Well love surrounds me and I fill it with life

Teaching Portfolio Table of Contents A. Thematic Unit: Building Bridges through Relationships Integrated Literature Web 1 Goals for Breaker’s Bridge 2 Into 1. knowledge of bridges, art project 3 2. share folk tales 4 Through 1. Reading Comprehension 5 2. Metaphors 6 3. Themes: nature, balance and cycles of life 7 4. Format for small group discussions 8 5. Character Web 9 Beyond 1. Who would you build a bridge to? 10 2. Who would you like to mend a bridge to because you used to be better friends 10 3. Rubrics 11-12 Geography of Bridges 13 Building a Toothpick Bridge 14 Pictures of Bridges Lesson 15-19 Math: 1. English/Metric 20 2. Weight 21,22 3. Volume 23,24 4. Distance 25,26 B. Education Literature: Review and Analysis 1. My Trouble is my English 27,28 2. “Folk processes and the media creatures: Reflections on popular culture for literacy educators” 29 3. Social Studies Framework 30-32 C. Personal Growth, Classroom Presence, Parent Partnership Philosophies of Education and Teaching 33,34 Journal Excerpts 35 Goals for first year 36 Classroom Environment/Guidelines 37,38 Parent Partnership Plan 39 D. Two Samples of Bridges Books Included: by Desi Mena and Megan Quinn, fifth graders Vista del Valle, 1998 Philosophy of Education Education is opportunity: a chance to learn about self and the world, and hopefully to grow and develop into a whole maximization of talents and gifts. With a realization of weaknesses and goals, one can always improve and find the tools or people necessary to thrive and compete. People have the potential to work toward any dream. Reaching the dream is not the ultimate, it is the journey that feeds the heart, mind and soul full of experience, joy, and pain. A complete education is mental, physical, and spiritual. They all contribute to and build upon each other as a person goes through life. If a person lacks in physical nourishment they will not be able to think, if a person cannot form strong beliefs and opinions they will not be able to act, and if a person is not strong-willed, and courageous they will not be able to survive long enough to learn how to form opinions and act on them. Some educations have creeds, codes, rules, dogma, and guidelines for what is to be learned. And in that way they are limiting for they should all be possible goals instead of strict parameters for thinking. My feeling is that when I come to the moment that I no longer have anything to learn or develop then I will pass on from this life, or I will become a very sad person. Thankfully many directions in my life are still undefined even up to now. That will be the thrust of my continuing education as a person, as life unfolds for me and opens my mind to new questions and paradigms, and guidelines to explore. I agree that knowledge is not accumulation but rather better understanding within new frameworks, environments and circumstances. Cultures are constantly meshing, as the world becomes smaller and smaller. Physical distance is covered so quickly now, that we cannot help but be mixed together and force each other to include viewpoints and opinions from across the globe. We must honor each culture and give it the respect it has earned by surviving and developing up until today. Instead of a melting pot, we must be a growing book always willing to write new chapters and edit forgotten or hidden vignettes into the story of understanding, cooperation, and conflict. Linguistically, everyone should learn as many languages as they can. Even learning pieces and phrases from other languages can ease tension, increase understanding, and open doors for people. But economic success is often linked very closely with aptitude and skill in the language that dominates a country where a person chooses to reside. At the moment English-speaking countries dominate many global economies, this is not necessarily a permanent fixture but it is today’s reality. We must understand that there is always more to learn, and we have the capacity to incorporate the knowledge, values, and skills to live and maximize our gifts. “Respect, tolerance, and amiability toward one another is the very minimum expected, and is essential” within Lou Casamassa’s Red Dragon dojos and true of any educational setting. I have had great and lousy teachers. Sometimes I would listen cause I loved their accent, their mannerisms, or just their passion for a subject. My best teachers were accessible when I had questions, fostered desire, valued student input, were willing to change their own opinions, and helped me take the next step. It always felt like they took me to the next level, or introduced me to someone or something that could. If I can create a setting similar to my favorite teachers than I will be able to share my knowledge, values, and examples as a critical thinker that values creativity and dialogue. Parent Partnership Plan Parent participation can bolster better performance from the students, because they will feel supported at home. I want parents to know that I recognize them as the primary teachers for each child, and that I would love to have them involved in my room. The more positive adult role models in the class the better. I also know there will always be work that could be delegated to helpful hands. 1. Volunteering: asking for volunteers, especially when specialized knowledge could benefit the class 2. Take home discussion questions, every week or couple of weeks I want students to have mandatory discussions with their parents about topics discussed in class. I may even have students record the questions in the guise of oral interviews. 