Introduction

            People know of Salem, Massachusetts as “The Witch Town” but I know Salem as my home. I was born and raised in Salem and plan to return to the Northshore after graduation.

            My older brother Danny plays a large part in why I chose to be a teacher. Danny has special needs and attended the Northshore Education Consortium in Beverly while he was in school. I would occasionally go to the school and I always noticed how dedicated Danny’s teachers were and how determined they were to make sure Danny achieved and accomplished success in and out of the classroom. I began to notice how each teacher advocated for the success and achievement of their students and how devoted these teachers were to help change the world through children. Therefore, I came to the realization that teaching was what I truly wanted to do.

            When I began applying for colleges I asked Danny’s teachers what college would assist me to help reach my goals of becoming an elementary school teacher. Each teacher instantly replied with Wheelock College. I was immediately attracted to Wheelock due to the location in Boston, the close-knit community, and the work Wheelock is involved in to help children succeed.

            At Wheelock, I am a human development major with a focus in sociology. I believe that my major has helped me understand how social categories (class, gender, sex, age, religion, and race) affect human attitudes, actions, and opportunities. By being able to understand the structure of society I feel I am able to actively teach children without a bias or prejudice mind set.

            I currently work at Wheelock College Library as a librarian’s assistant as well as Longwood Medical Area Child Care Center as an assistant teacher. Due to my dedication to children as well as attending Wheelock, I currently work at the Northshore Education Consortium as a substitute teacher during vacations from college and a paraprofessional during the summer program.

            My pre-practicum was within an inclusive second grade class at the Driscoll Elementary School in Brookline, Massachusetts and my full practicum was within a third grade class at the Joseph Lee Elementary School in Dorchester, Massachusetts.  After completing my practicum within Dorchester, I came to the conclusion that I would like to work within the inner city after graduation.

            Although I would like to work within a urban school district, I am planning to return to school within the next two years to receive my a master’s degree and teaching license to teach students with moderate to severe disabilities.

Educational Philosophy

• I believe that each child within a classroom is a unique individual who needs a safe, nurturing, and motivating atmosphere in order to grow and develop intellectually, emotionally, phsycially, and socially.
• I believe for a child to reach their full potential within a classroom there must be constant communication and collaboration between home and school.
• I believe that teaching is a lifelong learning process where an educator should frequently reflect, improve, and refine their teaching techniques and beliefs.

Standard 1

	Standard 1. Advocacy for Social Justice
1.1	Attentive to inequalities associated with race, social class, gender, language, and other social categories
1.2	Consciously look for alternatives to established educational practices that support the learning, development, and academic achievement of children whose backgrounds place them outside the dominant culture
1.3	Employ multicultural, anti-racist, anti-bias educational practices that foster deep engagement in learning and high academic achievement

            The advocacy for social justice standard explains how crucial it is for an educator to acknowledge the diversity within their classrooms and still create an environment which is open to the differences of all social categories while guiding children to achieve success. A teacher must teach children to accept and appreciate differences seen in others and their selves. This can be achieved by creating an atmosphere which does not leave the situation open for prejudice or stereotypical material to be used.

            As an educator, it is crucial to understand inequalities within social categories and to teach to all students. By understanding that scripted curriculum and outdated teaching material are not geared towards the non-dominant culture I must be open to the idea of finding ways to teach the curriculum for all children to succeed: not just children within the dominant culture. In the future I would like to work in a multicultural environment, which means that understanding how to adapt my curriculum in a non-bias manner is essential for my future students to achieve within my classroom.

            Caroyln Orange, an expert teacher, explains how imperative understanding cultural differences is in order to be a successful teacher:

Insightful teachers know the importance of being knowledgeable and respectful of cultural diversity…These teachers incorporate a variety of strategies to bridge the gap between the cultures, such as respecting students, attaching value to their responses, making classroom activities more meaningful by incorporating students’ life experiences, values and culture, and by rejecting a cultural deficit model of diversity. (p. 66)

Teachers must understand that in the classrooms of America not two students will share the same ethnic background. Within classrooms in America, there are children who are from different countries all over the world, who speak different languages, and who practice different religions.  If the curriculum does not reflect the social categories the child is interested in, it may be difficult for the child to relate to the teaching material. If a child can not relate to what is being taught then they are not learning and reaching their full potential. Therefore it is fundamental for a teacher to be able to understand the importance of differences and incorporate differences within their classroom to be an effective educator of the children who will be representing this nation after they complete college and join the work force.

