Below is a list of some of the big ideas we have wrestled with over the course of the semester. Keep in mind that our goal is to find out how practicing educators are thinking about some of this stuff. Post a suggested interview question based on one of the big ideas . Note: try to ask a question that will put the interviewee at ease and make it more likely that they will open up (example: instead of asking "How do you deal with ethical dilemmas?", you could ask, "Can you describe a time when, as a teacher, you weren't; sure what the right thing to do was? How did you decide how to proceed?" · How to instill diversity within curriculum · How public schooling has changed over the years. · Multiculturalism · Progressive v. traditional teaching/schooling ·...
I do not think that this is a good example of Deweyan principles. They reflect part of his principle with the heavy incorporation of democracy in the school, however I don't think dewey meant for every issue to be met with a town hall meeting. I see that as micromanaging, if every time a kid calls another kid a name or someone leaves a mess the students will never have time for class. They took Deweys principle and they stretched it to an extreme. In an educational theories class I took in high school we talked in part about the paralyzation that comes with having too many choices. Its good for kids to make their own choices, maybe not always choosing their curriculum but having a choice helps boost their self esteem and keep them engaged. However when you present someone with so many options, complete freedom and control over their education, it becomes a more daunting task than simply picking which english you will take. I like the idea behind the free school, but in my opinion they took it a little too far.
ReplyDeleteDewey writes that “to prepare him for the future life means to give him command of himself; it means so to train him that he will have the full and ready use of all his capacities...” I believe that this ideology was reflected in the podcast about the Brooklyn Free School. The students who attend the Brooklyn Free School are able to call meetings to discuss issues and they try to work together to change things. The open dialogue at the school has allowed the students to speak up and use the authority that is given to them in a significant way. Despite the fact that most of the meetings were described as “a lot of talk with no conclusion,” the students are able to use their freedom to become active members of the school's community in a genuine way. This often leads to more meaningful learning experiences.
ReplyDeleteI believe there are huge discrepancies between Dewey's original proposition of progressive education and the approach the approaches they take at The Brooklyn Free School. For starters, Dewey's main purpose for the progressive education movement was to introduce and ideally implement new ideas into the education system such as experiential learning. In other words, Dewey believed students should be engaged and interested in what they were learning, as well as be able to become involved in hands-on learning. The reason for these goals was to ensure that students were learning by performing useful activities that they could ultimately carry with them as they navigate through life.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that the methods used by The Brooklyn Free School are a tad radical in the sense that they see school as a democracy, in which students should be able to vote and discuss before choosing a particular activity to perform or class to take. In my opinion, I do not think this is what Dewey originally wanted to implement. I believe he wanted students to have some self-direction and acquire useful and practical life skills; nonetheless, at The Brooklyn Free school students have too much freedom to decide what to do. It is important to keep in mind that our prefrontal cortexes are not fully developed until we are well into our early adulthood. Therefore, allowing kids to make their own decisions, be it related to academics or conduct, does not seem like the best approach to me, nor does it coincide with Dewey's theory.
Furthermore, I believe allowing children to be autonomous to some extent could be helpful for them. However, providing some guidance and assisting students through scaffolding could perhaps be more helpful due to the fact that they are not experts and are not fully-aware of what classes or activities could maximize their full potential.
DeleteI think the Brooklyn free school took these views a little to far. The students had meetings and voted on everything that went on in the school. I think Dewey wanted to let the children have some freedom in making decisions in schools to enhance their learning. I don't think that letting children run meetings for every little thing is going to enhance learning. I think it would be a distraction from learning the curriculum. I believe they should let they teachers and staff help the students out because they know what students are capable of and they know more about how schools are run/ the curriculum the students should be learning. Even though the students were given freedom at the Brooklyn free school I feel like they took Dewey's thoughts to far.
ReplyDeleteLindsey: I think the Brooklyn Free School is a great example of Deweyan principles because it allows children the freedom and control over their education thus making them inherently more interested in their education. Dewey stated that he believed that school should be s simpler form of life and I think to some extent that is what the Brooklyn Free School has done. While even the current students of the school recognize that the ability to make choices about everything in life is unrealistic, they also are aware that it is a privilege that they are able to get to make these choices and be in control of their own education. Additionally, Dewey also believed that "true education" comes as a result of stimulating "the child's powers" through "the demands of the social situations" they are in and that these demands cause the children to be able to "act as a member of a unity." I think the Brooklyn Free School exemplifies this aspect of Deweyan principles as well, in that since the students are allowed to vote on everything implemented in the school then they also have to think about more than just what is good for themselves, but what is good for everyone in the school.