3. Donations of resources: some parents would rather or are only able give physical things when time does not allow them to be there in person 4. Interviews, to make periodic calls to update parents of student progress whether it is good or bad news, try to call everyone at least once during the year 5. Signatures on homework, not all homework but occasionally so parents can know what their students are doing at school. It is my feeling that many students keep schoolwork a secret at home. My little brother reveals very little of his school life on his own, and I assume that is common of many students. If not on completed homework than on homework packets sent early in the week so parents at least know what their children are supposed to complete during the week, and will know if they are using their time wisely depending on the amount of work. 6. Student-led conferences: I believe that all 3 parties should understand the progress and needs of the student 7. Meeting with parents early in the year to hear their opinions on each child’s strengths and weaknesses. This well help me to gauge their abilities and their needs for the upcoming year. Goals for first year: 1. Establish teamwork among students 2. Establish standards of behavior and disciplines that are clear to the students, and enforceable for me 3. Incorporate children’s educational desires into content 4. Develop new skills, and better study habits for my students 5. Be available to students as much as possible 6. Learn more about my subject matter: continually add curriculum activities to my knowledge and repertoire 7. Learn how to evaluate students for progress and achievement 8. Incorporate the needs and values of administration with my own, find a school that agrees with my goals and methods for education 9. Develop correspondence with other teachers from Claremont Graduate University and the school I work at, so I can have a peer network of support and advice 10.Get involved as a mentor or athletic coach 11.Be more organized and prepared before every week with thorough lesson plans 12.Be explicit with student goals for the day and the week 13.Seek the skills, ask the questions, pursue the tools and resources I need to be a good teacher Review of Literature Danling Fu’s “My Trouble is my English” explores many issues of American literacy; both successes and failures of American Education especially for students who do not speak English as their primary language. Although Fu concentrates her studies on four Laotian students, I think her analysis of teaching methods applies to all students that pass through American schools. Fu focuses on one Laotian immigrant family in her book. The Savang family sends four children to New Hampshire schools in America. Tran, Cham, Paw, and Sy all enter into the American education system with different educational goals and different amounts of prior Laotian schooling. I thought Cham made the most progress by creating his own book of experiences plus his intent to go on to college. Sy expresses his stories but I do not feel he really enjoyed the process of reading and writing in English as much as Cham showed through creation of an independent project. The key points with Tran’s story were: being passive, frustration, need to connect reading and writing with own life’s interests, decontextualized reading, and no freedom for creativity. Tran could write songs in his own language but was considered a weak English speaker. He even started writing poems in English that he wanted to convert into songs. I believe it takes a lot of creativity and prowess to compose songs in any language. I agree with his need to read engaging material that is pertinent to his the student’s interests. Free writing is also critical to the success of literacy programs. Writing opinions in journals, responses to stories, poems, and songs are all necessary for developing a student’s written voice. Answering questions and testing alone will not inspire a student to become a proficient writer. Students need time in class to write their feelings and opinions so they can eventually have their ideas expressed and read by their peers and teachers. Unlike Paw and Cham, Sy had an 11^th grade teacher that valued free writing and over 90 percent of the work in his english class was “reading journals, creative writing, and daily journals.” The Laotian students struggled with grammar drills. These drills are dull and very monotonous. All of these puzzles and test-taking skills do not test knowledge or ability to read and write. Many students learned English by reading and talking, because memorization and drilling does not engage them enough to improve their skill level. Students do not feel this information is important, and will never really learn it through those methods. “Sy saw no need to answer questions that were self evident or had answers that were implied. In his mind, there was no need to answer questions just for the sake of answering questions.” The Laotian students had different learning strategies and methods of processing information than their American counterparts had been trained. The issue that Fu only touches on lightly and distresses me a great deal is tracking or grouping. Paw “was unable to identify with her textbook’s western assumptions and concepts. The abstractions made no sense to her.” Given three choices by her teacher, Paw opted for a lower track of English classes, because she wanted to “do the same as others in the class.” She did not have the confidence to accept extra help, and be different from her peers even though the work in the lower class resulted in less challenge, less free writing, and general