Please click on the photo above to read my final draft for my leadership platform.
Thank You for visiting.
Thank You for visiting.
Please click on the photo above to read my final draft for my leadership platform.
Thank You for visiting.
0 Comments
Subject: Curriculum and Instruction I believe that: All students should have access to research-based curriculum that is challenging, innovating, and engaging. In addition, the delivery of this content should be through instruction that uses 21st century practices that are cross curricular, student centered, and incorporates the “never too late to learn” philosophy. I believe this because: as teacher I have seen the importance of finding research based instructional programs that give my students access to content that is challenging, innovative, and engaging. I remember when I first started teaching we were using Open Court curriculum, which had great potential, but was very limiting because it was very scripted. I saw that the some of parts of the content worked for my students, while other parts just bored my students and did not challenge them. I began incorporating assignments in which my students were able to work collaboratively and independently. This made it easier for them to stay focused and engaged. I did not want my students to be bored while I taught. I wanted them to love and really immerse themselves in content that they would have otherwise dismissed. Furthermore, I noticed that, like me, they loved anything that involved technology. Therefore I began to incorporate as much of it as I could in my teaching and in their learning. As time went on I have realized that technology is not an answer for all of the educational problems, but merely a tool supports teaching, just like and a pencil does. Lastly I have seen the importance of making connections through various content areas using a similar theme. My students love making connections in math, science, language arts, and social studies. I love seeing their faces when they make these connections because they are surprised that something in science helped to understand something in math. Lots of issues/aspects: Meeting the Common Core Standards For example: project based learning, a student centered classroom, consistent teaching practices, weekly ongoing formative assessments, teacher-teacher/student-student/student-teacher collaboration, 21st century teaching and learning practices and multiple hands-on teaching opportunities. I’d like to elaborate about: 21st century teaching and learning practices. I really enjoyed using methods that were the opposite to the scripted content we were asked to do when I began teaching. I really think that this took away from the art of teaching, and it made it boring and simple. I wanted to instruct my students in ways that they felt challenged and engaged. After my first three years of instruction I moved and discovered the philosophies of 21st century instruction. This type of instruction made more sense to me because it complemented what I was trying to do in my classroom. I wanted to challenge my students to think critically, not for the sake of making things hard for them, but to engage them and challenge them. I also noticed the importance 21st century instruction gave to project based learning in which students made real world connections to things that they were learning in class. This made it easier for me to support their learning, while at the same time teaching them about how to work effectively with others. Subject: Parent and community involvement I believe that: In order for a student to be successful there needs to be a healthy involvement amongst all stakeholders, which include: parents, community members, and school leaders. This creates a supportive and caring environment in which students can perform to their fullest potential. I believe this because: I have seen the difference between districts in which the parents support and make sure that all the teacher needs to do their job efficiently is taken care of. This made me feel appreciated and supported. Which made it easier for me to take care focus on teaching. I have also seen the opposite of that, which leads me to conclude that parent involvement and community involvement is crucial to creating an environment that pushes everyone in that community to want to go above and beyond what they are expected to do. Lots of issues/aspects: Building bridges in diverse communities For example: celebrating the diversity of the community, weekly newsletter that focuses on a member of the community creating connections between different cultures, sending information home in various languages, monthly movie nights that focus on diversity, parent volunteers help to teach about their culture, and pen pals with members of the community. I’d like to elaborate: on creating connections between different cultures. Explain your example: I have been fortunate enough to have taught in areas that serve diverse communities. While I was teaching in these communities I realized the importance of tapping into each community’s cultural funds. I did this by making sure that I was inclusive and knowledgeable of each of their beliefs. When reading stories in class I would choose literature that incorporated characters, and storylines that were just like that of their community. I saw right away how much more engaged my students and parents were. In addition, I would get parents wanting to come to share about their culture which engaged and motivated my students. I always saw this as a win-win because I learned more about the community in which I taught in, and they got to see the thing we were learning about in our class. I believe that if I had not made an effort to get to know the community in which I taught in, I don’t think that my parents would feel comfortable enough to come and support their students, and me. Subject: Discipline and School climate/culture I believe that: All students should have a place where discipline is set up in way that focuses on rewards, and positive feedback. In addition the school helps them feel safe, appreciated, and respected. Teachers and administrators are nurturing, encouraging, and supportive of all students, so they can instill in them a positive attitude towards school. I believe this because: since I have began teaching, I have seen that all of my students respond better when I emphasize their good behavior, than if I remind them of what rule they are breaking. They fill up with pride when I exaggerate their positive behaviors. For example, if I ask my students to quietly lineup for lunch I say “I love the way Joe is walking quietly to line up for lunch.” As I am saying this I have half of the class, or almost the whole class, trying to follow this student’s behavior. I try to minimize punitive approaches to discipline in my classroom because I personally don’t feel that they create a positive learning experience. Instead, I think that it creates resentment towards teacher. Therefore I try to make sure they have ample opportunities to show me how they can learn from making good choices and that they don’t need punitive consequences. I rarely have to resort to this. I also believe in making sure