Week 1:
1. My name is Beth. I teach outside of Little Rock, Arkansas. I am originally a Missouri girl. This is my seventh year teaching, and my fifth year in my current district. I am certified in art and gifted education. I teach art between two schools, grades K-5. I also teach a GT pull out one afternoon a week.
My B.F.A. is in studio art (photography....pre-digital revolution). My certification came post-bacc through a M.A.T. program I was one course away from finishing when we moved out of state. I am currently a post bacc student at MU. This course puts me at 9 hours through this university. I am in the process of getting things together to apply for the online MEd program. It seems a MEd offers different opportunities than a M.A. in art education. I really like the quality of the graduate courses I have seen so far.
I find that I am getting a little bit less timid about speaking my mind about certain issues in education. The honeymoon period is over, and sometimes I feel I am getting my sea legs. (This past Wednesday I woke up in a mood and ran around the school asking my colleagues 'Who wants to start a fire?') I have many things I am passionate about in education. I will save those soap boxes and plant them like video game bombs through out the semester!
2. To the article 12 Qualities by Great Teachers by Chris Lehmann I would add
#13. Ability to empathize with and understand the burdens of your co-workers. I work with some people who do not understand that they are not doing the load of the work in the building.
#14. Creative ability and use of creative problem solving.
#15. Ability to conduct action research. Education can be top heavy in that actions come from administration down to the classrooms. Action should start with the students and move upwards.
Quality
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Self-Assessment
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Comment
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Passion for
teaching
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2
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I am in the
moment in the classroom. I bounce around and interact with the kids. But I
love a good snow day. I have 3 weather apps on my phone to triangulate my
weather data during the winter months. Last year I hit my wall, and this year
I pulled back a bit, trying to find the work/home balance.
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Love of kids
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2
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I definitely have
favorite age groups, and a few I struggle to love. The Kindergarteners I brag
on become second graders whom I try to survive. Each age group needs a
different teaching style. The age groups I have a hard time finding my flow
with are first and second grades.
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Love of their
subject
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1
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I am teaching in
an area I constantly try to grow and gain education in. A great benefit to
being an art teacher is being able to learn grow personally.
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Understanding of
the role of a school in a child’s life.
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3
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I heard a quip on
the radio that in the South, a child’s life revolves around school, church,
and family. This is probably true for most areas. I had a lower middle class
upbringing. Over half of my students live in poverty. Reading Ruby Payne
still doesn’t prepare me for the fact that school provides the largest amount
of food, clothing, medical care, and security for a big number of the
students in my school.
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A willingness to
change
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2 or 3
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I think of myself
as open-minded and I get excited at new discoveries, but it is an effort to
change patterns of thought and habits. I am open to criticism and feedback.
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A work ethic that
doesn’t quit
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1 or 2
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A past principal
warned me that I needed to pull back, and I found my wall last spring. I am
way more cautious about my job this year.
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A willingness to
reflect
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1 or 2
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I am an
introvert, so I tend to live in my head and analyze my actions. But my
reflections are informal. My biggest ones come when I am walking outdoors on
the weekend. The old crutch of not having enough time during the school day….
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Organization
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3
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I am a
visual-spatial person. I organize in piles, and can monitor and adjust.
However, I am aware that statistically 40% of students are not like me and
LOVE organization. I sometimes I lose class materials I really need. I
misplace my keys daily.
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Understanding that being a “great teacher”
is a constant struggle to always improve.
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1
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I am still in my
teaching infancy, so this is a no brainer. If I start becoming a curmudgeon,
I will get out of teaching.
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Enough ego to
survive the hard days.
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1
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I am resilient
and have a short memory. Enough ADD to not dwell on the bad stuff too long.
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Enough humility
to remember it’s not about you
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1 or 2
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I am hands on
with the kids and focus on their motivations, but am cognizant that I am also
involved in the classroom system.
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A willingness to
work collaboratively.
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3
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In theory, yes,
but I am more confident and comfortable by myself in some settings. I
organize events like an annual career day and the district chess tournament,
but I tend to micromanage when possible – less drama.
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Beth,
ReplyDeleteI loved when I saw your name on the blog list; I’ve missed your sharp wit and candor. I look forward to your video game bombs; you’ve never failed to give me pause for thought! The MU MEd program will not disappoint you, I promise.
In response to your reflection, I say yes, yes, and double yes to your additions to Lehmann’s list.
• #13 the ability to empathize with one’s co-workers is critical to the success of a school. In my opinion, the climate of a school likely contributes a great deal more to the success of that school than it is given credit for. Funny too, when you enter the doors of a school, you can sense the climate, an unseen force at work.
• #14 Creative ability and use of creative problem solving - being art teachers, I think that we have a natural bent towards this. So much so, that I tend to see everyone as possessing this attribute, but in actuality, that’s just not the case.
• #15 Ability to conduct action research - For planning purposes, my district requires staff to participate in an annual survey. This data also contributes to administrator evaluation. A few years ago, one of the survey questions was in regard to action research. My building, as a whole, scored very low marks. Consequently, the following school year, we had an in-service on action research and were required to submit ongoing evidence of individual classroom action research. While initially off-put that I had to “do one more thing,” the experience served to make me more reflective. Education in our country could do a 180 if it genuinely started with the students and worked upwards!
On a side-note, your comments on the teacher self-assessment were the perfect complement to your introduction. Nicely done!
Hi Beth! I'm looking forward to having this class with you. Loved your three add-ons and they made me think. I fell into an administrative type position (our district Fine Arts content leader) and it has drastically changed my perspective. I started out doing it part time while teaching part time, but this year it went full time. It is a mixed role with not a lot of power, but a small bit of influence. The worst part I think is having the heart of a teacher that is "on fire" yet getting further away from a teacher perspective. I'm exposed to too many teachers that have negative attitudes and it is starting to affect my outlook (and that makes me sad.) I was told in my undergrad to stay away from the teachers' lounge as it is a hotbed for negative attitudes that will skew your perspective and make you bitter. I kind of feel like now I can't escape the teacher's lounge. I've noticed it creeping into my posts for class, so as we reflect (and as part of my new year's resolutions) I'm setting out to put those negative perspectives in check. I will work on my #13.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I am going to work on #15. I used to do a lot of action research in my classes. But now my only outlet is in the classes of others. It is incredibly frustrating to have to do someone else's research (so many admins working on doctorates!) I never minded being invited in on a conversation and given the choice to also light my fire and join in on the change/research. But that happened very rarely. I will have to remember this as we go forth with changing standards and updating our district curriculum.
Thank you for giving me so much to think about!
Very nice to meet you Beth!!
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