Teaching+Philosophy

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"Like Captured Fireflies" A reflective essay on teaching by Candace Stocker McGregor

//I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist…[in] the greatest of arts since the medium is the human mind and sprit. [Great teachers] have three things in common--they love what they do; they do not tell-they catalyze a burning to know and the truth, that dangerous stuff, becomes beautiful and very precious…// //--continued at end--//

Teaching is, by choice, my second career. I left the private sector for the rewards of teaching in public schools. I teach for many different reasons. Each day is filled with creative and interesting people who continually redefine the vastness of answers available to all of us as we discover the power we have when minds are opened to endless possibilities. Secondly, in teaching I deal with subjects and people who excite me. I look forward to learning every day from every student!

At the end of a year, I set aside a long and intrinsic time to evaluate and reflect on successes and failures. Each year brings a new spectrum of reflections—some failures were self-perpetuated, some successes out of my control, some well handled, and some that continue to be sources of confusion and frustration. But that yearly observation reiterates one consistency—students are the means to the opportunities I require to grow as an individual. They are a constant source of frustration, intimidation, exasperation, and confusion. And they form the foundation for the inspiration, dedication, and commitment to my basic beliefs about education, adolescents, and relationships—the very essence of why I chose this fabulous career. Each year, I finish committed to the knowledge that no academic calendar could equate to the last—my heart knowing that the coming year will be even greater. And I am eternally grateful to parents for sharing their students with me.

I set very high standards for myself. In that realm, I push to the limits, and occasionally beyond. The positive outcome is that each student knows that each day, each hour, and each minute of teaching is planned, executed and evaluated with professional integrity, academic excellence, and passion of the heart. The very negative consequence is that I can accept no less from any student. Often, the bar becomes set too high, the challenge too extensive, and the resulting frustration too intense. But my teaching philosophy is deeply self-entrenched—the benefits one receives from any work is directly proportional to the effort put into that work. I eagerly, and with utmost respect and dedication, commit to give to each student in word and deed and gratefully anticipate their reciprocity.

To evaluate tenets of teaching, one must first understand the premise supporting those convictions. A failure to do so would lead to a vague understanding of the "hows" without knowing the "whys". Poor teaching, indeed.

**Core Teaching Beliefs** //"Good teachers learn early that they do not teach a subject, they teach students."//
 * A passion for teaching **

Teaching is, no doubt, the most exciting, challenging, stimulating, and rewarding way to spend a day—if you love what you do. Without an intense zeal, it must be a nightmare on earth—a long, tedious, noisy chaos.

Growing up, my father wanted me to be a pediatric surgeon. He ingrained in me a sense of commitment to future generations through children, coupled with the long-term contribution to society. But I set my goals higher and became an educator. It has since became evident to me that teachers are among the elite of the world, yesterday, today and tomorrow, for they are the ones who can truly cause change.

I cannot remember a time when I was not a teacher. I cannot know of a time when I will want to be anything less.

//"Education is either to calm the disturbed or to disturb the calm."// //--unknown//
 * Teaching with a passion **

Each day thousands of students drifting through empty classes, questioning nothing, waiting for a signal to move on into the next oblivion. These are the calms I seek to disturb. And for those who have "noisy minds" from chaotic home lives, pressures of the unknown, and obligations I can only imagine, my job is to teach them to take control of their education, their lives, and ultimately their future. But to explore the vastness of these dimensions requires an unwavering, unmitigated, commitment. Although there are times I am sure that it is a personal weakness, I live to teach. It defines my intrinsic need to learn; it reaches to connect with people on an academic, emotional, and spiritual level; it keeps me in a perpetual state of disequalibrium in which I must, in an effort to achieve a balance of forces, question, challenge, and explore, everything I do, every belief I hold, every situation I face, every outcome experienced. And I will take every student I can reach to this disequalibrium.

Last year, a former student of mine, Dani Anderson, asked if she might interview me for the school newspaper. Not having achieved any moment of grandeur, I was confused on her request. But she had always been a star among my stars, and her request was granted. When the paper came out several weeks later, she had not written about me, but about the experience of being in my class--words that so moved me that I keep the clip with me. "Imagine making breakfast. Get the bowl, mixer and eggs. While stirring, imagine jumping into the bowl, whirling around, having no idea what upside down, forward or backward is and at the end of the semester coming out an omelet. That's the Stocker experience."