lack of intrigue for her. Because I grew up in private schools, I was never seperated from my peers even though I was always in the more advanced group of the class. We worked together and learned from each other. All students have different strengths; whether it is math, language, athletics, or social interaction as some examples. I firmly believe that separating kids especially into advanced or low-skill groups over a long haul creates either bloated egos or low spirits for many of these kids. I think these groupings also effect teacher’s attitudes. Teachers could easily walk in to the low-skill group with the thought that they’ve got the slow kids today. These little attitude shifts will lead to bad teachers and more struggles for these students that need the best teachers. Basically I think Fu’s book reveals many methods that hurt and help students that are learning English. The biggest are that students need reading materials that are relevant to them, and students need time to write their feelings and opinions in class. I am also very worried about schools that track students into low-skill classes especially. In Paw’s case it was an option to be tracked into a lower class, but her cultural beliefs led her to that path and it is probably common for many immigrant students to make that choice. It seems highly unlikely that students will be able to prove themselves and get into college-bound classes once teachers view them as having low skills or abilities. Journal Review “Folk processes and media creatures: Anne Dyson’s Reflections on popular culture for literacy educators,” The Reading Teacher: February 1998 peaked my interest and held it by reflecting on the X-men and the interpretations of young children. Students all have their favorite folk heroes; comic book characters included in that passing of culturally created stories. Adults and children “claim stories as their own, stories that serve as commentaries on a shared present and dreams for the future.” We all grew up with different childhood fantasies and folk heroes. I had the X-men, my younger brother partakes of giant dramatic wrestlers on cable televisions complete with soap opera-like stories and plot twists to follow, and my sisters had the “Sweet Valley High” books. Folk tales require audience participation. The storytellers weave fantastic tales, and the audience also transforms and translates the tale helping it to grow, flourish and adapt to contemporary values. Dyson includes some history of folk writers adapting tales to suit their social class, or to educate children with the norms or values of the writers. The writers always assume that their values speak for the rest of the community. Today many folk tales are spun to us by Walt Disney, Steven Spielberg, and other film and television writers and directors. Dyson observed a teacher and her students in the classroom and used them as part of this article on media culture. The teacher often let children select their favorite cultural media, and the X-men are one of their favorite choices to use for dramatic performances. Eventually she talks about the use of gender roles among student created stories based on the X-men by boy and girl students. The girls wondered when they would get to speak or fight during the boy’s creations. The teacher asked the girls and boys how the female roles could be expanded or used to demonstrate strength like the male characters did; by fighting. One female student wrote a play remarking how the female characters, Storm and Rogue, were tired of fighting bad guys and using their powers. The students made adaptations and story choices for the X-men stories and for others like the three pigs. The students get into discussions that impact on “authorial and community responsibility” in telling and performing stories. Later the teacher added discussions of power to her class that included non-physical expressions of strength. Heroes like Ghandi, and some personas selected by the students were compared to others to show that they were also strong without being physically imposing. Instead of fearing cultural media, teachers must embrace and adapt their teaching around the folk heroes that children choose. It requires “teachers who work consciously and conscientiously to help children raise their questions about the assumptions authors make about their ideological worlds.” Literacy skills are still part of the program, but now teachers must utilize the characters students are fond of. Listening to their discussions can provide the forum for teaching values and fostering new questions in the classroom. Classroom Environment/Guidelines Physically I want to see a bright, lively, changing, developing room full of books, toys, posters, drawings, projects, animals, comfortable places to relax, and easily accessible desks for my students. I want it to sound like a pleasant conversation with occasionally heated debates, and playful laughter interrupted only by choral singing or carefully chosen recordings. It should feel like a safe, day in the park; as if a cool breeze was blowing through on a warm day, flowing like a ballad with short respites of dance music. Of course the class and I will have to agree and create rules and standards for conduct that we can all live with. The first few days or weeks would be used to reinforce behavior that fosters learning and teaching. I want students to feel that they should help one another to learn and grow, be able to work alone, and also be comfortable with competing against one another. Finally we would have to agree on consequences for the unavoidable rule breaking incidents and rewards for