https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bebYHZmIp9WpVqBm-eMK-ogsqmZZssFWuhoxfLGigKk/edit?usp=sharing
Month: October 2019
Writing Project 1
Jake Drap, Tyler Evans Final Essay
Galilea, Writing Project 1
Student Power Final Project
Writing Project 1
Final- Kenzie and Jenna
Draft
Final Written Project
drafts update pt. 3
Writing Project 1 Draft
New updated draft
Ava Hill: Final Project 1
Writing project 1 draft
The teacher and student relationship at West Chester University is similar to most schools. The teacher gives information to the student and the student is told to memorize and to repeat the information on an exam or project. Freire is a Brazilian teacher and philosopher who believes that the education system is horrific. A few ways Freire thinks the teacher and student relationship should be changed are the student should try talking about the lesson as though they were teaching it and the student should not memorize, but instead learn the material.
Freire believes that the student will learn nothing unless he/she can teach it him/herself. The teacher teaching is just a waste of time for everyone except the teacher because at the end of the day the teacher is the only one who learned. Students cannot learn the material unless they can teach the material. This way of teaching is referred to as the “Banking Concept” when the teacher teaches and the students listen. Freire says, “The banking approach to adult education, for example, will never propose to students that they critically consider reality (Freire 2). This phrase says a lot about Freire’s ideology on this topic. To summarize he states that students do not think critically when in class or doing homework, thus the Banking concept is debunked. The banking concept may work for some who truly want to succeed , but the rest will surely fall behind. At West Chester University, the teacher/professor relationship is indistinguishable from other schools. They all use the banking concept. To change this professors at West Chester University can assign students to teach other students similar to the tutoring center. When a student presenting a topic in class that student is teaching, thus he/she is learning. Instead of having a final exam the student should teach the teacher a little bit of what they learned that simester. That would show actual understanding. Instead of doing math on a test the student would help a student who does not know the material well or just show the teacher. For history class the student would talk about all the important dates in a war or time period. In science the students would make his/her own experiment and teach the teacher how to do it. Having the student teach would be a great and effective way to learn than to memorize and forget about the material the next day.
Students often forget the material for their next class which is bad when that class requires prior knowledge. If students didn’t memorize but indeed learned the material then maybe it wouldn’t be an issue.
Updated draft – pt.2
draft in google docs form
Writing Project 1 Updated Draft
West Chester University is divided between academic buildings and the dorms in which students live in. Freire wants students to recognize that with education, the divide between academic buildings and student’s home’s separates living and learning into two individual concepts that aren’t cohesively intertwined in the world. Due to this, teachers and students interact differently and absorb information in a variety of different ways. West Chester University can link these two concepts together by moving academic classrooms into residence halls. This can create a more unified bond between the students and the teacher by helping both recipients of the matter retain information for further use. In doing so, West Chester can also create more flexible seating in classrooms so that students feel more comfortable and relaxed in their environment, as they do in the homes of their dorms or houses. Lastly, the school should implement more online classes where students can learn in the privacy of their own home. This concept can help bridge the gap between school and home lifestyles. Online schooling can offer a more private and enhanced way of learning for students since they can communicate with their teacher, one on one, without worrying about the intimidation that face to face contact brings.
Moving educational classrooms into residence halls will help fix Freire’s idea that in society, education has its constraints. By adding these classrooms, the line between the academic buildings and the residential halls will fade away with all the negativity that the line provoked in education. This new change will provide different intellectual experiences in the residential halls for both teachers and students. Freire advocates that a common stereotype of education persists to be where “the teacher teaches, and the students are taught.” The addition of the classrooms will make that statement contradictory in that teachers will be able to learn from the students’ by observing their study habits in the residential halls in order to prepare them for future exams. Students will also have better chances of connected with their professors due to the decrease in class size. Dorms are a quiet place where one can study, and the library offers the same exact use; however, one is meant for living and relaxing, and the other is meant for studying and being productive. In the convenience of one’s own home, students often get distracted and aren’t focused as much in their studies. We must re-shape the space we learn in to access our intellectuality. For health science majors, they constantly travel to south campus for classes and meet the potential conflict of arriving late due to the bus transportation. With health science courses taught in the residential halls, students have no reason to be late to class. This enhancement will improve student’s productivity in their own living spaces by allowing students to sleep in longer with more time to prepare for class. This relocation of academic facilities will offer students opportunities in finding other students in their residential buildings to study with. Overall, the new rearrangement on campus we’ll increase the involvement of students since more undergraduates meet others in their own residential halls.
Freire implements the idea that learning happens in conversation and both recipients of the matter must be present for learning to occur. Professors at West Chester University expect students to ask a friend what they missed in class to recover the information they need for future tests. Students cannot learn class concepts as well because it’s just as easy as copying the notes from a friend. When students are sick, running late to class, or cannot make the class due to personal matters, they shouldn’t be denied access to what they missed. Freire advocates that students must “adapt to the world as it is and to the fragmented view of reality deposited in them” (Freire 2). Freire makes a well-intentioned point highlighting that students adjust to their environment based on the reality that in life, no one is perfect. With West Chester University’s installment of the teleconference software, students can responsibly dial into class or lectures while still attaining the knowledge they would have missed if the software had not existed. This allows students to still be able to communicate in a virtual manner, even if they are not physically in the classroom. In a virtual society, not all needed resources are in the same room. Adding a conferencing software will allow for remote connection. Students will be able to dial in from the convenience of their own homes and most likely with no distractions to follow along with the class material.
In college, students frequently change their majors to pursue different careers; however, not all students are given the same opportunities to transfer into their desired major. Specifically speaking, nursing is a widely competitive major at West Chester University and the department limits how many students can take part of that major. As for dropping and enrolling in classes, the university implements a similar limitation but on classes for when they fill up. The university should look to expand certain courses year after year by examining at how many students request to enroll in those specific courses. In the long run, if these courses offered larger size classrooms to hold more students, undergraduates would be able to take their desired courses and they will graduate on time. In general, the university should look to expand the different fields of study offered. As for switching majors, the university should apply this same concept by expanding the nursing department. Currently, West Chester University requires that students who look to internally transfer into the nursing program must complete a list of prerequisites to be considered for the program. The department of nursing should offer these students the same opportunities to easily transfer into their desired major instead of applying to college for the second time. The more students given this same opportunity will eventually decreases the number of students who are undeclared in their major of study. West Chester University’s department of nursing is limiting the seats they offer, making it more complicated for students transferring into the major. Students that are passionate about the practice are being limited in their desired course of study. Universities have students do clinicals in hospitals to obtain hours of operation before they enter the working force. In essence, students are already working in the work force with no pay. Freire states that, “the truth is, however, that the oppressed are not “marginals,” are not people living “outside” society. They have always been “inside”—inside the structure which made them “beings for others” (Freire 2). Reducing limitations on courses and major transfers, students will be able to live outside West Chester’s controlled society and be given more freedom with more space in classes. Students should be offered the same opportunities as those in or transferring to other majors to better their success in the outside world. If West Chester associated themselves with a larger hospital to provide more clinical opportunities for students, then the nursing department would be re-shaped, without a distinct limit on students enrolling in the major. By increasing room sizes for popular courses year to year, the space for hospital clinicals, and the amount of seats in nursing courses, those students who look to transfer into nursing are offered equal opportunities to transfer into that major. This would make it more liberating for students to be able to freely change their course of study without any restrictions preventing them to further their learning.
