Professional Practice

Program Standard 8

Background
When I got my undergraduate degree, I always knew in the back of my mind that I wanted to get my masters' degree someday, and I probably wanted to get it in education. However, I also knew that I wanted to wait awhile so that I would have concrete, real-world experience to apply to my graduate work. Now, as I near the end of my fifth year of teaching, I also near the complete of a graduate degree in Educational Leadership. This program has given the the chance to review teaching practice, to refine my instructional strategies, and to prepare to share my knowledge with other adults, instead of just with students in the classroom. In my first year, I benefited from the help of an instructional coach. While I am currently very happy with my school, my students, and my colleagues, I am glad that my work in this program has prepared me for many different ways to be a quality educator.

Learning
In the first few courses, we practiced observing peers in our SPU classes through videos and written lesson plans. As our knowledge of adult learning increased, we were asked to plan and present information to colleagues at our own schools. I developed a presentation about feedback methods and shared it with my department. I also designed professional development for fellow teachers who were preparing to launch interdisciplinary classes. I have also stepped up as grade level coordinator at my school, gathering data about the 9th grade and running meetings with the 9th grade team to address issues that we saw. My work in classes like "Accomplished Teaching" and "Communication and Collaboration" prepared me for these opportunities.
In addition to my work with my colleagues, I have also become a stronger teacher. I am planning a new course for next year, and I think I made the right choice in a masters' program because I had a wonderful time applying the principles of backward design and planning the formative and summative assessments before even starting to think about daily activities. I think that I have become more instinctual in the way I check for understanding with my students, and my lesson planning has certainly become more cohesive. I particularly enjoyed the classes "Standards-Based Assessment," "Curriculum Design," and "Survey of Instructional Strategies".

Next Steps
Like I said before, I don't see myself making any big changes in employment right now. I love my school, and we just hired a Director of Teaching and Learning so I'm really excited to geek out with her about all the things I have learned over the past two years. In the future, I could see myself becoming a curricular/instructional coach to help other teachers. Right now, I love my time in the classroom too much. I look forward to working with my colleagues and to using my learning to support them in any way I can.

References

Dean, C.B., Hubbell, E.R., Pitler, H., & Stone, B.J. (2012). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement (2nd ed.) [Kindle version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com.

Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning [Kindle version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com.

Hilty, E. (2011). Teacher leadership: The "new" foundations of teacher education. New York: Peter Lang.

Wiliam, D. (2011). Embedded formative assessment. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Zepeda, S. (2008). Professional development: What works. 2nd Edition. New York: Eye on Education.

Moral Issues in Education

Program Standard 1

In the Spring of 2017 I took EDU 6085, Moral Issues in Education. I appreciated Professor Fritzberg's emphasis that moral does not necessarily mean morality, and that while SPU is a Christian university there is a desire to educate about what it means to live rightly more so than what it means to live as a Christian. However, I teach at a Catholic school and am Catholic myself, so I have a somewhat biased lens towards religion as a moral compass.

I see tension at my school, a liberal school in a liberal place that also has a Catholic identity. The liberal nature of our geographical placement leads to discussions about cloning, ideas about abortion, and the nature of relationships that can be at odds with our Catholic school identity. Furthermore, a teacher reported that during an end-of-the-year reflection session in her seminar class, one student stated that while it was kind of nice that everybody mostly agreed, she wished there had been more controversy at times to deepen the discussions. This contradicts reality- not all the students in the class agree, rather, the minority don’t feel safe speaking up because they know their ideas will be shot down, or they are afraid speaking their mind will change their classmates’ view of them. This shows that we need to reconsider how we structure discussions and how we teach dialogue at our school. Students (and many adults!) need training in listening skills so that they can better understand how to see those with differing opinions as people who are worth their time and energy to hear.

The classroom can also be an emotionally charged place. As a faculty, we watched the film Race to Nowhere and saw many of our students in the children interviewed. Students today are stressed beyond measure by pressures from home, school, and society. Even if as teachers we think we haven’t placed a large verbal emphasis on grades, every action we take belies that. Almost every assignment is graded, our walls are covered in college posters, and we prep for the SAT in English class. This is integrated in students’ minds with their parents’ desires for them to do well and to get into the “right” college. As much as our school tries to educate parents around what the “right” college really means, everything the parents see in the media about college says that “right” means “ivy league.” It is a vicious cycle that needs action in many areas to decrease that charge.

I think that my school is on the right track to help students cultivate more balance and acceptance. As we move away from the IB curriculum, we are finding space to breathe and to bring back a fuller, more comprehensive advisory program that will help our students think more critically about not just who they are but about how they fit in with the larger community. We are on track to help our students understand that talent and intelligence takes many forms and speaks many languages. For one of my inquiry projects for this class, I researched restorative justice models and the work being done to implement them in schools. Our new student-driven leadership model, with students working to enforce rules and accountability, is one way that my school guides our students in seeing the challenges that others face. I recognize that my school is not perfect, and that there is a lot of work to be done regarding equity and justice, but I think we are doing good work that will continue to deepen and expand with time. Regardless of the school's Catholic identity, our overall goal should be to create students that are capable of critical thinking and holding a conversation with someone who believes differently than they do.