consistently productive behavior. Some thoughts I have are detention, recess clocks, timeouts, giving free time to good behavior, having occasional class parties that only invite students that are helpful and aiding me with creating an environment conducive to students. It is very important to distinguish behavior by smaller groups or teams. I want to reward teams that help me, and try to train mischievous groups to stay on task and keep their socializing to a whisper. Also it will enable me to change groupings to provide better results and behavior once I learn which students need to be watched more closely than others. I am ok with assigning students to after-school detention, because it is likely to motivate parent’s to act, and it seems I will be spending a lot of time at school after school preparing for the next day and the next lesson. This time after school will also give me time alone with the student to interview them and try to find out what motivates them to take my time during class, maybe they are having problems at home, cannot understand the assignments or lessons, or are having personal problems with certain students. This will be a time when I can give more attention to them without taking from the rest of my students. While student teaching the guidelines I used were quite simple once I started my solo lead of the class. I offered a couple of warnings before any consequences had to be given. If more than a few hints are not enough to bring a student’s behavior back under control, than the student would lose time. Time lost can be in the form of a time out away from the rest of the class, loss of recess, or some type of privilege would be taken away. If more warnings are necessary than the student would receive detention after school. If that is not enough than the student would be sent to another teacher’s room or the principal to calm down and think about their actions. Finally a call to the parents’ home or office, or a meeting with the principal and parents present would be called to settle issues with consistently unproductive students. Basically the idea is simple if you take my time than you owe me time. So this will be in the form of losing some type of privilege like recess, or free time during class when others read or draw or work on their homework. Than this person will have to make up the work that they did not complete when they were misbehaving or distracting the rest of the class. The key is they must complete the work that they chose not to do during class time. I hope to schedule in a 15-30 minute block of free choice activity time. Students can work on centers, finish homework, read, draw, listen to music, computers or something fun and less competitive that is a choice activity while still being educational. I am still developing a set of activities that will be acceptable and beneficial for students during this block of time. This block of time will also be used to do individual tutoring with students that need more help. And this free choice time will be used as a tool to change behavior for difficult students, because they will have to do activities that I choose instead of what they want to do. For example I can say “so you have chosen to do your math worksheet during free choice time today,” instead of taking things from them they will feel that they are making the choice to do acitivities that they do not finish during class time when other students choose to do activities that they find relaxing and pleasurable during free choice time. I hope this will foster more intrinsic motivation to participate during class. Framework Review The preface of the Social Studies Framework leads me to believe that it will address many of the historical issues denied to me in elementary and secondary education. The framework also recognizes the de-emphasizing of history and social science in recent years especially in elementary classes concerned with math skills and language development. The goals of the framework are simple: knowledge and cultural understanding, democratic understanding and civic values, and skills attainment and social participation. Grades K-1 learn to build community, roles they can fill, learn some geography, and are exposed to literature from different ethnicities. Second grade exposes students to biographies of influential people, study of local people, family roots. It seems Grade 3 introduces folk tales, legends, and more biographies which should be a great lead in to more detailed study of history. From what I read the history taught through grade 8 seems to give a decent overview of history, but my feeling is that non-European history is not covered as in depth as it should be. Africa and Asia are generally neglected or only covered mildly in my experience. I think the coverage of California history can be beneficial and helpful to students at this grade level. Especially if the teachers expose a lot of the hidden history of Chicano, Native American influence in southern California. Also studying and relating older models of California to the present can only help them understand how their community came to exist and develop into what it is now. I also feel the American history taught in 5^th grade is useful, but would rather see a two year study of world history including America over the 5^th and 6^th grade years. The students will repeat a lot of the American History in high school, and I think comparison with more countries and societies than are covered now would be more beneficial. Most 5^th graders have many ideas about American culture and history already, but they know nothing about the people living in other