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Draft of the Paper:
About the author
a brief biography
I was born to evangelical missionaries in Costa Rica; the first school I attended was a Spanish speaking grade school. I was a popular kid and was quite sociable and did well academically (straight A’s). I did my best to win the affection and regard of my teachers and usually succeeded. I became totally fluent in both Spanish and English and intimately familiar with the culture of Costa Rica. Most friendships were with a mixture of Costa Rican kids and sons of other missionaries. My parents’ faith played a center role in our family life; I remember becoming a born-again Christian at the age of five! So I was heavily influenced by the Christian values and attitudes of my parents and their missionary colleagues.
During my years in Costa Rica I experienced discrimination for racial and socioeconomic reasons. As a white boy in a brown culture I always stood out. Most of the discrimination was positive because back then Costa Ricans held the United States in high esteem and people from the United States were treated with special regard and deference. I was often singled out for special treatment, but this generally made me feel different and separate rather than special. Less frequently the discrimination came in the form of hateful racist remarks. In either case, I always felt to a degree like an outsider.
At the age of 15 my parents sent me to a Christian boarding school in North Carolina. This sudden immersion into North American culture was a shock. I had been raised in an English speaking home with US customs, but I was not well prepared to be on my own and in what was to me a foreign culture of peers. That same year my father was diagnosed with cancer, and so my parents moved to southern California where he began medical treatment. I joined my parents and enrolled in a public high school in Pasadena (CA). My father died within the following year.
The combination of the loss of my father and my separation from my Costa Rica cohorts was a major disruption to my life and a period of forced adaptation. On the outside I appeared to do quite well, but on the inside felt once again like an outsider as I attempted to understand this culture that was largely new to me. It was also in this time period during high school that my nuclear family broke up. My mother returned to Costa Rica and my five siblings and I stayed in the “States” to continue our education, mostly separated from one another in different schools. The following ten years (from my 16th to my 25th year) were a rough period of role confusion and consternation (although at the time I did not recognize what I was going through).
They came to an end when I met and married a Costa Rican woman (named Damaris). At the age of about 29 years I enrolled in engineering school (again in California) and after getting a bachelor’s and a master’s degree I was hired by Sandia National Laboratories and moved to Albuquerque.
For 22 years I pursued my career in solar energy engineering and together with my wifre raised three children. These were good years for me, both personally and professionally. For all these years I was given the opportunity to do meaningful and satisfying work. In 2006, I retired from Sandia. During the following 5 years I tutored grade and high school students one-on-one in math. That brings us to the present and my recent enrollment in CNM’s Alternative Licensure Program.
What has motivated me to pursue a teaching career?
My motivation to be a teacher stems from a) the value of “doing good” that is part of my heritage, b) the pure joy that I get from learning, and c) the enjoyment and positive meaning I’ve experienced in the role of a tutor (teacher and mentor).
First, I learned from my parents to value service to others. In their view, their work was a calling to service to God and to their fellow man. Service, then, has been a value I’ve embraced throughout my life, both in my career as an engineer and now, as I prepare for a second career as a teacher.
Secondly, I greatly enjoy learning for its own sake and this is a source of motivation for me. One of the happiest times of my life was an engineering student back in the early 1980’s. I thrived in the environment of the university and in particular I experienced a lot of joy and satisfaction from learning. I especially enjoyed the study of algebra and calculus and excelled in those classes. At one point in time I recall thinking to myself that teaching math could easily be an alternate career choice. That idea resurfaced at the time of my retirement.
Finally, I am also motivated by the fact that I enjoy teaching. In my work as an engineer I have had and enjoyed opportunities to teach solar technology to adults, and more recently (since 2007) I’ve tutored grade and high school students in math. This recent experience confirmed for me that teaching gives me great satisfaction and a strong sense of meaning.
How have I been socialized, and how will my beliefs, values, and experiences impact my students?
My beliefs and values:
- I am an evangelical Christian; among these I would be considered a liberal. As a teacher I will model Christian principles. When I have a bad day, I’ll hope to be forgiven by my students and colleagues. When asked about my own values and beliefs I will share them.