students know that they can change their behavior, by making positive changes to less than optimal behavior. The idea is to build trust and empower them to know that they can behave well without the teacher always reminding them of what they should be doing. Lots of issues/aspects: fostering a place that where teachers use “choice words” to promote a positive learning environment, and behavior For example: use Classdojo points to reward positive behavior, create badges to support good choices/actions, implement 7 habits with badges, supporting students with choice words, staff discuss implementation of 7 habits, and daily report of behavior via classdojo to parents. I’d like to talk about: implementing 7 habits with badges. Explain your example: Our school is working towards being a lighthouse school for the 7 habits. This goal has helped us focus on making the 7 habits a daily part of our school’s culture. We began by teaching students about the seven habits and it’s importance to them as individuals and and students. They are familiar with them, but are still in a transitional phase, to truly implement them daily and effortlessly we still need more practice. Therefore I have began giving Classdojo points for students who are following them and implementing them. I now want to add digital badges into the mix. I would like to collaborate with other staff members to create digital badges and the criteria required to earn them. I would like to use these badges to reward students for their exemplary implementation of the seven habits. I believe that with this extra step the students will find another motivator to implement the 7 habits, which promote a supportive, positive, and rewarding learning culture. Subject: Technology I believe that: Technology is an amazing tool that should be used to enhance instruction, learning, and other aspects of education. Technology is not a one-size-fits-all solution for education, but rather an important tool that will support the everchanging educational landscape. I believe this because I have been exposed to technology for quite some time both professionally and personally. Through this time I have seen both its benefits and it pitfalls. I remember when I first got 1:1 iPads in my classroom. I was very excited to begin using the iPads with all my students. I looked up ideas on google and found an a great idea on how to use the iPads to create digital books. I began my lesson by modeling to for my students what I wanted to them to do on their iPads. Then I had them get to work. They were doing great until our internet connection went down. The amazing idea of having my students create their first ebook had to be completely modified because they couldn’t connect to the internet to gather information about their topic, which was part of the plan. I had to quickly readjust my lesson and we only use our class library to find information. I was so frustrated, but understood the fact that technology is not reliable and that as an instructor I shouldn’t solely rely on it for everything, but rather use it as a tool to enhance my students’ learning. Lots of issues/aspects of: Using technology as a tool to enhance instruction For example: create ebooks, understand the importance of the SAMR model, start with simple tools and apps that focus on various content areas , use Schoology as a place for teacher and students to create and share information, and use apps/sites that allow students to collaborate with classmates at anytime. I’d like to elaborate on: how to use an Schoology as a place for teacher and students to create and share information. Explain your example: I would like to use Schoology, which enhances my students’ learning, by giving them a platform in which they can create and share information. I will create a class on Schoology that gives my students access to Math, Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts content that we currently studying in class. I will then have them share information with other classmates, via the discussion boards, by posing questions for them to answer. I will also give links to reliable information that will support any topic we might be learning about in class. This will support their learning and enhance what they already know. I will also provide them with Quizlet links to support their vocabulary. I will give them access to stories in pdf format, so that they can access them at home and use them in school with Notability to mark relevant information, and so that they can create their own summaries from these stories on Book Creator. I will also create assessments on here that make it easier for me to implement a “never too late” philosophy. Lastly I will give them access to Voicethread, so that they can record themselves practicing and improving their fluency. While doing all of this I hope to give my students all the support to enhance their learning. The McMillan dictionary defines a non-negotiable as something that is fixed and not possible to change through discussions. I believe that this something that is crucial for anyone to have in order show their integrity and credibility as a leader. I thought to myself about what things would stop me from performing well as a leader. Consequently I focused my attention on things that would help to build a positive learning environment for all stakeholders in any school setting. My non-negotiables are as follows:
The first one is instilling empathy onto everyone that is part of our school setting, this includes teachers-students, students-students and even teacher-teacher relationships. I believe that if as a leader I foster empathy amongst students, teachers and others we will be able to better understand each other.Which would lead to better relationships and more positive outcomes for all our goals. I don’t believe that we live in a world in which life is all about being able to work alone, but rather, a place in which we all have to work together to better support and understand each other. A teacher should not judge a student prematurely, but rather find the back story to the problem to find find a useful solution. This will make the relationship between the teacher and student more fruitful, personal and empowering. Which would lead to better teaching and learning results. Secondly, fostering collaborative practices amongst everyone. While someone is learning about empathy they need to learn the importance of how to work with others. I am a firm believer that two or more heads are better than one. As a result I believe that this creates a place in which students and teachers build strong bonds that will again support everyone to improve and or achieve our school’s goals. Furthermore collaboration is a non-negotiable because as a leader I need to make sure that I am effectively collaborating with other students, teachers and other leaders, in various things that will benefit everyone. Lastly, a strong sense of professionalism amongst everyone. I get ready everyday and put forth the best version of me to everyone around me. I want them to see how much I value what I do. I am respectful and attentive to anyone that I come in contact with. I’m respectful of my place of employment and the people that