//"The only adults in the world who will be asked to identify nouns and verbs are English teachers."// //--Unknown//
 * Don't lose site of tomorrow **

Ninety-five percent of all information learned is forgotten within five years of high school graduation. With this in mind, I turn my attention and commitment to the business leaders of today coupled with the earth of tomorrow in determining skills students will require as workers, partners, and global citizens.

My first year of teaching brought me an "accelerated" ninth-grade American Government class with 49 beautiful children, eagerly and anxiously delving into their first year of high school. I was a young, enthusiastic, and well-prepared, thanks mostly to my student teaching. I spend my most wonderful year to date with those kids. Still uncertain of the composition of the formula, I cherish those memories and remember each student as if they were in my class today. But several students always stand out in your mind, and Julia Poratova was one of them. She had fled the crumbling USSR with her mother and started seventh grade with little English, no friends, and thankfulness for her situation in the United States. The first assignment I made to the students was to write a paragraph on "What It Means To Be An American Citizen." I received many shallow scribblings, a few well-thoughtout ideas, and Julia's--a tribute to the United States that reduced me to tears. We established a tight student-teacher relationship, but I left the school and felt it best for her if I tempered the relationship as much as possible. I knew she had outgrown a need for me and although she continued to call me at home, to update me on her personal life, and to nurture the relationship for another year, she eventually moved on. I thought of her frequently, and heard from her again the summer before she left for Harvard. She dropped by my home at an inopportune time. I'm sure my hurried nature was evident. She stood before me and said, "I want you to know what you meant to me. I used to get so angry with you in class for wasting my educational time with all your stories. I was so hungry for knowledge that I had little tolerance for any other type of lesson. But I want you to know that it is those stories that I now cherish and understand have formed the basis of my real understanding of the world." I cried for three days, and never forgot her words—thank you, Julia.

//"Children like to know there is someone in charge--someone who has their best interests at heart and who has a plan."//
 * Organization **

One of my strengths as an individual and an educator is my propensity toward organization. Each year, I strive to implement different organizational tools to ease the clutter of a teacher's day--graded and ungraded papers, lesson plans, handouts for today and yesterday, attendance sheets--an endless stream of proliferate piles of paper. My first few years in a classroom found piles of papers, shifted from stack to stack, location to location, and an endless search for the right one and a constant source of baffled frustration. Since that time, I have made numerous observations of other teacher's and business people's organization efforts, ignoring a few, adopting some, and adapting most.

But my organizational skills are most evident in my formulation of semester overviews, unit outlines, and daily lesson plans. None of this skill belongs to me, but was a gift. I had the wonderful fortune of student teaching under the finest educator alive today. Fred Setzer was a caring man, devoted father, valued employee, cherished team member, effulgent facilitator, and brilliant educator. And one of the bases for his educational philosophy rested on the ability of a teacher to be pre-planned with flexibility. Through the application of his unique storyboarding concept, semesters are compiled with concepts and knowledge, units are organized with themes and topics, and daily lesson plans are orchestrated with activities and assessments that tie together to incorporate a "total assessment package." Using this strategy, I have found that students know where we are going, determine where we have been, set and achieve higher goals, stay focused and on-task, and are better prepared.

//"Every objective a teacher chooses must be designed with meaningful, exciting, and authentic activities to reach the prescribed goals."//
 * Accountability **

Each day I preach, teach, embrace, and expect student accountability. The accountability mirrors my own and can be translated into simple language: YOU, and only you, are responsible for your success; YOU, and only you, must face yourself each day; YOU, and only you, must accept consequences for poor choices and reap the benefits for positive behavior; YOU, and only you, are the most impelling global citizen; and YOU, and only you, hold the answers to your questions.

Accountability manifests itself in my classroom through many avenues. Late work is not accepted, unless you use one of two "late" coupons; tests are not re-given, but can be relearned; alternative assignments are preferred; expectations are clearly articulated and written; habitual tardiness is not tolerated, but occasional lateness is excused; parental contact is expected, but student input is mandated; quality work to the student's ability is required and no other is accepted; grades are earned, not given.

