Teaching Superpower!
This year has given me the opportunity to apply my experiences in classrooms abroad in so many ways. Something I feel proud of is my commitment to developing a strong rapport with my students. Creating a sense of community, understanding, and authenticity is so important to me, and I feel very lucky to have been with a team of 9th grade students for both semesters of this academic year. I feel so blessed by the bonds I've made with students and my teaching team this year!
Area for growth!
Something I hope to develop more as I settle into my teaching career is finding the balance between being a teacher that listens, cares deeply, and has fun with students and being a teacher that creates opportunities for students to grow as learners. I have found that some situations arose this year that pushed the boundaries I set with students. At times, I felt like students didn't take me seriously. Something I think will help with this in the future is establishing co-created norms and expectations, so that while we have fun in class, we can hold each other accountable for what needs to happen to push our thinking and experiences in an academic setting.
What does it mean to be an antiracist educator?
This question was something that was new to me as I stepped into my student teaching role this year with SDTR. Through readings, forum posts, discussions, and activities, I have really grappled with my positionality as a white male in the United States, and have made strides in unlearning biases and identifying blind spots in my personal life and teaching methodology. Our country has so many systematic elements of white supremacy, and I have realized that it's up to me and the people around me to challenge this. Something that I strive to do in my educational career is build projects and units that center the experiences of my students. A simple, yet effective way to do this is to ensure that the content of my classes isn't whitewashed and Eurocentric. To me, being an antiracist educator is challenging the status quo and designing experiences that students relate to while celebrating their identity and the diversity that exists in our country.
Moving into the next year of SDTR,
as I complete my MEd in Teaching and Learning, I hope to analyze and grapple with the following question for my capstone project:
How might I engage students in a course that prepares them for the AP exam and college-level rigor while also including project-based learning experiences that allow them to dig deep into topics surrounding the US government and politics?
and/or
How might I develop a curriculum that honors the historical and contemporary experiences of people of color?