Teaching allowed me to feel like my life was meaningful. I began my career with a position in Guatemala, where I taught pre-school and kindergarten in English in a 50/50 English-immersion program. Teaching was much more difficult than I imagined - during my first two weeks, I considered quitting every day! I got through it, however, and learned a lot. more >>
Why and how I become a teacher
I became a teacher because teaching allowed me to feel like my life was meaningful. It's difficult for me to imagine pushing papers from one end of a desk to the other in an office. Sometimes, I do wonder what I got myself into, as teaching is such a high-pressure, high-stress profession with little monetary reward. Certainly the current push at the state level to de-skill the profession isn't helping teachers feel needed. I do love my job though. No matter how I feel, whenever I walk into my classroom and see those twenty smiling, expectant faces, I always feel a rush of energy.
My first teaching position was in Guatemala, where I taught pre-school and kindergarten in English. I was shocked to find that teaching was much more difficult than I expected. I naively thought that I could just walk into a room and my pre-school and kindergarten students would be respectful and listen. I have never been more wrong. When a student grabbed my roll book out of my hand, I quickly learned about setting boundaries and rules. I also learned that students at that age needed to be engaged at almost all times. During the first two weeks of my teaching experience in Guatemala, I considered quitting nearly every day, but I got through it and I learned a lot.
My professional history
Teaching was basically my first career. As I mentioned above, my first teaching experience was at a 50/50 English immersion program in Guatemala for pre-school and kindergarten kids. Prior to my work at Fiesta Gardens International School, I taught for 7 years in the U.S. - 3 years in kindergarten and 4 years in third grade. I then left the classroom to work as a literacy coach for my previous program. I've now returned to the classroom teaching kindergarten at a new school.
In my year-long role as a literacy coach, I worked at Hatch Elementary School, which is part of the Cabrillo Unified School District in Half Moon Bay, CA. My position was jointly funded by the Noyce Foundation's ECRW program and by my school district. My position was geared both to help newer teachers to implement Writing Workshop and to help more experienced teachers advance their teaching.
To that end, I attended Writing Workshop seminars provided by the Noyce program to further my knowledge about writing. I worked to implement and train teachers for a school-wide reading assessment program. I helped to buy Spanish books for use as mentor texts, for guided reading, and upper-grade literacy circles. I also helped to run staff development for our school and for the district with coaches from other schools.
I am deeply concerned that California and American schools are doing a poor job of educating students from non-mainstream backgrounds. It is my sincere hope that schools begin to implement research-based reforms that will address this glaring inequality. I believe that teachers must stand up for literacy practices that research has shown work for students from non-mainstream backgrounds - and not yield to state-mandated curricula that have been shown to continue to perpetuate inequality.
Why and how I began to focus on writing
I began to focus on writing because my previous school belonged to one of the Noyce Initiative's core districts. I would say that my focus on writing has now moved into a focus on literacy in general - I can't really focus on writing without simultaneously focusing on reading and speaking. I think that Writing Workshop's effectiveness is greatly increased when Reading Workshop is also implemented. Both literacy structures support each other. When students have the freedom to pick their own reading materials, their knowledge of genres is greatly increased. Also, I have found that students simply read more within the Reading Workshop than they do with other reading methods. Because Reading Workshop helps students grow more familiar with the written word, their writing is enhanced.
I strongly support the theory that learners must believe that what they are learning has some importance in their lives. I always try to relate reading and writing to my students' lives so that our work feels more authentic.
My history as a writer - strengths and struggles
I don't really write much except papers for classes. I do throw around some ideas for children's books. At this point, I've written an unpublished book manuscript about the importance of taking time to do nothing. Too many times in life we forget to stop occasionally, to look around, and to enjoy our surroundings rather than jumping on to the next thing. I tried to express that in my children's book.
Writing is a solitary act. I enjoy the process of thinking about how best to say something in order to convey my point to the reader. That is not to say that it's easy!
A few favorite writers
My favorite thing to read is The New Yorker magazine. I also enjoy reading some professional literature assigned in my classes. At this moment, my favorite professional book is called Schools that Work: Where All Children Read and Write by Patricia Cunningham and Richard Allington. This is a very logical and well-laid out book that summarizes much of the research about how best to create a school where all students can read and write. I also enjoy Brian Cambourne's work on the importance of engagement.
My favorite author to read with my students is Anthony Browne - his books can be so strange and interesting. I also enjoy reading (for older students) books by William Steig. I think its extremely important to read literature in the classroom that reflects the cultural backgrounds of my students, so I often read books by Latino authors like Juan Felipe Herrera. Now that I'm teaching kindergarten, I'm reading everything I can to my students. Once I see what they like best, I can start to create compile a collection of good books.
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