ReplyDeleteI think that the Brooklyn Free School does not align to the Deweyan principles. Dewey's design of the progressive education was to allow the students to be involved in their education by being actively engaged, but I believe that Dewey wanted some form a structure by the teachers. Allowing the students to have total authority such as in the Brooklyn Free School they may be stretched in some aspects as in gaining more confidence. However, they may feel as if they can stay in their comfort zone by choosing classes that they are interested in and/or excel in rather than challenging them to explore new subjects or work on subjects they may struggle in.
ReplyDeleteSandy: I think Brooklyn Free School definitely took these views too far. Dewey wanted it to be a democracy, which is problematic for children. They would have meeting to put everything to a vote, which would leave little time for them to actually learn. Dewey wanted children to be responsible and have control over their learning. I agree with the others, I think that there should be guidelines for children. Children should have some responsibility and freedom when it come to their education, but not too much.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Brooklyn free school gave its students way too much freedom. As their spending time at meetings rather than learning. In my opinion they can have a meetings once a week or on a specific day to discuss any issue that has occurred or to take approaches for improvement. As the podcast mentions that the students meet almost six times a day it takes up way too much of their learning time. Considering that they are at their cognitive stages of their life. They are better off learning rather than giving opinion. The Dewey’s ideology has been misinterpreted in a way that learning has been exchanged to procrastinating rather than learning from each other. Having meetings over unnecessary topics can increase issues rather than allowing students to reflect back on their thoughts and actions. (MS)
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this podcast because it was such an awesome perspective of learning! I am not sure if the Brooklyn Free school is exactly what Dewey intended but I do think it incorporates many of the Deweyan principles. Dewey speaks about the general pattern of school organization which is centered around time schedules and rules of order. Obviously this school is not centered around the traditional school setting. One principle this school demonstrates is the students active engagement in "community life." This is a very democratic based school and Dewey speaks about creating schools that feel more like communities. Dewey speaks about the importance of experiential learning which the children of the Brooklyn free school are able to participate in if they choose to. Experiential learning is mainly opposed to learning from a traditional textbook. He says the "cultivation of individuality" is important in learning. He states, "[H]ow shall we … introduce into the school … occupations which exact personal responsibilities and which train the child in relation to the physical realities of life? … [For] such work engages the full spontaneous interest of the children." I could argue that the Brooklyn Free School enables children to exact personal responsibility which help children with the realities of life outside of school. Many schools like these work so well because they engage the student on a personal level and create a learning environment that is structured around their interests.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely have to agree with some of my classmates, that the Brooklyn Free School demonstrates Deweyan principles, but takes them a bit too far. I think that children should absolutely have a say in their education, and have their personal opinion recognized, but for them to have meetings many times a day seems like too much. I believe at the school age, kids need to be engaging in learning and applying their learning for most of the day. I don't think putting kids in charge of everything and making all of the decisions is necessary. I just think that it's more productive to let teachers and staff handle the more administrative and decision making side (and having students input is absolutely okay), but to put the students in that position and to take away from their actual learning time seems to be taking the Deweyan principles to an extreme and counterproductive.
ReplyDelete- Tirzah
I enjoyed listening to the podcast because it was really interesting to hear another perspective. I don't think that Deweys method of education was directly inline with the Brooklyn Free school but it does use some of his ideas. I will say that the Brooklyn Free school does take these ideas pretty extreme. I think its great that the kids get to express their opinion and develop a community while also creating a learning environment based around their interests. I just hope that having a school set up as a democracy doesn't take away from learning time, especially since the meetings were described as “a lot of talk with no conclusion,”.
ReplyDeleteI as well agree with rest of my classmates that the Brooklyn Free School adopted Deweys methods of education but has taken them to the extreme. I 100% believe in kids being able to learn in an environment that is based off their interests. However I don't agree with children making administrative decisions especially during primary school. For me I feel like when you have children making these decisions it's taking their focus away from the actual academic material that they have learned, as well as it takes time away from their actual schooling. I believe that students should be held responsible but I also believe that their still children and still learning and that they do need guidelines to follow set by teacher for them to be successful. - Amanda
DeleteWhile I did enjoy the podcast about the Brooklyn Free School, I think the Brooklyn Free School took it one step farther than what Dewey intended with his principles. Dewey was all for children being involved in the decisions that went on in their schools, however he also stated that there needed to be some form of guidance from teachers and staff. In the Brooklyn Free Schools, there seemed to be no power difference between students and teachers, which in theory sounds awesome, but when actually exercised it is prevalent that there needs to be some form of structure when it comes to decision making, especially when involving children. I definitely believe children should have a say in what goes on in their schools since they are the ones that are required to attend, and I agree with that viewpoint from the Brooklyn Free School, but I also think there is a way to do that with also having some form of authorization.
