In Search of a Calling
My journey through the MATC program began 5 years ago when I graduated from Michigan State University and began my internship year. Through those 5 years, I have grown as an educator, leader, and most importantly I have made steps toward knowing my calling. This synthesis depicts the evolution of my understanding of the importance of culture and relationships as it relates to education. In order to better understand this evolution one must take a critical glimpse of theory versus practice as it relates to my undergraduate education and my graduate course work.
In 2011, I was equipped with a desire to make an impact on the lives of children and what I later found out to be sub par readiness to be a teacher. Little did I know that even though I was graduating from one of the top colleges of education in the country, I was walking blindly into the field of teaching. Because I wanted to return to teach in the urban community that I was raised in, I interned in Detroit. From the first day of my internship things were hectic. The first day of my internship was also the staff of the school’s first day returning back to the school that they thought was closing. During the staff meeting, teachers asked questions to the new principal such as, “Will I be teaching the same grade as last year?” “Will the school be open next year?” With such uncertainty I certainly did not dare ask, “Excuse me, I know that you all were laid off yesterday, but who will be my mentor teacher this year?”
What a start! Immediately I was facing a situation that teacher prep courses had not discussed. During undergrad we spent little to no time on the social implications of teaching. As a college student, we create this empty vessel of a teacher. The teacher we forged is supposed to be able to succeed in any setting. My first day as an intern in Detroit I was learning that the theories learned in undergrad did not prepare me to interact with other humans. Being a school on the closing list, what did that say about the teachers there, what did that say about the students there, or even what did that say about the parents that send their kids there expecting the best education?
The courses during my internship, Professional Roles and Teaching Practices and Reflection and Inquiry in Practice, prepared me to create intricate teaching units and reflect on my teaching practices as an intern. These courses during my internship focused on Standard 2 of the MATC Goals and Standards, “Understanding of subject matter, how to teach it, and how to design curriculum, instruction, and assessment to foster students’ understanding.” Although these concepts are valuable in teaching, they were not essential to what an intern could use to develop as an effective teacher. As illustrated in Artifact 1, I planned a well thought out and research-based 5th grade unit plan for Math. Even though this is a good practice to master as an effective teacher, effective teachers that I’ve worked with and observed including my mentor teacher at the time do not design their daily lessons in this format. At the time of completing this assignment, I found little value in it. Later we will explore an awakening that was inspired through me from the MATC program, which could have allowed me to see the value of completing such detailed unit plans.
The one commonality that all effective teachers have is their classroom management. Effective teachers are able to acquire phenomenal classroom management skills because they have a deep understanding of the background of their students and build strong connections with their students. As a teacher in an urban community where job security and other social issues impact the educational system, classroom management is the foremost concern for ensuring effective teaching. It wasn’t until I decided to continue my learning and enter into the MATC component of my graduate work, that I was able to take courses that allowed me to cultivate my knowledge for the impact of culture on my own classroom management, Issues of Culture in Classroom and Curriculum, Multicultural Education, and Teaching School Mathematics.
After teaching for three years at two inner city charter schools, I decided to reenroll into the College of Education at Michigan State University. The first semester reenrolled in the graduate program ignited fires and led me closer to what I believe to be my calling. One particular course, Leadership and Organizational Development, allowed me to examine organizations and how they are run. It allowed me to dive deep into the educational system and find my place. After reading, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World and How Stella Saved the Farm: A tale about making innovation happen, I was able to view my classroom as an organization and develop ways to improve my teaching. These texts also allowed me to consider how to create innovative ideas in my school building. Innovation in education was only the second best concept that emerged from this course.
Through this course I took a step closer to my calling. While examining my career I realized a gift that I had, bringing people together. Throughout my life and career I have always been involved in positive relationships with teammates and coworkers. This course allowed me to consider these situations not as coincidental but as preordained. After studying ways where my talents could be of use in the school building, I decided that I would look to start my own team building business. In order to gain experience in team building, something that I had previously never formally orchestrated, I decided to help design team building activities for my district. After speaking to the two principals in my district and presenting a plan and strong desire to help establish important team building activities during professional development, they gave me a chance to participate in the planning and implementation of team building activities.
This leadership course allowed me to focus on MATC standard 3, “Understanding and use of theoretical perspectives and conceptual frameworks to situate and analyze issues and problems of practice and policy,” standard 6, “Proactive participation in collaborative initiatives, professional learning communities, professional organizations, and teacher leadership beyond the classroom,” and goal 3, “Collaborative professional development, teacher leadership, contributions to the field.” As seen in Artifact 3, my self-reflection based on course content, I exited this course ready to innovate within my classroom and school building.
One of the most important themes that emerged from the aforementioned course was identifying your strengths within an organization. Now that I was able to identify my strengths within our organization, I was more open to developing the best teaching practices for me. Unlike early in my teacher prep courses when theories and pedagogies were filling an empty vessel, I learned my worth in the organization. I was ready to build upon my knowledge and skills that I brought to the profession, instead of trying to enact strategies the way I saw others do.