- I know that the cards are stacked against many people. There is racism, cultural bigotry, gender discrimination, and discrimination against people with special needs. Much of these inequities are institutionalized in this country. As a teacher I will make myself aware of the students (and colleagues) who are at the receiving end of inequities. I would like to believe that I will have the courage and initiative to be proactive in fighting these injustices.
- I believe and value the work ethic and am convinced that individuals can through hard labor and discipline overcome the obstacles in their life, including discrimination. I believe in hope, hard work, self-motivation, persistence, enthusiasm, and a high standard of excellence. In the course of my teaching, my students will be exposed to these values. If I also walk the talk, many of them are likely to learn them.
- I value other cultures, including the two in which I was raised. My contribution to the class’ culture will include celebrating our collective heritages. In my classroom here in Albuquerque I’m likely to be teaching African American, Native Americans, Asians, and “white” students. I believe these cultures should be on an equal footing in my classroom. I will make it my job to learn about the backgrounds of my students and find ways to use these differences in my classroom in a positive way.
About the profession
What is an education? What is the purpose of an education?
An education is the means whereby individuals are prepared for life in society.
It is one of the important ways by which the individual is equipped with the “psychological tools” of the culture
. These tools are such things as language, writing, music, math, history, and sciences.
These and other such tools equip the individual to both enjoy the world and human culture in all of its rich dimensions and to be successful in navigating the world, in having an impact on it, and in achieving his objectives in life.
I believe that grade school and high school should have the goal of fully equipping the individual not merely preparing them for the workforce. Rather than place a student into a vocational track, I believe he should be given the widest possible range of knowledge and skills. School administrators and teachers should not make decisions that shunt a student off onto a diminished path of learning.
A key indicator of the success of an education is that the students become capable of thinking for themselves and of solving problems. These skills will enable the individual to make a contribution and experience success in a rapidly changing world. Part of the ability to think for oneself is the wisdom and ability to select one’s own values and make one’s own value judgments. I intend to equip my students with tools and ways to frame the right questions and the methods for solving not just math and science problems but the problems they face in their lives.
The quality of an education determines the size of a person’s world. Consider that a formal education is one of the means whereby an individual’s mind is shaped. Consider that it is through the senses and the mind that a person knows and interacts with the world. With the mind, the individual both understands the world and is able to grapple with it. For that reason, the size or scope a person’s world is limited by his knowledge, his habits of thought, his capabilities and know how. A poorly educated person lives in a world diminished by all the things the he does not know about and all the ways of dealing with the world that are outside of his grasp. The world of a well-educated person, in contrast, is larger with a greater scope and with a wealth of diversity, of detail and of beauty. And the educated person has in his hands abundant resources and a multiple array of tools with which to know the world and to manipulate or impact it. For this reason, K-12 schooling should not short change an individual for any reason.
An important class of the psychological tools that come with an education are social tools. These are the knowledge, the understanding, the skills, the experience, and the capabilities that enable an individual to function as a social creature. An education plays a significant role in the socialization of the child. Together with life at home and in the community, the school is the place where a child develops her social persona, her concept of who she is and how she believes that other see her. It helps to shape her thoughts about and her attitudes towards others and to equip her with interpersonal skills.
As an aside, it’s worth noting that in kindergarten and in the first years of grade school, adults teach social customs and rules explicitly to the children. After that social education becomes less explicit and more a matter of environment. In other words, the school is the social milieu, the environment that will play a significant role in a person’s social development. One of the inferences of this is that while the student’s peers have perhaps a greater role in the socialization process, as the teacher, I can have a very powerful influence. The classroom is not only the place where I will teach math and science but is also a microcosm of the community in which I will have an influential role.
Social issues surrounding education
The social benefit of schooling
Education’s fundamental purpose is not to benefit society but to benefit the student. However, the knowledge, skills, and positive qualities of character that come from an education are a benefit to society. As a general statement, I believe that the better the education of the individual the greater their potential to make a positive contribution to society. I believe that an education serves first the student and, as a by-product, serves society.
But I do not believe that educators should make decisions about a student’s curriculum that effectively shuttles them off to a future of menial or poorly rewarded work.
Schools should strive to provide the same solid education to all of its students.
I realize that there is a competing principle at play.
