Final Narrative Repost

Since joining Teach for America, my life has drastically changed. I had come from zero teaching experience and was thrust into the classroom after just 6 weeks of training during summer school in Philadelphia. During that time, I learned a lot of terminology and concepts revolving pedagogy, social justice, diversity, inclusion, equity vs. equality, etc. However, implementing these into my own curriculum during my first year was difficult.

I often feel that reflection is an important part of growth. For me, I take a lot of time to reflect mentally and how I can improve in the future or what I could have done differently in the past. I reflect on many components of my life, but having just wrapped up my first year of teaching, much my time has been spent on how to move forward into year two.  

I thought a lot about what I was able to provide for my students versus what I wasn’t. I believe my classroom culture was strong and they were learning skills, but I wasn’t making meaningful and engaging conversations/projects. Often times, I would stick to the curriculum I was given and my deviations from that were merely to graze the surface of meaningful collaboration.

Growing up, I didn’t have the best school experience, particularly in high school. Nothing about the traditional setup of a classroom worked for me. I didn’t like taking notes, I didn’t like taking tests, and I didn’t like sitting quietly and obediently for an hour at a time day in and day out. In response to this, I would attempt to get reactions from both my peers and teachers. I was a “class clown” at the expense of my relationships with teachers and that was fine by me. I already didn’t like most of my teachers, especially because I didn’t understand the concepts.

However, I did have one teacher that was an exception for me. Her name was Miss Brzozowski. In her class, I was almost always engaged with the material. There were still notes and assessments from time to time, but the majority of class was based around reading and projects. We would read a book and have deep discussions about the material which would culminate into a final project. This project would have a rubric and guidelines, but the end results largely varied amongst students. It was the first time I enjoyed both making something and watching other students present their own work.

Miss Brzozowski was the one teacher that changed my perception of what a classroom could be. This is what I wanted to bring into my own classroom. But over the course of the year, I fell short of my own expectations. I built strong community and relationships with my students, but subjected them to the same style of learning that I resented so much growing up.

As the year went on, I lost more instruction time than I initially planned for. The Christmas Break was expected and I planned for student motivation to dwindle. However, what I didn’t expect was how much time would be lost between returning from break and the rest of the year. Between breaks, assessments, and impending graduation, I found myself falling behind. I thought to make up time I had to fall back on the traditional way a classroom is taught. I would lecture and the students would follow along, take notes, and answer questions.

Throughout our course, the articles that have resonated with me the most are those that challenge this norm. I have been inspired in both Media Literacy and Social Issues in Education, particularly through the work of Lisa Delpit, Michael Wesch, and Sherry Turkle.

Delpit’s work is built around challenging the status quo, something I’ve always been motivated to do. In order to do that, the “culture of power” needs to be broken down. This begins in the classroom. Delpit discusses the power dynamics that inherently exist in the classroom and how they are not beneficial for students. The teacher controls the grades, the content, the format, the seating arrangements, among other things. As a whole, the teachers control too many aspects of the room and the environment leaves the students with little power or autonomy. Instead, teachers should empower their students rather than disempowering them. In order to do that, teachers need to offer their own expert knowledge while offering students the opportunities to be experts themselves.

In the “Crisis of Significance,” Wesch explains that students no longer feel inspired to learn. Instead, they are so focused on the end result, a grade. They memorize only what they need to pass the assessments and navigate the class without engaging the content. This notion really stood out to me and left me inspired to make a change in my instruction. Students are constantly worried or asking about their grades in my class. Wesch argues that grades shouldn’t be so prioritized. Instead, creating an environment where students can think critically and collaborate is better for learning.

In order to do that, teachers should reinvent how they deliver instruction. Wesch even discusses the layout of the classroom and how it denies students the ability to think critically and collaborate with one another. Teachers should be acting as facilitators and allow students to work together on projects. Often times during the school year I would fall back on lecture and the passing of skills. This article left me wondering how removing myself from the equation could actually enhance learning.

Finally, though I don’t outright agree with everything she discusses, Sherry Turkle’s thoughts on technology left an impression after reading “The Flight from Conversation.” Turkle claims that we are so reliant on technology that we begin to lose ourselves. We have conversations with one another through social media, messaging, chats, phone calls, etc. These dialogues are at such a high volume and velocity that they lack meaning. We don’t engage in deep discussion, instead opting to have hollow interactions with one another. I don’t see technology as this inherent evil, but I agree with Turkle’s points, particularly the notion that technology offers empty collaboration. In my class, I used technology like Google Docs for students to work on one document at the same time. They would be collaborating but it only scratched the surface of meaning.

With Delpit, Wesch, and Turkle in mind, I knew I needed to reinvent my room and the roles in the class. I wanted to challenge the culture of power and empower my students while giving them the chance to partake in deep collaborative work. I decided that in order to do that, I needed to step back as the teacher and become a facilitator, only offering my expertise as needed.

For my assignment, I propose giving my students the chance to become the educator. Throughout the year, students will teach me something. There are no concrete guidelines about how or what they teach. I hope to avoid the mundane “tell me about your country” assignments as a teachable moment for the students. I certainly want to know about their cultures, countries, and lives, but I hope to show them that these are not the only things that define them. I want my students to feel empowered and inspired both in and out of my classroom.

Turkle pushed for a step away from technology and I agree with this sentiment. I believe we can have collaboration and critical thinking without using a technology. Instead, students will engage with one another rather than a device. They’ll use their first language along with English to lead the class. I will act as both a student and facilitator. There are going to be setbacks and trials along the way, but I do feel truly inspired to make a difference and I think this assignment is the first step in the right direction.