My Take on Educational Blogging

Before this semester, I had not considered educational blogging as a teacher, and honestly, did not even know what it was. An education blog is a blog that teachers can use to communicate with students, parents, and even other educators about instructional resources, class announcements, student projects, and other things happening in the classroom. It can also be a way for teachers to share their educational philosophies and opinions on topics within the field of education. Educational blogs allow for teachers to connect with one another, as well as parents and students, in a different and engaging way. From my own short experience with educational blogging, I have found that it can be a creative outlet for teachers to candidly express their thoughts and experiences in the field of education.

Woman with blonde hair, glasses, and a pink sweater sitting
at a desk with computer. She is typing and focused on
the computer screen.

I have also gotten to interact with the blogs of some of my peers, and appreciate blogging in this way, as I am able to learn from my classmates. I specifically want to discuss several of my classmates blogs that discuss diversity within the classroom setting, and ways that a teacher can make their classroom a more inclusive place. Since first deciding to become a teacher, one of my main goals has been to make my classroom a place where all of my students feel safe, heard, and free to express themselves, and these blogs have provided me some ideas about how to create this kind of environment. The first blog that I want to discuss is Tony Clark's post about the importance of listening to student voice. This blog discusses the importance of listening to student opinions and feedback. Some strategies that this blog post includes about how best hear student voices within the classroom are giving anonymous surveys, talking to students one-on-one, and having a class discussion. I think that these are all great ways that teachers can hear students' opinions, and change their classrooms in ways that will benefit their students and their learning. The second blog that I read is Chloe Rainey's post about the importance of culturally diverse literature within the classroom. This post discusses the importance of teachers bringing a variety of literature into their classroom libraries that is reflective of students and their diverse experiences. I think that this is such an important issue that many white, cisgender teachers may not think about. It is important to provide students with books about a variety of people and experiences of different races, disabilities, socioeconomic statuses, religions, family structures, gender identities, etc. Providing culturally diverse literature to our students in the classroom will allow students to feel safer within the classroom, will give students space to talk about their own experiences, and can teach students to celebrate their differences. The final blog that I want to discuss is Corrine Kamien's post about LGBTQIA+ students and inclusivity within the classroom. This post discusses the importance of making students that may identify as part of this community, or may have loved ones that do, feel safe, respected, and comfortable in their classroom. When students feel safe, they are able to learn better, and will contribute their very valuable experiences and ideas to class discussions and projects. Respecting the identities and experiences of all students will not only enhance their learning experiences, but also the learning experiences of their classmates. I think that it is important to be a role model for my students, and creating a classroom environment that celebrates student diversity and makes all of my students feel valued and safe, will also help my students to learn to be open-minded and kind individuals. 

Overall, my experience with educational blogging has been very positive, and I have enjoyed writing about my own experiences and opinions in the field of education. I think that educational blogging is something that I will try to continue, especially as a classroom teacher. This blog can be a great way to get parents more involved and inform them about student projects, and events in the classroom. I also think that educational blogging will be something that I do with my students. Writing blog posts has been a very pleasant and liberating experience for me personally, and I have found that it has allowed me to share opinions that I previously did not have a platform to share. My students can definitely benefit from creating blog posts, and interacting with the posts of their peers. Student blog posts can also be a way for me, as the teacher, to monitor students ideas and thoughts about my classroom environment, as well as a way for parents to connect with their children while they are in the classroom. Blog posting is something new to me, and I still have a lot to learn, but I think that blogging can be a great resource and outlet for both me and my students. 

Arts Education

 In the field of education, with higher and higher emphasis placed on standardized testing, subjects like art, theater, and music seem to be fading into the background. However, arts education and incorporation of the arts is a crucial part of learning for many students. In a previous blog post I discussed the Whole Child approach to education, which states that it is important to help students grow into well-rounded individuals, and provide them with skills that will benefit them even outside of the classroom. Arts education helps to foster that growth by giving students more than just reading and math instruction in school, and in a lot of schools, arts programs are dwindling. This time is often not considered necessary or valuable to students because it will not help them prepare for standardized testing. However, there is a lot of evidence that suggests that arts education is largely important to a child developing into a well-rounded student. Emerging comprehensive programs at schools across the country are approaching arts education in a new way. They are using the arts as a tool for learning, creating more hands-on arts experiences, and incorporating the arts into core classes. The incorporation of the arts into education helps foster creative thinking, teamwork, as well as intrinsic motivation in students. These skills can help students in all subject areas, as well as on standardized tests. It has also been shown that the benefits of arts education are also seen in adulthood. Adults who participate in the arts are thought to possess behaviors that positively contribute to the health of our society such as social tolerance and increased civic engagement.

A child is painting abstractly using 
green, brown, and blue paint. 
The child is wearing an apron, and 
a yellow shirt with gray and orange
stripes.

As a student, I always loved spending time in the art and music classrooms. I found this time to be such a fun break from core subjects, and I felt less pressure in these environments. Especially in elementary school, art and music classes allowed time for me and my classmates to have more fun while learning. I think that incorporating the arts into lessons in core subjects could help students stay engaged. I often found that assignments that allowed me to be creative and artistic were the most fun, and I found that I was more intrinsically motivated to do well and learn the material. I hope to incorporate arts education into my own classroom as much as I can, and hope to encourage my students to have fun while learning by incorporating the arts into my lessons. I believe that more comprehensive approaches to core subjects that include art or music can help decrease burnout among my students and keep them engaged in difficult subjects. Just because certain subjects are thought to be more important than others, and the pressure to preform well is higher, does not mean that these lessons need to be rigid and boring. I believe that arts education and incorporating the arts into a general education classroom is something that all teachers and school districts should be trying to do as much as possible. The student benefit from this is unparalleled, and it is clear that students enjoy the arts. 

