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Areas of strength 'My super powers'
I've seen all the pieces of all the puzzle. Now it's time to put them together and make sense of it. Go back to Colombia and be able to share and apply all this knowledge/skills I've acquired. A strength of mine would be passion, lifelong learning, curiosity, engagement, motivation. I think we come to this world with a clear purpose and to serve others/our community. Teaching is an act of service. It is an act of huge responsibility: we are being examples/inspiration, we are inspiring young minds, we are supporting our childrens' growth, helping them discover their unique strengths and talents. We want our kids to thrive and become independent learners. We aren't teaching for compliance. We want kids to enjoy learning, to work hard, to challenge themselves. We want to set high expectations because we believe they can. As teachers, we teach the mind but also the heart. We want kind humans that show empathy, respect, love, work together, have a collectivism mindset. As teachers we don't see labels (this is the smart one, this is the troublemaker), who are you? what are your strengths? what are your needs? To improve our teaching we must be willing to: stay learning, and be able to receive high quality feedback and critique.
Strengths.MOVAreas of growth
As a teacher I want to be confident in what I'm teaching. It's my responsibility to know what and why I'm teaching any content/skill. I want to teach content and skill that is meaningful to the life of my students. I don't want to teach for a test, for a grade or try to cover up a curriculum. I want to teach in deep and profound ways, not superficial. I want to collaborate with teachers and feel that 'we are making progress together'. That our conversations our meaningful. I want classes that are rigorous, relevant. I would love to bring the joy back to learning. Joy with a lot of learning.
I want to grow when planning the lesson for my classes and unit. Not improvising but trying to complete the 'backwards planer'. How to get rid of 'busy work' and focus on work that is meaningful. See the difference when kids are bored and disengaged and when kids are being 'challenge'. Sometimes they say 'I'm bored!' but what they are really trying to say is 'This is hard and I have no idea how to solve it'. I don't want to teach in a culture where there's micromanagement, individualism, compliance.
I feel pretty confident with my teaching. I would love to grow as a PBL teacher, collaborate with other teachers, and take PBL to the next level. I want to become a leader who has transformed a 'traditional' school into a school where student is at the centered, where there's inquiry, where students are engaged in meaningful work, where teachers are passionate and willing to improve their practices. Grow as a teacher who can design projects that students thrive and be successful and could last in their memory forever. I would love to go beyond the 4 walls of a classroom and try out workshops with teachers where we work together and go into in-depth conversations so we can offer the best practices to our kids. We don't want kids to be staying behind in their academic levels: I want every kid to have the accommodation and support that is needed for them to be able to improve and make progress (in their reading and writing skills, math, SEL, etc).
grow.MOVAnti-racist Educator
I love and appreciate of having the opportunity to write and reflect upon: my racism biography (my first encounter and journey with racism) and the 'I am poem'. Now I'm aware and conscious of all my identities and how they intersect, how te impact my every day life, thoughts and decisions.
Also, having a diversity of kids in a classroom as a teacher we want to meet the needs of all and every single learner we have. All have different background life and experiences. Diversity not only in race but also, gender, ELD, Neurodiversity. So, more than anti-racism is inclusion, equity and social justice. It was beautiful to see the hard work HTH teachers have been doing towards disrupting bias, racism, stereotypes, etc in the classroom and between teachers too.
It has been helpful learning about 'Teaching for Social Justice' (Culturally Responsive Teaching). I remember teaching this class about 'Critical Pedagogy Lesson' or teaching a class for 'Emergent language learners' or teaching a class for 'Neurodiverse learners (accommodations for General/specific disabilities, mine had to do with Dyslexia). Seen here a lot of support for those kids with IEP (special Ed working together with teachers).
There's no strong mindset of 'teaching the standards/ covering the curriculum' or 'teaching for the CASSPP or MAP testing). I truly believe that if the teacher has a strong and powerful project (not surface level) then, all the standards could be taught and great scores could be obtain at the standarized testing.
My position towards 'anti-racist' has been difficult because in Colombia our type of 'race' has to do with the Socio-economic status much more than the color of the skin. Where I grew up I didn't see black/white teachers teaching to a variety of ethnicities. So, the identity that has played the most/the outstanding one has been 'socio-economic' status.
What I've learned here as a teacher is provide my kids with the kind of teaching and knowledge they need to be successful (and not just survive). I think as teachers is our responsibility to help them see the 'inequity' and take action towards making changes and transformations.
+Check out: Unboxed Article 'Equity-theme research'.
antirac.MOVBig idea project for next year (and what else...)
Things I've loved and I've never seen before: SLC's, Exhibitions, Protocols, Unboxed, Kaleidoscope (PBL workshops, Deeper Learning).
