Caring!!!!

Recently, I became aware of a website,http://www.infed.org/thinkers/noddings.htm. It was about a former teach, mathematician, administrator, author and Stanford Professor Emeriti, Dr. Nel Noddings. She discusses the ethics of caring in education. Noddings is rooted in education. She is direct and to the point. She has demonstrated the importance of caring and relationships with regards to education.

Caring should be at the root for ethical decision-making. All people want to be cared for; it is basic in human life. As future teachers, we need to take Noddings’s concept into consideration, when we have interactions and are making decisions concerning our students. If we do not, we will not be helping our students reach their personal best. What is more important is the fact that we are doing them a great disservice because we are neglecting them!

Stepping into the World of Teaching!

On my first day of college this semester, I was surprisingly informed by Dr. O’Brien that all my paperwork for student teaching would need to be complete by the middle of March. I originally, thought to myself that this paperwork would only involve me signing my name a few times and perhaps give some additional information about myself. I therefore asked Dr. O’Brien if she could bring the necessary paperwork for me, during our next class. After forgetting to bring it to me twice, I went directly to the Education Department where I learned about the unfortunately comprehensive amount of work I would need to complete to student teach next fall.

One of the key requirements for me to student teach is to take the Praxis. That very night I looked for places to take this test. However, I ran into a problem, for I did not know which Praxis I needed to take. I went online and found out that Social Studies requires the Content Knowledge Test. I confirmed this with Dr. O’Brien. After completing the paperwork, I registered to take this test in March. The price for this test is $130.

I then had to fill out paperwork for the Education Department. My transcripts from UCC and St. Peter’s had to be forwarded to that department. I had to decide where I wanted to do my student teaching, with whom and it what department. This was a very hard decision to come to. I loved my Sophomore Field Experience at Ronald E. McNair Academic High School and I wanted this new experience to be as enjoyable. After finally deciding what schools to teach at, I have to find out which school I will be at and then find out if that district needs a substitute license for student teaching. If that is the case, then I’ll have to travel that road in the future. I hope to have all this work completed before the beginning of March.