When interviewing Nathan he is a 26 year old male he states, “My greatest achievement is graduating from college.” He said he got it done through hard work and determination. Nathan admires people that have goals and goes out and reach them.
On a normal day at school for Josie in the 7th grade she gets on to bus and goes to class. During her breaks she likes to hang out with her friends. At lunch she eats then goes to the track to hang out with her friends, she goes back to class then goes home on the bus. Josie says at the beginning of the year she has a planner that plans out every day to parents and they have to sign them. Every day it explains what they did for that day. This planner only goes out during the first semester but not the second. She said the only way a teacher talks to family is at conferences but each week she is sent home a calendar for her Grandma (her guardian) to have. The only communication between families and teachers is through letters, calendars and planners being sent home with the child. She said that sometimes her and her friends get ideas from TV shows, for example writing who they like on the bathroom wall or lockers. She feels that sometimes her teacher doesn’t respect her. If she couldn’t hear or understand the information the teacher was saying because people were talking around her the teacher wouldn’t repeat it, even if asked.
Josie feels like she has the most power when a substitute is teaching because people don’t really respect them. She really likes PE because the teacher gives her choices on what to do. She has a sense of freedom in PE class. Her favorite thing to do in school is PE. Outside of school she likes hanging out with friends and going to skate world. She also feels a sense of belonging when she comes to choir. If I were to become her teacher tomorrow she said she would love me as a teacher if I had a variety of ways to teach. She said being more “chill” and being yourself, who is not too strict but doesn’t let people walk all over them is a fantastic teacher.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Autobiography
Danielle’s Autobiography:
I was born the middle child. I have an older sister and a younger brother. My dad was married and divorced before he met my mom and had three kids, two girls and one boy. They are my half brothers and sisters. They were all grown up when I was born so they where more like aunts and uncles, not brother and sisters. Growing up we were not poor but we weren’t rich either. My dad went to work and my mom did daycare from our home.
My dad’s role was the decision maker and the provider of the family. My mom was the one who took care of us and did the cooking and cleaning. My dad was more of the one who played monsters with us and my mom was the one who made sure our teeth were brushed and that we went to bed on time. My parents tried not to argue in front of us so if they ever did I usually came out and used words that they would on my brother, sister and I. I would say, “Now kids do I have to separate you?” My mom and dad called me the “peace maker” of the family because I didn’t like to argue and if people did I was the one who tried to fix it.
As we grew up my parents told us we had to go to school every day, however if we were sick they didn’t think twice to send us to school, but if we were healthy there was not a choice; I had to be at school. When I received good grades I didn’t receive any rewards, they would make comments like good job we are proud of you. I was always jealous of my friends who received money for every A they got on their report card. When I was a child, usually the punishment was to sit in time out for one minute for every year you were. They also did not believe in spanking. As I got older my parents didn’t really have punishment besides going to your room. There were only a few times in my life where I had to go to bed early or couldn’t watch TV. They did have strict rules, bed times and curfews. I always went by the rules so I don’t know what would have happened if I decided not to.
Around late elementary school sports became a big factor in our lives, there was always some sort of game going on all year between my brother, sister and I. When I was ten I joined a competitive soccer team, from that moment on I played soccer year around for 10 years. What I remember about soccer is how my dad never missed games and my mom would watch rain or shine under the umbrella.
I went to an elementary school that was a block away from my house. I remember being proud when I was old enough to walk my brother and me to school by ourselves. My middle school was only a few more blocks away, I walked there as well. My high school was probably a mile away. I spent much of my childhood in one house where my school‘s were just done the road. A majority of my community was white however it was never only white. As I grew up skin color was never an issue with me, I never thought people were any different from me. I talked to whoever sat by me. In middle school I had a diverse range of friends but never realized it until I was much older. My first boyfriend was black and I loved to play soccer with two of my Hispanic friends.
In high school I started seeing some imaginary lines that I never saw before. The Hispanics always sat by each other and ate lunch together. There were only a few black students even though they hung out with everyone most of the time they hung out with another black person. Even though I started to see the imaginary line I didn’t always abide by them. I still thought of everyone being equal however I never once put myself in their shoes so I have no idea if they thought they were equal.
When I reached college I played soccer for two years at a community college. After soccer was over I had a hard choice to continue to play soccer or not. I decided to stop playing competitively and focused on my school. I applied for the Physical Therapy Assistance program and took a few months off school to work full time. I found out I got an alternate position for the program and that was the first time in my life that I didn’t know what I was going to do for the next year. Nathan, my husband asked me the question what I wanted to do with my life. That is when I realized I wanted to teach. I started going to Western Oregon and for 2 years I pretty much had the same people in all of my classes. I made a lot of good friends. My friends were once again very diverse coming from different backgrounds. One of my friends father is from Africa and I love to hear the stories that he tells me. I just graduated from Western a few weeks before the MAT program at Willamette started. I am excited for my future of being a teacher.
