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.