Narrative

I have lived around rivers and bridges all my life. I was born in Poplar Bluff Missouri, where my parents were rice farmers near the Black River. Early in my childhood we moved to Jefferson City, Missouri, where even to this day I am impressed by the view of the state capital as I cross the Missouri River. I went to college in St. Louis, which is bordered by the MIssissippi River. When I studied abroad for two semesters in Geneva Switzerland I was along the Rhône River. After college I moved to Chicago, where I had to cross the Chicago River to get downtown from my apartment.

And now I am in my second year of living in Pittsburgh, a city which has three rivers. I have the opportunity to learn and grow as an educator at City High, which seems not only a confluence geographically, but also, personally and professionally for me.

Pittsburgh is known as the City of Bridges. So as City High is the meeting point for the people in this building, I see myself as a bridge that connects people, ideas, and resources to foster passion driven learners and community. In this narrative I will explain how the experiences of my past have help me develop into the expert teacher I am today, and the connection I seek to foster between staff, students, and the larger community.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE

I started teaching in Chicago right out of college, through the alternative certification program Chicago Teaching Fellows. Though I had worked with youth as a Gymnastics instructor as well as a mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters, I had not considered teaching as a career until I took a Myers Briggs test my senior year in undergrad and it said my personality was suited for teaching. During my first summer as an educator I taught World History summer school in the morning, went on interviews during the afternoon, and in the evening took, crash courses in pedagogical theory. I was hired at Robeson High School, an extremely low performing school, and taught there for two years.

Teaching at Robeson was baptism by fire. Not only was I an inexperienced educator, it was the first time I was exposed to urban poverty and the effects of years of institutional racism. The learning curve I experienced those years was astronomical, but helped develop my skills into the educator I am today.

During my first two years of teaching I also earned my Masters in Teaching from National Louis. While I appreciated the weekly classes as a way to informally discuss many of the issues I was facing, overall I found the program to be disconnected to what I was dealing with in my classroom. In many ways the world I had known and was a part of was not connected to Robeson. That pocket of Chicago was severely separated from the world I had grown up in, and it was the first time I had crossed the bridge into a deeply segregated community where minorities were intentionally isolated.

What helped me be successful in my classroom was seeking out mentors and connecting to other educators who had crossed this bridge before, and who were willing to help me navigate the new community in which I found myself. While I struggled immensely at Robeson, I thrived on the connections I built with students and some staff members. Once, a colleague and I traveled the 7 hour drive with a student to visit the University of Missouri which was near my hometown. The student was accepted to MU with a scholarship and continued to used my parents as a home away from home during the years she attended MU.

My colleagues and I felt many of the new policies mandated by the district were out of touch from the reality staff and students faced at Robeson. It felt like we were told to fix a leaky faucet in a burning building. I decided to leave Robeson because I was looking for a school that wasn’t hindered by bureaucratic red tape to help underserved students achieve. I felt like if I was going to give all my energy to help my students succeed, then what I needed in return was support from others and a holistic approach. That led me to North Lawndale College Prep, a charter school on the west side of Chicago where I taught for four years.

I enjoyed working at NLCP, though it was never easy. It is where I grew thick skin and I learned to be resilient. Our school was located in the heart of “Holy City,” aptly named after the constant barrage of gun violence. It was not unusual for a teacher, counselor or administrator to go pick up one of our students who was spotted on a corner during the school day and bring them to school. We were always battling against the streets for our students. Sometimes the streets won, taking a student’s life, or ability to walk due to a gunshot wound, or incarceration.

While we focused on student achievement through rigorous programs like Senior Project, (similar to City High’s Grad Project,) our school culture also focused on peace and restorative justice and we referred to our school community as The Beloved Community. While other schools would have test-prep calendars we celebrated consecutive days of peace, days where the school was free from verbal or physical violence. Our students needed to be taught content, but they also needed to be loved deeply, and I gave more of my heart to them than I thought possible.

At NLCP I was able to continue constructing the foundations that have led me to be an expert teacher. The Spanish department was a supportive, tight-knit group of teachers, and we were encouraged to explore ways to meaningfully integrate technology into the curriculum. We held productive weekly meetings where we regularly collaborated to develop big ideas such as measuring growth and project based learning. We worked together to create coherent lesson plans across specific content levels and our two campuses, while also balancing the personal approach of each of our instructors.

Another way I furthered my ability to be a successful educator was to actively collaborate across the school. I began to take a leadership role integrating technology, as I became the Teacher Tech Liaison. In this position I was the bridge between the school staff that ran our network and hardware and the teaching staff to increase opportunities to meaningfully use technology in our classrooms. Most of my success came from working with teachers one-on-one in specific areas of interest to them. This role was the first position where I began to work outside my classroom and content, with other teachers, to help them improve their craft. One of the outcomes from this situation is that I was able to see many other classrooms and knew what my students were doing in other subjects. This allowed me to support other content areas within my own class, which gave my students a sense of consistency and connectedness. This is when I learned the power of a united front as a staff. These informal discussions with my colleagues regarding instructional vocabulary and shared expectations for student work led to higher achievement across all classes.

