3 achievements I aspire for

As a teacher I will aspire to earn the respect of my students by taking the time to learn all of their names, get to know them for who they are as a person, their families, friends, and interests.  Also, by leading by example and always challenging them to exceed their potential.  Treating my students as individuals and not not as a whole will hopefully allow them to trust in me as a teacher and in return, earn their respect.

Through my teaching methods and personality, I hope that what I teach my students will be applicable throughout their everyday lives and they will see the relevancy in it.  I will challenge my students to not take anything for face value and challenge them to think outside the box in all aspects of life.  To encourage them to not only find depth in meaning within their education, but through the experiences they have in life.

Lastly, I aspire to continually better myself as a teacher through taking different classes, seminars, and life experiences that will help me grow as a teacher and to better understand my students.  I never want to become complacent in my job and get into a groove where I can put myself on autopilot and not have to challenge myself.  Through continues education, I feel it will help me stay ahead of the technology curve, learning new theories about teaching and understanding students, and giving me more experiences to find commonalities with my students.

How I'm ME...

There is a definite advantage to growing up as the baby of the family; it always seemed like no matter what I did, I could never go wrong.  Granted my mom is a softy, however, I have always been very observant, so when you have an older sister that had a knack for getting in trouble, I would always pay attention to know what not to do.  It did not take long for me to figure out if I was able to add a little boyish charm to any situation that potentially would get me into trouble; my mom had a hard time “truly” being mad at her baby boy.  I have grown up in a very close family, some would say probably too close because of we share all aspects of our lives, but that is just how I was raised; family comes first.  I have two parents that are very supportive and still madly in love with one another.  Growing up as a kid, I can remember my parents holding hands, giving each other a kiss before work, or cuddling on the couch; I think that is why today I am the same way with my wife.  I think it is very important to show my affection towards her.

I lived in Scottsdale, Arizona for the first ten years of my life in a successful blue-collar family.  At that time, my dad worked with his brother, who owned the most successful residential home building business in Arizona and my mom’s side of the family owned one of the more successful tile and marble companies.  My family motto was definitely, “work hard to play hard” and that we did.  My dad taught me how to get my hands dirty and the value of a hard days work.  It was those moments when it was just him and me that, at the time I did not realize it, but he would always be teaching me how to do things correctly, not taking short cuts.  His famous saying was, “if your going to do something, do it right, and do it the first time.”  I would have to credit my dad for instilling in me a good work ethic, finding enjoyment in hands-on work, and as my wife definitely knows, being a perfectionist. 

Like all perfect dreams, they do not last forever, by the summer of age ten, my uncle’s business went under to a series of poor business decisions, as a result, my family and I moved to the Northwest, specifically, Issaquah, Washington.  Prior to leaving Arizona, I can remember my parents sitting my sister and me down, and explaining to us what had happened and discussing as a family what we should all do.  I imagine that they already decided to move and manipulated my sister and I to thinking moving was a great idea.  However, the fact that my parents made the decision but alluded to this as a family decision and included the whole family.  After leaving Arizona, my dad never seemed to have a hard time finding work, however, I think he always was trying to get back the life style that we once had.  Although certain times of my upbringing were a little rough in regards to money, my parents always found a way to provide for my sister and me.  It was the first time I experienced what it was like to go from upper class to lower/middle class and get served a big dish of humble pie.  Even though my parents always taught me the value of a dollar and the meaning of hard work, there is no substitute for hands-on experience.  From 1991 to 1996, I lived in five different cities in Washington (Bellevue, Issaquah, Redmond, Bainbridge Island, and Poulsbo) and then, Salem, Oregon.  Moving so much as a little kid really allowed me to build upon my social skills and as a result made me a very out going child.  I never had a hard time making friends in a new city.  When we finally made moved to Oregon, my parents told my sister and I that this would be the last city we were going to live in until college because they did not want to move us out of our high schools once we started.