            Before taking Racial and Cultural Identities my sophomore year, I believed that I was very open-minded and that I was not prejudice or racist. While taking the class, I learned that by not acknowledging differences in social categories I was being prejudice in a way. I learned in RCI that by ignoring social categories I am actually ignoring who a person is. In my final essay of RCI, I reflected upon an audio recording of questions I answered at the beginning of the course. By re-listening to the audio, I came to the realization that in order to be an effective teacher I would need learn, understand, and accept inequalities instead of pretending they do not exist. (Artifact 1.1) I believe that I have met standard 1.1 by understanding that social categories need to be explored in school to allow a child to feel comfortable within their own skin.

            Patricia Gandara, an advocator for students in the non-dominant group, explains that educators should be aware of racial categories within their students in order to help their students develop into strong adults (2008). She explains that when teachers explain they are not racist teachers because they only see children, not their social categories, these teachers are actually imposing on that child’s learning and success. She explains that “membership in a racial group shapes experience, access to social and cultural capital and perspectives,” (p. 44). This means that the racial group of a child defines who the child is and does affect the child’s learning. But as an educator, it is our job to acknowledge these social categories and help the child accept and learn about their racial category while also learning and accepting those in different categories.

            During my full practicum I chose to focus on nutrition for the unit which I would create and teach. While researching the project, I began to notice that a majority of the foods explained in books were apples, oranges, pears, and other American based foods. Knowing that my classroom at the Joseph Lee School in Dorchester was majority Hispanic or African American I wanted to find a way to integrate different cultures in my unit. I began to research children’s books which focused on different cultures. I found several books which explored different foods within different cultures. Artifact 1.2 is a lesson plan of a book I read, Everybody Cooks Rice which is a story of a young girl who travels from house to house in her multicultural neighborhood and samples rice from each home. The main character learns that everybody cooks rice but in different ways. My students were engaged in the lesson and were surprised to learn how many different ways rice could be made. By bringing multicultural books into my classroom during my nutrition unit, I feel that I was accomplishing the goal of standard 1.3: to focus on anti-racist, anti-biased, and multicultural practices within the classroom.

            During my practicum I was able to see personal  how many classrooms do not have material geared to students who are minorities. I feel that it is crucial to find ways to incorporate an anti-bias and multicultural environment within the classroom in order to allow students to realize that there are differences within the world and to become comfortable with the differences. I feel that to be an advocate for social justice I will need to make sure that I am aware of how I present information (without baises) and what materials I use in my multicultural in order to help all children reach achievement.

Works Cited

Gandara, P. (2008). Everyday Anti-Racism: Getting Real about Race in School. In M. Pollock
            (Ed.), “Strengthening Student Identity in School Programs” (p. 44-49). New York, NY:   The New Press.

Orange,  C. (2000). 25 Biggest Mistakes TeachersMake and How to Avoid Them. Thousand
            Oaks, California: Corwin Press.

Standard 1 Artifact 1

 

 

Standard 1 Artifact 2

Standard 2

	Standard 2. Understanding all Children in their many Dimensions
2.1	Know students as individuals, as learners, and be able to relate to them in a variety of ways
2.2	Be familiar with the cultures, histories, values of families
2.3	Know attributes of individual children/families with whom they work
2.4	Aware of range of students’ special needs and seek out information concerning strengths/resources to address developmental and learning needs
2.5	Use knowledge of second language acquisition, developmental variations, disabilities to support physical, emotional, social, cognitive, linguistic, intellectual, and creative development

            A teacher’s job is not just simply teaching a group of children the required curriculum for a particular grade; a teacher’s job is much more complex than that. A teacher must view her classroom as a combination of individual learners rather than a grouping of children who learn in somewhat similar ways. By understanding that each child within her classroom is an individual learner rather than a member of a group a teacher is able to identify and weave each child’s specific needs, interests, and cultures into her curriculum.

            I believe when a teacher takes the initiative to learn about her individual students, as well as their families, a teacher is provided with a improved insight of a child’s life she would have otherwise been oblivious to. A teacher is then able to utilize this information by transforming it from scattered bits of information about individual students into teaching techniques to reach all students within a classroom. She also must take this information to create engaging lessons that will trigger interest and curiosity about a subject for her students. Educators and experts in the field of curriculum development Tomlison and McTighe (2006) agree with this concept and explore this idea by stating that for effective teaching to take place teachers must “attend to at least four elements: whom they teach (students), where they teach (learning environment), what they teach (content), and how the teach (instruction). If teachers lose sight of any one of these elements and cease investing effort in it, the whole fabric of their work is damaged and the quality of learning impaired,” (p 2).