//"Every problem has a solution; sometimes we need to be a little more clever or look at it from a totally different perspective."//
 * Asking for and Receiving Help **

Even before I entered the teaching profession, my value of support was cemented. I had always been a good student, but the years had passed and an oppressive marriage had taken a huge toll on my confidence. So my return to the classroom as a student was nearly overwhelming. That hot summer found me and my classmates waiting in a classroom for Dr. Ellen Stevens. Her appearance resulting in being led to another room and as we walked across campus, following her as if we were sheeps to the slaughter, her bright blue dress gave way to a confident stride, her mastery of the situation, her hurriedness to not waste another valuable moment of time. Through that session, in a tiny stifling classroom, packed with ignorant students sweltering in heat, she brought to life the love of teaching--because she loved it. She gave me the essence of what I needed to be successful on my own. Her criticisms were well founded, but always positive, and when there was no reason for her supportive comments, she made them anyway. And through that difficult time, she helped me build the teacher I wanted to become.

My very first year of teaching found me in Denver Public Schools under the direction of Bernadette Seick, Principal of John F. Kennedy High School. She was a compact dynamo who swooped me under her protective wing while exposing me to every challenge I could imagine and allowing me to make every mistake a new teacher can possibly make. She let me face each consequence--except one. I had been falsely accused of making a slanderous comment. Her immediate and powerful reaction led me to know that the situation had brought great criticism on her personally. But she acted with the utmost of fairness, gathering all data from all individuals. And when she was convinced, beyond any doubt, of my innocence, she rectified the situation with all parties. She did so the same way she did everything--with fairness, clarity, and decisiveness.

When I left that job, I asked several people for letters of recommendation. One was, of course, my department chair, Jim Fleet. Jim was a teacher of 30 years and throughout my acquaintance with him, he had been attempting to retire. But each year's announced brought a flood of phone calls from parents and the begging of future students to stay "just one more year." I had no expectation that Jim had, in anyway, known much more about me than my name. And so upon receipt of his letter, I was moved to tears. The observations he had made of me were so reflective of what I had hoped to be as a teacher than it was two years until I could thank him for what he had done for me--and also for the letter.

It would be many years later when my teaching path would cross with Heather Beck, Social Studies Teacher at Green Mountain High. We found ourselves on semester-that-became-three years project to write Jefferson County Geography Standards. Both of us had a passion for geography that was consuming and here was the opportunity to reflect that love through curriculum to other teachers. Our relationship blossomed beyond the teamwork and she and I went on to write curriculum for other projects. But the give-and-take that I felt with Heather as a source of inspiration that continues very much today. Although we do not work together, nary a week passes that I do not receive a "thought you might enjoy this" or "this sounds like you!" or "any ideas on this?" through the school mail. In return, I know that anytime I am "stuck", I have a place to go--not just for an idea, but for inspiration, support, or a shoulder to lean on.

Teachers can't survive alone, behind that closed classroom door. And teacher's workrooms are too filled with last minute preparation, while teacher's lounges are too filled with grumbling. Teachers need those connection, the past memories, the present support, and the knowledge that the future will hold the same--if you seek it out and if you give it back.

// "A classroom needs rules, but they have to be EVERYONES rules, based on what will create order AND enhance the learning experience for EVERYONE." // // Anonymous //
 * Be Fair and Be Flexible **

Students understand that rules are made to facilitate processes. But, like any language, there are exceptions to every rule. And teaching to those exceptions, listening to a situation, diffusing problems before they get out of hand, are real lessons I want my students to know.

Holding students to the same standard you hold yourself is a life-long fairness/flexibility societal standard to be embraced and cherished. If I am late, they learn tardiness; if I am unprepared, they will learn excuses; if I am disrespectful, they will learn impertinence; if I am unfair, they will learn intolerance.

And flexibility includes outcomes. Daniel Goleman's __Emotional Intelligence__ identifies people's ability to recognize how they and others around them are feeling, to use emotions to reason, understand our emotions, and regulate our emotions to ensure better decisions. And my students need that flexibility. I hope never to compromise flexibility with accountability, but I embrace our differences, committed to the knowledge that diversity is our strength, not our weakness.

I walk a fine line between fair and flexible. High standards mandate no excuses, but societal intolerance has stripped me of every hero I have known--from Mohandus Gandhi to Yitzhak Rabin. My only hope is to always strive to keep an open mind, to listen before I react, to think before I speak, to remember that I am a role model--for better or worse, to every student, every day.

