June 29 Class Reflection

After working with the group I was able to pick out a lot more information from the text that I otherwise would have missed. Its amazing to me how well a group of students can analyze and interpret an essay or academic article. When one student is working they are limited to one point of view, often their own point of view which can be very limited in scope. After working in the small groups I had a much more clear understanding of the author's intent and purpose of this essay. The advantages of small group work in a classroom setting became apparent, and continue to become apparent as I continue my experience of being a "student" teacher. As I picture myself in front of a classroom of my own, I envision how my students will respond to such strategies as small group work. Hopefully they will benefit from it as much as I have in my career as a student.  Another advantage of the small groups is when they all reconvene to demonstrate what each group has learned. This is an effective way of dividing the material and conquering the content.

Globalizing Education is a business

I found this article on USA Today and found it very interesting. Its a concept that has never occurred to me. The article talks about the process foreign students are challenged with when applying for colleges. Some universities and parents use agents to help with the process. Agents can do a variety of tasks from anything like matching the student with the proper college to helping out with the unfamiliar application process. The agents are often incentivized, receiving bonuses for sending foreign students to a certain college or university. However in the post 9/11 world, US has seen a decline in numbers of foreign students enrolling in its universities and colleges. On the other hand countries like Australia are seeing a large influx in enrollment. The article sites that since the market is relatively new, there are few restrictions on agents with what they can do and how they can recruit students. As the waves of agent-recruited students complete their education, those agents who do poorly will be no longer used by colleges and universities. This is corrected by the fact that foreign students who drop out after one year of college due to lack of overall happiness or poorly matched with a university are connected with the agent who recruited them. Those colleges who lose students like this will then stop using the services of specific agents. So it will be in best interest for agents to make as perfect as a match between foreign students and universities as possible, instead of just sending students to certain colleges because of commissions and perks. This article makes me wonder about the gap between the US primary and secondary educational systems. On the hand, on a global scale US primary education is less than desirable. However, secondary education such as college and universities is extremely desirable and appealing for foreign cultures. Where does it go wrong? Will the US continue to lead the world in post secondary education or will countries like Australia pulled ahead? With the rising costs in education will it hurt our economy and the number of  foreign students looking to come stateside?

Class Survey

Personal Information
Greetings! or as the ancient Romans say Salvete!
My name is Alexander Kimmel, most people call me Kimmel or just Alex. I was raised in a small town in the north-eastern corner of Ohio called Conneaut. The town is about 14,000 people and lots of farmland. I now live in Cleveland Heights, OH and am attending John Carroll for my M.Ed. Hopefully one day I will become a Latin teacher. After graduating from Kenyon College with my BA in Classics, I moved to wild and wonderful West Virginia. It was a fantastic experience but ultimately I wanted to be closer to civilization, so I moved back home and decided to continue my education.

My uniqueness is characterized by the fact that I am fluent in a dead language, Latin and ancient Greek. When I am not translating ancient texts you can usually find me delving into comic books, video games, and other typically "nerd" lore. I am not related to Jimmy Kimmel, but if it helps for you to recognize the name by all means be my guest. Just as long as you don't call me Kimble because I'm not a detective.

Myself as a student
In order for me to take risks in a classroom, above all else I must feel comfortable with my peers and instructor. If I feel like my peers don't know me then I will generally be quiet and keep to myself in the classroom. I feel most comfortable after making a joke and getting a few laughs. Growing up teachers and friends always expected a wisecrack or a light hearted joke from me. Although I have matured I still find that laughter is the best way to break the ice. There is certainly a time to be serious, however if you can't laugh at yourself then you'll never make it out of life alive. I have always taken my education  seriously. My grandmother always told me before I would leave home to go back to college, "Work hard, play hard." My work always comes first, and when I'm not working I'm playing. Ever since I was a child I was a self-taught learner, in fact I feel it is how I learn best. If my older brothers didn't know how to do it, I quickly figured it out. Anything from drawing, sports, languages, or even cooking I taught myself. Its not that I wasn't presented opportunities to learn those things from others, I just felt more comfortable and that I did a better job than anyone else could.

Education Past and Present
A memory which stands out most vividly concerning my own experiences as a student is my first trip to Europe as a sophomore in high school. I was blessed with the opportunity of traveling abroad with a group of friends from school. We were able to travel across Spain, France, and Italy. It was such an enlightening experience for me to see how other countries operate and how different they are from what I am used to. When I got to Italy and saw the ruins of the Forum with the Colosseum in the distance I was awe struck. These structures have survived for thousands of years and still remain impressive structures in the Roman skyline. It was at this moment that I became aware of my affinity for the Classical world.
Important issues in education for me right now involve correcting the broken system of education in America. There is an increasingly large gap in the American Education system which needs to be fixed to ensure our success as nation, or yet as a global population. Together as a class we need to do a contextual survey of the history of education, so that we understand what we have done in the past along with sharing our own personal experiences with education. We can use all of this information to draw on the fact that everyone has had a different experience and that's what makes it so unique. We also must study where education is at presently, i.e. current theories and practices. We must study how the education system is currently working and what is being done in the classrooms. We must all feel comfortable sharing our own experiences and beliefs so we can learn exactly who we are as a community of learners. We must avoid our own anxieties and preconceptions. Everyone is a tabula rasa(blank slate) starting with new experiences. It is our job to take what we learn here and ensure the future of education stays positive and insightful.