interact with, so that they can see that I can get things done and that they can trust me. I believe that by doing this I am modeling for everyone that I come in contact with how this non-negotiable can lead to building trust and respect for one another. Thinking of what kind of leadership style most reflected me was no easy task. I began thinking I was more of a Servant Leader, because I agreed with the idea of “acting in the best interests of my faculty members, and always making valid attempt to assess and gain an understanding of their needs”. (Green, R.L, p.72) This made sense to me because I want to make sure that the people that I’m leading see that I have their best interest at hand, which would make it easier for me, as Green states in the book to gain their trust and give me their consent to lead. This idea, though it was close to my beliefs of working with others and not looking at it as a hierarchical relationship, made sense but I didn’t see it as something I would gravitate to all the time. Therefore, my search continued. I reread all of the the other styles and finally came to the Distributive Leadership. Green explains this leadership style’s major focus as having all faculty share the instructional responsibilities. I made a connection with this simple explanation because I see this as a better way to get other teachers, to effectively work together for the same cause, which is teaching and supporting all students. Being a Distributive leader would help me to get more buy-in from all staff, which leads to better results in our overall performance. We can then have everyone supporting each other in ways that each staff member feels comfortable supporting in. This creates a stronger sense of community. That creates a cohesiveness amongst our staff and pushes them to a “belief that , collectively, they have the capacity to produce desired results”. (Green,R.L, p.65) When everyone feels that they can make a difference the Distributive Leader can find more ways to support and empower their staff to collaborate and work towards a goal they truly believe they can reach. The Distributive Leadership style gives the leader a support system from his co-leaders and the chance for them to lead in their chosen areas of expertise. This gives everyone a sense of belonging and importance that is vital for anyone working towards a common goal. Green, R. L. (2005). Practicing the art of leadership: A problem-based approach to implementing the ISLLC standards. Pearson. I have been working as a teacher for eight years. During this time I have seen, learned, and tried several teaching approaches, improved my collaborative practices, leadership qualities, and my 21st century teaching and learning skills. Here is a brief collection of these experiences. I am conscious and grateful for these experiences because they helped shape who I am currently as a professional educator and future leader.
I began my career in education as a substitute teacher. I really wanted to get hands-on experience in a field, that I felt fulfilled me in multiple aspects. I worked for 3 districts in Orange County. Each of these districts had very diverse student populations. From this experience I learned the value of structure in a classroom, and the importance of flexibility. One day I would be in a Kinder class working on sounds and letters, the next day I would be in a 6th grade class helping students write an essay. I would walk into classrooms that needed a lot of support, and others that could practically run themselves. This juxtapose of teaching styles helped me to develop my own. I finished my bachelor’s and began my credential program. I learned a lot from my classes, but the most valuable and authentic learning came from my student teaching. I was fortunate enough to be given two amazing Mentor Teachers, who taught and modeled for me the importance of compassion for your learners, how to create a rich/engaging classroom environment and what a well balanced behavior system consists of. I taught first grade for three months, then I taught 5th grade for the last three months of the year. The majority of my students were English Language Learners. This brought into perspective the great need for bilingual instructors who can better support the needs of ELLs, because of their shared language acquisition experience. I was fortunate enough to have been hired right after I concluded my student teaching. I say fortunate because our country was just hitting the financial crisis that we are still feeling the after-effects from. I did not look at this experience as something that came from luck, but from the hard work I had demonstrated while I was student teaching. I knew that I was there to make a difference and help build that confidence in all those students who are marginalized by bad teaching and impersonal public educational systems. I wanted to take all the good things that I remembered from my public education experience, blend them with new ideas, and put them to work. I can recall my first taste of technology in education came back when I was an ELL student at an elementary school many years ago. We had a tiny Macintosh computer lab that we visited every Friday where we were allowed to “play” the “games” on the computer. Little did I know that these games were not games at all, but educational software helping me build my English vocabulary and math skills. From that point on, I knew that technology would be one my passions, and unbeknownst to me, in the a very unforeseen future, my partner in teaching. I used this experience as a guiding point of the benefits infuse my technology has on learning and teaching. I began with two classroom computers, my personal laptop, an overhead camera, and projector. This was more than enough for me to create dozens of lessons using Microsoft Office. I would review weekly content using a PowerPoint Jeopardy template another teacher was sharing online. Finally, I created web quests in various subjects to motivate my reluctant learners, have all my students collaborate, and to push their thinking higher than what they were being asked to do. I wanted to show the students that technology was not just a game, but a tool to help them build on their knowledge. It was definitely not easy, working late evenings and weekends were the norm. But the hard work paid off seeing my students engaged, coming in early, and trying to do better. I taught in Orange county for three years, before relocating to San diego to continue my career. I really did not want to leave my area because I knew the dire need of my students, but my school district did not take that into consideration when they handed me that pink slip at the end of my third year. They were more concerned with keeping costs down and dealing with, like everyone else in education, money shortages. I was very fortunate to arrive at a school that embraced multilingualism, 21st century learning, and social consciousness. These are some of the most important things that have influenced my vision as a teacher and future educational leader. Second language learner, working class, and immigrant are the words/labels that I feel have shaped my beliefs about education for children.