My last course in my Master's pursuit, coupled me with a professor who taught me more about fairness and flexibility in the classroom than any other individual to date. The class was designed to focus on social studies curriculum and teaching and was a core course in my program. I remember eagerly anticipating the class, reading the book completely before the course began. As the weeks progressed, I became the "thorn in his side." Not knowing how I achieved the distinguished position of class goat, my disdain for the professor became overwhelming. I left class in tears and dismay every day and as the semester concluded, his dislike for me was elaborated in his non-acceptance of my final project. He felt that neither the work nor myself met his standards. He would neither elaborate nor allow me to redo the work. He told me that he would make sure I never set foot inside a classroom. Never a quitter, I resolved the situation with the Dean, and gratefully embraced the "C" I received. In retrospect, I am eternally grateful to him. He taught me what it felt like to be a victim, to be humiliated, to be without power, to usurp one's control over others, to feel degradation, humiliation, and embarrassment, and ultimate fear at the hands of authority--lessons I am grateful for knowing.

//"Successes have given me the confidence and the reputation that have earned me the freedom I enjoy. But my own best teacher has always been failure--and the ability to admit it, evaluate it, and move on."//
 * Embrace Your Own Lessons **

To create a risk-safe environment requires my students know that I am human and make mistakes. I learn from mistakes and welcome the lessons they have to teach. I hope my students find our classroom a place of risk-taking, seeking of the unknown, and valuing the outcome of every endeavor.

But I'm not sure I do them a great favor. I believe that those people who seek to change the world are rarely those who succeed within the confines of an establishment. And failures in those arenas are difficult and painstaking. I want for my kids to be successful in whatever choices they undertake. But they must be willing to accept the limitations others will place on them and be successful IN SPITE of those who seek to qwelsh their efforts.

I am a political outcast within my school --a perpetual headache for my administration. Not having realized the "yes-man" mentality, I quickly ostracized myself with attempts to examine possible change. As a result, my students are often targeted, outwardly harassed by administration, pulled from classes to be questioned as to what their teacher is teaching and saying about them, etc. It places a huge burden on the students--their sense of loyalty to a teacher and their sense of duty to authority. I value both, but struggle with understanding if I truly do embrace my own lessons.

//"Schools would be far more efficient work environment if we just get rid of the students!"//
 * Respect, Respect, and Respect **

Attendance forms, plans, papers to grade, phone calls to parents, meetings, book shortages, copier problems, assemblies, bus schedules--the list is endless. Every day seems to be a jumble of interferences to teaching. And most of them are brought to you by STUDENTS! They need this paper, they want this time, there parents are mad, their friends are abusive, their teachers are unfair, their time is wasted, they need to get to work! And throughout this maze, they need my respect. The respect that they are individuals, striving to meet their own objectives, handling a secret set of problems, motivated by diverse influences, dealing with secret agendas I will never know or understand. But ignorance is no excuse for a lack of respect. And when a student responds when I express a simple "thank you" as I collect papers, or a returned smile as they are welcomed at the door, when I can keep a class going and step down to the bathroom to check on a pregnant junior, the rewards come back multiple times over.

Two years ago, Dan graduated. He had been in several classes with me and I had learned much from him and enjoyed his acquaintance. He went on to study forestry in Washington and his future successes occasionally crossed my mind. Last month, his mother sent me a brief note explaining that she had found his personal journal under his bed as they were remodeling his room and she wondered if I would be interested in the photocopied page she had attached. A teacher is blessed often with notes of thanks and trinkets at the end of the year, but never had such sentiments been expressed about me. He had been very lost his senior year, and through our "lunch-time chats", he had found a place of confidence, a sense of direction, and the gift of having someone believe in him--not in what he might accomplish, but in his being. His journal page remains one of my most valued possessions.

**Tools of the Trade** The goal of effective teaching is to create life-long learners consistently seeking in-depth understanding, implementing all the knowledge of a responsible and proactive citizen, recognizing and imploring moral and ethical values, holding a deep respect for the earth, the diversity of its inhabitants, and their role as a vital member of the animal world. This goal is achieved through analysis of two components--understanding the learner and dealing with the subject. The implementation of the components falls into two categories: WHAT the student learns and HOW he learns combined to create meaningful learning experiences. The WHAT has been defined by the Colorado legislature, and dictated in the Jefferson County Standards. They HOW is the most cherished freedom among teachers.