parts of the world. Even Mexico and Canada are not mentioned in elementary history as it is. In general elementary history is still skewed to focus on Europe and the United States, and if you read the texts, look at the pictures in the text. The over-representation of male, European and Caucasion, faces and names will bear this out. For grades 4-6, the focus on ancient history is less helpful than a world history course. Ancient history is a very abstract subject. Students are barely learning to understand their own community, and environment. I really do not expect them to imagine a whole new world full of different people, social conventions, antiquated institutions, different codes of behavior by the time they finish 6^th grade. A year with contemporary world culture could do more to engage students in discussions of differences between America and Africa, Asia or Europe. Delving into completely foreign worlds and societies that do not exist anymore leads children to fantastic worlds that do not help them understand their own world. I think discussion of ancient history should be shifted to high school. And World History from 10^th and 11^th grade should be shifted to grades 5-8. Many of these young children come from or have visited relatives in foreign countries. But they will never visit the pharaohs of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Aztecs, Japanese Samurai communities. It is great to bring this literature to the class in 4-6^th grade, but I do not think the year of social studies is well spent dwelling heavily on these worlds. I think these ancient worlds best serve us as fiction and folk tales to compare their failures and successes to our own society. Other elementary teachers have agreed and helped me come to this conclusion. By high school, students are capable of more abstract thought but instead of plunging them in to more in depth study, they are given a choice of electives in the ninth grade. Likely many students end up in very general overview types of courses. The best situation would be to study a few major issues in Anthro, Psychology, Sociology, Women’s Studies, Geography or any other social science. My fear is that most teachers teach overviews of major concepts in each discipline instead of teaching a few issues in depth. Grade ten world history was not a world history course when I was in high school. We learned about Europe and neglected the rest of society. My question is could World History be taught over two or three years including grades 7, 8 and 10? I think America could be included in that discussion to provide many perspectives and examine the effects of many social revolutions from medieval times to the present across the globe. Then I think it would be fine to concentrate the focus of grades 11 and 12 on American History, Government, and a study of Economics. I doubt if students really acquire much knowledge of American history until they hear it again in high school when they are capable of more abstract thought. My greatest question is what do freshmen receive in high school? They are at the mercy of their high school curriculum and professors. Luckily I had a speech and debate program that taught me how to public speak, and debate a contemporary issue in a global context, but I do not think all students are getting in depth exposure to major social issues as freshman. Otherwise more students would become engaged in social studies. The Elementary Framework should and does concentrate on building and creating community standards through third grade. Then the discussion leads to biographies and folk tales which could inspire self discovery for motivated students. Beyond fourth grade is when I have the most concern. Even fourth grade I wonder if teachers are teaching history from a cookie cutter or are they expanding the student’s knowledge of pertinent issues. Awareness of Native American influence, and Chicano influence in California is growing. I hope they are adding that to the base of knowledge given about California history. The 5^th and 6^th grade curriculum troubles me. I just believe that this is not an ideal age for abstract concepts of ancient history. The time could be better spent exposing children to many contemporary cultures around the globe, and letting them discuss the differences between them. What can they learn from people living under different conditions, governments, religions around the world today; instead of 4000 years ago? 4000 years ago is not pertinent to 12 year olds, I am 24 and they think I am old and out of date already. The concerns I have for the secondary framework are the coverage of Non-western history, religion, non-democratic societies, overemphasizing constitution and bill of rights, sequential learning may or may not be best. Many issues and worlds may be better understood when taken out of context of time, or when compared to current systems. Knowing sequence is not as important as learning motivations, themes, and actions that led to major events in history. We may not need to know every event as it happened but rather touch on the events that can impact us and show how we have come to attain or reevaluate the values that we have now. Non-western history and studying non-democratic societies can only lead to better understanding and truer support or denial of the value of a democratic government. Even after college I still feel I have only a seen a glimpse of world history, but feel inundated with American history, and have had to seek any knowledge that I have pertaining to global understanding of non-american and non-european issues. Religion is so feared in public schools