The Ron Clark Story Movie

 

Whether you are a teacher or a future teacher, I advice you to watch The Ron Clark Story movie because it relates to all of us. The movie is very inspiring because it reflects the true characteristics of a sincere teacher that dedicates his life for his students and their success. Here is a summary for the movie, hope you watch it and enjoy it as much as I did! 

The movie talks about an English teacher moves from his country, North Carolina, to New York City looking for his new dream job. After being honored in his country for his dedication, hard work and efforts, Mr. Clark decides to move on and teach the hardest class of Harlem School.  Before starting his new teaching job, Mr. Clark decides to meet some of the students and their families to have a closer look at the class he’s going to teach. His visits weren’t as he expected, however, he insisted on working with that hard class. When he entered the class, he was aware of the misbehaviors they’ll cause so he insisted on building the “one family” atmosphere among the class. He was told that this class was disruptive and that it is the worst class in the school and always has the worst scores but he didn’t mind. The students in his class were not living normally, one child, for example, was in foster care and got abused by his parent, and another child was the de-facto mom of her siblings because her mother works two jobs.

Through his energetic usage of phenomenal fundamentals for his classroom, extraordinarily creative preparing methods and undying devotion to his students and helping them adjust to their issues; Clark can have an astounding impact in the lives of his students. Mr. Clark tried to embed new useful techniques and captivating methods while working with his students; Not only he put rules for his class, but also, he convinced the students to follow the rules by various ways such as locking the door to oblige them to line up before going to lunch and so on. 

Although Mr. Clark faced lots of difficulties in letting students respect each other as well as him and other people in the school, because they were bullying other kids, gambling, and betting on when he will be quitting as many as other teachers, he didn’t give up. To grab their attention, he started by drinking a milkshake in front of them but to do so he bet them to stay silent and listen to him. Moreover, he came up with a rap song for the students to memorize that included the names of the US presidents in order; the students loved the song and started singing immediately after they heard it.

Even when he got sick and left the school for a few days, he insisted on videotaping the lessons and working with them as well. When he came back, he found that students’ progress was a little bit down, but Mrs. Clark continued with them the same way he started so they were able to get the highest scores in the final examination. He was very proud of each and every individual so rewarded them and they, in turn, did the same by making him their best teacher.

If we took a deeper look at the incidents of this story, we can notice that it is an inspiring tale of an energetic, creative and idealistic young teacher that each and every one of us, as teachers, parents or even individuals, should reconsider Mr. Clark’s character, techniques and determination.  The movie relates to the philosophies of education to a big extent where it reflects most of the aims of education in most of the philosophies as well as imaging the teacher’s role in it’s best compared to the philosophies.

First Steps

Welcome To Our Kindergarten:

At First Steps our mission is to provide our creative thinkers with an opportunity to develop into lifelong learners. Our environment provides an atmosphere where children love to learn and discover. We create a rich environment that supports the development of, and adds to, each individual’s life compass. We take pride in providing a safe, friendly and positive environment where each child develops as an individual in a nurturing, challenging, stimulating and aesthetic environment. Classrooms are equipped with high-quality, hands-on learning and exploratory materials. Our learning stations are: real life skills and food preparation, sensory development, art and science exploration, music and body movement, language, writing and math. 

Our Values:

Mission and Vision:
Our kindergarten follows the Montessori Method in some aspect of teaching and we have adopted other theories like the High Scope approach and Vygotsky’s theory.  However, unlike the Montessori approach our classes are not inclusive. Our mission is to engage children in psychological development by interacting with their environment. This means that each child’s uniqueness and abilities is taken into consideration when it comes to teaching and learning. Our vision is to keep a learning environment that is full of love, nurture and safety by including the families in the child learning process. We provide a space that shows students they are cared for and respected. We believe that our center is a place where every student, regardless of background, feels included and every student is held to high expectations. We believe that family plays an active part in the child’s education and in the different aspect of our school. We try to include the child’s family, community and culture as much as possible.

The Design of Our Kindergarten:

Divergent

Summary: 
This novels talks about Beatris, a 16 years old girl who, as all people in her age, has to choose her faction that she’ll belong to the rest of her life without returning to her parents. She chose Dauntless and there she knew Four who knew she was a divergent and helped her to save the Abnegation from injustice of Jeanine Mathews the leader of the factions who control peoples’ minds unfairly.

THEMES:

• Identity Fear
• Society Family
• Power Guilt and Blame
• Competition Choice
• Secrets

TEACHING INFORMATION

Age: Teenagers at 13 years old and above.

Grade level: 8 to 12

Language: easy novel but has some hard vocabulary words

Society: unfair, obliges teenagers to choose only one faction of the other five factions



Reflection: I loved this novel and I would recommend it to everybody because it is unique; the way the writer moved between the settings and events was smooth and interesting. It was the first novel where I had the chance to differentiate between Utopian and Dystopian societies. I had the chance to watch the movie as well; they are very similar: the movie was just a mirror image of the novel but reading it tackles the beautiful ability of letting go of one's imagination. 

Mixed Feelings!

Now that I moved on, I feel that I miss being at school with my students. Before, I felt overwhelmed going everyday and trying to cope with them but now after the time have passed, I know that I loved each and every one of them. Sometimes they drove me crazy but I laugh at myself now when I remember such memories. Although they might forget me I know that I will never forget them! Maybe I was happy that I'll be focusing more on my exams and assignments but deep down I miss being around my little munchkins. Dealing with younger students is more challenging but I prefer it more because they are pure and innocent.