E.D. Hirsh, renowned educational guru, has written and successfully distributed books reflecting core knowledge ("What Every _th Grader Should Know.") Hirsch is the modern-day soothsayer, contending there is a base of core knowledge a well-educated person must possess. Without this core, abstract and extended learning is restricted. In other words, you have to know something to be able to think about it.
 * Dewey v. Hirsh **

John Dewey, equally renowned educator and philosopher, advocates his supposition that knowledge is a pragmatic experience, defined and elaborate by one's ability to be able to think. The WHAT of the thinking can't be taught in schools, because each student's understanding will be defined by their own experiences. Additionally, the "core" of knowledge is so immense as to eliminate any possibility of each student mastering any small component. In other words, you have only to know how to think about something--the WHAT is inconsequential to the former.

I stand in the center of this educational spectrum. I believe students cannot think about something if they have nothing to think about, but to be able to have knowledge and not know HOW to think is equally wasteful. There is equilibrium.

During a recent unit exploring the modern history of India, my classes spend an inordinate amount of time studying Gandhi's 30-year struggle for India's independence. We looked at many facets of his philosophy and behavior and, of course, it led to analogies with other civil disobedients. The culminating activity was a student-devised "Gift to Gandhi" defined only by the constraints that it would be the one "thing" you would like to give him, if his spirit would grace us. I was moved by many projects, but one student in particular, had taken non-violent demonstrations from as far past as Ancient China and as modern as Indonesia and compared these events with those which occurred during Gandhi's life. The assignment was particularly powerful because she had chosen to comment on each event by using one of Gandhi's quotes. All the "knowledge" was self-obtained, and the "application" was very powerful--especially for a special education student with such a low "IQ" score.

Howard Gardener's educational concept surrounding multiple intelligences has had a huge impact on this teacher's teaching. "There is something wrong when a person is able to do some things very well, but is not considered smart if those things happen not to be connected to school success." We are all uniquely talented--and I continually explore avenues to perpetuate that diversity. Additionally, Bloome, Maslow and Gillian, along with hundreds of other educational psychologists, have elaborated on an educator's need to be aware and adapt to the characteristics that define adolescents in order to promote their progression to adulthood.
 * Respect and Understanding of the Characteristics of Adolescents **

As Josh first sat in our World History class, I viewed him with the same identification teacher's traditionally impose on their students. He was quiet, well behaved, but something was different about Josh. It would be three weeks later when I would begin an appreciation for Josh's differences. It would start with a phone call from his angry mother--how did I dare assign five pages of reading to a student like Josh?-- was I completely without respect for his limitations or her time? A long conversation with her would reveal that Josh suffered from every possible learning disability currently identified. And this angry parent was fed up with a school who would refuse to appreciate the talents of her son, and only focus on his limitations. And so Josh and I would start a new relationship. He never did read anything for me--but we found a wonderful source of audiotapes. He never did write anything for me--but we found his "writing ability" through a tape recorder. He never did feel comfortable selecting a group--but I found him a "team mate" who, unbenost to him, would always scoop him in. But he did contribute significantly to those groups and I loved him for succeeding and I loved the others for caring. One of the student-exhibited projects in my room today is a "doll" Josh made as a result of an Ancient Greek project. The students were to write a Greek mythology story explaining something they didn't understand and make a model of the "god" who would be in charge. Josh's elaboration on tape was an exhilarating story, but his creation was so far above the other students' products that it holds a reminder to me each day that we all have talent--and none of it is the same. And it is my job, as an educator and a human, to value and promote each individual difference.

Plagued with constant reports of increasing number of teachers teaching subject matters they know little or nothing about highlights one of the most basic tenets of teaching--I must know of that which I strive to teach. No educational research is necessary to support the understanding that those who teach must first know.
 * Knowledge of subject matter **

Last year, my school experienced a lack of economic teachers. I was asked to pick up two economic courses. I hesitantly agreed, knowing that my last courses in economics were some twenty-five years prior, but believing that application-based economics would serve my students well. After all, how hard could it be? It was a long semester. I struggled every day. It wasn't that I didn't believe in teaching "Everyday Economics" (checkbook balancing, budgeting, college finances, the economics of saving our earth), but there persisted the nagging that the opportunity cost of my lessons was too high--they wouldn't have a solid basis to succeed in a college-course of the same nature. I only taught that subject once. The students may have been cheated, but my lesson was well learned.