How do I start providing my students with more ownership towards their learning and building this autonomy. From a teacher-centered approach and a culture of 'compliance and micromanagement' towards a culture of trust, vulnerability, collaboration, partnership, etc.
How does a Unit (using a backwards design planner) that begins with the 'end in mind' becomes meaningful and engaging with kids? How do we make sure 'buy in' into the unit that offers voice and choice. How many times are we launching a Unit? How many times are we giving kids opportunities to Exhibit their work? (bring the Kaleidoscope/ PBL essentials into collaborative discussions with teachers).
Protocols provide a clear structure as to : what's the purpose of this time together? Where are we heading to? The protocol helps us stay connected and aligned to the purpose of it all.
+Check out more in my DP 'ideas for next year'
future ideas.MOVMy question would be:
What am I doing as a teacher every day to intentionally make an impact and shape the minds in the life of each of my students? Would they remember me as a teacher? Will they treasure learning experiences they've gone through in my class? Would today's work matter to them in the future?
What's my 'WHY'? What's the purpose of me being a teacher nowadays? How are my teaching beliefs aligned to my schools' mission and vision? How am I helping my school and my school is supporting me, while reaching those goals together?
There's fear at the end of the school year where GOOD teachers go, anxiety visits you and fear too, It's hard to find GREAT teachers nowadays. How do we deal with that stress, anxiety and fear? How schools support and make good teachers great? What makes a teacher stay at your school? When and why do good teachers start to migrate and look for other horizons? When you have protocols and clear structures it doesn't matter who leaves because the person who comes will know what's expected, what do to and how to do it.
How might I
How might I engage my emerging bilingual students in math instruction so that they experience a high sense of belongingness?”
How might I support my underperforming students through the exploration of effective differentiation strategies so that they improve student writing?
How might I build just right engaging activities for students of all readiness levels to participate during readers' workshop?
How might I cultive an inclusive classroom where students are able to access, use and engage with curriculum through UDL approach?
How might I create time and space in my classroom for learners to develop risk taking skills and actively participate sharing their thoughts with the group?
How might I provide support for all learners to be able to decode and understand academic math language so they become independent learners who have access to content and skills?
How might I design learning experiences where students become aware of themselves and others when sharing the air with others as well as understand the significance of exercising their agency and stepping forward in group discussions?
+How might I engage those kids that are 'smart' and 'do not cause problem' so they feel a sense of belongingness in class?
How might I engage learners in rigorous and relevant lessons without the need of extrinsic motivation? How I provide scaffolding when there's some kind of productive struggle?
+How might I manage behavior when kids are not engaged in lessons? or when a lesson is challenging and they want to give up and stop trying?
+How might I encourage 'low status' students to raise hands and actively participate in classroom discussions so they are able to share their voices and contributions? how 'high status' are aware and step back so new voices might join the conversation?
+How might I disrupt bias in my classroom and support those marginalize kids with self-fulling prophecy, never ending cycle (absence, troublemakers, low achievers)? how do I disrupt patterns of racism, stereotypes, etc?
+How might I help students become independent learners, able to use classroom walls, visual aids and peers as helpers? instead of depending on the teacher.
+How might I design group worthy tasks where kids build positive interdependence and rely on each others strengths? and held each member accountable?
How might I design an individualized /personalized curriculum where kids come to school, set goals for themselves, own their learning, keep track of their progress, are aware of 'where they are- where they need to get to' and choose to set pathways for their own success?
How might I design projects that include content and skills that kids should be learning in deeper ways (rigorous) and meaningful (relevant or significant) to their lives? a project that could make a shift in their learning, push their thinking forward, change their mindset/believes or thoughts?
How might I prepare learners for jobs that doesn't exist yet ? how might I integrate skills that kids might need for their future jobs into today's classroom projects?
How do I measure Success, measure what matters most to students like agency, instead of grades?
How might I design projects were kids are engaged and learned deeply? Is it true: the more engage a kid is into a project, the more he/she will be able to learn and walk away with?
How might I design experiences where learners work collaboratively across/between grade levels? How do I design lessons where my students work and develop their: curiosity, collaboration, creativity, etc.?
How might I hold each student accountable when working in groups with others? how do I make sure everyone is contributing and not only one student doing the whole work?
How might I design lessons with a launch and a closure that helps learners 'buy in' into the lesson/learning?
My Biggest takeaway and desire here is: how students learn best? how teachers design more fun, engaging, and significant lessons for their students? Do we teach to the average? (activities to support those who struggle and challenge those who are ready).
Student-centered approach (we started with Gradual Release of Responsibility)
Equitable practice (equal access to content)
Teach to average kids.
Content and skills we want them to walk away with. Is it inquiry? problem solving?
Surface and deeper standards, assessment, learning.
If there are no grades, no teaching for the standards, no teaching for the test : what's left? what matters?
What matters most? how do we measure: agency, ownership?
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