The Whole Child Approach to Education

One red, one yellow, and one blue puzzle piece
each held by a different hand. The background is 
a variety of different color puzzle pieces.

 As the field of education continues to evolve, new and innovative practices are introduced. In 2007 the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, also known as ASCD, launched the Whole Child Initiative. This initiative seeks to expand approaches to education to focus on the long-term success and development of children, rather than short-term academic achievement. There are five tenants to this approach, which prioritize child development by making sure that students are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. The ASCD and other proponents of this approach to education believe that it is important to help students develop important life skills that can be used outside of the classroom, such as confidence, respect, social skills, problem-solving skills, and self-esteem, to name a few. Teaching students valuable skills such as these will help them to become well-rounded, productive members of society after they leave the classroom. This approach to education is also very beneficial to classrooms and schools with diverse populations. The Whole Child Approach to education will highlight the strengths and differences of each student in a way that uplifts every child. This can be beneficial when teaching a variety of students from different cultural backgrounds. Embracing challenging conversations between students and families with cultural and religious differences, as well as viewing differences as assets rather than divisions can make each student in the classroom more well-rounded and respectful individuals. 

I believe that the Whole Child Approach to education can truly change the world, as everything stems from education. This approach to learning will make future generations more well-rounded, open-minded, and adaptable to changes. These are very important traits for people to have in the ever-changing and fast paced world that we live in today. If everyone had the ability to embrace differences and listen to a wide variety of perspectives, the world we live in today could be less volatile. The students that I will have in my classroom will be the next generations of people contributing to and becoming leaders in society. I think that it is very important to acknowledge that these students are also people outside of my classroom, and the whole child approach to education ensures that they will become well-rounded individuals outside of a school setting. I feel that as a student, very few of my teachers embraced an approach to teaching like this one, and it made me feel unappreciated and unheard by my instructors. It felt like they saw me as a set of data or solely a student with no life outside of their classroom. The few teachers that I had that acknowledged my life outside of school, and the parts of me that were not just a student were much more influential to my learning. In my opinion, students learn more effectively when all parts of them are acknowledged and appreciated. This allows for more relationships to be built, which improves students' self-esteem and self-worth, making it easier to overcome academic challenges. I hope to implement the Whole Child Approach to education within my own classroom, as I truly believe it could be a catalyst for ensuring a better future for everyone.

Mental Health Implications for High-Achieving Students

A student is at a table in a library
surrounded by a couple of piles of
books. The student, seemingly frustrated,
lays head down in arms on top of a
pile of books on the table. 

As mental health awareness grows, high achieving students are becoming a huge part of the conversation. These students seem to breeze through school, clubs, and other extra curriculars, but what many don't realize is the true cost of all of that pressure at such a young age. Many families and parents highly prioritize good grades for their children, especially those labeled as "gifted" or "high-achieving." Most parents place pressure on their children to do well in school with the good intentions of wanting a secure future for their children. However, with most of the children in these accelerated programs facing the same pressure to succeed, it creates a very competitive environment within the classroom as well. The combination of pressure from parents and peers, and seeking approval from authority figures makes these children more prone to chronic stress, which then negatively affects students' mental and physical wellbeing. While the effects of chronic stress in gifted students usually do not come to the surface until high school or college, the process starts very early. As many high-achieving elementary school students breeze through academic contests, and are praised for their intellectual abilities, when they face academic challenges and even failures later in their schooling, they tend to come unglued. Stress levels rise as students are not preforming as well and losing that much sought-after validation from teachers and parents, and this causes higher rates of anxiety, depression, and even substance abuse. For these reasons, it is important that these gifted students are identified early, and they receive the proper counseling and education, to ensure that they become healthy adults in terms of mental health.

The conversation about high-achieving students and mental health is very personal to me. As a "gifted"  student myself, I participated in accelerated instruction beginning in elementary school. I remember even being pulled out of classes to attend special classes with other high-achieving peers in my school's "Talented and Gifted Program." We would get to read and discuss advanced literature, complete special assignments and projects, and still spend the majority of our time in our general education classrooms. However, the high stakes and competitive atmosphere of these classes later proved to do more harm than good. In high school, taking almost exclusively honors and AP courses really took a toll on my mental health. Not only was I becoming more and more discouraged as the material in these courses was more challenging, I never had to learn how to struggle or study, and my grades were slipping. This caused an internal battle, as the perfectionist student that I had always been, could no longer exist so effortlessly. I began avoiding most of my school work, because if I didn't do it, I couldn't do it wrong. It was at this point in my life that I realized that I no longer enjoyed learning. My goal as an educator is to reduce the amount of stress that my students are experiencing in the classroom. I hope to make learning fun, and as stress-free as possible for all of my students. My own experiences with mental health as a student make me extremely passionate about mental health in education, and I will always emphasize the importance of this issue within my school and classroom.