Inside any classroom, an observer notes that some learners undertake testing as if their life depends on it while others are not even trying. What accounts for this difference? Tombari and Borich (1999) advocate that schools that inspire effort have several commonalities: (1) students are assessed on what is taught and practices; (2) the focus on instruction is solving real-life problems; (3) standards of success are public and shared; (4) assessment occurs over time; (5) learning context is the same as in real life context; and (6) hand-on problem solving produces observable outcomes.
 * Effective evaluation of learning and teaching **

The scan-tron has been an old and valued friend of many high school teachers, trading the burden of grading essays for a quick slide of the electronic miracle. Unfortunately, the ability to assess a student’s knowledge is often reduced to an evaluation of an information-based, fragmentary decontextualized based of facts. Authentic assessment seeks to measure student’s ability to perform with knowledge and skill in a real-life situation or simulation. Authentic assessments are performance- or portfolio-based, holistic problems or challenges facing students which reveals breadth and depth of knowledge, abilities and interests.

Education must be an application, a reason to explore, capturing the student in a position of constant discomfort and evolution. My favorite student question--"I don't understand exactly what you want me to do. Can you explain what you expect?" My response--"I don't understand exactly what YOU want to accomplish. Can you explain that to me and you?"

T.J. Bowen had been a freshman several years ago in a government class I taught. He exhibited a unique style of learning from the "get-go." Always seeking to learn "the other side," he was frequently a source of irritation to his classmates, as his products were incredibly creative and outlandish. When T.J. rejoined me as a senior in Cultural Geography, he was often bored with my curriculum. He was fascinated with population growth, depletion of natural resources, refugees, disease, etc., but the format I used was "old hat" to him. After school one day, he joined me in an empty classroom to tell me that he was frustrated and could we work something out. I was disappointed in myself for not having taken the "bull by the horns", but grateful he had taken up the slack. I gave him a treasured book of mine, * and sent him on his way, knowing the depths to which the book had changed my perspective and hoping it would reach him also. Two days later, he returned, demanding more. I loaned him the next two books in the series. His attendance in class was physical only--and he always had a book in front of him. He finished the series and spent nearly every afternoon after school with me in serious discussion, staying until I was forced to leave for other obligations. Little did I realize the spark Mr. Quinn had lit.

Two months later, my phone would ring at 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday. The voice on the other end of the line spoke so rapidly I could only capture certain phrases--"…he called…, …selected group of college students…, …understands my passion…, …talked to ME as if I existed…, …can't wait…., …you must go with me…." T.J. finally settled down long enough to tell me that he persistently emailed Dan Quinn seeking elaboration on Quinn's writing as they applied to T.J.'s philosophy. And after many months of persistence, Dan Quinn had called him personally and asked him to join a group of college students in a summer retreat. I turned down T.J.'s request to accompany him, knowing he would be in great hands. T.J. went on to pursue an education in cultural geography/biology and was convinced, as I am also, that he would find a solution to the world's population explosion and save our dying planet.

I evaluate student learning, but also my teaching. Learning does not fall solely as the responsibility of the student--I am a team member and am as accountable for teaching as they are for learning. This requires a consistent commitment to evaluating the day's teaching. Devising a format for this task is not simple--the evaluation cannot be plagued with bias and yet my bias encompasses my teaching. Each day after school, I set aside time to reassess the lesson plans, evaluating objectives, noting strong parts of the lesson that were effective, and areas that need improvement (in hopes that next year will not find repeats of previous mistakes). Making overall comments and specific, I hope my lesson plans and teaching are ever-changing for the better.

As the electronic age continues to explode, the universe of possibilities in learning and teaching expand exponentially. More than just computers, technology allows exploration of a multitude of learning dimensions.
 * Technology **

Technology provides a reservoir of expanding information, develops problem solving and application of information, and links the world, offering global perspective for co=active rationale of global interdependence.

Integration of technology in the classroom range from value-based understanding of media, validation of internet sources, multiple student presentation methodologies, and training students to use government- and business-based software for the synergetic analysis of real-life problem solving. The pressure placed on schools to prepare our students for the future is well founded as their understanding and application of technology will be an integral part of their success as well as the success of tomorrow's society.