My experiences in public education, both good and bad, have helped me to think differently about how I teach and what I believe about children and education. I began my post with those words because I know that that's what labeled me while I was going through California's public education system. These labels hold strong meanings in the education community because of the stigmas and pre conceived notions that go with them. I noticed them when I was growing up and I still see it now as an educator. My intent with these words and explanation is not to make you, the reader uncomfortable, but to show that I've embraced them in my pursuit for academic enlightenment. My parents immigrated to the U.S. with the clear objective of a better life for my brother, sister and me, a place where higher education was attainable and rewarded. They both were not able to get a higher education because of the lack of financial support, which was something they didn't want for my siblings and me. They supported me the best they could, as much as they could, with their limited English skills throughout my public education life. I know that if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be where I am now. Even though they both worked long hours, in physically demanding jobs, they found a way to support my siblings and me. They were part of the working class and they, like most working class immigrant parents, wanted something better for us. I struggled the first 4 years because I was not able to meet the language requirements. I overcame this, with the support from dedicated teachers who believed in me and took the time from their busy schedules to tutor me before and/or after school. As a second language learner I knew I had to work harder, otherwise I would continue to be in the "special" class. I knew, just like all the other children in my class knew, that I had limited English skills. This divide made it clear for me that I wanted to be part of "regular" class. I didn't want to be separated like that. Which is why I pushed myself to study hard and keep practicing. I finally tested out of the "special" class 4 years later. I was elated. Fast forward to my first year as a teacher, I noticed the great need for role models in my community of working class, immigrant, second language learners. I witnessed firsthand the biased, jaded, and ineffective teachers who were and are part of our public education system. When I first encountered them I was upset that they were there, just doing mediocre work. Then as I thought about it, and the more I heard those teacher lounge conversations about ELL students, I knew that I had to do what I did when I was in those "special" classes and apply myself and start the change with me. This is why I push myself to provide all my students with the highest level of education, I can provide, regardless of my learners' background. Education is for all, regardless of your story outside of school. “I touch the future I teach.”Christa McAuliffe
I truly believe that every child has a chance at making a change for our future, and creating a better version of our current world. Therefore, it is imperative for me as teacher to make sure that they I am giving all my students a fair chance at that future. I want them to realize that they are not just here to float and get by in life. I want them to feel empowered be a positive change for this world. I don’t believe that there is a one size-fits-all type of approach to learning, in education, but that there are various ways to engage each learner to push their thought process to its limits and beyond. I believe that all children have a right to an engaging, challenging, and rewarding education. There are various paths that they will choose to take when they become adults in regards to their professional and personal lives. There it is crucial that while they are children, and preparing themselves, they should be give all the tools necessary to make sure that they are knowledgeable, experienced and capable of making those life decisions completely on their own. Education will give them the platform to make mistakes, repeat and try again. That way when they are faced with those real world problems they will have a better idea of what they should do. I don’t believe it’s fair to throw any person out in the real world without some support or training, especially with the abundance of knowledge that is easily accessible for everyone. Education is like a student’s parent, it’s there showing him/her all it knows, so that he/she is better prepared and he/she doesn’t make the same mistakes. Education is ever evolving and therefore is always looking for better version of itself, that it will transfer to its learners. |
Archives
March 2015
AuthorI touch the future... I teach! Categories |