The semester is finally at the end! This year really flew by, and I'm ready to graduate in a couple of weeks! I have to say it was a real pleasure having everyone for this class. I really like online classes and also the freedom we experience as part of an online community. Freedom to express thoughts and feelings, to research and discuss different things and freedom from any stereotypes that may have been presumed if we were in a classroom setting. I have learned a lot from you all and I am grateful. It was very interesting to "hear" what you had to say on the blog and discussions - I have looked forward to your posts each and every week. I also liked how many of the classmates gave great responses to the blogs and the discussions we posted. I have had classes in the past that were online and classmates didn’t always give you the best responses to the posts. I learned more about the topics from other students perspectives, which makes us more well rounded students.

I’ll have to say the one thing that I enjoyed the most about this course was the observation. I really liked being in a classroom observing the teacher and the students. It really made me feel good, and I felt like I could really be a teacher one day in my life. I learned a lot from this experience. I also liked everyone's metaphors. I was really confused about that subject. But everyone was so creative with it and everyone did such a good job, i was really impressed. I really liked the topics that we discussed for our blogs. They were really interesting and very educational. All in all i learned a lot from this course, more than i expected and I also learned a lot from all of the students. Thanks for a great course Anneliese and everyone!

Bridge Building

Teaching is like bridge building. What needs to be taught has to connect with what already matters to the students, and something new must be taught.
When building a bridge you want to connect a gap so that there will be access through it. Such as teaching, you are connecting students to what they already know and expand their knowledge to new things. A teacher believes in her students and works on them, tugs and pushes and leads them to the next level. The purpose of the bridge is to provide passage over an obstacle. When you think about it, this is what teachers do all day long when they are teaching the students. They provide a lesson plan; a clear understanding of what the students are learning. And also like a bridge one step at a time is build. Teachers have to pace themselves and accommodate their lesson plans to the students. Beams and arches are used to make the structure stable, just like teachers control and support the class.
A teacher teachers something where access has been blocked, like the bridge. Once the bridge is built things can go through it and there’s access to the other side. Teachers give students access to new things. A good example of this is when the child learns something new, or something that they don’t understand, and once the teacher teaches them, they understand it clearly and that blocked access is now clear. The bridge is there forever, it’s a very strong and useful foundation just like learning.
A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. ~Henry Brooks Adams

The US Pledge of Allegiance

The Pledge of Allegiance was first written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy. At that time it read "I Pledge Allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." The Pledge officially became part of the US Flag Code in 1942. In 1954 the words "under God" were added to the Pledge by Congress with approval from President Dwight Eisenhower. The Pledge of Allegiance is a multi-faceted issue of weather kids need to recite it in school or not. The main issue is whether the words "under God" should be in the US Pledge of Allegiance. Some people strongly agree that it should be taken out. A 2001 lawsuit contested the inclusion of the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, citing a violation of church-state separation principles. The argument keeping the Pledge of Allegiance is that the US was created from Christian principles of the Founding Fathers and this pledge should respect this countries heritage. It teaches the kids of the pride and patriotism of this country. Another argument for "under God" is that others say the US Constitution protects freedom of religion and not freedom from religion. The Department of Justice believes strongly on these issues and they continue to defend the ability for the school children to pledge allegiance to the flag. It’s an expression of national identity and patriotism.
Arguments against the Pledge of Allegiance are that the state and church should be kept separate as our Founding Fathers intended. Another argument against this pledge is that the phrase "under God" in the Pledge places "undue coercion" on young children, thus violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
I believe that the Pledge of Allegiance should be kept the way it is. I don't believe that it oppressed or brainwashed kids by them saying "under God". It’s part of the countries heritage and I think it’s a good thing. However with the increase in diversity and religious views, this will continue to be an issue for the school children and what they are taught concerning religious issues.

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