October 17 reflection

Today was routine. However, I was informed that Thursday my cooperating teacher will be in a Professional Development meeting the entire day and I will be teaching a review lesson. I am excited and I think this will give me practice on what to expect in my later videotaped project. My only worry is that because there is another teacher there I may not be given as much time with the students as I would like. I'm also happy that I am beginning to get an understanding of students and their personalities. This makes me feel more comfortable when giving out instructions because I know how to modify my instructions based on the student I am speaking to.

Westheimer & Kahne: What kind of citizen?

In Westheimer & Kahne’s piece What Kind of Citizen? They discuss the three types of citizens within a given society: “The Personally-responsible citizen”, “The Participatory Citizen”, and “The Justice Oriented Citizen”. The Personally-responsible citizen believes in being responsible for your community. Despite the label, it does not pertain to individualism instead; the personally responsible citizen makes sure that everyone takes part in supporting and making their environment better. Under this model, citizens are taught that honesty, integrity, and hard work promotes good citizenship. The Participatory Citizen is involved within social and civic affairs of their community: nationally, statewide, and locally. Educational programs that support this model focus on teaching how government and community based organizational groups work. The Justice Oriented Citizen deals with social justice. Good citizenship is dictated through focusing and calling attention to social injustice. These citizens analyze and criticize the antiquated and problematic issues and practices within the community.

Worthy of note, is that all three models for citizenship encapsulates a successful and responsible community. These citizens do not merely stand as one grounding model. They each display a strength that the other lacks. Therefore, there is a purpose for these types of citizens in any community. It becomes an issue however when teaching History. Teachers may believe in a particular model of citizenship over the other and therefore teach based off of their preferred model. This leaves students without a complete perspective of their world. The only solution would be to teach each model as they pertain to the area of learning. For example, when discussing the Civil Rights Movement, the Justice Oriented Citizen should be used. When teaching Government, the Participatory Citizen model should be followed. This gives students the option of choosing which model they want to utilize in life and does not force them to choose based on a limited perspective. Expounding further, there should also be a discussion on why the other models are not as effective within a particular unit.

Upon reading, I realized that I am a Justice Oriented Citizen. This is the reason why I became a teacher. I noticed a disparity of Education between low-income and middle-income students. I also lamented at the quality of learning. There is no reason why students should not be more aware of the significance of social movements. Social Movements have become an essential weapon in combating injustice and that is reflected within the many uprisings that have taken place in the last few months. It is completely important that my students not only understand past historical events but realize that these are not merely isolated incidents within society. We all have the power to invoke great change. Equally important is the Participatory Citizenship. Participatory Citizens, like Justice oriented citizens have the power to bring about major change in government and that is also reflective of History today.

Reference:
Westheimer, J & Kahne, J. What Kind of Citizen? (2004)
http://engagestudiothinking.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/threekindsofcitizenship_excerpt.pdf

Reflection #2

Yesterday we went on a class trip. The realization finally hit me that teaching is hard. It’s not a 8-3pm job. During the trip, I spent most of my time with one of the students. He is an obese tenth grade with Chronic Asthma. During the walk to and from the Museum we were in the back sometimes feets away from the class. Part of the reason was to not offset his Asthma but another reason was because it was just difficult for him to keep up with everyone. It was then I realized that teacher’s roles are difficult. You have to manage students outside of the classroom and that is not an easy task especially if you are dealing with students with disabilities. We ended up having to take a cab back to the school because ti started to rain and he started to wheezing uncontrollably. I understand that this is not a regular occurrence but I kept thinking “this is someone’s child that I’m responsible for !” and whether you are in a classroom or not this has to be going through your mind. As teachers, we are responsible for making sure they have the skills necessary to function in a professional setting. In a way, we are like surrogate parents. Parenting is difficult enough with one or two but twenty plus? The stress begins to weigh heavily on me. My cooperating teacher said succinctly that some of them you just have to let go for the sake of the many. This is a hard lesson that going forward I know I have to learn. Idealistically, I want to save them all. That is why I wanted to become a teacher. I also want to learn how to reach students that have been taught not to trust adults. How do I get them engaged in lessons?

Reflection

Right now I think I am more controlled than warm and in the future, this will not changed. I view teaching as a parent even though I’m not a parent. I don’t care if you like me. I do care that you have the basically standards in place to go forward in life. That being said, I’m going to make it known upfront: I’m not your friend. I am your teacher. I’m here to help you be the best you that you can be. Other than that, I may not always understand or know what you are going through but I will try to empathize and assist if need be. I don’t plan to be an “Authoritarian teacher” because I feel like in History, this leads to mutinies and overthrows-it’s too extreme. But there is behavior that I will and will not tolerate from my students and will make that known upfront. I don’t agree that the teacher should be the focus of the room. In my own teaching I plan to structure my lessons as mini Socratic seminars or mini-lectures. I don’t like teacher-centered classrooms. I don’t like people talking at me on end. I find that I usually like to hear what my students/peers have to say rather than my teachers. That being said, there is rigidness to teacher-centered classrooms that I find un-stimulating and stifling. More importantly, I want to hear how my students think and if they are able to think.