The Very First Chapter of My Teaching Journey

By Devyn Curley

Being a teacher is more than just teaching a lesson plan on the chalkboard; it is about inspiring students and making them want to go forth and inspire others. This is the most important value I have kept throughout this semester in Education 275. My experience in this course has not only strengthened this value, but has also given it more depth in terms of how I can pursue this goal of becoming a teacher who does not just teach, but teaches to inspire their students. Looking back on my first paper and analyzing my answers to the umbrella questions, I can definitely attest to the fact that I have changed my view on education and my understating of teaching and the concepts that go along with it are more informed. Through the inquiry project, class discussions, course readings, and the group project, I know now that trying to become a fantastic educator who students admire is a lot more than just saying thats what you want to strive for. We, as future educators need to put these words into action because we are the future of teaching, and we are the leaders in changing the educational system as it stands today. This course has empowered me and shown me aspects of educating I have never seen or thought of before and now I just want to share that knowledge with everyone and anyone. My hopes are high, my ideas are strong, but my journey to becoming a teacher has really just begun.

The Very First Chapter of My Teaching Journey

Mustafa Kemal Atatrk once said, A good teacher is like a candleit consumes itself to light the way for others. This statement perfectly concludes what the role of the teacher should be in the United States today. The purpose of education in the U.S. is to open up more doors leading to successful opportunities, and to also turn out young men and women who are inspired and motivated to make a positive change in the world. Currently, the existing order of schooling in the United States is well structured, but it needs improvements to strengthen its overall quality in terms of cultural, political, social, economic, and environmental aspects. To adjust the education system in America, it is future teachers that need to step up and be the people who make the improvements that will help better light the way for tomorrows students. Culturally, education does not have the most accepting of differences in its past. It has grown and transformed to be an opportunity that all races, genders, religions, disabled, etc. are able to take advantage of today. Although education is seen to be a freedom all Americans can have, we still lack a sincere value of diversity in our schooling today. Instead of being aware and accepting and even embracing of one anothers color, we have become color blind (Lantieri et al. 1996). Color blindness, or ignoring each others cultural heritage is not the answer to valuing diversity-- it only makes us blind to it. Instead, future teachers need to encourage the idea of valuing one anothers differences yet still incorporating the importance of equal and fair treatment of all the different cultures. Teachers can accomplish this through culturally enlightening activities which may prompt students to grow less nave or ignorant when it comes to cultural awareness of peers.

Another cultural order that exists in todays education system is our nations need for the latest and the greatest technology in schools. His Holiness the fourteenth Dalai Lama, in the article, The Heart of Learning, recognizes the fact that the U.S. has high standard facilities, but something is lacking. He concludes that it is, heart we are missing as well as the dimension of enhancing and developing that heart (Gyatso, 1999). We, as a nation, are so consumed in providing the best technology and materialistic items for our schools, but when it comes to truly promoting a sense of caring or compassion, forgiveness or love, we fail as a country. Teachers need to instill these emotions in their students so that there can still be heart left in a nation that thrives on technology and success and power. Instead of letting our students focus on what they do not have, let us show them the value in what they do have. As Gyatso says, The most important sources of inner peace are an open mind and a good heart. Americans never seem to be satisfied; they always want more. This ideology is one that has also become apparent in our schools and it is a cultural aspect that needs to be transformed so that we do not continue to be driven purely by materialistic objects. Not only do our schools need transformation culturally, but they need transformation politically as well. There is definitely a dominance of privilege and power in White males (Johnson, 2001), especially in educational politics. When Tom Balchak, our guest speaker in Education 275, came in, he mentioned that the board of education leaders in the Poudre School District lacked diversity. I believe he referred to them as, old, white guys, confirming that the power in education (Balchak, 2012), at least in the PSD, was held by a culture that has reigned over many minorities over the course of history. Clearly, this is a traditional order of the past for education and it needs to be transformed so that there is diversity in educational power.

Secondly, Tom Balchak also brought to attention in Huertas book, the chart of political power in Education in the U.S. Teachers and students were at the very bottom and superintendents were near the top of this chart (Huerta, 2009). The problem with this is that the people who education affects the most are given the smallest amount of power. Striving to be a teacher that changes education and inspires students to be amazing people in society is all well and good, but without a decent amount of power, the opportunity to make a difference in the educational system for your students is a not the biggest one. Struggling to enhance the learning of our students is just another challenge we future teachers face, but it is with great persistence and determination that we will be able to achieve an adequate amount of power in the school system as educators. In addition to the improvements that need to be made to education in the U.S. politically, its social order is in need of enhancement too. Socially, it is more crucial to establish relationships with your students to better suit their specific educational needs, and become someone they can trust and confide in, especially when there may be possibly harmful threats invoked upon the student by family, peers, etc. *Most+ students of all ages come to school with their souls alive and seeking connection, says Rachael Kessler in her article, The Soul of Education (Kessler, 2000). The article goes on to talk about that connection, whether it is between teacher and student or student and student. However, this connection is all too often not established beyond a shallow level of relationships amongst one another (Kessler, 2000). Students do not open up at school with their peers to simply share fears, passions, or even shame with one another, Kessler states, and this could not be any truer in my generation. We are all too apt to discuss Justin Bieber, Facebook drama, and mTV shows, but when it comes

