I decided to take the offer of teaching biology in an urban high school. This was one of the biggest decisions I have ever made in my life and I’m very anxious about it because even with my many years of teaching experience, they have not prepared me for working in this capacity.
In preparing myself for this change and understanding what I must do next , I have done a number of things and will continue to pursue the following:
1. I have been working on a Master’s degree in Urban Education from Arcadia University, with education classes in cultural responsiveness, social justice education, connected learning, ELL education, and differentiated instruction. To tailor my program to my needs, I applied most of the learning activities I participated in at Arcadia with STEM education practices. I started last summer when I quit my job, and hopefully will have 28 credits by the end of the summer.
2. Through my classes, I have reflected deeply on my own personal development of my identities based on my family practices, community and school where I grew up and through these reflections have vowed to transform my practice.
3. I have strengthened and deepened my resolve on how I can make a difference in the world, through applying my unique combination of gifts and efforts to learn.
4. I immersed myself in the places I wanted to serve: by getting a $2,500 grant to for a particular Philadelphia district neighborhood middle school teacher to be able to do more hands on activities in her class. We team taught these together approximately once a week from November-April this year ; by volunteering to teach an elective class which I turned into a “maker space” from April-June at a Philadelphia public neighborhood school from 2: for ninth graders to learn skills and practices that will give them competencies in science and engineering.
5. I tried to get to know the community of the high school I was working in by interviewing 5 important community leaders that impact the youth in the community and researching the history of the community, its struggles, realities, and how it overcame issues. I discovered some of the assets of that community, that I hope to connect in my new position.
6. With my fresh perspective from all these activities I re-visited the biology content and began to see new ways for how I could make by subject more relevant to my students and ways to give students a more active role in applying the science concepts in their lives and in their communities. I started to write some curriculum that maybe I can use.
7. I researched, read and searched for resources I could use for teaching science and biology connected to social contexts. Although I did not find a great deal I came across two promising things to pursue
· I found a teacher in Chicago at Social Justice High School who wrote an entire curriculum for biology from a social justice perspective. I emailed her and left a phone message but have not heard back. I will keep trying to contact her in other ways.
· I found a Social Justice and Science Publication which is looking for articles and has a network of practitioners that I may be able to connect with online. I will also pursue this.
· Most recently, I just discovered two promising models to apply to my classroom that will help me build relationships with my students and a positive, safe, and nurturing community, which will make it possible for students to be able to engage in learning biology: Trauma based practices and restorative practices. I plan to learn more so I can use these.
8. Through this class I hope to find at least one mentor, if not more, that I can learn from and help me break through my fear.
Signing off,
Kathy
In preparing myself for this change and understanding what I must do next , I have done a number of things and will continue to pursue the following:
1. I have been working on a Master’s degree in Urban Education from Arcadia University, with education classes in cultural responsiveness, social justice education, connected learning, ELL education, and differentiated instruction. To tailor my program to my needs, I applied most of the learning activities I participated in at Arcadia with STEM education practices. I started last summer when I quit my job, and hopefully will have 28 credits by the end of the summer.
2. Through my classes, I have reflected deeply on my own personal development of my identities based on my family practices, community and school where I grew up and through these reflections have vowed to transform my practice.
3. I have strengthened and deepened my resolve on how I can make a difference in the world, through applying my unique combination of gifts and efforts to learn.
4. I immersed myself in the places I wanted to serve: by getting a $2,500 grant to for a particular Philadelphia district neighborhood middle school teacher to be able to do more hands on activities in her class. We team taught these together approximately once a week from November-April this year ; by volunteering to teach an elective class which I turned into a “maker space” from April-June at a Philadelphia public neighborhood school from 2: for ninth graders to learn skills and practices that will give them competencies in science and engineering.
5. I tried to get to know the community of the high school I was working in by interviewing 5 important community leaders that impact the youth in the community and researching the history of the community, its struggles, realities, and how it overcame issues. I discovered some of the assets of that community, that I hope to connect in my new position.
6. With my fresh perspective from all these activities I re-visited the biology content and began to see new ways for how I could make by subject more relevant to my students and ways to give students a more active role in applying the science concepts in their lives and in their communities. I started to write some curriculum that maybe I can use.
7. I researched, read and searched for resources I could use for teaching science and biology connected to social contexts. Although I did not find a great deal I came across two promising things to pursue
· I found a teacher in Chicago at Social Justice High School who wrote an entire curriculum for biology from a social justice perspective. I emailed her and left a phone message but have not heard back. I will keep trying to contact her in other ways.
· I found a Social Justice and Science Publication which is looking for articles and has a network of practitioners that I may be able to connect with online. I will also pursue this.
· Most recently, I just discovered two promising models to apply to my classroom that will help me build relationships with my students and a positive, safe, and nurturing community, which will make it possible for students to be able to engage in learning biology: Trauma based practices and restorative practices. I plan to learn more so I can use these.
8. Through this class I hope to find at least one mentor, if not more, that I can learn from and help me break through my fear.
Signing off,
Kathy