The Face Behind The Curriculum
My professional strengths come from my love of creative teaching and my willingness to incorporate effective methods. From history we know that one reason for its prosperity at its ascendancy was the Roman Empire’s adoption of ideas from other civilizations. They looked around, saw what worked, and then used the new technologies and practices to build a successful system. Theories about the positive potential of globalization are also based on integrating best practices. Comparatively, good teachers thrive on collaboration with other teachers.
My involvement with professional groups, such as the Redwood Writing Project and Reading Institutes for Academic Preparation (RIAP), has given me access to innovative teaching approaches; but even more important to my professional growth was the opportunity to learn from the experiences of teachers who successfully used these methods. Regular meetings with other professionals found me benefiting as both recipient and contributor in a wealthy exchange of ideas.
Networking also plays a key role in my life as a member of NPA’s school community. With the recent implementation of a new curriculum, the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, we (the faculty and administration at NPA) have found it especially necessary to communicate regularly with parents and students about academic goals. As we have discovered, it is important to have the support of parents and students when creating meaningful educational experiences within the context of an academically-challenging program.
As an IB teacher I routinely utilize my counseling and coaching skills. When in the thick of it, as students and parents vocalized their struggles with the demands of the program, we found it helpful to dialogue frequently about educational philosophy and the purpose of the curriculum. In one particularly memorable conversation, a parent and I coined the term extreme academics when resolving an issue concerning her student’s heavy-duty homework schedule. Through our new definition, the parent realized that her student actually enjoyed the thrill of pushing against previously-perceived limitations to realize the extent of her greater potential. This same student wound up receiving much academic recognition this year, which included a Questbridge scholarship that will fund her undergraduate work at a prestigious four-year college.
Best Practices
Through my work with RIAP and the Redwood Writing Project I also found techniques that helped students stay motivated in the classroom. Employing active-learning methods that encouraged student inquiry helped debunk the myth that pushing oneself academically means hours of tedious book work. In my freshmen world history class we adopted a new learning format based on methods I learned from my involvement in RIAP (which I modified for the particular needs of my students). I began with an outline of study for the unit at hand, which they read and developed academic questions. The journey through the unit was then steered by their interests. We also made the most of drama activities, such as staging scenes of government in process—from elections in ancient Athens to the tribal-consensus system we learned about in our studies of ancient Africa. Since students were engaged in the process, we had more time for creative expression than we would have had I been battling apathy with old-fashioned teaching methods based on the erroneous belief that students are empty vessels who need to be filled with knowledge by an expert source.
In my work at NPA I have also developed skills in the area of facilitating purposeful group discussions. In world history this happens by leading with student questions or other activities that make use of students’ prior knowledge. In my writing classes this occurs through teaching respect for individual styles and diverse perspectives. An example of the latter involves a sequence of lessons designed to help students appreciate works of other writers. I begin with their work (another way of incorporating prior knowledge) through writing-workshop activities that promote skills in constructive evaluation. As they critique their own writing and work by their peers, they learn key concepts, such as purpose, intent and audience—that any writer must be aware of when producing polished compositions. Later, I bring in pieces from writers outside our classroom (from classical authors to journalists) to encourage discussions on different styles. Exposure to a variety of literature from different genres is critical to the development of student writers. They benefit greatly from the realizations they gain of the many possible directions they can explore through their own work and develop a better understanding of literature in general through an appreciation of the various roads taken by other writers.
Further Expansion of Ideas
Utilizing community volunteers further widens the knowledge base of my classroom. Even though we learn a great deal from each other, my students and I still have room for many other points-of-view. The more I collaborate with other people in my teaching practice the more I realize how much can be added to the mix, resulting in creating an even more fertile soil for our educational ground. The writers, professors and other professionals who have come to our classroom with their experience and scholarship add important dimensions of understanding to the subject at hand. My portfolio features samples of student work that provide evidence of how students benefit from such interactions with accomplished individuals from the local community.
International Experience: Expanding Far Beyond the Redwood Curtain
Even before NPA adopted the IB program, the school was known for its emphasis on international involvement through exchange programs. This year I involved myself with our international program by helping to facilitate an exchange with a school in Rennes, France. My travel with students for a three-week stay at our sister-school in Rennes furthered my awareness of important educational opportunities that can be achieved through first-hand experience with different cultures. I also had the opportunity to see how my students cope with new and exciting challenges as they became world travelers. I enjoyed getting to know my students better as individuals after spending numerous hours with them in a number of settings. In my portfolio a pictorial representation of our adventures—from our treks through the streets of Paris to historical tours of medieval towns in Brittany—tells the story of what we learned together from new encounters. It emphasizes the connectedness we gained by participating in an exchange involving staying with families and becoming familiar with the lives of people who previously would have been described as foreign.
Therefore, through my direct involvement, I found out why international programs are crucial to authentic education. The entire process caused my students to broaden their views of a different culture beyond the abstract or superficial levels in order to develop a genuine understanding of what it means to be a human being anywhere in the world.
My recent professional development in some ways reflects the lessons I learned from participating in the international exchange program. Through collaboration with people in my school community, professional peers, people from both the local community and distant environments, I have traveled well beyond the scope of my former perspective and become more involved in a larger arena of intellectual opportunities. As I continue on, guided by my own investigations and the queries posed by my students, I realize that being an educated person is not about reaching a certain plateau of expertise but is an ongoing movement directed by a desire to be an active, conscious member of the vast human landscape of a global society.
No comments:
Post a Comment