A journey through ssu curriculum teaching and learning
EDUC 570 The reflective educator
Once a Reflective Educator, Always a Reflective Educator
I took the reflective educator with Dr. Virginia Lea in The year 2000! I can't believe it was that long ago because so many things I do today are things I learned about in that class 14 years ago. When I learned about multicultural education and the differences between monocultural education, tolerance, acceptance, respect, and this new idea of affirmation solidarity and critique there was never any going back for me. (Nieto, 1992) At the time I was in my second year of teaching in the Roseland Elementary School district in a two-way bilingual immersion program that was being phased out. I so much wanted to be a part of the learning environment that had all of those aspects of affirmation, solidarity and critique that Sonia Nieto wrote about in Affirming Diversity, but the politics of the time did not facilitate that type of learning in that environment and as a new teacher I did not have enough power to make a change.
I remember vividly the cultural portfolio entries that Dr Lea assigned examining issues of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ableism and other forms of discrimination in our lives and in our schools. We told our own stories and shared artifacts with our class. I use the idea of cultural portfolios in my classes for many years. I also learned about the importance of tapping the funds of knowledge that exist within our school community. I had parents, community members, and relatives of our students come in, tell stories and participate in the creation of the classroom community and curriculum. The ideas of the equity, social justice and cooperative struggle have been woven throughout my classes since Education 570. Dr. Lea also introduced me to the National Association of Multicultural Educators (NAME). I attended regional workshops and participated in speaking in regional events under the leadership of Dr. Virginia Lea fourteen years ago. It was in her class that I first learned about the power of narritive, and building relationships. I read Pablo Freire, Michael Apple, Maxine Greene, Henry Giroux, Jane Addams, William Pinar and others and became totally inspired about what education could be. Teaching to Transgress by bell hooks was one of the most powerful books I read in Dr. Lea's class because it gave me deep a sense of my responsibility as a teacher to create a transformative classroom for students.
At the same time, as a new teacher, new to the school and to the profession, I found it difficult to make the kind of waves necessary to make change. With Dr. Lea's guidance I created a final project for 570 that had to do with documenting my process of coming out as a gay woman to my fourth-grade students.
I took the reflective educator with Dr. Virginia Lea in The year 2000! I can't believe it was that long ago because so many things I do today are things I learned about in that class 14 years ago. When I learned about multicultural education and the differences between monocultural education, tolerance, acceptance, respect, and this new idea of affirmation solidarity and critique there was never any going back for me. (Nieto, 1992) At the time I was in my second year of teaching in the Roseland Elementary School district in a two-way bilingual immersion program that was being phased out. I so much wanted to be a part of the learning environment that had all of those aspects of affirmation, solidarity and critique that Sonia Nieto wrote about in Affirming Diversity, but the politics of the time did not facilitate that type of learning in that environment and as a new teacher I did not have enough power to make a change.
I remember vividly the cultural portfolio entries that Dr Lea assigned examining issues of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ableism and other forms of discrimination in our lives and in our schools. We told our own stories and shared artifacts with our class. I use the idea of cultural portfolios in my classes for many years. I also learned about the importance of tapping the funds of knowledge that exist within our school community. I had parents, community members, and relatives of our students come in, tell stories and participate in the creation of the classroom community and curriculum. The ideas of the equity, social justice and cooperative struggle have been woven throughout my classes since Education 570. Dr. Lea also introduced me to the National Association of Multicultural Educators (NAME). I attended regional workshops and participated in speaking in regional events under the leadership of Dr. Virginia Lea fourteen years ago. It was in her class that I first learned about the power of narritive, and building relationships. I read Pablo Freire, Michael Apple, Maxine Greene, Henry Giroux, Jane Addams, William Pinar and others and became totally inspired about what education could be. Teaching to Transgress by bell hooks was one of the most powerful books I read in Dr. Lea's class because it gave me deep a sense of my responsibility as a teacher to create a transformative classroom for students.
At the same time, as a new teacher, new to the school and to the profession, I found it difficult to make the kind of waves necessary to make change. With Dr. Lea's guidance I created a final project for 570 that had to do with documenting my process of coming out as a gay woman to my fourth-grade students.
Here I have shown two artifacts that demonstrate some of the pros and cons that I gathered and shared with students, parents, and colleagues before I made my final decision to be honest with my fourth-grade students about who I truly was. The diamond shaped bullet points were the most worrisome for me and there was a great deal of fear that I carried for months until I made my final decision. The students and parents I interview, whether they were English Speaking or Spanish speaking, low income or middle income were very supportive of my decision to be honest with my students. My colleagues, on the other hand, almost completely disagreed with my desire to be open with the students. It was an extremely difficult decision to make, but probably the most important decision in my educational career. How could I ask my students to risk, be honest, and trust, if I as an educator wasn't willing to do the same? How could I advocate for affirmation, solidarity, and critique in my classroom, school and district if I wasn't willing to stand up for justice in my own classroom for myself?
