different standards to meet, and different tests for the students to pass. Having to meet the guidelines makes it difficult for the students to be educated with realism and idealism views. This makes the students, what I like to call “factory students.” Meaning, we educate students on how to do tasks according to standards. We do not teach them how to problem solve, real life problems that will apply to them every day. John Dewey makes an excellent point, which students must adapt to one another and their environments. By just being “factory students” they will not learn how to adapt to different environments in the real world.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Education Philosophers **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Chapter 5 in “Foundations of American Education” was about six different philosophies that can be used in the classroom. Three of the philosophies are teacher-based and they heavily rely on the teacher to use the strategies in the classrooms. The other three strategies were student-based, meaning these philosophies were more reliable amongst the students in the classroom. The first philosophy that I really connected to was behaviorism. The belief behind this philosophy is that a student’s behavior is determined by their environment. The second philosophy is constructivism, which emphasizes the personal meaning through hands-on, activity-based teaching and learning.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Behaviorism is a very interesting philosophy that can is teacher based. B.F. Skinner is recognized as the leader of the movement. He was a strong believer that behavior is based on the environment surrounding the students and not hereditary means. The reason behaviorism is teacher based is because it is the teacher’s responsibility to create the environment that the students will learn in. An educator must influence the students in the classroom very strongly and have complete control over the classroom. Organization is key in a classroom with the philosophy of behaviorism.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> One of my favorite teachers in high school was also the most organized high school teacher I had. At the beginning of each unit he would give us a calendar of what assignments were due each day and what we would be doing each day in class. I liked this because when you show up to class you know what to expect that day in class, and it can affect the behavior of the students in the classroom. This is important so the students know when exams are coming, and they know what lessons we will be going over in class. By knowing what we were going over in class I believed it made the students want to learn because they knew there would be no curveballs thrown their way. He would also reward students for good work by not having to answer all of the questions on important exams.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The philosophy of behaviorism is very interesting because many psychologists would argue that it is both hereditary and the environment that influences the students. I am not disagreeing, I just think that once the students leaves home, the teacher can have a strong effect on the way they choose to learn based on the environment. Students like structure and they like to be positively reinforced when they do something well.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The second philosophy that I would use in a classroom is constructivism. It is an educational philosophy that strongly believes in the importance of hands-on activities in the classroom. This philosophy is much more student-based. It is the student’s responsibility to learn from an activity-based classroom. The American Psychological Association is a strong believer in the philosophy of constructivism. It is important for students to answer their own questions not just have their questions answered by the teacher. This creates curiosity, and the ability to not just do, but be able to problem solve.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">As students which kind of science class would you rather be in, the one where you are lectured at every day or the one where you do different labs and activities to learn the content? Most students would rather be doing labs and activities because it is more fun, and it is their responsibility to do the learning. This way the students will be encouraged to answer their own questions. The book describes learning as a mimic activity. This philosophy believes it is more important for the student to be hands-on.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Experience with Diversity in Own Personal Life **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Throughout my lifetime I have dealt with many different diversity experiences in my own education life. The most prominent diversity that I feel like I dealt with a lot was the fact that I was Jewish. In my hometown, the Jews are a large minority. Luckily, in my hometown the teachers were very respectful and understand, but there were still some times when I would face diversity.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> First, my school system had a policy that on the Jewish High Holidays of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah school would be held but there was no homework that could be assigned. This caused for many difficulties throughout my school career. One difficulty I remember specifically is my sophomore year of high school. In chemistry class, the day I had missed due to Rosh Hashannah, we learned something about chemical bonds. Now pretty much everything else we learned the rest of the year built off of this one day of learning. So, as a result I fell behind, for a long time, and my grade definitely suffered, from missing one key day of class.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Another aspect of diversity that I would face in my educational life is when classmates of mine would make jokes about not doing their homework because they were Jewish, even though they were not. This bothered me because it is two holidays that I value and my classmates seem to view it as a joke. Even though in my hometown teachers were very understanding, there were some frustrating aspects.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">**Links to Websites on School Issues**

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