My greatest challenge was to convince Majd to sit down, listen to me and not to hit his friends; however, he had the purest heart of all! Everyday, he enters with that big smile on his face then he approaches me and says: I love you miss with the most innocent adorable look on his face. I know that he will be a remarkable figure when he grows up.

Imagine!

In my undergraduate course "Special Education" we had to prepare a presentation about one of the special needs and present it in a clear way to our friends. After reading the materials of the book, I felt that it wasn't enough and I wanted something more authentic that would stuck in our memory.
I can guess how you felt while watching this video because I had the same feeling too. Imagine that you are that kid, do you know now how autistic people feel? Can you guess out the challenges they face in each and every minute? We as teachers should know more about people with special needs because we have to know how to deal with them.
Other than autism, there are different special needs such as: ADHD, Social Emotional Behaviors, Gifted, Dyslexia, Visual and Hearing Impairments and others. I will share with you the info-graphic I did in Edit250 which was about Dyslexia so that you have a clear concept.
What is Dyslexia Infographic  

Philosophy of Teaching

It is known that no two children are the same, even twins. Each child has his own unique character. Children have different developmental levels, they come from different families and each one has his/her own beliefs and culture. As an early childhood educator, I believe that my role is to understand each one of them and provide them with the suitable instruction, assessment, and curriculum according to their needs. Also, as educators, we should set up a high-quality classroom environment where the child can grow, learn and explore at his or her own developmental level. In this paper, I will be talking about the goals of teaching and ways to accomplish them. My philosophy will include the kinds of teaching styles I feel are the best.

As educators, we should give children opportunities to explore and learn by themselves through creating children- centered classrooms. I believe that as an E.C.E my goal is to promote the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development of each child. I also believe that play should be the base of learning since children learn best by doing. Using developmentally appropriate practice approach, which means that activities should be appropriate for each child and relevant to the child’s ability, needs, and interests, teachers can ignite the love of learning in their students. And because children are the product of their environments, we, teachers, should cooperate with the child’s family and respect the child’s culture.

 For me, the best way to teach a child is to guide him/her in a positive manner. A young child spends most of his/her day at school, because of that, guiding the child on the right path is very important since guidance is needed to help the child take appropriate decisions. In addition to that, having a variety of cooperative learning, peer learning and self- learning is a very effective way to help children being independent autonomic learners. Based on the “Introduction to Special Education” course, I learned that we should encourage inclusion and work for it, where every child is seen as equal; Educators should treat each child as independent individuals and respect them regardless of their special cases. Having clear classroom management techniques and rules is very important to maintain the class’s pace and arrangement because it gives the students the responsibility for their actions.

 There are many curriculums set out that are used to build the foundations of young children. I personally believe that a combination of all or a bit of each curriculum should emerge together since each has their own ways of teaching strategies that apply to educate a child. I like the High Scope approach where play is emphasized since children learn best through play and doing. Another curriculum that I really support many of its parts is the Montessori curriculum where the children teach themselves; it teaches children to be independent and uses their inner instincts to learn about the world around them. IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Educational Act) have contributed a lot to apply the idea of inclusion using IEPs (Individualized Educational Plans), FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education and LRE (Least Restrictive Environments) in our schools. Using EBP (Evidence-Based Practices), educators can succeed in

In conclusion, I believe that as an early childhood educator, my attitude toward the students is much more important than the curriculum. It is how I see the child that will lead me to become a better educator focusing on all of the domains in children’s lives. Being a guide for the child to learn right from wrong and build a positive foundation of learning. As well as being a positive role model for children by resolving conflicts in an appropriate manner. Carl Jung said, “An understanding heart is everything in a teacher, and cannot be esteemed highly enough. One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings.  The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.”

Books Vs Tablets

Few days ago, we did a debate about whether tablets are better than books or not. Although the tablets team won, I still believe that books are much better. They may have some good points in their argument but if we took a closer look to our reality we can easily decide our side. Is it really beneficial for our students? Can it be implemented in our schools? well, I don;t think so!
The conflict here is beyond our opinions and interests, its all about facts related to various points in addition to the Lebanese infrastructure reality, health factors, no better grades problem and other social isolation issues. To have a better image about my argument, check out these facts:

• A survey by Scholastic found that 45% of children aged six to 17 say that they prefer print books to e-books while only 16% preferred e-books.
• Manufacturing one tablet requires the extraction of 33 pounds of minerals, 79 gallons of water and 100 kilowatt hours of fossil fuels resulting in 66 pounds of carbon dioxide.
• All technological advancements require electrical supply all the time. Yet, Lebanon has been suffering from electrical shut downs since its civil war and the energy minister of Lebanon warned that there is no quick fix for Lebanon power cuts.
• Using tablets require an internet connection however, MTV reports that Lebanon's internet service was ranked 175 among 192 countries.
• A Canadian University did a multiple choice exam on their i-Pads. While students loved the idea and papers were saved, they felt more stressed; they had worries about unreliable internet or incorrectly recording their answers.
• Thiruchelvam believes that a major academic challenge is the kid's obvious distraction and social isolation.
• overusing handheld devices results in headaches, sleep disturbances and nausea in addition to other phenomena such as the "iPad shoulder", "tech-neck", itchy eyes and other serious health problems

Now that you're introduced to some of the points regarding our debate, what do you think?