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 * Then answer questions and read through our fun activities!

I chose to educate students on this country because I personally hadn't learned about it before until last year. Therefore, I wanted to share my knowledge with students! Niger became independent from France in 1961. However, today Niger stands as one of the poorest nations in the world. Predominantly an Islamic nation, Niger prides itself on its excellent inter-communal relationships. The society reflects a large diversity drawn from several different ethnic groups and their relatively short period living in a single state. Historically, what is now Niger has been on the fringes of several large states!

__**My Education Philosophy:**__
 * I believe education was instilled in communities to spread knowledge. Knowledge is everywhere; it consists of language, society and community. You have to be knowledgeable of what’s in society, knowledgeable of what is safe to do in your community and knowledgeable of how to communicate with others. All should be taught.
 * However more importantly school is here to give the children something to do. The teacher is in the classroom to establish order, exploit bullying, create comfort for a learning environment for everyone to share their ideas and keep them out of the street. As my basketball coach Gage always said, “ We’re here to keep you ladies out the street and away from getting pregnant.” There needs to be equal opportunity for students no matter what background, we as teachers need to provide multi ethnic curriculum, so students will be intrigued by class content and continue to come to class. Community influences schooling and the people vote all together on what should and should not be taught. However there are those communities where no voting takes place and no one cares what is taught. These are the communities that need education the most! Not just to teach the children facts and information, but to teach them how to care about their life, about their future, and about society.
 * For them to learn how to care, opportunity needs to be given. Opportunity is comforting to children if they do not have it. Children look forward to the teachers having a plan, because they crave direction and structure in their life. Everyone wants to be able to make choices, covey their ideas, meet their goals and help in other’s success. Form and shape do not matter in this process and working through any of them. You can complete your goals ad such, through music, song, dance, art, computers and teaching; as long as there is a will there is a way! With new generations approaching rapidly, it is more effective to use new techniques and hands-on approaches verse traditional learning styles, because problem-based learning is taking over and we, as teachers need to keep up and hang on to our student’s attention!
 * However a major question we must ask ourselves is, who is the teacher these days? In my opinion the students are. They are the ones socializing and helping each other work through projects and assignments after “the teacher” gives the instructions. That is why we as future teachers need to make ourselves available and involve ourselves and students together in the same volunteer programs and educational activities outside the classroom, because the physical environment the students are in will very much impact their feelings towards what they are learning. I also believe assessing and critiquing students needs to be improved. It has slowly been changing, but standardized testing is not an equivalent way to accurately assess all cultures fairly. It caters to the white middle class because all their life they are raised with test preps, paid practice and parental training, just like I had as a girl. However, for the less fortunate communities, the children can be just as smart but, we will never know because they have not had all these test prep programs and trained practices. We need to come up with other options such as, one on one evaluation, where the students are comfortable and appraised the same way.
 * Since appraising students the same way is valued, we must give them positive reinforcement that all their questions are worthy, because after all questions are a form of education! Questions generate answers and answers generate satisfaction, but better yet, satisfaction of an answer generates more curiosity for another one! This in my opinion is the cycle to obtaining knowledge and enjoying learning. We cannot repress children that we teach, we need to allow them to do what they prefer to educate themselves on something, so we as future teachers need to be flexible to different fields of learning. For example, we can put children in possession of all their powers by differentiating curriculum and allowing their individualism and ideas into our classrooms. And a great way to get the children to tell their ideas and not be afraid to speak what they believe is by giving them time to be themselves. For example show and tell is a great way to educate the class on multiple cultures and broaden their horizons.
 * Just as Joel spring says in the book, //Deculturalization//, Why do some people think that this country can only tolerate one language? Are these concerns motivated by politics or education? He also brings about another good point that, some people think wealth is a sign of blessing. These distorted ideas are in society so they pave their way into children’s minds. The only way to change society and these unclear ideas is for everyone to utilize education and consume as much knowledge as possible, to spread it and teach it!



media type="youtube" key="KHr4BG0Qv2U" height="283" width="378" align="center"

__**Anthem lyrics:**__

Throughout great powerful Niger Which makes nature more beautiful, Let us be proud and grateful Of our new freedom!

Let us avoid vain quarrels In order to spare ourselves bloodshed, and may the glorious voices Of our race be free of domination!

Let us rise in a single leap As high as the dazzling sky, Where stands guard its eternal soul Which will make the country greater!

Arise! Niger! Arise! May our fruitful labors Rejuvinate the heart of this old continent! And may the song be heard In the four corners of the Earth As the cry of a fair and valliant people!
 * CHORUS:**

Arise! Niger! Arise! On the ground and on the wave, To the sound of the drums In their growing rythms Let us always remain united, And may each one respond To this noble future Which tells us: - Go forward!

References: Niger Flag. (n.d.). //Google//. Retrieved December 5, 2011, from http://www.google.com/imgres?q=niger+flag&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1151&bih=556&

//UniversalAnthems. (n.d.). NATIONAL ANTHEM OF NIGER - YouTube .// YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.//. Retrieved December 5, 2011, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHr4BG0Qv2U

Created by: Karen Back ©klback@ilstu.eduDate Created: November 28, 2011Date Last Modified: November 28, 2011