I was born the middle child. I have an older sister and a younger brother. My dad was married and divorced before he met my mom and had three kids, two girls and one boy. They are my half brothers and sisters. They were all grown up when I was born so they where more like aunts and uncles, not brother and sisters. Growing up we were not poor but we weren’t rich either. My dad went to work and my mom did daycare from our home.
My dad’s role was the decision maker and the provider of the family. My mom was the one who took care of us and did the cooking and cleaning. My dad was more of the one who played monsters with us and my mom was the one who made sure our teeth were brushed and that we went to bed on time. My parents tried not to argue in front of us so if they ever did I usually came out and used words that they would on my brother, sister and I. I would say, “Now kids do I have to separate you?” My mom and dad called me the “peace maker” of the family because I didn’t like to argue and if people did I was the one who tried to fix it.
As we grew up my parents told us we had to go to school every day, however if we were sick they didn’t think twice to send us to school, but if we were healthy there was not a choice; I had to be at school. When I received good grades I didn’t receive any rewards, they would make comments like good job we are proud of you. I was always jealous of my friends who received money for every A they got on their report card. When I was a child, usually the punishment was to sit in time out for one minute for every year you were. They also did not believe in spanking. As I got older my parents didn’t really have punishment besides going to your room. There were only a few times in my life where I had to go to bed early or couldn’t watch TV. They did have strict rules, bed times and curfews. I always went by the rules so I don’t know what would have happened if I decided not to.
Around late elementary school sports became a big factor in our lives, there was always some sort of game going on all year between my brother, sister and I. When I was ten I joined a competitive soccer team, from that moment on I played soccer year around for 10 years. What I remember about soccer is how my dad never missed games and my mom would watch rain or shine under the umbrella.
I went to an elementary school that was a block away from my house. I remember being proud when I was old enough to walk my brother and me to school by ourselves. My middle school was only a few more blocks away, I walked there as well. My high school was probably a mile away. I spent much of my childhood in one house where my school‘s were just done the road. A majority of my community was white however it was never only white. As I grew up skin color was never an issue with me, I never thought people were any different from me. I talked to whoever sat by me. In middle school I had a diverse range of friends but never realized it until I was much older. My first boyfriend was black and I loved to play soccer with two of my Hispanic friends.
In high school I started seeing some imaginary lines that I never saw before. The Hispanics always sat by each other and ate lunch together. There were only a few black students even though they hung out with everyone most of the time they hung out with another black person. Even though I started to see the imaginary line I didn’t always abide by them. I still thought of everyone being equal however I never once put myself in their shoes so I have no idea if they thought they were equal.
When I reached college I played soccer for two years at a community college. After soccer was over I had a hard choice to continue to play soccer or not. I decided to stop playing competitively and focused on my school. I applied for the Physical Therapy Assistance program and took a few months off school to work full time. I found out I got an alternate position for the program and that was the first time in my life that I didn’t know what I was going to do for the next year. Nathan, my husband asked me the question what I wanted to do with my life. That is when I realized I wanted to teach. I started going to Western Oregon and for 2 years I pretty much had the same people in all of my classes. I made a lot of good friends. My friends were once again very diverse coming from different backgrounds. One of my friends father is from Africa and I love to hear the stories that he tells me. I just graduated from Western a few weeks before the MAT program at Willamette started. I am excited for my future of being a teacher.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
1. My vision of myself as a fantastic teacher is being able to engage students in what I am teaching by making it interactive and interesting. I want to connect the information that I am saying with events, pictures, or anything that can help engage the students in the information I am providing. This means I need to be “highly qualified” and know the information I am teaching inside and out so I can use examples and ways that the information I am using is relevant to the students today. To be a fantastic teacher I believe you have to know the students and the diversity of them, that way when I give examples I am using examples from different cultures and not just one. I also want to try to make my class as comfortable as I can that way the classroom with become a community instead of cliques and disenfranchised students.
2. Loving children means you have a deep emotion for their well being, and to care about the children’s outcome. Wanting to help student’s means to assist them to reach a goal they set. It is also using your knowledge to aid them in any way they need assistance. Another reason I want to teach is because I have been doing it in a variety of ways my whole life without even knowing it. I also want to teach because when I am in a teaching role it is what make me happy and what makes me happier is when the person I am teaching is understanding and gaining more knowledge through what I am teaching.
3. What will sustain me. I believe that loving children will sustain me if I realize everyone has bad days and that everyone wants and needs to be loved. If I let a tough student change my mind, I am not really caring about their future or their well-being, it should become more about them and not me. I think that wanting to help students can change depending on the situation In some cases if I am not familiar with a culture or students I could be doing more harm than good. That is why I think it is so important to know your students that way as a teacher you can help them as much as possible. I think that even if the students are not gaining knowledge from what I am learning I need to step aside and look at the bigger picture, why do they not understand? I would still be sustaining if they do not understand because that just means I need to reword or teach it in a different way. This is more challenging but I think will be more rewarding for me and the students if I never give up and keep trying until one way makes sense.
