After getting accepted into the UHP in spring 2013, I knew I wanted to partake in some amazing classes during the next three years. My first year of college and education classes had opened my eyes and mind to a new idea: the American education system is flawed. As I ventured through the rigorous and morally challenging classes Save Our Schools offered, I realized on a deeper level that the American education system is not only flawed, but it is broken. Going into the first class of my first Honors seminar, I was definitely intimidated. I hoped I would come off as a smart, but also friendly advocate to my colleagues, and develop a strong relationship with my professor. As the class dove into introductory topics such as how the American school system operates and how it is organized, I began to question and contrast my own public school experience and how it framed my education. I went to Olentangy Local Schools, a school district identified as "Excellent with Distinction." I began to realize that Olentangy Local Schools does not achieve such ratings solely because of test scores, but a number of factors such as parent involvement, funding, SES, and teacher retention. The factors that benefit my home school district however, do not benefit other school districts in America where parent involvement and/or SES is low. This small realization ended up reshaping my entire view on schooling in America, and why inequalities exist. After developing a background understanding of the structure of schools, the class dove into controversial topics such as NCLB, RTTT, charter schools, standardized testing, and funding. Our wonderful professor, Sarah Stitzlein, lead us through the topics with grace and taught us to look at both sides of an argument while applying the professional and numerous readings we prepared for class. Sarah is by far the most professional and dedicated professor I have had at UC thus far, and I am glad I have been able to share my thoughts with her as a future educator, and have been able to learn from her experiences as an educational reform advocate and current teacher. I also met one of my good friends in this course, fellow pre-service teacher Cristina Romero, whom I now get to share in educational reform nerdiness with. We met many important stakeholders in education during this course, such as panels of local teachers, administrators, Teach for America representatives, City Council members, and lastly two Ohio Senators and a Representative. Some of these panels and meetings got quite interesting and heated with many loaded questions coming from the professionals and our class. However, the raw and uncontrolled atmosphere of these meetings made the interactions so much more personal and real. These interactions taught me very important soft skills, which is a benefit I find most valuable from this class. I now know I can confidently and clearly communicate with professionals from all sectors on controversial topics. Our first assignment, and one of my favorite assignments in the class, was to interview a teacher on the various controversial topics we had discussed in class. I interviewed the OhioReads coordinator at Winton Hills Academy, Nancy Barngrover, who I work very closely with. This interview was eye opening for me because not often have I had the opportunity to ask teachers on their raw and unfiltered opinions about what is happening in the classroom. For the full interview see the document below.
Another one of my favorite assignments was our group project on educational support agencies. Cristina and I studied the interactions a local organization, Success by Six, has on the Greater Cincinnati Area and how it contributes to the betterment of education. We got to interview one of the organization's lead executives and presented our findings to our colleagues. See the link for more details. The most challenging and rewarding project this class presented was our Educational Change Symposium featuring Senator Eric Kearney and Representative Denise Driehaus. My group chose to present our views and research on the Common Core State Standards initiative (CCSS), a topic I was very excited to learn more about because the Standards will be enacted in Ohio during the 2014-2015 school year. Cristina, Jeremy, and I worked relentlessly on this project and our final product was definitely something to be proud of. We presented to Senator Kearny and Representative Driehaus and effectively described our views on the CCSS, and how we think the policymakers should act to support the initiative in Ohio. Overall, our professor and other viewers of the presentation said it was the most well prepared and effective display of the symposium, and we affectively answered questions from the policymakers. I hope that the policymakers choose to use our plan of action in the future as guidelines for change. To view our presentation and research paper, see the resources below.
This class was honestly all I hoped for and more when I registered. I know so much more about educational change, and feel that I have strong and fact based opinions on what is happening in the American school system. I was inspired by my colleagues ideas and opinions, and I am excited to know that there are communities and groups of people who know and feel that things must change. I made some great friends in this course and know I have a professor I can go to even when the course is over to chat about educational reform or the classroom. I believe that all education majors should be required to take this course because of its rich content and integrity for change. I look forward to the future of educational reform and how I will apply my new knowledge to be a successful agent of change. This course has made me a better pre-service teacher.
See the slideshow below for pictures from the Educational Reform symposium with Senator Eric Kearney and Representative Denise Dreihaus. Photo credit to the University of Cincinnati.