With this is mind, I elaborated on my technology implementation with this year's geography class. They are highly motivated, college-bound, seniors returning to me from prior years to explore an inter-class and intra-class competition using interdisciplinary skills for the purpose of acquainting students with the world and its inhabitants. I have written and implement a "Race Around the World" developed to teach physical, cultural, political, and economic geographic using both a regional and thematic approach. It involves students "traveling" to the seven regions of world, researching the selected area, applying a theme in that country, and developing a "chapter" in their book (including maps, supporting pictures, charts, and other items), and a letter home explaining their research and its impact on the people and earth. This has always been in a literal book format, but this semester, I met with the students, taught a lesson in multi-media presentation, and set them off on an adventure to bring me back their experience. To date, the presentations have exceeded my expectations to the point that I cannot even grade the products--they speak for themselves.

"You were hired to take a group of possibly disinterested, howling, and unruly people and turn them into interested, disciplined, and productive learners in a well-management environment." Harry and Rosemary Wong, distinguished educational authors, must have been present in a room I once found myself substituting. I failed in my mission.
 * Successful classroom management strategies **

Classroom management, as defined by Slavin, refers to all the things that teachers to do organize students, space, time and material to facilitate instruction and ensure student learning. Joyce and Weil find that a well-managed classroom reflects students involved with their work, students knowing expectations, no wasted time, confusion or disruption, and a climate reflecting work and pleasure.

Substitute teaching was an invaluable experience for me. It did not take me long to discover that the way a class treats a substitute is a direct reflection of the classroom teacher. A task-oriented, predicable environment was the result of a teacher's clear expectations, open communication, and consistent interaction with the class. I learned a thousand "tricks of the trade" from substituting in a variety of classes in many districts, most valued were those from teachers I had never met--thank you.

I hope my classroom management skills are effective. I receive positive feedback from student teachers and parents, but often know that my "unique style" is criticized by some. I re-evaluate my techniques regularly and often circumstances I had not predicted lead me to know that adjustment is the only constant.

Vickie Gill once said that "Teaching can eat up your life." Sometimes I'm sure I'm getting ready for dessert. To implement carefully written lessons, incorporating student diversity, motivation and outcome is a monumental task.
 * Careful Planning of Lessons Based on Ability Level, Pre-skills, and Motivation **

I spend the summer writing overviews of the semesters, refining them into units, and then cementing them in daily plans. I look at ability level and how to improve motivation. I incorporate time and activities for practice, reinforcement, and assessment and make every effort to make the learning applicable to the students' lives. I never go to school unprepared. Sometimes my plan doesn't work, but I have a backup, and backup to that. My planning gives me a sense of confidence--and students teach the importance of occasional spontaneity.

For many years, the durable structure of high school remains one institution noted for stability. Empires rise and fall, body organs may prove absolutely interchangeable, and an electronic network may slowly gather us all into one organic system, but high school remains the same--individual classes, passing periods, lunch, and school activities. The shift from subject-based classes aimed at content acquisition is slowly giving way to a process-based interdisciplinary process-based curriculum emphasizing information management and problem solving in the real world.
 * Variety of Teaching Methodologies **

I constantly strive for diverse teaching methodologies to meet all students needs. I once read a piece of advise in teaching that advocated the importance of diverse teaching methodologies: teachers are responsible for creating environments that secure a student's previously-attained skills, help foster emerging proficiencies, and master unlearned competence. I incorporate teaching methodologies including, but not limited to, T-G-T (Slavin, 1988), STAD (Priest, 1986), Jigsaw (Stahl, 1986), lecture, reading, simulations (Guetzhow, 1963), scientific inquiry (Massialas and Cox, 1966), concept attainment (Bruneer, Goodnow, and Austin, 1967), synectics (Abramowitz, 1984), classroom meeting (Glasser, 1969), Socratic dialog (Hess, 1994), Group Investigation (Thelen, 1967), Role Playing (Shaftel, 1967), jurisprudential inquiry (Shaver and Oliver, 1974), seminar (Johnson and Johnson, 1974), public issues model (Harvard Social Studies Project, 1960-1970) structured academic controversy (Hess, 1994), etc.