I have continued to be open and honest with my students in every school in which I have taught and in every grade that I have taught from first grade through high school. I believe that is a big part of the reason that students are comfortable risking and sharing with me both on an academic as well as an emotional level. Educ 570 was the beginning on my understanding that it all comes down to relationship!
educ 585 curriculum development: theory, practice & evaluation
The One Pagers
In the Curriculum, Practice and Evaluation course, one assignment that I found extremely useful were the weekly one pagers. The requirement of having to synthesize all of the reading for that week onto one page required me to distill the information from various articles into clear, concise, meaningful chunks of information. It pushed me to create a deeper understanding for the large amount of material that I was reading. My first one pagers were full of charts, columns, tables and quotes or short paragraphs. After doing my first creative one pager, I realize the deep power of metaphor in creating the summaries of my readings. Even a year later, I can vividly remember and explain the Five Phases of Curricular and Personal Revision as explained by Peggy McIntosh because of the one pager I made that illustrates those phases. When I need to think about different educational theorists., I often flip through my one pagers to remember who it was that talked about schools as prisons who or which theorist believed that immigrants needed to look upon their foundations to guide their own growth. If I want to remember what does William Doll, George Counts or Henry Giroux stand for, I just looked through my one pager and I am quickly reminded.
I found this strategy so effective for my own learning that I have replicated that assignment in my high school mathematics classroom. As we finish a topic, I have often asked students to do their own creative one pager that represents aspects of the content we have completed, such as linear functions or exponential growth. I asked students to help create a collaborative list of items that that one pager might include and then students create their own representation of that content. I have had students develop extremely creative one pagers that help them synthesize their own learning. Below is one example of a student One Pager.
In the Curriculum, Practice and Evaluation course, one assignment that I found extremely useful were the weekly one pagers. The requirement of having to synthesize all of the reading for that week onto one page required me to distill the information from various articles into clear, concise, meaningful chunks of information. It pushed me to create a deeper understanding for the large amount of material that I was reading. My first one pagers were full of charts, columns, tables and quotes or short paragraphs. After doing my first creative one pager, I realize the deep power of metaphor in creating the summaries of my readings. Even a year later, I can vividly remember and explain the Five Phases of Curricular and Personal Revision as explained by Peggy McIntosh because of the one pager I made that illustrates those phases. When I need to think about different educational theorists., I often flip through my one pagers to remember who it was that talked about schools as prisons who or which theorist believed that immigrants needed to look upon their foundations to guide their own growth. If I want to remember what does William Doll, George Counts or Henry Giroux stand for, I just looked through my one pager and I am quickly reminded.
I found this strategy so effective for my own learning that I have replicated that assignment in my high school mathematics classroom. As we finish a topic, I have often asked students to do their own creative one pager that represents aspects of the content we have completed, such as linear functions or exponential growth. I asked students to help create a collaborative list of items that that one pager might include and then students create their own representation of that content. I have had students develop extremely creative one pagers that help them synthesize their own learning. Below is one example of a student One Pager.
EDuc 595 special studies: Towards culturally responsive mathematics teaching in high school : It all Comes down to social justice
In my special studies class with Dr. Megan Taylor, I took a paper that I wrote for Dr. Marker's class on Culturally Responsive Mathematics in High School and transformed it into a presentation around social justice for my high school students. This project allowed me to bring together the things that I learned in Dr. Virginia Lea's class, The Reflective Educator, as well as what I learned about curriculum theory in Dr. Marker's class and at the National Association of Multicultural Educators (NAME) conference in order to share personal narratives about my own development as a student, educator and lifelong learner and a realization that everything I do in my life comes down to social justice. Because of this project, I was able to share, with my students, stories from my childhood, youth and adulthood that have formed who I am and have created the deep desire in my life to work towards social justice in every way possible.
EDCT 556 Technology, Pedagogy and Society
Argumentative essay
Technology, Pedagogy and Society with Dr. Jessica Parker was my first glimpse into the powerful educational possibilities and complex cultural ramifications of our technological era as well as those of technology in education. Trying to keep up with Dr. Parker and all of her "tech savvy teaching" made me realize once again what it's like to be a second language learner. I was learning about applications, new programs, and technology pedagogy faster than I ever thought possible I feel like I could take this class again and grow as much as I did the first time through. Two of the most powerful assignments in this class were the argumentative essay and the mini-ethnography.
The argumentative essay assignment was the culmination of many other assignments, readings and class session in which we looked at how media often reinforces derogatory, marginalizing messages about race, class, sexuality, ableism, ageism, sexism and other social issues. In this assignment we were expected to choose one print or video commercial and evaluate that commercial on the basis of race, class, or one of the fore mentioned social issues. Never before have I spent the time to look in detail and evaluate the constant messages we receive in our society about "normality" in a reflective way. This critical, in-depth look at media allowed me to see the powerful force that media has in shaping our society. The argumentative essay in particular required me to spend many hours examining the music, colors, images, tone, and other aspects of one commercial. I will not be able to look at commercials again without using a more critical eye to examine the multiplicity of messages and values being displayed. This assignment made me realize the extreme importance of teaching technology and media in schools in order to help students develop critical, conscientious ideas about their own media intake.