ReplyDeleteI loved listening to the podcast and it was interesting to hear both ideas. Although I believe that the Brooklyn Free School's general purpose sounded efficient, I do not think Dewey wanted the principle to be as developed as the Free School was. I personally like the idea of giving the students' power to create an education that is fit for them, but I do not think it is smart to give all of the power over to the students. I think things would be more chaotic and certain tasks would just not get done as efficient as they do when we have authorities involved. That is what teachers are for and that is what teachers go to school to learn how to do. A student's job is to learn from authorities and develop skills to create a life that fits them. Their job should not consist of being in charge at such a young and developing age. Yes, as they get older it is good to start carrying out these authoritative traits, but it should not be expected as much as it is at this age. With this being said, I do believe that children still have the right to be apart of the decisions being made that involve them, but full authority should not be granted solely to the children.
ReplyDeleteI think that the Brooklyn School system represents the extreme version of Dewey's education theory. Dewey would have liked giving students some kind of authority and decision making with "hands on" learning techniques but I am not so sure he would allow the students to take full control of everything.The podcast was very interesting and I liked the idea of giving students the power to learn about what is interesting to them, but I do not believe they shouldn't have to learn the core school subjects.
ReplyDeleteIn the text, Dewey argued "To prepare him for the future life means to give him command of himself; it means so to train him that he will have the full and ready use of all his capacities;". Therefore, Dewey believes that the purpose of school is to prepare a child to be autonomous and independent in all aspects of society. Dewey also mentioned that education should be taught so that the content is relevant to the student's home life and perspective of the world. He also said, " individual who is to be educated is a social individual and that society is an organic union of individuals". This quote reminds me of the Brooklyn Free School because of their focus on democracy. On their website, Brooklyn Free School wrote, "At Brooklyn Free School we believe in the potential of education to transform ourselves at the deepest levels of who we are, and we know that this kind of learning means embracing play, curiosity, and, yes, discomfort too." Although it seems that the Brooklyn Free School has taken the concept of democracy in the classroom to a radical extent, the model does reflect Dewey's educational principles. Students of all ages (preschool to seniors in high school) take part in curriculum that is designed to prepare children for their future as agents of social change. The students learn how to respectfully disagree, resolve conflicts productively and collaborate with others who may have differing opinions; similarly to what adults are required to do everyday. Dewey emphasized in his writing that education should be a combination between socialization and intellectual thinking. Others seem to believe that this model of education is not productive to a student's learning, however students are learning all the time, whether its outside at recess or when reading a book. I think that the voting and student led meetings extend the student's learning because they have to apply the social skills they've learned and work with others to extend their learning.
ReplyDeleteKate Sulek
DeleteAgreeing with most of my classmates, I feel like the Brooklyn Free School gave way too much "freedom" to the children, it seemed more like a democratic party than an institution of learning. I feel like Dewey was saying that there should be connections in what the children will be learning, like they should interested in what they are learning. In the Brooklyn Free School, children were allowed to assemble meetings and discuss problems they might be having, and even that is great that they are learning how to communicate and properly crinkle out problems, they aren't actually learning any subjects or material they might actually need when they pursue a career in the future.
ReplyDeleteThe Brooklyn Free School felt like an extreme version of Dewey's education theory. Dewey would have liked giving students some kind of authority and decision making with "hands on" learning. The Brooklyn Free School gave the students way to much freedom and responsibility in my opinion. Although, I thought it was interesting, I don't think it will work.
ReplyDelete-Olivia Di Vincenzo
DeleteI agree with the others about giving the students too much freedom. Dewey gave the student an active participation in a democratic, global society. The focus is in raising the thinkers and inquires who were active rather than passive learners.
ReplyDelete-Nadia
I don't believe that the Brooklyn Free School is a good example of the Dewey educational principles. I think it definitely does have good intentions by trying to allow students to be free thinkers and make decisions and not be so traditional in not just the classroom but in the school as a whole. However, the Brooklyn Free School pushes way over the edge of that and doesn't seem to truly allow for them to really LEARN. I think the Progressive method of learning was more about learning things in school that would prepare you to be a more helpful hand in real life, but the Brooklyn Free School just isn't realistic. Children/Young Adults don't come out of school and into the real world running society and making decisions for everyone. As I stated before, I definitely do think it's well intended, but it's not what Dewey was going for.
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