I yearn to hear students say, "I have done that before, and can apply new knowledge to that skill", and "I think I can do that, but I'll have to try and see," and "I'm sure I can't do that, but I'm willing to try if I can fail and try again." If I do not create environments for them to be successful and to fail, I have not caused them to grow. I am most proud of a statement from a very respected former colleague-teacher of mine, Jim Fleet, who shared in a letter of recommendation written for me, "Tell Candy what to teach, and she'll tell you ten ways to teach it--all of which will work."

As my teaching has progressed, I have implemented many facets of interdisciplinary teaching. Clark and Agne's research supports the basis for their work focused on integration of curriculum. They found that high school students often have no precise sense of why they are in school, find few connections between their classes or any relationship to the world they recognize outside the door.

Today, interdisciplinary teaching is a major component in my classroom. My World History students read fictional literature, my Government students write to their congressmen, my Geography students undertake science experiments, etc. But my greatest achievement comes at the hands of a brilliant artist and teacher (and also dear friend) who undertook a new class with me in which we incorporated world history and art. The first semester we taught "Tribal Africa" followed by "Medieval Europe". The kids were immersed in maps, masks, primary sources, stained glass, mythology, religion, armor-making, etc. I learned more from that teacher and that experience than I had ever learned in my life.

//I shall speak…of my [favorite] teacher because in addition to other things, she brought discovery. She…aroused us by shouting, book-waving discussion. She had the noisiest class in school and she didn't even seem to know it. We could never stick to the subject and our speculation ranged the worlds. She breathed curiosity into us so that we brought in facts or truths shielded in our hands like captured fireflies. She was fired and perhaps rightly so, for failing to teach the fundamentals. Such things must be learned. But she left a passion in us for the pure knowable world and me she inflamed with a curiosity that as never left me. She … left her signature on us, the literature of the teacher who writes on minds. I have had many teachers who told me soon-forgotten facts but only three who created in me a new thing, a new attitude and a new hunger. I suppose that to a large extent I am the unsigned manuscript of the high school teacher. What deathless power lies in the hands of such a person.// //--John Steinbeck//

__BIBLIOGRAPHY__

**Periodicals** John Steinbeck. "…Like Captured Fireflies." __CTA Journal__ November 1955: 7.

**Books** Edited by Reginald D. Archhambault __John Dewey on Education, Selected Writings.__ University of Chicago: Random House, 1964 Campbell, Linda. __Teaching and Learning Through Multiple Intelligences.__ Needham Heights, Massachusetts: Allyn & Bacon, 1996. Clarke, John and Russell Agne, __Interdisciplinary High School Teaching.__ Needham Heights, Massachusetts: Allyn & Bacon, 1997. Cohen, Ronald D., __Children of the Mill.__ Bloomingdale: Indiana University Press, 1990. Dewey, John. __Democracy and Education__. New York: The Free Press, 1916. Foggarity, Robin and James Bellanca, __Multiple Intelligences: A Collection.__ Arlington Heights, Illinois: Iri/Skyligh Training and Publishing, 1995. Gardner, Howard. __Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice.__ 1993. HarperCollins Publishers. Goleman, Daniel. __Emotional Intelligence.__ 2005. New York: Bantam Books Hirsh, E.D., Jr., ed. __What Every__ th Grader Should Know: Fundamentals of a Good -Grade Education. __Rev. ed. New York: Doubleday, 1998.__ Joyce, Bruce and Marsha Weil. __Models of Teaching__. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1986. Knapp, Linda and Allen Glenn. __Restructuring Schools with Technology.__ Needham Heights, Massachusetts: Allyn & Bacon, 1996. Nagel, Greta. __The Tao of Teaching.__ New York: Primus Publishing, 1994. Slavin, Robert, Educational Psychology: __Theory Into Practice.__ Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1988. Stahl, Robert. __Cooperative Learning in Social Studies__. New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1994. Tombari, Martin and Gary Borich. __Authentic Assessment in the Classroom.__ Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1999. Wong, Harry and Rosemary Wong. __The First Days of School__. Sunnyvale, California: Harry K. Wong Publications, 1991.

__** Brochure **__ Taylor, Roger. __Strengthening English and Social Studies Instruction Using Outstanding Integrated, Thematic Teaching Strategies: A Resources Handbook.__ Bellevue, Washington: Bureau of Education and Research, 1997.

* __Ishmael__, Daniel Quinn.


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