            During my sophomore year at Wheelock I was enrolled in Teaching Reading. For this class, I went to the King Elementary School in Cambridge, Massachusetts to tutor one student on four separate occasions. During the first session, I completed a ‘Reading Interests Inventory’ (artifact 2.1) with my tutee, May. The inventory asked several questions about May’s personal interests as well as what genre of books she found interesting and fun. During this meeting I conducted other reading tests with May in order to provide myself with an insight of May’s May’s strengths and weaknesses in reading. While completing these tests, I notice that May often ignored the use of contractions within reading (for example, if a sentence said ‘wouldn’t’ she would read it as ‘would’). In order to choose a book for a guided reading lesson I would create to help May with this flaw, I referred to the inventory to choose a book which correlated with May’s interests. By looking at her interests, I chose a book from the children’s mystery series, Boxcar Children, to use for my guided reading lesson. By having the inventory I was able to use a book to teach my guided reading lesson based upon her specific interests, rather than a random book she may have not enjoyed. I knew I choose the correct book for May when I only planned for May to read the first chapter but she asked if she could continue reading once my guided reading lesson plan was completed.

            I offered to attend my full-time practicum the day before students arrived to help my supervising practitioner prepare her classroom for the students. On this day, I did help her clean, organize, and prepare the classroom for the 21 third-graders who would enter the room the following day. But her main goal was to find each student’s cumulative record. Artifact 2.3 is my journal entry of this day which explains that after organizing the folders, my supervising practitioner requested that I find each student’s folder who had an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and read through the IEP. She explained that these students would spend a majority of classroom time in the resource room (a room outside of the classroom where they would receive small-group instruction from a special education teacher) but it was still critical to be aware of which students had specific needs within the classroom.

            While organizing each child’s permanent record, my supervising practitioner asked that I write down each child’s name along with their reading level, math level, and other specific notes about the child left from their previous teacher. She explained that she found it valuable to have this information in close reach: in order to understand each individual student within her classroom. While in my seminar for full practicum we received a different type of inventory which stressed an importance upon a child’s culture and family life: rather than their academic performance. After readjusting the inventory I received in practicum to emphasize the information I found the most critical to learn about each individual student, I combined the previously developed class list into artifact 2.4, the class list I used throughout the semester.

            During my full-practicum, my supervising practitioner was absent several days throughout the semester due to family problems. Because our classroom schedule remained the same on each day and I was fully acquainted with the students, I chose to teach each lesson instead of the substitute. One morning when my supervising practitioner was out, I noticed that the resource room teacher did not arrive to take the children who receive services out of the classroom for math. I began the lesson (about adding three digit numbers) and received notice that this teacher was absent today and I would be teaching the students on my own. Previous to this, the students had left the room for each lesson that was taught and I had never experienced working with this group of children. At the conclusion of the lesson I asked for the students who left the room, as well as a few students who were struggling, to join me in the back of the room. Artifact 2.5 is my journal entry from this lesson where I explain how I adjusted the lesson for these students. By reading the IEP’s in advance, I was able to make a quick decision of how I would adjust this lesson for these students. By using manipulative and a visual chart, I was able to find the resources necessary to reach their specific learning needs.

             I believe that within this standard I still would like to develop my skills upon how to teach students with IEP’s. Even though during the summer I work with children who are on IEP’s for moderate to severe special needs I do not have ample amounts of experience adjusting curriculum for students who are on IEP’s due to learning disabilities. Once I have my own classroom, I know that I will have several students who have learning disabilities and are on IEP’s and I must be able to adjust my lesson plans for these students. Therefore, I am planning to read “The Complete Learning Disabilities Handbook” by Joan Harwell and Rebecca Jackson in order to develop skills and strategies to ensure that my students with learning disabilities are receiving the appropriate resources to accomplish all goals within my classroom. Overall, I believe a teacher has the ability to teach her students effectively once she takes the initiative to learn, discover, and understand how each individual student’s family structure, academic and social needs, as well as personal interests affect each child's learning within school. By combining all of these elements as well as linking them within her curriculum, a teacher is able to provide each child with the most efficient and valuable education they can receive.

Works Cited

Harwell, J; Jackson, R. (2008). The Complete Learning Disabilities Handbook: Ready-to-Use Strategies and Activities for Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

Tomlinson, C.A. & McTighe, J. (2006). Integrating Differentiated Instruction and

Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.             

Standard 2 Artifact 1