During my time at NLCP I also recognized the importance of connecting what I taught in my classroom to the real world. My most successful lessons with the highest amount of engagement happened when students felt that what they were doing in class was relevant to their lives. During my time at NLCP I spent a summer in Spain studying picaresque literature, and when I returned I developed an elective literature class where we read novelas about witty street children in Spain during the Golden Era (16th century). Students blogged about the connections they made across cultures and centuries to discuss how societies are structured and how “lower classes” survive.

I also developed ways to bridge my students’ experiences, in a 99% African American community, to other communities in Chicago that were predominately Latino. One of our more successful units was when we went on a mural tour of the Puerto Rican neighborhood, learned about the history of that community, and compared it to the stories told in the murals in North Lawndale. By giving students the opportunity to experience Latino culture outside the classroom, I created a bridge between history, art, and communities for my students.

Not only have rivers been a part of the landscape of where I live, but they’ve been part of a tragedy I’ve experienced as well. North Lawndale College Prep had an African American male leadership club which partnered with Morehouse College to mentor and support our African American male students to become positive leaders and learners in our Beloved Community. In the fall of 2008 during an overnight leadership retreat three of our students drowned in the Algonquin River. A group of boys snuck out in the middle of the night, got on paddle boats that had been winterized, and when the boats began to sink due to the holes, the current kept our boys. I had taught two of them. The NLCP family was devastated from this loss, and as a young teacher who gave so much of my energy and heart to building relationships with my students, this event broke something in me. The loss of three young males with so much potential left me with feelings of helplessness and anxiety.

This incident was the catalyst to seek professional help in processing the trauma that I dealt with daily in working with my students. They were eternally capable and intelligent, but many of them were burdened by an incredible amount of pain and dysfunction that I struggled to help them process. In order for me to be the best teacher I could be for them, I had to learn how to cope with their needs, my abilities, and the rest of the world. Here through the work I did with a counselor, my coworkers, and students we were able to build a bridge out of darkness and find hope.

For four years I nurtured connections across staff members, classes, technology and communities. But eventually I became frustrated by the lack of stability and generally felt that Chicago was a toxic environment to live/learn/teach in. (This was during the time leading up to the Chicago Teachers Union strike). I had five principals in six years of teaching. There was no promotion process. When I thought about my future in Chicago, I couldn’t see myself living a life I wanted to live in the future. I saw myself being put in a situation where I would be lucky to survive. Facing these realities, I started to look to other cities and schools to move to and work. I was not tied to Chicago by family, so I thought that I owed it to myself to see what else was out there.

When I was looking at City High as an applicant, I was blown away. After teaching in Chicago I was pretty skeptical that there could be schools that provided a supportive, rigorous environment that was intentionally teacher-driven. The way that teachers on each grade level are responsible for addressing student’s needs as they see fit as a team, and the collaborative atmosphere of the teachers office was very exciting to me.

There were other things that drew me to City High. The diverse student body was rare for me but as an educator that teaches cultural diversity it was invigorating to see an integrated classroom. The ubiquitous technology allows us to amplify and redefine our instruction in ways traditionally not possible. I also appreciated the transparent and competency based promotion process, which was not in place at my previous school. Even though I choose to cross the bridge to Pittsburgh, there are many days I miss and am grateful for the road I took through Chicago.

THE BRIDGES BEING BUILT AT CITY HIGH

As a new person to Pittsburgh, I would often get lost trying to navigate this city. Between people giving me directions referring to places that don’t exist anymore, Google Maps telling me to go up stairs in my car, and criss crossing the Liberty Bridge and Tunnel three times before figuring out which was the correct lane I had to be in to get to where I wanted to go, it took some time before I found my way. At times the transition personally and professionally was not smooth, but I never questioned my ability to be successful.

While Pittsburgh is the city of bridges, its people have a reputation of being adverse to crossing bridges. The strategic location of City High being downtown, a neighborhood few of the families of our students claim as their own territory, is an incredibly powerful tool for building our culture. The diversity of City High is a key feature I value. I taught over 1,000 students before coming to City High, and none of them were caucasian. I’ve taught about a language and culture that I am not a part of, to students who were also not a part of it. In some ways I might have been teaching more about effective communication in the dominant US culture than I did about Spanish.

I think of all our students, and the bridges they have to take to come to and from school. Everyday they make a conscious choice to break that stereotype of a “yinzer” who doesn’t cross a bridge, or tunnel. It’s important for me in my class to recognize that students have made that decision to be on neutral ground, and to continue to cultivate and honor that shared space in my classroom that is safe and conducive for learning. I discuss ways I honor students in the Child Development portion of my portfolio. I also discuss ways I manage my classroom to maximize student achievement in the Classroom Management, and Differentiated Instruction portions of my portfolio.

