English Educator Autobiography

HEED MY MANIFESTO:

I was never one of those kids who knew what she wanted to be when she grew up.  Of course, a lot of elementary school students pick professions that they don’t end up in; they don’t become gymnasts or firefighters or presidents.  However, I never really picked one at all.  I always enjoyed reading, mostly for the escapist aspect, and I was a good student.  I had an amazing English teacher for 11^th and 12^th grades, but I decided that I wanted to become a medical doctor (or at least that’s what I convincingly presented to the scholarship committee).  I aced both of my AP English exams, so I didn’t even have to take freshman composition classes in college.  Instead, I calculated densities in my chemistry classes and dissected chicken embryos in cellular biology.  I didn’t rediscover my love of literature until I took a British Literature survey course my sophomore year of college; then, I was hooked.  Still, I never really considered options beyond college.  What does a person do with an English degree?  Why, go to graduate school, of course. 

During my time in grad school, I tutored in a writing center and taught three semesters of Freshman Composition.  I like tutoring, but I loved having classes of my own.  Looking back, I honestly had no idea what I was doing.  I used samples of departmental syllabi and activities that previous composition teachers put online.  While I wasn’t exactly teacher of the year material, I really enjoyed getting to know my students and forming relationships with them.  I’m not sure that I actually taught them much about writing, but I enjoyed the banter and lively discussions that ensued during constructive class periods.  After my experience in graduate school, I found a job working in a cubicle, with human interactions that consisted of, “This guy’s file is crazy.”  This job was not at all suited to my personality.  I am outgoing, I need to be around people, I enjoy creative problem solving, and I like to invest my leadership skills into something besides gathering coffee fund money. 

When I moved to Austin a year and a half ago, I began to reassess what I really wanted to do, which had to do with what I really believed in.  I believe in education, especially public education.  I believe in the power of the written word, and I believe in the hidden worlds of books.  I believe that every person is capable of learning and growing, and that everyone deserves to be given the opportunity for learning and growth.  And I believe that the power of reading and thoughtful writing, or literacy, as I’ve come to know it, is the key to living in a democratic community and making that community better.

As an English educator, I think that my role in the classroom is to foster that community of democracy, not only through introducing students to new material to read and different ways to write, but also through supporting honest dialogue and creative collaboration among students.  My role also requires me to lead students to higher levels of reading, thinking, and writing, without allowing them to settle for the mediocre.  I want to facilitate their access to the entire world beyond the walls of the classroom through literacy.  In order to accomplish my goals, I think that an important piece of knowledge for students is what a literate life looks like, encouraging students that reading and writing doesn’t just belong in the classroom.  In addition, they need to learn how to communicate effectively within their communities, whether they are in an academic setting or writing a letter to the editor of the local newspaper. 

I think that students can acquire this knowledge through learning and refining critical thinking skills, which are increasingly important in an era of information overload.  While I want students to constantly seek out knowledge, I also want them to be able to discern the best truth from that information.  I think that supporting and increasing students’ literate lives means prioritizing independent reading in the classroom that is based on student choice.  In my classroom, I need shelves of young adult literature and other titles that pique my students’ interest.  I need space (which may not be feasible) for students to find their best reading or writing spots.  I want to use a workshop structure, so that my students can gain the most knowledge possible as well as learn invaluable skills of collaboration. In my classroom, I want to create a community of learners, which involves students helping to structure the course.  I want to encourage my students to be lifelong readers and writers, even when they’re off at some school dissecting a chicken embryo.

New Year, New School, New Thoughts

BACK ON THAT SCHOOLWAGON, Y'ALL.  It's nice to get back into the swing of school and learning and teaching and all that jazz, but I feel like I'm starting from scratch a little on my blogpostin' style.  I should force myself to blog more than just once a week because I know it's a good habit--I tend to internalize bits and pieces of teaching thoughts that I always forget to record anywhere.  Plus, I could reduce the monstrous size of the callous on my right hand.

So, anyway, I'm enjoying the Christenbury book on "Being and Becoming a Teacher of English Language Arts."  Parts of the introductory chapters seem a little basic--like, I'm pretty sure I can figure out that I need to eat food at certain times of the day--but I really appreciate her inclusion of the thoughts of actual student teachers.  She doesn't try to gloss over any parts of the teaching experience, and she admits that it's both exhausting and exhilarating.  When the author mentioned times that she confronted school violence, it was a little scary but also a necessary reality check.  I mean, this stuff will happen--you'll get knocked into, intentionally or not--so new teachers need to understand that this is an aspect of being around people approximately the same size as you.  I mean, I almost got knocked over by a 7th grader last week.  Seriously.

The chapter that I want to discuss the most is the one on "Those Whom We Teach."  Christenbury notes that in order to be a teacher, you actually have to like young people.  And to like young people, you kind of have to understand where they're coming from.  She included a study down by the National Center for Educational Statistics from 2004 that found four factors that characterized difficulty in school achievement: a household income below poverty level, a primary language other than English at home, a mother with an education less than a high school diploma, and a single parent household.  After getting to know my students from last semester, I would say that most of them dealt with at least two of those factors.  And despite these factors, I know that those students have the ability to succeed, as long as they are encouraged by a positive school environment and teachers who believe in their ability to succeed.  In addition, the author's notes on alienated students really hit home with my high school experience.  I remember having three tracks: honors/AP, college prep, and regular.  Now, the titles of these tracks were a little inflated, because regular usually meant that you would prepare for a vocational career (or, in the eyes of staff and my peers, try to simply graduate), and honors/AP actually meant that you were preparing to go to college.  So what did that mean for the "college prep" track?  They certainly weren't the focus of guidance counselors who were preparing the honors track to get into college, and they didn't have the advantage of being able to leave school early to go to a vocational internship like the regular track did.  I guess the college prep track, or really, average track, had to figure out their futures all by themselves.

The "alienated average" is a really interesting concept that I hadn't thought of before.  My experiences last semester were in remedial classes, and my prior experience of teaching composition at a university would probably equate to teaching a honors class in high school.  However, this semester, I am mostly engaging with those "average" students (there's a pre-AP class even in 8th grade; that seems a little like overkill).  And so far, it seems that my CT is amazing at engaging all of her students.  Even the librarian, on library day, was able to engage with all of them!  Something's in the water at Ojeda, and I'm trying to drink it up.

P.S. The classroom set-up that my CT has goin' on is amazing.  There's lots of round tables with chairs, a couch, papasan chairs, window seats (!), and rugs.  I'm sure that it depends on the space that you have and what your school will allow, but it's my dream classroom.  I know that doesn't actually have to do with anything, but it's a far cry from the classroom last semester, where we had to cram in extra desks during certain periods, and kids were sitting on top of each other.  And windows!  Did I mention real windows??