down to being able to express our true feelings and thoughts with one another, our lips are sealed. Perhaps not enough dialogical pedagogy goes on in the classroom for students to feel like they can open up in a judgment free place. Dialogical pedagogy encourages in-depth discussions on just about any topic with your fellow classmates in a respectful environment (Fernandez-Balboa et al. 1994). If students felt like they could share their souls with one another through activities that involved this concept of dialogical pedagogy then maybe our schools would not be seen as soulless places. As teachers, it is imperative that we create a social atmosphere for our students that is friendly, open and safe, regardless of the fact that we will be dealing with age groups that are highly judgmental. If we can break through the vague and shallow barriers students put up in todays schools, we can transform the social order that needs change and that needs soul. One of the most obvious transformations that needs to occur in the pre-existing order of education is a change in economics. Clearly, the U.S. is not the best with money, and we do not exactly budget it towards what it most important. Although the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 established grants that would go towards education and schools in need successfully, today it still lacks a satisfactory budget put towards school systems. As discussed in the Hot Topic Group presentation about the ESEA and the No Child Left Behind Act, there are significant problems with this program. Not enough money is put towards the act to be effective, and thus causes strain on state budgets that try and accommodate for the pricey needs of their schools. The program originally looked great on paper, but when enforced and put into action its problems were clear and abundant (Miller et al. 2012). Today, teachers need to voice their concerns and voice what they want to change in the educational system. As

discussed before, we are not at the top of the totem pole per say, but our voices still need to be heard because we are the eyes and ears of the schooling institutions. We see what goes on first hand in schools and are affected significantly by the lack of a smart and efficient budget. Finally, environmentally our schools need a change in order. Instantly, a picture of a classroom comes to mind when someone says school environment. The classroom is where a teacher discovers their teaching philosophy, where a student harnesses their soul, where classmates interact and get to know one another, and it is where knowledge thrives. There are many different types of teaching philosophies that teachers can make use of, but unfortunately teaching has fallen into the rut of traditional teaching where students regurgitate information to the teacher and the teacher just babbles on and on about the subject matter at hand, lecturing. What do students really take away from this style of teaching? This environment does not enable students to truly grasp concepts, interact with the teacher and their peers, or practice what they learn. If we used different teaching philosophies than those already set in stone, then we would be able to create a better learning environment for our students. For example, if the philosophies of existentialism, realism, and behaviorism (Huerta, 2009) were applied in the classroom, the teacher could stir up dialogue amongst their students, create fun, hands-on projects, and assess each of their students needs based upon their learning styles. At the end of the day, we are the people who can make or break the learning environment for our students, so why not make it a place they actually want to be in? There is a long journey ahead of me and my education peers on our road to becoming top-notch teachers. As it stands today, the purpose of education is to give students an adequate skill set to survive in the real world. We as teachers are responsible for what goes into

that skill set through our role in the cultural, political, social, economic, and environmental order of school systems today in the United States. I consider this course of Education 275 as one of my many stepping stones in becoming not just an educator, but an educator who shows my students the light and guides them, just like a candle would.

Works Cited

Balchak, Thomas (2012). Guest Speaker: Education 275. April, 2012. Dalai Lama (1999). Education and the human heart. In Glazer, S. (Ed.), the heart of learning (pp. 58-68). New York: Putnam. Fernandez-Balboa, J. & Marshall, J. (1994). Dialogical pedagogy in teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, (45), 3, 172-182. Huerta, G. (2009). The Role of Philosophy in the Teaching Profession. Educational foundations: diverse histories, diverse perspectives (Student ed., p. 43). Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin. Kessler, R. (2000). The soul of education. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Lantieri, L. & Patti, J. (1996). Waging peace in our schools. Boston: Beacon Press. Miller, Raegen T., Frederick M. Hess, and Cynthia G. Brown. "Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Offers a New Chance to Improve Education." Center for American Progress 1 (2012): n. pag. Center for American Progress. Web. 29 Apr. 2012.