Swarthmore Education Classes Taken
Introduction to Education* Adolescence * Educational Psychology *
Urban Education * Educational Policy Seminar * Curriculum and Methods Teaching
"Education is not a profession. It is a passion."
Most education classes prepare teachers to teach content knowledge and process in a teacher-centered way that does not foster innovative curriculum and practice. Through the Swarthmore Education classes I have taken, I realized that teaching is more than just a career choice or job, but rather that it is about a passion for learning and inspiring others to learn, it's about engaging and empowering the students as individuals, and it's about social change whether in the educational system or in our society. In my teaching experiences, I have realized that the educational theories and strategies I learned at Swarthmore were integral in shaping my curriculum and practice and equipping me with the means to become a good teacher in my classroom.
Through my introduction to education and educational policy classes, I learned to think about the socio-political context of education. In learning about the history and evolution of the educational system, I could gain a better understanding of how the Parkway school fit within the Philadelphia school district, within Pennsylvania, and within the nation. I gained a general understanding of how the system works so that I could negotiate my curriculum according to the district, state, or national standards.
Through urban education with its emphasis on multicultural education,
I was able to walk into the classroom with a general understanding of what challenges
I might face. Because Parkway was so diverse, multicultural, and integrated
in terms of gender, race, and class, I was glad that I had read some theories
to consider that an asset in my classroom. Though I broke through the urban
myths/stereotypes quickly at Parkway, I still used much of the multicultural
education theories (particularly Banks & Nieto) as a foundation for my curriculum
and practice. As much I wanted to teach the Parkway students the basic skills
they would need in college, I also tried to balance that with the higher level/critical
thinking activities , problem solving activities, and cooperative group work
which is often found in the suburban schools (Anyon). Even though Parkway was
a magnet school where students were better off than most urban students, the
Parkway students still faced social pressures outside of the class that definitely
interfered with their academics. In spite of that, I still set high expectations
for them and tried to help them to do the work rather than let them fall behind
or fail or even give them a "social pass". In addition, I found that
my classroom management practices were shaped by readings that focused on gaining
students' respect through caring, through setting expectations and giving them
choices, and through engaging classroom activities rather than traditional means
of disciplining students [e.g. negative reinforcement, punishment].
Through my educational psychology class, I remember learning quite a bit about multiple intelligences, different learning styles and rates, and different means of motivation. In considering those theories and practices, I tried to include a diverse range of activities in my curriculum. By changing the types of activities regularly and being flexible to the needs and desires of my students, I think I was able to engage more students into the material and become a much stronger teacher. In addition, I think that learning about metacognition and scaffolding shaped how many of my activities were structured. I made sure that each step was logical, clear, and organized in a way in which I knew students would be sure of the content as well the process of what they were learning. I wanted to make sure that students would always be thinking about how they learned, how they understood something, and reflect on what they learned. I also wanted to model questioning so that they could learn to ask good questions and be empowered by the learning process. In addition, I hoped to foster good problem solving skills and strategies as well as cooperative group work which I felt would be useful to students beyond the scope of my economics class. Through the structure and variety of the activities, I considered the differences of my students as individual learners and hoped that I could engage and empower each of them to reach their potential.
Through my adolescence class, I was able to understand the physical/emotional/social development of my students who were typical high school students. Even though the students were at different stages of maturity, I think I was able to consider those individual differences in my curriculum by creating a variety of different activities. Adolescence also helped me to think about the different social pressures or to think about students in the context of living in an urban environment with various backgrounds, neighborhoods, cultures, classes, family structures, and peer pressure. By being sensitive to those different pressures, I think I was able to adapt my classroom management and be realistic about my expectations in terms of student behavior and academic achievement. Though my expectations would remain high, I was also able to be respectful and flexible in my curriculum and practice to the needs of my students.
Finally, my curriculum and methods class was very useful in a practical way to help me with my teaching experiences. Whether debriefing my fellow classmates with whatever problems or successes I was having or just discussing different approaches to classroom management or to an inclusive classroom, I think having time to share, reflect, and problem-solve with fellow teachers was a meaningful practice to develop as a beginner teacher. I hope that in the future I will continue to have opportunities to discuss curriculum and practice with fellow teachers to encourage, inspire, and teach one another to become better teachers.
In conclusion, I think the variety of education classes I have taken at Swarthmore have prepared me well for the challenges that awaited me at Parkway. In giving me the educational theories that inspired me and encouraged me to be an innovative, caring, and empowering educator to the useful tools to put the theory into practice, I was really able to enjoy and be successful in my first attempts to become a teacher.
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