What is my interest in a teaching
career?
I have been teaching various classes and workshops for over ten years. Much
of my work has been with public high school drama and music programs, including
the Mississippi Creative Arts Magnet in St. Paul, South High, St. Paul Central,
St. Louis Park High and Edina High School. I fully plan to continue on my
teaching journey by obtaining a K-12 Theatre and Dance teaching licensure.
The Orientation to Education course has opened my eyes to many difficult
public school issues, but those tough questions have only bolstered my resolve.
The topics most fascinating for me were the discussions that revolved around
diverse learners and the effect of teaching style.
What is my suitability for a teaching career?
I have graduated with a B.F.A. in Music theatre and have an M.F.A. in directing
for the theatre. With these degrees, and various other studies, feel I am
well qualified to teach in the areas of theatre and dance.
While I have learned a great deal in the Orientation to Education, I realize
that there is still so much more to understand about teaching in an urban
environment. I feel that I am a very suitable teacher for an inner-city public
school. I have an exemplary record with many public schools, and fully plan
to continue working as a teacher, coach and artist-in the-school.
As a male teacher of color, I feel I can reach out to certain children in
ways that perhaps a female or European-American could not. The culture of
the teacher becomes the culture of the classroom community. Im not suggesting
that simply because of the color of my skin, I am qualified to teach. Im
simply stressing the need for cultural variety among the staff of an urban
school.
Finally, I feel that Im suitable for teaching because I care. I care about
children, I care about my craft, and I care about our schools. The essence
of what I have learned in this course can summed up by stating, Those who
care, teach. There are so many challenges ahead, it seems that caring for
children, or loving students as learners as Herbert Kohl phrased it, is the
only true guide a teacher can count on.
The Social Role of
Schools
A good deal of thought about the school as a community has been provoked.
The events of September 11 obviously forced my attention to the school as
a place to build a family. Many Americans on that day, including my sister,
had the impulse to take their children away from school. Parents wanted to
take their kids home. For many children in the system, school is home.
More than ever, Im realizing that the classroom culture has a very deep impact
on an individual students personal growth.
As a physical education specialist, getting an understanding of this role
of the school is critical. Gym class is central to issues of self-esteem,
and is a natural place to explore the ideas of community.
Discipline strategies have come to light in relationship to this issue.
Career Challenges in
Education
Never having found public schools to be easy places to work, I think Im beginning
to understand more about frustrating personal administrative concerns. Specific
steps that must be taken to obtain a licensure are starting to become clear.
I had looked into getting a licensure prior to taking this course, and was
overwhelmed by the technical and financial requirements involved. The career
challenge for me at this point is getting started. Having already taught
various theatre and dance classes and workshops, I now have to go back to
the start, and obtain the basic information of the public school teaching
profession.
Demonstrated Competence
in Writing
This course has a great deal of writing. Most
likely, the class has a light requirement compared to most, but still, as
an artist I felt like I am writing volumes of material.
I love the idea of keeping a journal. I keep several journals. Some of those
journals are in the form of poems, plays and stories. I also keep musical
journals and tap dance journal. (I have created a new time step while waiting
for the bus home from class!) Everything about this course makes sense to
me. The main message I keep getting is different students learn differently.
The main reflection content of the class however, has been written.
At this point in my career, I am reluctant to simply start typing something
out, just to finish an assignment on time. This has been a very painful
adjustment back to school, but hopefully I have submitted enough written
materials to show my ability to communicate on paper. You really should see
that new time step though!
Historical Foundation of
Public Education
The Death of the Great American Classical
Education
In the beginning, there was the classical education. This was a pure education,
which did not intend to serve any other purpose other than to educate. School
for the sake of school.
Enter John Dewey, who decided that an education should serve some practical
purpose. Based on the pragmatic philosopher William James, Deweys ideas were
called instrumentalism.
In 1916 John Dewey wrote his Democracy and Education.
In 1917, the federal government passed the Smith-Hughes act, which
allocated public school funds for study of agriculture, trade, industrial
and home economics. This was a concrete recognition of the validity of a
vocational education as an alternative to a classical education. Eventually,
the classical education was replaced with the concept of a college prep course
of study.
In 1918 the National Education Association established the Seven Cardinal
Principles for Secondary Education. The document stresses the value of the
whole child and suggests a curriculum of seven broad areas: health, fundamental
processes (literacy and numeracy), worthy home membership, vocation, civic
education, leisure, and ethical character.
In 1919, Stanwood Cobb and other educators create the Progressive
Education Association, based on the theories of John Deweys philosophy of
pragmatism.
The notion of a classical education was pronounced dead, and the question
became:
Dewey or Dont We?
Since that time, American education has been a political battlefield with
two warring factions on the landscape.
On one side are the AUTOCRATS, who stress standardization, memorization,
recitation and strict discipline. The other side holds the
PRAGMATICANS. They espouse individuality, flexibility, hands-on activity,
problem-solving skills, and self-discipline.
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