4. Similarities between the statements are that teachers are the ones helping, assisting, and guiding the students. The differences on love and help are what the teacher gets from it. The prospective of Darling-Hammond is what the student gets out of it. It is based around the student’s best interest.
11.Dale Spender spoke out about how women are not received as a problem because they were invisible. Since women were invisible she focused on how if you want something done you have to do it yourself. To me it is hard to think of a time where women were invisible not able to learn like men did. When I read quotes from feminist and the one by Dale Spender I think of breaking through the norm. I could take out women and just use invisible and think that some students today are still invisible, from the child being left out on the play ground, a Spanish speaking person in an English speaking school, or a student who is in poverty. It is when people make a stand change can occur.
12. The main purpose of school is to create a safe environment for students to learn, and gain behavioral and social aspects for the future. The purpose serves to a diverse society by creating a new community and environment, where they are safe to learn and grow. The purpose relates to a social stratified society by creating a safe environment so the students can let their guards down and participate. The teacher starts by creating a safe environment by creating trust so the students feel comfortable. When the students feel comfortable they are more eager and ready to learn because of the safety and trust the teachers can make in the classroom.
13. As a teacher I envision myself creating a classroom where students can come and learn in a safe environment. I strive to create a community in the classroom that builds off trust this allows me to get know my students. By getting to know my students I will gain knowledge of the best way to teach the class by knowing what examples to give them that connection to the information and make sure the examples is relevant to the students today. By knowing who they are and the cultures and background of the students it allows to move new information into the classroom so I am not only focused on one type of culture and neglecting others. One of the most important things is engaging students in what I am teaching by making it interactive and interesting by adding in pictures and examples. This will also help the visual learners by reinforcing the information in a way they can understand best. To be the best teacher I need to be “highly qualified” and know the information I am teaching inside and out.
2. Loving children means you have a deep emotion for their well being, and to care about the children’s outcome. Wanting to help student’s means to assist them to reach a goal they set. It is also using your knowledge to aid them in any way they need assistance. Another reason I want to teach is because I have been doing it in a variety of ways my whole life without even knowing it. I also want to teach because when I am in a teaching role it is what make me happy and what makes me happier is when the person I am teaching is understanding and gaining more knowledge through what I am teaching.
3. What will sustain me. I believe that loving children will sustain me if I realize everyone has bad days and that everyone wants and needs to be loved. If I let a tough student change my mind, I am not really caring about their future or their well-being, it should become more about them and not me. I think that wanting to help students can change depending on the situation In some cases if I am not familiar with a culture or students I could be doing more harm than good. That is why I think it is so important to know your students that way as a teacher you can help them as much as possible. I think that even if the students are not gaining knowledge from what I am learning I need to step aside and look at the bigger picture, why do they not understand? I would still be sustaining if they do not understand because that just means I need to reword or teach it in a different way. This is more challenging but I think will be more rewarding for me and the students if I never give up and keep trying until one way makes sense.
4. Similarities between the statements are that teachers are the ones helping, assisting, and guiding the students. The differences on love and help are what the teacher gets from it. The prospective of Darling-Hammond is what the student gets out of it. It is based around the student’s best interest.
11.Dale Spender spoke out about how women are not received as a problem because they were invisible. Since women were invisible she focused on how if you want something done you have to do it yourself. To me it is hard to think of a time where women were invisible not able to learn like men did. When I read quotes from feminist and the one by Dale Spender I think of breaking through the norm. I could take out women and just use invisible and think that some students today are still invisible, from the child being left out on the play ground, a Spanish speaking person in an English speaking school, or a student who is in poverty. It is when people make a stand change can occur.
12. The main purpose of school is to create a safe environment for students to learn, and gain behavioral and social aspects for the future. The purpose serves to a diverse society by creating a new community and environment, where they are safe to learn and grow. The purpose relates to a social stratified society by creating a safe environment so the students can let their guards down and participate. The teacher starts by creating a safe environment by creating trust so the students feel comfortable. When the students feel comfortable they are more eager and ready to learn because of the safety and trust the teachers can make in the classroom.
13. As a teacher I envision myself creating a classroom where students can come and learn in a safe environment. I strive to create a community in the classroom that builds off trust this allows me to get know my students. By getting to know my students I will gain knowledge of the best way to teach the class by knowing what examples to give them that connection to the information and make sure the examples is relevant to the students today. By knowing who they are and the cultures and background of the students it allows to move new information into the classroom so I am not only focused on one type of culture and neglecting others. One of the most important things is engaging students in what I am teaching by making it interactive and interesting by adding in pictures and examples. This will also help the visual learners by reinforcing the information in a way they can understand best. To be the best teacher I need to be “highly qualified” and know the information I am teaching inside and out.
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