My inspiration for becoming a teacher stems from a variety of factors. Everyone on my mother's side of my family is a public servant of some kind (Paramedic, Fire Fighter, Nurse, Police Officer, etc.) which I feel influenced my desire to become a public servant in the educational sense. Attending a Catholic private school for my K-12 has shaped my understanding of the world and has made me aware of the need for improved public education. Countless interactions with friends and strangers that have helped me form my philosophy for teaching and empowered me with the knowledge and strength to pursue my dreams of becoming a teacher. There have been more influences for my inspiration that I can count, but one in particular stands out above the rest because it was a seemingly insignificant moment that would end up becoming the foundation for my entire teaching style. I had an English teacher during high school named Mr. Wright who one day told us, "Anybody can teach, but not anyone can be a teacher. It isn't difficult to read from a textbook, assign homework, and grade papers, but that's not all that a teacher does. Teachers inspire their students to learn and not everybody can do that". Those words stuck with me over the years and continues to be my teaching motto today.
I would like to say that I went on to become a teacher right away, but as many of us know, life sometimes has other plans. Eventually however, I was fortunate enough to find myself in a position to return to school and work towards getting my teaching certificate. I worked full time while attending Whatcom Community College online where I received my associates degree and then set my sights higher. I transferred into Western Washington University where took advantage of a combined English-Education program that would provide me with a degree and a chance to attend the Woodring College of Education where I could work towards my certificate while also fulfilling requirements for my degree. It was during this time that I had my first real teaching experiences as a teaching assistant for a 300-level technical writing class. I fell in love with the idea of breaking down writing into a game of creation. choosing an audience, choosing a writing style, researching the colors and designs that provide the most impact to support your writing content. It only reinforced my desire to give back and help future students see the value in education. After an interview process with over 100 applicants for 20 positions within the Woodring College of Education, I found myself as one of those 20 to make into the teaching program. I took advantage of the opportunities to work with some of the most brilliant and compassionate educators that I have met in my entire life. We learned ways to integrate technology into our teachings, how to identify key strengths and weaknesses in student learning and engagement, we built connections with the students we taught, and strived towards preparing ourselves for the future of education. Little did we know that our first experiences as student teachers would be during the early phases of Covid-19. We would quickly learn that our training in educational technology and experiences would make us leaders despite our lack of real world experience. Each of us adapted to our own individual circumstances, juggling the EdTPA, assisting teachers around us who lacked the technology training or experience that we had, and trying to navigate the virtual environment where many of the classroom management techniques that worked in person, were no longer effective. I am happy to say that everyone in the cohort graduated from the program and set off to become teachers. Except for me, as I found myself moving across the country to join my wife as she attends medical school. I hope to get back into the classroom again soon, but in the mean time, I continuing to use the knowledge and skills I learned over the last few years to educate and better the lives of everyone around me. |
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This is the my teaching philosophy expanded. The video was part of a class I took in my teaching program at the Woodring College of Education at Western Washington University. I took a creative approach to the assignment and created this video that explores Dungeons and Dragons as a metaphor for teaching. I chose to do this because anyone who has played Dungeons and Dragons, or any role-playing game, understands that for the game to succeed it must exist at a nexus point between all the elements. Teaching is the same way. This is not to say that education is unimportant or arbitrary, but we need to start looking at education as less static. Education is sacred and important, but it is also more than books, worksheets, and lectures. Education is an experience, universally and individually, and students deserve to experience their education, not just learn it.
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Rita Pierson is an educator with over 40 years of teaching experience. During her TedxTalk, Rita speaks to the need to remind ourselves that students are individuals first. That they are not just academic data points, they are people with names, with hopes, dreams, insecurities, fears, aspirations, flaws, and it does students an injustice to just "teach at" students instead of teaching to them. Similar to the motto that I continue to use to this day, teaching is not just about getting students to meet a standard, it's about inspiring them to learn, and that kind of inspiration comes from taking the time to get to know your students, building trust, and allowing students the opportunity to show you who they are and what they are capable of.
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This photo of a broken bowl mended with gold is a Japanese art known as Kintsugi. Kintsugi (roughtly translated as gold joining) is the art of repairing broken pottery by joining the broken pieces with gold, silver, platinum, or any other material with a luster quality to it. The meaning of the art is to show the beauty and value that broken items still possess. Beyond this, the Japanese believe that people and souls are the same way. Individuals who are "broken" are still beautiful and their circumstances offer them a rare opportunity to repair themselves with their own metaphorical luster qualities. To that end, I believe that students need to be empowered with their own Kintsugi like understanding that they are not broken in any way, but simply incomplete. As they grow, they will fill these spaces with their own metaphorical luster qualities such as knowledge, compassion, wisdom, empathy, camaraderie, and many others that will reflect who they have become outside of their family, friends, and the rest of the world.
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This video is a production by World Relief of a speech given by Micah Bournes. This typography speech is an incredibly powerful piece that speaks to me on a deep level. I have experienced my fair share of injustice and I have known many who have experienced far worse than myself. Those experiences and memories have been a major influence on my understanding of justice. This, combined with Kintsugi, is why I have chosen to implement restorative justice in my classroom as I believe that every students needs to understand justice is not punishment for those doing wrong, but it is the mending and repairing of situations and circumstances with one another.
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