References

Abeles, V. (Producer). (2010). Race to nowhere [video]. Available from http://www.racetonowhere.com/screenings.

James, J.H., with Schweber, S., Kunzman, R., Barton, K.C., & Logan K. (2015). Religion in the classroom: Dilemmas for democratic education. New York, NY: Routledge.

Pace, J. (2015) The charged classroom. New York, NY: Routledge.

Sperry, P. (2015, March 14). How liberal discipline policies are making schools less safe. New York Post. Retrieved from http://nypost.com/2015/03/14/politicians-are-making-schools-less-safe-and-ruining-education-for-everyone/.

Wirzba, N. (2016). The way of love: Recovering the heart of Christianity. New York, NY: HarperOne.  

Culturally Responsive Teaching

Program Standard 5

Background

The primary class for standard 5 was EDU 6525, "Culturally Responsive Teaching." Each week, we read essays from James A. Banks' compilation Multicultural Education, Transformative Knowledge, and Action: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (1996). These essays, and other coursework, helped me critically examine the story that I tell, and how my story interacts with others'. I also became more aware of ways that some stories are honored and others are silenced.

Learning

Each week throughout this course, we examined a different part of "culture," from religion and language, to access and race. We were asked to complete an autobiography exploring our own cultural history or to examine the culture and identity groups around us and how that impacts our teaching. As a privileged, straight, white, middle-class, Christian woman, I know that I often struggle to see my own privilege since so much of what I do and believe is normalized in American culture. I chose to reflect on the different groups I see on campus, particularly the differences between the boarding or international students and our domestic students. Since my reflection contains photos and identifying information about students at my school, I have chosen not to link to it here. To summarize, I examined some of the ways in which language is a barrier to education. As the dorm program at my school expands, we continue to search for ways to make a better connection with the students and families from outside the United States. Recently, we held a meeting on campus for Chinese speaking families to help clarify some of the major changes that have been going on. The parents advocated for the formation of a Chinese Parent Council, in addition to or within our current Parent Association, to better serve international families. This is one way in which my school continues to grow in working with different cultures in a better way.

For the final project, I wrote a paper to encapsulate my learning about the role that culture plays in the classroom. I changed the names of anyone involved, so you may read my reflection here. In the paper, I describe different "types" of students and how my interactions with them have changed, or at least made me think more deeply about, my teaching methods. These students range from those whose disposition might make some teachers view them as "difficult" to those who are inclined to please and are seen as the "perfect" student- until you realize that they are blindly following everything you say. Both are problematic, and both are real examples of how different values lead to teaching challenges and teachable moments.

Impact

Reading stories about Mourning Dove, Mary McLeod Bethune, Allison Davis, and Carter G. Woodson gave me a lens through which to evaluate my teaching. As I plan a new 9th grade course on global issues, I hope to find a variety of ways in which to allow my students to tell their individual stories. Before we examine global issues with any depth or seriousness, students will need to identify their own values and think critically about how their background impacts what they value. This is one way that I can help students come to terms with their own identities and how it intersects with others'. Furthermore, my school is moving toward greater integration across curriculum with inter-disciplinary classes in the upper levels. As this trickles down to freshmen and sophomore classes, we will be able to get students to focus more on ways of knowing and critical thinking, as opposed to just studying for a test. Banks (1996) writes that the goal of the multi-cultural education movement is “to help students acquire the knowledge and commitments needed to make reflective decisions and to take personal, social, and civic action” (p. 344). By thinking about how my values and background impacts my teaching, I can help my students critically examine their own beliefs and empower them to stand up for what matters.

References

Banks, J.A. (1996). Transformative knowledge, curriculum reform, and action. In J.A. Banks (Ed.), Multicultural education, transformative knowledge, and action (pp. 335-348). New York: Teachers College Press.

Barnett, E.F. (1996). Mary McLeod Bethune: Feminist, educator, and activist. In J.A. Banks (Ed.), Multicultural education, transformative knowledge, and action (pp. 217-232). New York: Teachers College Press.

Hillis, M.R. (1996). Allison Davis and the study of race, social class, and schooling. In J.A. Banks (Ed.), Multicultural education, transformative knowledge, and action (pp. 115-128). New York: Teachers College Press.

Miller, C. (1996). Mediation and authority: The Native American voices of Mourning Dove and Ella Deloria. In J.A. Banks (Ed.), Multicultural education, transformative knowledge, and action (pp. 141-155). New York: Teachers College Press.

Roche, A.M. (1996). Carter G. Woodson and the development of transformative scholarship. In J.A. Banks (Ed.), Multicultural education, transformative knowledge, and action (pp. 91-114). New York: Teachers College Press.