road to teaching: action research topic bubble map

road to teaching: action research topic bubble map


I began my action research bubble map with the thought that I might like to research how phonics phones would affect student writing performance. However, the more information that I filled in, the clearer it became that I had other questions regarding the writing process. Working with kindergartners, I notice that they have a very hard time writing independently. They often do not want to write or they write formulaic style sentences that do not reflect true thoughts. If you are unable to communicate your thoughts, you must revert to uninspiring and unchallenging formulaic sentence structure and vocabulary. Reading these are really boring- thus writing them must be really boring too. If children were given tools and strategies to empower them to write their thoughts independently with out relying on the formulaic structure, small list of sight word vocabulary, or the limited environmental print, or a teacher's presence, perhaps they will be inspired to write more frequently. I used the structure of critical query questions (p. 63) posed in the Jenny and Snyder article to help define where my problem statement.

action research topic bubble map

Culural Image of teacher

blog-3 Cultural Image of teacher

It seems that the American image of “teacher” closely resembles that of “mother”.  The image of teacher is young 25-35, pretty (not a knock-out), soft, warm, inviting, and conservative.  Teachers are often portrayed as nurturing, altruistic, and virtuous.  “Teacher” is usually defined as a white woman teaching elementary aged students.  The negative alternative stereotype of an angry, domineering teacher is more often paired with older students.  Few women of diverse ethnic or racial backgrounds are depicted.  Men are less often portrayed as teacher than are women.  For those men that are part of the public image, usually they are math and science teachers of high school students.  They are often viewed as the “leader” role in front of the class.
The interesting thing that I found during this collage work is how often our image of ourselves as “teacher” falls into these stereotypical images shown in the collages.  Most of the women’s “portrait of a teacher” drawings were of smiley, long haired, slender women. Only one woman defined her self as a science teacher.  The men’s portraits had echoes of the cultural ideal of the “man teacher”.  Two of the three men clearly defined themselves as math and science teachers.  The “man teacher” was the hoarder of space in the picture (think back to non-verbal communication and gender roles), where as the women were often depicted as a part of the class room space. 
I have to agree, that the stereotypes are here for a reason.  We seem to self-select teachers and ourselves to fulfill these roles.  I had to question myself as to how comfortable I am in supporting this stereotype.  I did not want to be a teacher when I was younger as I felt that it was too much of a women’s slot job.  I was not willing to assume a “mother” role as a career.  I wonder if these strong societal stereotypes keep others from seeking out a career in teaching.  Would more men feel comfortable teaching in elementary schools if it was portrayed as a “man’s job”?  Would more children that are minorities want to grow up to be a teacher if they could see themselves in the role through cultural images?

blog 2- what is a good teacher

What is a good teacher?

A good teacher is….

inspiring, patient, encouraging, strong, educated, multi-tasker, flexible, creative, caring, nurturing, open, friendly, warm, inviting, challenging, supportive, inclusive, learner, thinker,…. and more.

Looking at the pictures from the Phillip and Carr article, I notice that the teacher is definitely the star of the show.  I think only one picture incorporates students- and they are off to the side.  It seems that many times, teachers focus on their own performance.  “That was a great lesson I taught”, or “I got through the curriculum”, or the attitude of “my students are excelling because I am a great teacher” (although somewhat true).  I used to teach a pre-school/kindergarten class.  The children were wonderful and eager learners.  The parents would thank me profusely, knowing that their kids were soaring during their time with me.  However, I would think, “Don’t thank me, this is my job.  It’s the kids that are doing all of the hard work!”

To me, that is what a true teacher is.  A teacher inspires a child to learn and want to learn more.  A teacher challenges children to extend their thinking.  A teacher supports children socially and educationally to grow.  A teacher should not be the focus of the class.  The children must be the focus of the class.  When I teach, I want the children to think of the class room as “our room”, not Mrs. Goldsmith’s busy bees.   A good teacher encourages the growth of the child, and must strive to grow with the child as well.  I guess that we can truly learn from each child in our class and know that it adds to our own growth in professional experience and makeup.

blog 1- teaching with a cultural context

Why do I want to become a teacher?

1. I love teaching and I am really good at it!  I get excited when kids get excited about learning.
2. I know what a difference great teaching and bad teaching can make in a child’s life.  I want to be part of something “good” that happens to a kid.
3. Where else can you go to work and play at the same time?
4. I love figuring out how to reach each child- that’s interesting.
5. I thought about leaving the education field several times for a better paying job (I am a TA- that says it all).  I would become very sad internally at the thought of not doing this type of work.  So, I decided to get my masters’ and certification instead!  Be happy.

5 Critical moments as a student: 

1. Actually, life as a student was never fun for me… until Mr. Sabatini’s 8^th grade social studies class.  Social studies became a series of wonderful stories rather than foreign names and random dates.  He actually taught us how to study for and how to take a test.  This was my first positive classroom experience.

2. My 8^th grade English teacher said that I was a “beacon of light” for others and named me the most improved student of the year.  Once I went home and looked up the term “beacon” I was very pleased.  It goes to show what the support and confidence of a teacher can do for a student.

3. During my senior year at college, a fictional writing professor said that he would not help me with my work and was not there to be my cheerleader (I hadn’t even posed my question to him question at the point he said this)  He failed me on my writing that was worth 55% of my grade.  He showed me how demoralizing a teacher can be.  I, of course, dropped his class.

4. Through out my career as a student, I had been told again and again that I would probably never excel in school.  Gosh, I don’t like to be told ahead of time I will fail!  I am a diagnosed dyslexic with several years of special schooling under my belt.  It took me a while to learn that I really am smart, probably more so than the folks that who tried to steer me away from learning.

5. I had an unbelievably demanding math teacher in high school for two years.  I have thank her mentally ever since!  Good teachers aren’t always the fun ones.

So, looking at my “critical moments” being educated, I realize that they all revolved around teachers- good or bad.  Good teachers in my experience are defined as ones that make the work interesting, help me to connect to the material, teach me beyond the subjects, and most importantly have faith and confidence in me as a student and a child under their care. 

My background:  I was raised in an upper middle class conservative family.  My mother, while incredibly smart (and was actually the first female to ever graduate summa cum laud in the college of Agriculture at Colorado State University-GO MOM!), and had her masters in Animal biology, was a housewife.  However, she really ruled the roost in our house as my father traveled overseas extensively and was often gone for weeks at a time.  College was never an “if”, but a “where” in my house.  As a history major, teaching was a logical choice for me.  However, I distinctly did not want to teach as I felt I would be falling into a “woman’s slot job”.  Now that I am all grown up, I say “the heck with that, I want to be a teacher”.  However, I believe that incorporating research and professional growth into the field of education distinguishes professional educators from job holders. 

My belief system: In spite of my relatively secluded and sheltered childhood, I was raised to believe in the integrity of all people and to respect the choices and lifestyles of people who may not be like me or believe in what I believe in.   As I wrote recently for another class, good teachers must be cognizant of their own biases in order to combat them, or we run the risk of teaching to the biases.

I believe that good teachers are always looking for ways to reach all students academically, behaviorally, and socially.  There is no one set of “best practices” guidelines for each problem.  Therefore, we must try different ways and methods to reach our students.  That is the basis for research. It is an integral part of teaching. Research can be beneficial and ethical if it does not prohibit good teaching practices and methods for any students.  Furthermore, it should be conducted with the goal of bettering the students and school community.  I would love to become a reflective teacher and one that is confident with conducting research to become a master of the craft of teaching.