I received my education from Leslie Middle School, South Salem High School, and Willamette University.  Until I reached Willamette, my education, even in Washington, was primarily a white dominated community with very little diversity, in terms of ethnicities.  Even in high school, I never put much thought to the lack of exposure from the communities I grew up in.  Sports have always been a milestone in my life, since the moment I was able to walk; I have been in competitive sports.  Moving all those times, beginning introduced to new places, schools, and friends, the one constant throughout my life, was athletics.  It has always been my leaning post and taught me sportsmanship, fair play, mental toughness, and one of the only outlets that gave me exposure to different ethnicities and races.  Growing up in predominately white communities did not seem weird because I was always around kids of all cultures.  It was not until I reached the campus at Willamette did I realize how much of a sheltered life I had lived.  Becoming part of the WU community, I was immersed into the most diverse community I had experienced.  This offered me an opportunity to get to know people from all around the US and Japan.  It was the first time I realized how my friends, regardless of ethnicity or race, were greatly influenced by where they were raised.  For instance, my black friends from California are very adamant to let you know what city they grew up in because that directly correlated to their upbringing and personalities.  God forbid you mistakenly tell one of them they are from the Bay area, when they are really from Orange County.  My college experience is what has sparked my passion to becoming culturally diverse.

 

After I was accepted into Willamette and I found out how much school was going to cost me, I did a quick financial outlook on my four-year future and decided to join the Oregon National Guard to help pay for school.  Granted at the time, I jumped in with both feet not knowing what I was getting into, only to be sent off to war two years later, but that decision is something I would have never changed.  In 2003 to 2004, I was deployed to Kuwait and Iraq in efforts to support Operation Iraqi Freedom.  Much of that year is a big blur, but I learned a lot about myself during that year.  The culture shock I received overseas was like my Willamette experience on steroids.  Although it was a bit scary and overwhelming, it was an opportunity of a lifetime to meet people from around the world and become family, as your mutual goals were survival.  I learned how to deal with the emotional and mental strains “war” forces on a person experience.  Once I returned home and got back into my “normal routine”, I remember my first observation with my friends was how much I had grown up and matured because of my experience, I found myself to be more responsible and protective.  I have never given any thought to this correlation, but it was the summer of 2004 when I met my wife at Willamette.  She has probably had some of the most significant influence in my life, because she motivates me to be the best person I can be and I put her happiness and needs before mine.  My love for her has been the ultimate sacrifice thus far in my life, and the only way I can top that is when we eventually have children of our own.

Equity Reflections

Reflection 1.1:  My vision of myself as a fantastic teacher.

My vision of myself as a fantastic teacher is that I will have the means to facilitate a classroom that promotes multicultural learning, student involvement, personal growth, and a fun atmosphere.  In order to do this, I have to build a positive relationship with my students, continually developing teaching methods that are challenging their individual needs and making the curriculum interesting and relevant. Building lesson plans that are multifunctional that allow the students to develop mentally and emotionally by intertwining social issues, multicultural awareness, and different points of view to facilitate a platform for them to develop their own opinions based on facts, not assumptions.   Also, for me to think of myself as a “fantastic” teacher, I need to have a positive relationship with teachers, administration, and school staff.  To have the opportunity to go to them for advise or they can to me for help. 

Reflection 1.2: List reason for wanting to become a teacher.

1)    Love(ing) children means providing leadership, respect, nurture, and guidance.  However, I think there is a difference between loving my child and loving other children.  The main difference is physically showing my love for my child versus a student.  Other than that, I feel that I will treat students with the same admirations and care as I would my own children because I want them to be the most successful person they can be.

2)    Want(ing) to help students’ means having the desire and will to make a difference in a child’s life through multiple avenues of education.  For example, helping a child goes a lot further then the classroom, it expends socially, mentally, physically, and emotionally.

