McLaren states that “the teacher must both reveal how subjectivity gets constructed and legitimated through dominant pedagogical discourses and eventually challenge the imaginary relations that students live relative to the symbolic and material conditions of their existence.” (McLaren, 1989) While this is no easy task in kindergarten, I am obliged to have children question such things as why we celebrate Columbus Day, or why Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is dead. There are many sites and texts dedicated to Rethinking Columbus and his legacy to assist teachers.
Involving families is a way to build educational value and motivation. (McLaren, 1989) By making a number of quality online resources available to parents that the children already know how to use, teachers can help bring academics into the homes, and increase their value. (Rury, 2oo5) I have about a dozen educational flash games that I have developed.
I also have had great success both in the classroom and from parent reports about Starfall.com , the first 1oo sight words, and teacher tube, where you can see our class pet eat worms! Teachertube is especially nice because the videos are monitored by teachers and this dramatically lessens the risk for exposure to inappropriate content. Our school has also purchased subscriptions to Enchanted Learning, which is a phenomenal site for lessons and reproducibles.
State Department of Education. (2oo7). Connecticut Code of Professional Responsibility. Retrieved July 2nd, 2oo8 from http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/PDF/Cert/ethics/tchr_code.pdf.
Education World. (2oo5). New Skills in New Schools: Preparing Teachers in Family Involvement. Retrieved July 2nd, 2oo8 from http://www.education-world.com/a_issues/issues020.shtml.
McLaren, P. (1989). Life in schools:An introduction to critical pedagogy in the foundations of education. White Plains, NY; Longman, Inc.
Ormrod, J. E. (2oo8) Human Learning 5th Edition. Upper Saddle, New Jersey: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.
Rury, J. L. (2oo5) Education and social change: Themes in the history of American schooling. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.