Bridging the Spanish Program

During my interview, Dr. Wertheimer and Mr. Zinga talked about the transition of the Spanish program. It was clear that the transition from a selective program to an all-inclusive, sampling of conversation and culture still needed to be figured out. So once I was hired, my challenge became a new and exciting one. If I faced no lack of resources, and no set curriculum, what should students learn in a Spanish class?

One of the bridges I have built during my time at City High is a cohesive, connected Spanish 9 and Spanish 10 curriculum. The arch of our curriculum is the essential question What do I need to know to be a knowledgeable traveler?. This EQ transcends the Spanish classroom, and could be universally applied to any new learning or traveling, from learning about and traveling to different communities in Pittsburgh to anywhere in the world. I will discuss this more in the Curriculum Implementation portion of my portfolio.

Not only do we have one essential question throughout the Spanish 9 and Spanish 10 trimesters, we weave the content together by leveraging technology. We do this through a blog students keep through Spanish 9 and Spanish 10. By maintaining the blog through the two years it helps remind students of the work they have already done, as well as creates a portfolio with evidence of growth over the two-year two-trimester program. I discuss this in more detail in the Instructional Methodology portion of my portfolio.

The foundation of the Spanish 9 and Spanish 10 classes are built on a diverse set of engaging lessons that are taught while effectively managing the classroom and maximizing student achievement. I discuss specific details of how we plan clear, connected lessons in the Lesson Plan and Unit Plan portions of my portfolio.

I don’t pretend to be an expert in Spanish, there is so much to know. What I am an expert in is providing my students with opportunities to successfully engage in authentic experiences with Spanish language and culture. I reach out to the Latino community in Pittsburgh and seek to be the bridge that connects Latinos in Pittsburgh to our students. I create lessons that prepare students to have meaningful, positive interactions with native Spanish speakers. The more connections my students can create between our class and the world around them the more buy-in they have and the more successful they are in effectively communicating in Spanish.

By creating a curriculum that seamlessly joins two trimesters of Spanish over 9th and 10th grade while also connecting students to the Latino community of Pittsburgh we continue to build bridges that reach beyond downtown Pittsburgh to span the world.

Bridging Beyond The Spanish Program

The first time I thought of myself as a bridge was during the Costa Rica trip with students from the class of 2012 and 2013. We were in the Rain Forest, crossing a bridge made from welded together aluminum ladders. The community of about 15 families had created this bridge themselves, with the help from some non-profit engineers trying to create a sustainable eco-tourist site. Two hundred feet below was the bottom of a waterfall, and I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t have anxiety about students around these bridges and rivers.

At first I thought I was the bridge, that through me students were able to communicate and cross cultural divides. However I felt like that was giving me more credit than I deserved. We were all, students and the community, constructing the road together, literally and figuratively. Through the multiple connections we made the bridges we built together became strong and sustaining.

Similarly, I know that I am not a lone bridge at City High. I constantly work within my co-teaching experience, my grade level team, and beyond to create new connections and sustain existing ones. I’m constantly in awe of the opportunities that are provided here at City High for staff and students to develop, and the knowledge I gain from working with my dedicated team members. I discuss specific examples in the Collaboration portion of my portfolio.

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The Bridge Beyond City High

I thrive on connections. Not only at City High but in the larger community. I crave a network of diverse, exciting people doing innovative things that empower and incite positive change. I need bridges, and I need many of them. I am constantly trying to find ways to create new connections and increase the strength of my current relationships.

I have found the connections and supports I’ve received at City High to be incredibly helpful and rewarding. However, from my experience in Chicago at Robeson and North Lawndale College Prep, I still have a deep seated desire to connect to educators beyond City High to improve education outcomes for all. There are two areas I try to stay active and up-to-date with: education policy and education technology.

One way I have learned about education policy trends in the Pittsburgh region is through Leaders in Learning, a CORO program in which I’m currently a participant. Through this program I have learned about the various aspects that affect student achievement in the Pittsburgh region. I’m working with other participants in this program to find a leverage point and create something that may spark positive change in the system. Leaders in Learning has been a valuable experience that has taught me about the history and current situation of the Pittsburgh Public School system.

Through my interest and passion of educational technology I found a group of educators that help me put on the first edcampPGH, a one day unconference which took place at City High. What originally started as an excuse to hang out with a new Pittsburgh friend became an actual event with over 100 people showing up to discuss education. Again, it’s a tribute to the forward thinking leadership at City High for taking the risk to host the first edcampPGH, and the seeds that were planted there will continue to bloom for years to come.

Leaders in Learning and edcampPGH are examples of ways I have personally sought out further connections that help strengthen and support my craft. Through these activities I believe I have developed critical skills and resources that help make me an expert teacher. As City High looks as an organization to bridge out into the community and connect and share ideas and resources, I look forward to facilitating and engaging in the exchange. As I continue to work diligently to offer the best global education to my students everyday, I rely on the bridges I’ve crossed through my previous experience and the ones I continue to build at City High to be successful.