that it is rarely mentioned. I think a study of religious history would greatly benefit high school students if it was taught without any notions of converting people, but rather as an exposure to the variety of value systems and forms of worship and prayer. I think the government class in 12^th grade just before students are able to vote is plenty of preparation for civic duty and responsibility. Teaching civic duty to eigth graders does not create many civic volunteers, because most do not feel compelled to volunteer for their community until they have an understanding of community issues, and their relationship to global issues: whether their circumstances are better or worse than people in other societies. Bibliography Breaker’s Bridge, Laurence Yep: 1997 in Macmillan/McGraw-Hill Spotlight on Literacy Anthology for grade 5, Chinese folk tale I know a Bridge,Jeff Sheppard: 1993 poem about bridges and friendship Landmark American Bridges, Eric Delony: 1992 great pictures of American Bridges for geography assignments or just to show many types of bridges Constructing a Bridge, Eda Kranakis: 1997 has schematics for bridge building could help students with toothpick bridges Personal Growth: Journal Excerpts …I am still working on getting the attention of the class. I often compete and start while they are still talking. What I am reading, and my advisors agree is that is not a good strategy. I have to use the “I am waiting” phrase more often. …Well I am into my third week of student teaching. I am enjoying working with the students. I have also gone back to the dojo to workout and teach. On Sunday evenings I teach a youth ministry class to high school students called “Why Pray.” I really enjoy working with high school students because they have many issues. I am also hearing of emotional and social issues in elementary school. A few are dealing with anger, not enough to eat. One in particular has little to no respect for teachers. The 5^th and 6^th graders don’t hold grudges. They may torture you the whole day, but the next day its “Hi, Mr. Panlilio” with a big smile. These kids have a lot of issues too. One of my 5^th graders watches his older sister’s children every day. He is quite mature, but he must be missing out on the activities of most young children. He really shouldn’t be in charge of youngsters yet. I feel it is too much burden and responsibility. ….I did not properly assess my kids understanding of Breaker’s Bridge. I wish I sat down and graded their comprehension worksheets. I walked many of them through it, but I still should have graded it. But reviewing it in class was probably helpful for them. Also I felt rushed since I only had one week, and had many goals for the week. …The idea of bilingual education is new to me. I never considered it feasible. We learned foreign language in school, but I never felt bilingual. I only felt familiar with a new language, and I got A’s in the class. I think bilingual studies if started in elementary schools would be outstanding. My question is how feasible is it financially and politically. Education is failing to teach english, can we consciously divert funding to other languages? And politically, most people including me have been trained to believe english is the key to success. Other languages clearly have value, but will increased cultural development bring economic success. I think a case can be made, but most politicians will argue for a nationalist english-only policy. I would like to see it, and even participate. I just doubt it would happen. Americans are too institutionally racist to start incorporating foreign languages. Unless another country, non-english speakers, are able to dominate the global economy then Americans will not value another language. Philosophy of Teaching Teaching is learning the material again. Whenever I teach I am given a chance to reevaluate my knowledge, and add to it by pushing some else to perform or present it back to me. If they can teach it to someone else than I have done a complete job of teaching. Teaching is also a gift. First someone else has to be willing to listen and let the teacher present the lesson. Then they have to work together to understand and master the lesson. Teaching is not as hard as finding students that want to learn the lessons of the teacher. Teachers can only find or identify those people: by gaining their trust, proving their own competence, and actually showing the students something new or demonstrating an idea within new parameters or in a way the student had never thought of before. Teaching is also a two-way street. Often the student becomes the teacher by revealing flaws or mistakes or just new perspectives that the teacher did not see when they first learned the lesson themselves. Teachers must constantly seek new sources of knowledge to add to their own base. If a teacher is learning then they will always have more to teach. Once the well is dry it is time to find more water. In the same dialectic, students must empty their cups before they can be taught. A full glass just overflows, an empty cup can be filled again and used for refreshment. Students are not empty vessels but they must be open to new interpretations, if they are to attain more knowledge, or better understanding of old concepts. Teachers should never consider themselves to be complete, or the absolute source of information. After they pour their knowledge into the student, they must be ready to translate whatever product or inspired thoughts which emanate from the student. Teaching and learning are one in the same, but continually we shift between the roles of teacher and student.