Another one of the first courses I enrolled in was detailed culture impacts classroom and curriculum and visa versa. Through this course I felt a determination to learn that I had never felt during my undergraduate courses. Everything I read and discussed on discussion forums all of a sudden had more meaning than when I was assisting in a classroom a couple hours a week during my undergraduate program. The course helped me realize how important connecting the culture of my students to the curriculum that I taught. I was able to identify instances where I succeeded at using the knowledge I had of students to push them and engage them. It also allowed me to consider instances where I could have adapted lessons and expectations in my classroom to meet the needs of students. Through this realization and others in this course I felt a desire and fire to become a better educator. I began to conceptualize new ways to engage students and activities that would be proactive in providing the most effective learning environment.
Artifact 2, my short paper during this course, helped me reflect on positive teaching moments. As I explained during my internship I created a thorough math unit, but it was not focused on my students. The math unit I created was not centered on helping my students succeed. My students at the time were not traditional students we learn about in college. My students are special, their circumstances are special, and during my internship year I failed seeing my students in my unit plan. This course met the MATC program standard 1, “Understanding and commitment to students and their diversity,” standard 4, “Reflective, systematic inquiry and study/refinement of one’s practice,” and goal 1, “Critical inquiry.” Through Artifact 2 I was able to highlight and reflect on moments of my teaching where I used my knowledge of my students’ culture to create powerful lessons. Although I had taught the lessons mentioned in the short reflective paper beforehand, the paper allowed me to reflect on the importance of knowing my students and putting them first when designing units.
After completing my summer courses, I had an entire new fire lit toward self-enlightenment. Through the MATC program I had no longer been viewed as a teacher prep student through a knowledge deficit lens; however, in every course I took I had knowledge that I brought as capital. To conclude this summer of enlightenment, I was charged with creating a plan for the upcoming school year. Artifact 4, the final paper in TE 822, demanded that I compose a plan to explicitly address past errors in classroom relationships. Artifact 4 meets multiple standards but most importantly it helped me make strides towards goal 2, “Accomplished teaching.” I entered the school year with a vision and plan to build relationships with all my students. Through enactment of the plan I developed through this course, I was able to engage students in content that in the past students seemed uninterested. Developing this plan was also important for me because I was stepping into a new role at my school. I am currently the math interventionist for grades 3-5. As math interventionist, I meet with the most struggling math students in the school and work with them in small group sessions.
Not only had the courses during the summer help to motivate me to build meaningful relationships with students, but also I sought to establish a leadership role in my building. As previously mentioned I found a healthy love for team building; furthermore, I have joined the newly formed math team, became the tech lead for teachers and have been apart of key discussions regarding our school’s culture. When choosing courses for the fall, I made sure that they were courses that were not only on the road to graduation, however I chose courses that would help develop me in the areas I was most interested in. I elected to take the course Education in the Digital Age, as well as Teaching School Mathematics.
These two courses allowed me to further explore the power of inquiry and reflection. Because of the motivation fueled from previous courses, I was now a seeker of knowledge. I was not seeking knowledge to learn something foreign. I was now a seeker of knowledge to build upon valuable skills I already possessed. Did my maturity take place naturally or did connections made through theory in the coursework and practices in the field illustrate to me the purpose of it all? I would have to say a mix of both. Not only had I had 3 years of teaching under my belt, a new position with no models to follow, and my passions forming in my reality but also I was taking courses that I was able to find applicable information to my current and past roles in teaching. In Artifact 5 I conducted a research project in my mathematics course. In addition to meeting several of the previously mentioned standards and goals of the MATC program, this artifact also demonstrates the meeting of standard 5, “Communication skills and information literacy.” This research project connected with me because it was easy to see the practicality of it. It helped me develop a sequence of instruction that I used for the remainder of the school year.
If one has not made the connection thus far in this synthesis, allow me to be more explicit. A multicultural educator understands the importance of connecting daily lessons and activities to the students’ lives. A multicultural educator understands that getting to know your students is the first step in quality education. Milner describes sowing seeds and says, “Teachers need to establish powerful relationships with students as a way to ‘plant seeds’ that will enable the teaching and learning relationship to grow over time.” (2010, p. 64) Much like the students I teach, when assessing me as the student, the MATC program allowed the coursework to establish a powerful relationship with me. I was then more motivated to complete work and spend hours at a time reading because I had forged a relationship with the material I was studying and many of the professors that taught the courses I was enrolled in.
Finally that brings us to my capstone course, which has assisted in linking together my entire body of work through the MATC program. Through my capstone course I was able to visualize how much I’ve matured from my undergraduate work and through my graduate studies. Through college professors that have presented culturally relevant pedagogy in our course I have been inspired to properly do the same in my practice. In the beginning of this journey culturally relevant meant changing a name in math problem to a student’s name in my class. Now I see through how it has been instructed on me, being culturally relevant is deeper. It’s reorganizing entire practices and activities to inspire and engage students to want to be involved in learning activities. Building culturally relevant instruction means knowing that each student brings a wealth of knowledge to the content and using those skills students already possess to drive the direction of instruction.
Artifact 6 helps summarize my journey through the MATC program. It features content from my undergraduate work to skills that have been crafted through the journey. My matriculation through the program has allowed me to find my calling in education. Each day I battle with seeking change that affects the entire school and not just my arena. A good dilemma to face one may think. However, I have learned that it’s important to plan change and not just discuss it. While we plan for changing a system we must keep fighting and making meaningful strides toward student achievement utilizing our own personal strengths within the system. In order to do that one must do like I did and find their calling.
References
Milner, H.R. (2010). Start Where You Are, But Don’t Stay There. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
D'Angelo Farmer 