3)     Another reason I want to teach includes having the ability to coach students in athletics.  Sports have been a huge aspect of my life and now that I am at the age that my physical participation extends to only city leagues, being able to coach other children that have similar passion, enthusiasm, and desire gives me a satisfaction equivalent to my passion.

Reflection 1.3:  What will sustain me?

1)    Loving children…

a.     Will sustain me by the feeling of satisfaction of making a difference in children’s lives.

b.     Will not sustain me trying to love and care for students become too complicated with rules, regulations, and standards, in which a teacher is too worried that they are going to offend or break a rule to help students.

2)    Wanting to help students…

a.     Will sustain me by having the ability to make a fun learning environment that makes teaching enjoyable for my class and myself.

b.     Will not sustain me if the satisfaction I receive from teaching is less than the heart ache of dealing with the negative aspects of teaching, i.e. children’s bad attitudes, unsupportive administration, bad parents, class size, etc.

3)    Another reason I want to teach includes…

a.     Coaching will sustain me if I enjoy working with the students and it does not take away from too much time away from my family.

b.     Coaching will not sustain me if I have a bunch of kids that have poor attitudes, do not give a hundred percent at practice, and do not respect their teammates, opponents, school, and self.

Reflection 1.4

1)    Love and help reexamined

a.     Similarities between the statements

                                               i.     Giving and receiving love or help to/from students is equally rewarding and makes a person feel privileged and committed.  Help and love are blind; they do not depend on race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, etc…

b.     Differences between the statements

                                               i.     Just because you give love or help does not mean you are giving the other.  It takes hard work and devotion to truly give somebody that type of trust and respect.  On the same token, you may know how to love your students, but you may not know how to help them and vice versa.  It is tough growing relationship with students and convincing them to trust you.

Reflection 1.11

1)    Dale Spender’s or Sojourner Truth’s new interpretations

a.     Spender suggests that that the interpretations of past events are in accurate because they do not consider the role of the woman.  If these events are to be recognized than women need to take make it, “…we also accepted that if we want knowledge, from the perspective of women’s existence, we would have to make it ourselves” (Grant, C.A. & Sleeter, C.E., 2007, p. 17).  I feel Spender is implying two aspects to this quote; first that women need to go out and make history, second, if they want to have this history recorded, they need to take it amongst themselves to get it done.

Reflection 1.12

1)    Your philosophy of education: How would you answer the following questions?

a.     What is the main purpose of schools?

                                                        i.     To provide a safe environment for students to receive an equal opportunity education under the supervision and guidance of a teacher.

b.     How does this purpose relate to or serve a diverse society?

                                                        i.     This serves society because it does not segregate based on the cultural differences.  Schools are designed to provide for an equal opportunity to receive an education regardless of a child’s race, ethnicity, gender, religion, etc.

c.     How does this purposed relate to or serve a socially stratified society?

                                                        i.     This is does serve a socially stratified society because it is designed for equality.  In socially stratified society is based on hierarchy of power and wealth, suggesting, those who have more money and power will receive better education and opportunity.  Although this is true for families that can afford to send their children to private or charter schools that can provide a better education than a public schools.  Schools are not designed to promote division amongst society.

d.     What are the implications of what you wrote above for the work of a teacher?

                                                        i.     If the role of a school is to provide an equal opportunity education, than it is also the role of the teacher to provide an equal opportunity for his/her students.  As a teacher, it is my duty to educate the individual student based on ability and will, not on their cultural difference.

Reflection 1.13

1)    My vision revisited

a.     As a teacher I envision myself being very involved in the lives of my students and school. Although, my essentialist views believe students should receive specific core subjects for their education, such as math, reading, and writing, it is also necessary to receive other diverse subjects, such as, creating in the arts, music, and physical education to promote a well-rounded student.  I strive to show aspects of progressivism and social reconstructive by promoting students to become active within my classroom through discussion and social involvement as we learn about the curriculum not only through the textbooks, but through literature, students personal expediencies, music, current events, or whatever will aide in teaching the lesson.