week 7

Curriculum Development

This is one of the best parts of teaching! One of my primary purposes in teaching is to provide an environment of diversity in learning experiences. My current model is to take the required curriculum and adapt it to be contextually relevant to each student. I try to give the students every opportunity to participate in their own education. I have found that if you leave assignments too open, however it can sometimes be overwhelming for students to come up with their own ideas. They can spend the whole class time trying to come up with an idea instead of actually working. So, I always start with a prescribed assignment/multiple assignments to choose from. For the students who like to branch out with new, creative ideas, I allow modification when appropriate. I usually require that the students approach me with their idea, and show how they will be able to incorporate all of the required curricula within the task parameters. I have found that when students are given even a small amount of control over their education, they tend to be more engaged in the task. It is always very refreshing to see a student become intellectually and emotionally invested in a project. Often, they can get so immersed that they go beyond the project requirements and exceed my expectations!

Individually encouraging students to be creative and push the the envelope goes along with my previous post this morning regarding diversity and prejudice. Many of my students are culturally very quiet and reserved. If I didn't take the time to get to know them, I might just assume that they were disengaged or disinterested. For past few semesters, my top students have been such individuals. In each case, the students started out just doing the basic task as assigned. I sat down with each, asking questions about them; what were their interests in school, what where their hobbies at home? I offered suggestions as to how they might incorporate their personal interests into the projects. Once the ice was broken, each student enthusiastically jumped in, creating amazing projects for the rest of the semester that were full of creativity and meticulous care and skill.

In my experience working with students, I have found one consistent commonality: Everyone is a unique individual. Thus, everyone needs to be treated with equal attention toward discovering those unique differences, regardless of how they look or behave on the surface.

week 6 (finally!)

Sorry this post is a week late: I was out of town last week, and it's been a busy week catching up! At first, I was reluctant to write about my prejudice and biases. This is a scary subject, but I'm going to go out on a limb and talk about it.

What frustrates me is when people make excuses, blaming oppression or negative external influences to cover up their own failings.  I agree that we are a racist society. The deck is definitely stacked against minority groups. However, that doesn't mean that anybody should get a free ride from hard work and responsibility.  One's SES also plays a major role in this. I am equally irritated by White people who leach off government money  because they are too lazy to work hard.

I teach part time at ITT Tech, and about 95% of my students are Hispanic and Native American. Many of them have had very difficult lives. The majority of them dropped out of High School, and have been struggling with unsatisfying jobs, both financially and emotionally. I have a tremendous amount of respect for all of my students, because they are actively working hard to change their path in life. It is really great to see young people taking some responsibility for their own lives. In each class I teach, I always have at least one student who really struggles with schedules and homework. Just last night, I was talking with one such student who has a very difficult time doing work outside of class. Out of the blue, he said to me, "I know I need to stop making excuses, and just do it. It's not that hard, I just need to DO the work."  A few semesters ago, another struggling student told me essentially the same thing.  Hearing this gives me hope in our society.

Does my bias influence my  philosophy on teaching? Absolutely. I feel very strongly that teachers should approach all students through "color-blind" eyes.  I have been reading over and over again this semester that you shouldn't treat everyone the equally, because of cultural differences. I disagree with this, but I think I have a slightly different definition of "equal" treatment. On a basic level, all students should be treated with equal respect, equal caring, equal critique and equal discipline as necessary. When it comes to differences that are culturally influenced, we are warned to be overly sensitive to this. I think this is counterproductive. If we try too hard to be "aware" of everybody's differences, we risk further reinforcing the negative stereotype. 

 In my eyes EVERYBODY is different. Eveyone has cultural differences to varying degrees. Everyone has different learing styles and rates. When it comes to instructional methods, we absolutely cannot depend on just one method of teaching, because everyone is different. You have to employ as many different styles as you can to get through to as many students as possible. This is true for a highly diverse class, or a class of exclusively white kids. Either way, you have to teach to the individual needs of the student, regardless of his skin color or how much money his parents make. If you take the time to get to know each student, to learn what works for them, that is the only way to truly be an effective teacher. When you show that you really care to learn about a student as an individual, then they open up to you, and become inspired and motivated to succeed. I believe that all students who are treated as valued individuals will develop into responsible, hard working adults.

week 5

2017 Imaginary Teacher of the Year    (a hypothetical article by a.n.w.)

Another year has come and gone, and thus comes the annual Imaginary Teacher of the Year. This year’s winner is Amber Walbridge, a high school teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  For the past five years, Mrs. Walbridge has worked with many charter high schools in New Mexico to develop advanced programs in Technology Arts.

In 2012, after a 12 year career in Architecture and Design, Mrs. Walbridge shifted gears to education. Beginning at XYZ Charter High School in Albuquerque, she worked with the school to develop a program that provides a more comprehensive exposure to Graphic Digital Arts, Animation, Architecture, and Design. “Technology is our future. Lots of high schools have technical computer classes, but we are the first school to have a whole program for the artistic stuff” said Sally Jay, a junior at XYZ.  Marvin Garcia, the principal of XYZ points out, “our school provides an extensive variety of technical arts classes that until now, was typically only offered at the college level. Our students have better preparation for this modern digital age.” 

Once the program at XYZ was established, Mrs. Walbridge helped to push this model throughout many other charter schools in the Albuquerque area. Mrs. Walbridge feels that it is extremely important to provide all students access to modern technology. Her goal is to develop not only the technical basics of modern technology, but to encourage and inspire creative reasoning and independent thought. "Teachers are responsible for helping to guide our future. We need to ensure that our children develop into happy, motivated adults who have the confidence to be successful and in turn help the community with their own contributions".

week 4

My purpose in being a teacher is primarily to help others. It is wonderful to see when a struggling student has that “Aha! I get it!” moment.  There is so much joy in those little moments when things suddenly become clear. It is extremely rewarding to see a student’s face light up with happiness, satisfaction, or just the simple relief that something finally clicked.  I also enjoy the challenge in trying to find that trigger that sweeps away the confusion. It’s like a puzzle; to explain something in a new way, to find a real-life example to make it relevant, to describe a concept through imagery or sound. It’s different with every student, so it is a constant game to find a different way to illustrate new ideas.

I want to share my experiences and knowledge, but my purpose in education is more than that.  One of the reasons I have always wanted to teach was because of my own experiences when I was in school. I want to specifically teach architecture, drafting and visual arts at the high school level. These are very subjective, highly creative fields. I would get so frustrated with my design teachers because they would try to enforce their own creative ideas onto the students. I want to be a different kind of teacher than what I experienced. It is so important to allow students to develop their own ideas. I believe that the best chance young minds have to realize their full potential is when they are comfortable and confident with their own ideas and instincts. I want to provide a flexible, open environment where students have the freedom to do their own thing within the parameters of any given assignment.  If I can help promote independent thinking and confidence in the classroom, ideally that will continue outside of school. I want to help students evolve into strong, creative individuals who can in turn go into society and help others reach their full potential as well.