Some students have mental disabilities that suggest they will not be able to succeed with the standard curriculum.
From what I’ve seen of inclusive classrooms I’m convinced that classroom can function at least at the grade school level with students of all types attending the same class, at least for part of their curriculum
.
Financing grade school and high schools in the USA
The disparity between this country’s best and worst schools is a result of the inequality of the resources made available to the different schools. In the current national political climate it may be difficult to achieve, but I think that the funding of schools needs to be equitable on a per capita basis. It’s easy to reach that conclusion. But how this can be achieved is the more difficult question. It seems intractable, but for me this is one issue that should be under the purview of the federal not the state government. It is a national security issue, not a state issue. Unless more resources are provided to schools in “poorer” neighborhoods, our country will stagnate and continue to drop as a competitor in the world economy.
Who should determine the curriculum taught in school?
I think that experienced educators will make the best decisions about curriculum. If indeed the federal government is to determine what is taught at the grade and high school level, there should be an independent agency that has this as their mandate, and that agency should be insulated against politics and staffed by the best of this countries educators.
The roles and goals of the student & of the teacher
The roles of teacher and student and the goals they should pursue are interdependent and for me are more easily treated together.
The student is the central player in the learning process and he/she largely determines what learning takes place
.
I, the teacher, have a vital but secondary role.
The personal characteristics and behavior of a student are the most important factors that determine his success as a learner.
I play a supporting role.
To succeed, the student must own his own education. His/her success requires him to grab hold of it. My role as teacher is two-fold: to enable the students to gain mastery of the subject matter of the class and to facilitate their growth both cognitively and socially. The second role is broader and is just as important as the first. And if a key to education is learning to think for oneself and to determine one’s own values, then my role as a teacher is to provide the inputs and support to my students that will encourage their growth in that regard.
A primary goal of a student is to become a self-regulated learner.
The student must learn to be the driving force behind his or her own education.
A self-regulated learner sets her own goals and determines the strategies and tactics she will employ to reach them.
She provides her own motivation and generates her own rewards.
She evaluates her own performance and makes adjustments to improve it.
One of the teacher’s roles then is to teach explicitly the knowledge and skill that and encourage students to adopt them
.
The student should consider that their Job #1 is their schooling. A teacher’s role is to enable the student to have success. As the teacher I fulfill numerous roles. I provide instruction. I set the stage for learning, by providing the needed props (scaffolding) that helps students to grasp a new concept. I provide inspiration and motivation. I am a salesman or statesman, convincing students of the intrinsic value of learning. I am a performer, bringing the class to life. It is my job also to empower my students so that they will the students to take the proactive role in their own learning.
I believe a student must strive for excellence. My job is to set the standard in my classroom, both the academic and the social standard.
The student’s role is to follow a basic code of conduct that contributes to a good learning environment. As the teacher, that environment is ultimately my responsibility. I.e. I shape the climate of my classroom.
My goal is to create an environment of freedom of will and of expression. By my lead and my example I help to shape my class into a democratic community where each person is recognized, respected and honored for who they are, for their culture and the knowledge and experiences they bring to the class. My students’ role is to be contributing and participating members of the community. I give my students the opportunities to express their ideas and their feelings; it’s up to them to avail themselves of those opportunities. I stand up for and articulate my values to my classroom I encourage them to think about and articulate their own. These are then the values and goals that will guide my practice. If I follow these guidelines, the issue of equality and equity in my classroom will take care of itself.
The issue of privilege will largely be dealt with by the way the class is conducted, by the culture I help to create. When appropriate it can be a topic of discussion.
What will be the essential elements that will make my practice culturally relevant or sensitive?
Discipline in the classroom?
If I succeed in reaching my own goals in the classroom it should be an environment in which learning is an adventure. But what do I do when a student is disruptive or disengaged? The former problem is the easier to solve: I will enforce acceptable classroom behavior in a firm but mild manner. As to an unmotivated student, my approach will be to get to know the student and then to identify and try to deal with the reasons for his/her lack of interest.
How is student learning in my classroom impacted by the social, economic, political and cultural paradigms in the United States and New Mexico?
(YET TO BE WRITTEN)
Summary / Conclusion
(YET TO BE WRITTEN)
