I had been keeping a blog recording the trials and tribulations of going back to Community College as a working adult. I thought it'd motivate and help me the same way a food diary might help someone who's dieting. But . . . it wasn't worth my time. Going back to school is hard but who cares? Suck it up, buttercup. I realized I was way more interested in looking to the future, focusing on what I want to accomplish as a teacher and finding some of the methods, mediums, and materials I want to use.
My interests in teaching are as follows:
SOCIAL JUSTICE
* I believe that the single greatest act of social justice in education is simply providing an equal education to each and every student, regardless of any privileges or lack thereof.
* An important aspect to social justice and to engaging students is to provide an accurate and comprehensive account of the subject matter. That means lifting leaders and voices from a dusty niche library section to the forefront of our studies.
TECHNOLOGY
* I want to find the most effective ways to utilize technology in a way that will encourage and engage rather than distract.
INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STYLES
* In order to give students an equal education I believe I must recognize individual differences. Students do not all learn the same way and teaching them all the same way is not effective. I want to help develop lessons, study plans, and class projects that will ensure all students have an opportunity to learn the way that is most effective for them and their individual needs.
Because students enter classrooms at different "levels" I want to offer the extra time and effort to students who need to catch up or who need additional help.
TIME MANAGEMENT
* My own experience in high school led me to believe that so much time spent at school was wasted. The fact that we had a study hall where we COULD go for extra help or COULD do homework but never HAD to usually made the entire time period wasteful. If I was assigned a student for four years I'd want to take an active roll in their overall education and recommend that they visit particular teachers when I've learned that they are falling behind in that teacher's class. Good time management also means making more out of detention periods and, if I should ever find myself teaching night school to failing high school students (such as myself once upon a time) I would actually TEACH instead of babysit.
ENGAGE AND EXCITE!!!!!
* This is so important and it's overlooked in our nation's worse subject: Math. Math is hard work and it may be harder for some than others but it can be learned through hard work and practice. Unfortunately, not many people want to put the hard work into something that seems so boring or so irrelevant to their lives. The truth is that math can be used in every area imaginable. If you want to go into criminal law you can use math. If you want to go into sociology you can use math. If you want to make video games you can use math. If you want to go into public policy you can use math. If you want to study literature you can use math!! It's totally useful, totally helpful when paired with another area of interest, and yet most students think they only need it if they go into engineering or medicine and they aren't being taught differently!
RECOGNIZING HARD WORK
* Students do better when they're praised for hard work rather than for being smart. There is a horrible attitude towards learning that says you are either born smart in one area or you aren't. That doesn't give a student much incentive to work hard when they're challenged. Although students labeled as "not smart" are the biggest victims of this attitude it also hurts the "smart" kids who may be less likely to take bigger risks or who may become intellectually lazy. A "smart" student may be deficient in areas that are overlooked by a teacher because they buy into the "smart" hype. Evidence and citations of this to come in future posts.
