A Reflective Mindset

Strangers ask me,

“Why did you want to become a teacher?”

That’s a fair question

You see, the answer depends on the day.

Today, I want the future to be bright.

Friends ask me,

“Why did you want to become a teacher?”

That’s an interesting question

You see, the answer depends on the day.

Today, I want to make a difference.

Students ask me,

“Why did you want to become a teacher?”

That’s a good question.

You see, the answer depends on the day.

But mostly, I want students to fall in love with learning.

I pursued a career in education with a fierce determination to reach students and inspire them to learn no matter what their path looks like beyond high school. Learning does not need to be a formal occasion but the drive to learn is what pushes us, as humans, to better understand the world around us and to improve ourselves. It was my hope to further my education and learn new methods so that I could reach more students, especially those who tend to struggle in traditional educational settings. I feel like Michigan State University and the program they have provided has expanded my knowledge base and transformed my thinking in a way that will make me a better and more successful teacher. It has essentially given me the tools to extend my reach.

I believe that one of the most valuable results to come out of the Master of Arts in Education (MAED) program is the shift in my personal mindset when it comes to curriculum design.

CEP 818 Creativity in Teaching and Learning taught me that there is room for creativity in every lesson and that creativity is not a personality trait. It is a concept that can be taught.

TE 838 Children’s Literature in Film taught me that film is valuable and can be used as a tool. There is meaning in interpretation and that interpretation should be explored.

TE 849 Materials for Teaching Children’s and Adolescent Literature emphasized the importance of selecting a diverse curriculum, to reflect all students in the class texts.

Creativity for All

Before starting this program, my idea of creativity was limited and stereotypical. I believed that artistically inclined people were the truly creative people and the rest of us, well we tried. I had never thought about the ability to “teach” or “learn” creativity. It is traditionally thought of as a gift rather than a skill. You could say that I wasn’t being very creative in my thinking. CEP 818 Creativity in Teaching and Learning promoted this idea that creativity can be learned and that there is room for creativity in every unit and lesson. There is more than one way to teach something and you can engage students no matter how dull the content may seem. Teachers just need to find the right angle.

The coursework has inspired me to look at each lesson with new eyes and reflect on the successes and trials, while considering the thoughts and abilities of my students. The activities have challenged me to use that reflection to create lessons that are both creative and engaging. This course, in combination with CEP 817 Learning Technology Through Design, really pushed me to become a risk taker and to get comfortable with the idea of failure. I feel better about trying something new and can now remind myself that it’s okay if a lesson doesn’t go well, it’s simply a learning opportunity. I love the idea of modeling this concept for my students. It makes me human and inspires them to do the same.

Creativity is an essential part of life. Brilliant minds work to harness the power of creativity and it is valuable in every setting. Humanity would be quite different if people did not break traditional ways of thinking and take a risk by trying new things. Classrooms should reflect this type of practice to inspire students to think creatively post secondary education. This is especially true in a society where information is at the tip of your fingers. Being able to problem solve and think creatively is the skills we as a society should work to nurture and develop.

Literature Interpretations

Many English Language Arts teachers think of the film of a text as a “reward” or “treat” after students finish a novel. TE 838 Children’s Literature in Film helped to transform my thoughts and think of film as an interpretation rather than a replication. In this course, we focused on how to read a film and derive new meaning from the scenes and character and theme portrayals. It inspired me to look at how I use film in my classroom and how film can enhance the learning experience for my students. Films remind us that there are multiple ways to interpret a text. Experiences and individual mindset often play a role in how we perceive and interpret both novels and film. In order to get the most out of the viewing experience, we need to treat film interpretations as separate entities from their novel counterparts. In this way, we can learn to appreciate them and not criticize them for falling short of our personal interpretations and expectations. Instead, they should be seen as a new way of looking at the story.

In the course, we focused on The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and the film interpretations, The Wiz (1978) and The Wizard of Oz (1939). Both films are inspired by characters, events, and themes presented in the book but how the two directors tell the story on the silver screen is very different from each other and the film versions are both very different from the words Baum uses to present the story to his readers. Both film and literary texts leave room for interpretation but they also guide the reader in some ways, emphasizing themes and character traits of their choosing. It is important to remember that personal experiences and background knowledge also play a pivotal role in the personal interpretation of the story, characters, and themes.

Another unit from TE 838 that stands out focused on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) which are both film interpretations of the 1964 children’s book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. Like The Wizard of Oz, the characters and themes within the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are different because they are based on different interpretations. The elements within the text tell a new story and guide the viewer to see things in a new way. This series is one of many examples used to show how book inspired film creations can be treated as separate texts rather than exact replications of the original story.

The concepts and mindset presented in this class has transformed my thinking and allowed me to approach film in a new and interesting way. And bonus, it has expanded my thinking when it comes to non-literary (non-traditional) texts. This has helped me in terms of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. Students are encouraged to think critically through three types of lens; Readers, Writers, and Texts, Intertextuality, and Time and Space. This program emphasizes the importance of these non-literary texts and the meaning behind them.

Selecting Texts

School curriculum tends to favor the majority. Many high school book rooms are filled to the brim with authors like Mark Twain and Ernest Hemmingway. These types of classic American authors are fantastic but these types of literary texts are also overwhelmingly white and mostly written by men. We, as educators, are starting to understand that these titles do not represent students with diverse backgrounds. In TE 849 Materials for Teaching Children’s and Adolescents Literature we focused on the importance and the process of selecting diverse material for class curriculum.

Texts should be seen as windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors. This analogy was made popular by professor emerita at Ohio State University, Sims Bishop and TE 849 embraced this philosophy fully.

Sims Bishop explains:

“When children cannot find themselves reflected in the books they read, or when the images they see are distorted, negative, or laughable, they learn a powerful lesson about how they are devalued in the society of which they are a part.”

The mirrors are meant to serve as reflections, providing the reader with an opportunity to “find themselves.” This provides students with the chance to explore reading through something familiar as well as develop their personal identity. The windows provide students with a peak into other lives. This allows students to create a better understanding of the world around them while building empathy for others. Finally, the sliding glass doors allow students, as readers, to “enter into other worlds” that are not like their own. This is the fully immersive experience.

The texts selected for TE 849 provided a springboard for analysis and discussion surrounding our students and their engagement with books and other texts. Even though I’ve always understood the value of including multiple voices in the ELA curriculum, this class gave me the knowledge and information to vocalize its importance and provided me with a better understanding of what I should be including in my curriculum. I feel as though not only am I better equipped to select texts that represent multiple perspectives and to explain the value and necessity of including those viewpoints within the classroom.

George R. R. Martin, a popular American author, put it best when he explained that “a reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only once.” This frame of thinking embodies this idea of windows and sliding doors. We experience lives that are different from our own.

The Outcome

In addition to this shift in curriculum design, I also love the MAED program’s emphasis on reflection. We acknowledge that reflection is a vital part of education but seeing it put into practice was a reassuring and thought-provoking process. All ten courses provided ample opportunities for reflection and discussion. I have found these two activities to be extremely valuable in the classroom and in my personal life.

The MAED program has provided me with the skills and knowledge to better my teaching approach. I feel more equipped to reflect and design content and lessons that will help engage my students, make the content relevant, and to encourage them to learn the material. Through this program, I have a new outlook on creativity and I now think of myself as a creative person. I can also see the potential for creativity in the smallest of tasks. I believe myself to be more confident and I am more willing to take a risk and try something new. I look forward to continuing to develop as an educator and to put these new skills into practice.

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A Reflective Mindset

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