Pedagogy of What?

I spent last night in the library, busily researching a paper I'm writing. I just learned about Paulo Freire, the godfather of critical pedagogy. He wrote The Pedagogy of Opression, which plays a large role in service learning education. Apparently, there are three main camps of education: conservative/traditional, progressive/liberal and critical. Dewey, the father of experiential learning, criticizes both traditional and progressive education . Dewey says that education is inseprable from democracy.

So, when my professor mentioned Dewey in class and received a room full of blank stares, I knew something was wrong. I had only encountered Dewey briefly in my Special Education class, and did not know his story. I feel like the more I learn, the less I know.

How are we going to be good teachers if we are not aware of the great philosphers who shaped our educational policy?

How are we going to defend our teaching methods when we cannot name them correctly, or comprehend them within the greater sphere of education?

I have been teaching on gut instinct. My college courses gave me a toolbox of methods and practices I can use in the classroom. But I have no idea where these come from or on what ideals they are based. I used to cling to the idea of teaching critical thinking. Our future is uncertain and by teaching kids to think critically they can learn to adapt. Now I am so unsure of the purpose of education.

I do not see students as empty vessels to fill, but as young people who need guidance. Literature is a place where they can find some guidenace about how to interact with others and be happy in their own lives.

I feel lucky to have another year of schooling. I think I'll just go for my PhD actually...

One Bone at a Time

From the Web site: "One Million Bones is a fundraising art installation designed to recognize the millions of victims killed or displaced by ongoing genocides occurring on our watch.

Our Mission is to increase global awareness of these atrocities while raising the critical funds needed to protect and aid displaced and vulnerable victims.

One Million Bones will represent victims of genocide, creating a visual demand for solutions to this issue. Ignored and therefore permitted, genocide continues today, while widespread awareness of it remains buried. One million people will each create one bone to represent one victim. Installed together, these million bones will flood the National Mall in Washington, D.C., unearthing the memory of these victims while calling citizens to action: mourning yesterday’s casualties, caring for today’s refugees, saving tomorrow’s people."

This is so amazing! I am beginning to create a unit plan for a paper incorporating the book A Long Way Gone: Memiors of a Boy Soldier with this wonderful project: One Million Bones.

The creater of the project even has a video on TED. I will share more as I collect information.

Student-led Conference

I just had my first official student-led parent/teacher conference! It went simmingly. The mother is invloved in her son's life, and that makes all the difference. We discussed all his classes, his strengths and weaknesses, and his goals for next year. Parent involvement is so important to the success of a struggling student. It was nice that I had called her a few weeks ago and we spoke on the phone for a bit about her son. She was comfortable speaking with me about her worries and her son's performance. The student was extremely nervous, which was adorable. I am guessing all conferences will not go as smoothly. It is great to start off on the right foot though!

I thought this was pretty funny, so I stole it from another blogger.

"TIPS TO SURVIVING PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES

1. Diet Coke

2. It's best not to laugh at the kids who you get in trouble while their parents are still sitting there.

3. Eat garlic before hand...parents tend not to linger.

4. When talking to parents avoid phrases like, "You look so familiar. Did I see you at the bar last weekend?" or "I'm not sure why your kid is failing. Maybe you should just stick him/her in special ed."

5. If a parent tells you that their child is too smart for your class--agree. Then send them directly to the principal to tell her how smart the kid is and demand that they be transferred out of your class and into honors English. Nobody likes those know-it-all kids anyway.

6. Be extra-nice to the parents whose kids are idiots...after all, they are stuck with them forever. You are only pulling a 45 minute shift a few times a week.

7. Never admit that you really have no recollection of ever seeing their child before.

8. On the day of P/T conferences make your kids feel sorry for you because you have to be there all day, and tell them to bring you stuff when they come with their parents.

9. NEVER eat anything homemade they bring you.

10. Make sure you've planned an easy teaching day for the day after because post parent/teacher conference hangover is a beast."

S-S-S-O-F-M-M-M-O-R, S-O-F-M-O-R Sophomores!

Other than the fact that we're teaching our sophomores to spell incorrectly, the spirit assembly was a blast. Today was my first assembly at AHS. It was a Spring Spirit and Sports Assembly. Which means it is an attempt to recognize student athletes and raise student involvement. About a third of the school was absent, since it is the first day back from a long weekend, and only juniors have to be at school for testing the rest of the week. Everyone else gets a second spring break. The assembly was chaotic and very, very noisy. The juniors won the Spirit Stick for being the loudest and rowdiest. The juniors and seniors rushed the floor and nearly trampled several people. I was glad to be up in the sophomore section, away from all the action. It was nice to see my students recognized for their commitment and acheivements to school activities. Attending the assembly made me remember a lot about my high school years. It was fun to see kids being kids -rowdy, loud, and disorganized.

A Short Clip of Me Teaching

Rootology

After learning about vocabulary in our Professional Development meeting, I realized how mcuh my classes were lacking in this area. Yesterday, a student asked me what a list of words meant that she had made during out reading. I explained them to her and she asked if certain endings and beginnings of words meant certain things all the time. I explained to her about prefixes and suffixes. I realized I needed to teach these kids about words.
So tofay I started a bellringer called "Rootology." Everyday, I will introduce two or three root words to the class and together we will think of examples and decipher what they mean. I will record these on a chart so the classes can use it as a reference. These words will be on their final exam.
I think that this practice will not only help them on standardized tests, it will help them become better readers in general. It will teach them to pick apart words to find meaning.

This is a good Web site with a very complete list of common roots to pull from.

Certified Sub - not a career path

I completed my substitute training last Thursday. I learned that APS is short 100 substitutes everyday. And now with APS cutting teacher positions and enacting a hiring freeeze, the lack of teachers in schools will only become worse.

It doesn't make any sense that schools fail AYP and then instead of increasing the teacher to student ratio to ensure student success, school must cut teachers. Although subbing might be my only option for a job in the school system next year, I have been warned by many teachers that this will only cause me to burn out as a teacher. Subbing is harder than teaching. You have to deal with misbehaving students everyday and do not get the chance to make an impact on the lives of these children. I would like to sub some for experience, but I really want my own classroom. We discussed other job options in my UNM classes: Teach for America, DODD schools, Silva tudoring. Dr. Bryant suggested we go to grad school. Since I was already planning on finishing grad school, this advice was not too helpful. And since I am finishing my schooling, I have to stay in Albuquerque -which means I cannot take any teahcing jobs that require relocating. I really want to move and thought that teaching would help me stay put for another year while I finish my Master's. It will be much harder if I do not get my own classroom. I have been working on my cover letter and resume lately. And I am meeting with Mrs. Dawn Moore to get some interview tips. With luck, I will land a job at a local charter school. If not, I must be flexible -like a true teacher.