Classroom Model and Mission Statement

Mission Statement

As an educator pursuing antiracism ideals, I will continue to challenge myself to change oppressive pathways and reactions in my professional and personal life.

-By consuming literature, multimedia, and news sources reflective of Own Voices and promoting diverse stories.

-By having Own Voice literature represented in class readings, activities, and assignments which encourage the development of criticality

-By challenging students to interrogate historical writing, paying attention to POV, and voices left out.

-By acknowledging and acting to change the oppressive harm done in school systems (academia and citations, testing, school awards, and discipline).

-By questioning systems and routines within my school, and being a voice for equitable change.

-By being in a perpetual state of curiosity for learning and willingness to change my actions and the systems with which I engage.

While I am currently teaching a fully remote model, my usual class utilizes a Flipped Philosophy. After this year of teaching, this idea of a Flipped Content Model may be more accepted within our school.

Flipped Model

The origins for the Flipped Classroom model began at Harvard more than twenty years ago. Recently, the concept of the Flipped Classroom has caught fire in the field of education. Approaches to flipping a classroom tend to be individual to the teacher and needs of the students. However, there are several points which the leaders in the flipped classroom movement can agree. The following quote from the New York Times sums up the Flip as I see it. "It's an "inverted" teaching structure in which instructional content--skill development and practice, projects and the like-- is done in class, under teacher guidance and in collaboration with peers. A flipped class swaps explanation and lecture, which are usually given in the classroom", with reading practice activities and discussion.New York Times article

Personally speaking, the classroom is where the learning happens and is practiced. That means we will write all the papers, do the class discussion, and deeply think about the content in class. If I want to teach writing and researching, then I need to be there for discussion as the writing is occurring. At home, the students are to read their independent and class novels and/or watch short course lectures. I believe that student learn better when they are able to process large pieces of information (course lectures) before they are required to take notes or synthesize. For this reason, they will watch lectures at home and deeper the content by discussion of lectures in class.

The new wave of flipped classroom education involves authentic use of technology to amplify learning. Using researched based skills to deepen ELA skills.

If you are interested in further research or classroom applications, please feel free to contact me for additional resources.