Prompt #5 - Dewey

(Don't mind the picture----I chose it because it matched the theorist connection and I would love the idea of my library housing a cat!)
Hi everyone!

I think I'm finally going to wrap up these theorist connections by introducing John Dewey. Although difficult to understand fully, his ideas branch out into many of the other theorists I have connected my Service Learning experience with. He talks about the numerous minor groups that make up the larger social organization which include: social sets, cliques (Brown), gangs, corporations, and partnerships. These groups can easily be seen within a classroom setting. I mentioned in my connection to Lyn Mikel Brown that I had noticed cliques being formed within my kindergarten classroom by two groups of girls. What I hadn't noticed is what Dewey had to say about these situations aside from Brown. Dewey explains there is something called the "Experimental Model". This model shows that "children learn by doing, solving real problems, and working together cooperatively" (p.1 - The Democratic Conception in Education).

I think the connection I have with Dewey through my service learning is that there are many different backgrounds that make up my kindergarten classroom. Nothing in the classroom is "ideal", as Dewey would say, because everyone brings something new to the table with every different activity. To be worthy, "We cannot set, out of our heads, something we regard as an idea society. We must base out conception upon societies which actually exist, in order to have any assurance that out idea is a practicable one" (p.2, The Democratic Conception in Education). Within my classroom, I see cliques being formed, students without a full understanding of the rules, and others simply keeping to themselves without interacting with others. The most important aspect of John Dewey's article that stood out to me was the second element where he talks about the isolation from other groups and the protection gangs/cliques have. He explains that even if the contact between groups is negative, it at least forces the intercourse between the groups. This, in turn, lets each group see the views of different societies.

Within my classroom, I think that interaction between different groups is normal. These groups however should be formed by reading level or language barrier, but then also integrated with other groups. This will help with the groups understanding and learning of different skills, languages, and backgrounds the other groups possess. Dewey encourages the application of this because “it is a commonplace that an alert and expanding mental life depends upon an enlarging range of contact with the physical environment” (p.5 – The Democratic Conception of Education). Children, starting from a young age, should understand that people come from different places with various backgrounds. By accepting these differences, as a society, we are able to communicate, connect, and experience everyone as a whole.