The mini ethnography allowed me to get a glimpse into the life of a tech savvy youth. While reading authors such as dana boyd, David Buckingham, Craig Watkins, and Katie Davis and grappling with ideas of identity in a technology central society, new media, prosumers, interest based activities, participatory learning, authorship and online communities I observed this young lady, set up and recorded an interview of her and just spent time getting to know her and learning about her in general as well as her technology usage. This activity as well as the content of the course in general, reinforced the idea that I learned in education 570 about the fact that relationships are a central part of education. This assignment help me experience the reciprocal learning that happens in relationship based educational activities where inclusiveness is central. It reinforced the need for, and power of, those aspects of affirmation, solidarity and critique that Sonia Nieto made me long for in my educational environments back in 2000 when I first took EDUC 570.
The argumentative essay assignment was the culmination of many other assignments, readings and class session in which we looked at how media often reinforces derogatory, marginalizing messages about race, class, sexuality, ableism, ageism, sexism and other social issues. In this assignment we were expected to choose one print or video commercial and evaluate that commercial on the basis of race, class, or one of the fore mentioned social issues. Never before have I spent the time to look in detail and evaluate the constant messages we receive in our society about "normality" in a reflective way. This critical, in-depth look at media allowed me to see the powerful force that media has in shaping our society. The argumentative essay in particular required me to spend many hours examining the music, colors, images, tone, and other aspects of one commercial. I will not be able to look at commercials again without using a more critical eye to examine the multiplicity of messages and values being displayed. This assignment made me realize the extreme importance of teaching technology and media in schools in order to help students develop critical, conscientious ideas about their own media intake.
The mini ethnography allowed me to get a glimpse into the life of a tech savvy youth. While reading authors such as dana boyd, David Buckingham, Craig Watkins, and Katie Davis and grappling with ideas of identity in a technology central society, new media, prosumers, interest based activities, participatory learning, authorship and online communities I observed this young lady, set up and recorded an interview of her and just spent time getting to know her and learning about her in general as well as her technology usage. This activity as well as the content of the course in general, reinforced the idea that I learned in education 570 about the fact that relationships are a central part of education. This assignment help me experience the reciprocal learning that happens in relationship based educational activities where inclusiveness is central. It reinforced the need for, and power of, those aspects of affirmation, solidarity and critique that Sonia Nieto made me long for in my educational environments back in 2000 when I first took EDUC 570.
EDCt 552 educational technology praxis
Technology Timeline
Collaborative Technology presentations
This class has been quite a journey for it started off with a look at our own personal technology time one. My prezi is above and there is a link to my reflection. Over the course of the semester we learned about instrumental versus relationship model of technology. I learned to think of technology in totally different ways. Never before had I thought about the canoe and paddle board I spent so much time in during the summer as an element of technology. This class reinforced what I learned in education 570 that it all comes down to relationship. I realized in my tech timeline that all of the uses that I had for technology had to do with developing and sustaining relationships.
We learned a lot about participatory culture in technology. Dr. Jessica Parker's book, Tech Savvy Kids was a great insight into the technology use of youth in our society as well as a very practical guide for expanding one's own technology use within the classroom. The format of students as presenters required us to become experts in one article or one perspective and present that piece to the rest of our class. Our technology presentations also allowed us to teach and learn from one another.
Even our final night when people presented their projects and their digital portfolios, I came home after class and made numerous changes to my online portfolio based on what I learned from my fellow students. It seems that so often we read about education in the 21st-century and read theory about postmodern educational experiences, but very rarely do we get to experience that ourselves. This class was a true opportunity for all students to become teachers and where the teacher became a learner. I learn things that improve my own technology use, but also learn things that improved my facilitation of classroom learning environments.
We learned a lot about participatory culture in technology. Dr. Jessica Parker's book, Tech Savvy Kids was a great insight into the technology use of youth in our society as well as a very practical guide for expanding one's own technology use within the classroom. The format of students as presenters required us to become experts in one article or one perspective and present that piece to the rest of our class. Our technology presentations also allowed us to teach and learn from one another.
Even our final night when people presented their projects and their digital portfolios, I came home after class and made numerous changes to my online portfolio based on what I learned from my fellow students. It seems that so often we read about education in the 21st-century and read theory about postmodern educational experiences, but very rarely do we get to experience that ourselves. This class was a true opportunity for all students to become teachers and where the teacher became a learner. I learn things that improve my own technology use, but also learn things that improved my facilitation of classroom learning environments.