I believe that the best educational experiences are those in which children are intellectually challenged and their natural curiosity is piqued. In my class, I do this by utilizing play and discovery, the most natural of domains for children. Play and discovery are far from frivolous activities; they are fundamental to learning and growth. Children thrive in novel experiences and the future we are preparing them for is nothing if not novel. Therefore I believe that we must teach students to cultivate many different skills that can be applied to many different circumstances. And play at its finest occurs when one is acquiring a skill that he or she can use to solve a problem for which the outcome is yet unknown.
As the son of Mexican immigrants, I have grown up recognizing the courage it takes to leave one’s home in search of a better one. I have grown up learning the need to be resourceful and not fearful when it comes to taking on the unknown. I try to face my challenges with a sense of humility. I am not afraid to seek mentors, or to try multiple solutions. When one lives as an immigrant or as a first generation American there are very few patterns and traditions upon which to rely. Everyday provides the opportunity to redefine or reinvent oneself. In short, the experiences of my parents as strangers in a foreign country have left an impression on me as a curious, adventure seeking teacher who seeks to instill the same impression on my students. In order to take on new learning, I find that one must approach the unknown like an immigrant. An immigrant must carefully inventory the resources in his possession and seek out those he needs. My parents not only had to learn a new language but a completely new culture as well. They had to be honest with themselves in regards to their strengths as well as their deficiencies. But foremost, they had to try out multiple solutions in order to get their educational and financial needs met. My father did not study to become a union welder but ended up there as a result of insatiable curiosity and willingness to learn new skills. That he takes such joy in his chosen trade only further exemplifies the play-like discovery that deep learning may result in. Though I was born in the United States, I often feel like I am an immigrant to so many situations that I find myself in. Teaching is not something that anyone can ever be completely prepared for. One must learn on the job, in relation with children whose cultures may not align with your own. One must inventory and leverage the skills and abilities he has while seeking address the needs he identifies. One must be willing to experiment, fail, and learn from the failure, then try again. Consider this as being analogous to learning to ride a bike. In other words, being an immigrant, a teacher, or a child requires play in order to successfully navigate meaningful challenges and goals. However, unlike children at play, the stakes for an immigrant or teacher are much higher. Yet even with higher stakes one must learn to be a risk taker. I believe that children who have been encouraged to use their imaginations and try multiple attempts to solve problems are those who become teachers who are willing to do the same in their profession or immigrants daring enough to venture into a new country. This is the type of teacher that I like to think I am. I have now been teaching for 11 years. These years have been divided between high school and middle school. In addition to teaching English Language Arts, I have also taught video production, maker studio, digital fabrication, and other subjects. I have taken on increasing leadership responsibilities serving for nearly four years as an instructional coach. In short, I have found a true passion for my profession. However, it was not until my later undergraduate years that I discovered the path I am on. It was in college I discovered that I enjoy learning and school so much that I never want to leave it. I began my teaching career as an AVID tutor where I had the opportunity to help students hone their study skills. I was also able to help students get into college. My experiences as a tutor confirmed that teaching was the ideal career for me. After earning my teaching credential I immediately began to work at a continuation high school. Initially, I was doubtful whether this was a place where I could thrive but I quickly came to realize that I enjoyed working with at-risk youth. I was able to help students navigate past previous mistakes and direct them towards more successful futures. I was more than a teacher. I was an adviser, counselor, friend, role model, running coach, and more. After teaching for five years, I decided to take on a new leadership role at my school. I became an instructional coach, helping my colleagues learn new strategies to teach English Language Learners. I did this for two years before returning to the classroom with a new perspective in how school organizations are run. After my eighth year in teaching, my next assignment would be at a middle school. I approached my new assignment with a great deal of enthusiasm. The middle school that I was being reassigned to was a school that had its share of problems and therefore would be closed down in the following year. As a teacher at this school, I would have the opportunity to help design the new school that would be created to replace the failing one. I thoroughly enjoyed working at this school and with this age group. That I was able to be a founding faculty member for a new, innovative middle school was the icing on the cake. Now I have been teaching at the new magnet middle school for a little over a year. At this school I teach my students language arts. As I mentioned earlier, I also teach them how to code, solder circuit boards, make movies, music, and digitally fabricate their 3D designs. Additionally, I am also the technology integration coach. I get to help teachers discover the best ways to use technology in their lessons. I am an integral part of an grant that has paired our school with Verizon, which has provided iPads for each of our students, and has also given us access to Verizon’s cellular data. Every student at my site has access to technology and the internet and it is my job to help teachers make the most of this access. I have spent a little over a decade in the teaching profession. Each year seems to offer me a greater deal of satisfaction than the previous one. I am continuously seeking new challenges and ways to improve myself as a teacher for the benefit of my students and schools. I look anxiously towards what the next decade of my career holds in store. Leadership Style I work with a leader who demonstrates values I would like to embrace in my own leadership platform. I, like Dr. Smith, am a person who believes in embracing the power of democracy and distributive leadership. I would also like practice a flat model of leadership where every staff member is empowered to lead change or take a direct role in promoting it. In order to encourage others to be proactive I believe it is crucial to forge and nurture relationships over the long term. I believe that learning each others stories can help us to better collaborate, trust, and genuinely care for one another. This can also help us to identify the personal strengths in others which can be used in order to make a school more effective and transformative for students. Finally, I believe that a leader must recognize the the complexity of schools and school districts. As a conglomeration of unique individuals, interests, laws, and needs, one must never approach any challenge a school poses as if it has a simple explanation. We must assume the good intentions of all employees. Approaching a problem from this perspective will allow me to to try and understand issues from many points of view. Furthermore, it will also encourage the push and pull necessary to come the best solutions. Three Non-Negotiables As a leader, I pledge to:
Secondly, although our actions may sometimes be misguided, most of us entered the teaching profession for idealistic reasons. As we are constantly reminded, we definitely didn’t enter teaching for the money! Also, initially most of our students began their education eager to learn. In order to preserve our colleagues’ idealism, and our students’ interest in learning it is especially important to assume the best intentions of all. If we continue to hold this belief even the most jaded individual can revive earlier optimism. Finally, it is important that in spite of what may happen in our adult lives, we must always remember that we are in the position of teacher first and foremost to promote the well being of our students. Therefore, we must set aside adult drama in order to assure that our students’ needs are being met. I will be a leader who seeks to remind my colleagues of these all-important non-negotiables. I will also seek to be a leader who lives by these. Discipline and School Climate/Culture I am convinced that everyone can succeed in pursuit of their goals and that schools should be the place where they helped to approach these goals. I believe that all people should be treated with respect and should have their potential recognized. Every approach at discipline and in establishing a positive school climate and culture must be rooted in these basic understandings. Students come to school and put their trust in me to provide them with skills and knowledge. This is a testament that they believe in my ability to help get them closer to their achievement. Students, and especially those most troubled amongst us, require structure, accountability, and consistency. In order to establish these fundamentals it is necessary that all students be reminded of the values of a school and the expectations for their behaviors. It is important that everyone from teachers, secretaries, custodians, students, be clear as to the values and expectations of school and model these in all of their interactions. Values and expectations serve as a social contract assuring the learning and positive experience for all. In the event of an infraction, the job of a teacher or administrator is to first suppress the infraction, to assure the continued learning of other students, then try to get to the root of problem. Finally, it is his job to intervene so as to avoid the behavior from repeating. An intervention should teach a student a positive behavior just like a math teacher should teach math concepts. Parent and Community Involvement Parent and community involvement are fundamental for the success of schools for various reasons. We are fond of repeating that it takes a village to raise a child. We know that the better that teachers and parents are able to work in tandem to support the learning of students, the more likely it is that we will get a favorable outcome. It is also important to involve parents and the community because parents and the community want to support the work that we do. Additionally, they want to hear about the successes we have because we all have a vested interest in the education of our children. I have continuously sought to maintain an open door policy wherein parents are free to visit my class in person or to ask questions via email, phone, or otherwise. Parents always have an open invitation to examine any of my lessons or teaching. I also believe in the need to form partnerships with community members. I have been able to connect with different organizations who have more than willingly given to our school their time and resources. In short, I believe that schools should be prepared to operate with total transparency and should seek to partner with others whose expertise and resources can improve the learning of students. By doing so, we can create schools which are truly connected to the world outside its walls. Technology I believe that technology is a tool that can be leveraged in order to make learning more personalized, engaging, and efficient. The game-changing potential that technology brings to education forces us to rethink just about everything that we do when teaching and learning. As a technology integration coach, I have supported the use of technology in education. I have encouraged students to use technology collaborate and exchange ideas, become digital citizens, be producers as well consumers of digital content, and to supplant more traditional mediums of educational content such as text books. I, along with other similarly tech-minded teachers, have been able to create a Tech Foundation Badge which helped students become better and more responsible users of technology. To earn this badge students were required to think about their digital footprint, thoughtfully create an online presence, demonstrate their learning using various digital presentation tools, and were expected to create websites that would serve as their digital organizers and portfolios. Our tech collaborative was able to get a substantial number of students to complete this badge as well as teachers to support students in acquisition of these tech-based skills. As a result of our Tech Foundational Badge students are now able to more effectively use their assigned iPad to demonstrate their learning and seek out content that deepens their understanding of course content. Teachers are also able to use these same tools to structure more effective lesson plans that personalizes learning for all students. Curriculum and Instruction When it comes to curriculum and instruction, I believe that students should be provided a norm referenced set of skills and content knowledge, such as Common Core Standards. I also believe that students should be allowed to pursue their own interests and abilities. Understanding the importance of high stakes tests, I have taught SBAC and CAHSEE test preparation. I have also taught more open ended units, such as those advocated by 20 time projects. And I have taught in maker studios. Currently I teach a “Design Lab” class. Design Labs are open ended classes at my school whose purpose is teaching the design process, igniting creativity, or fostering technical skills. In my design lab, I teach students how to code, solder, and work on other maker projects. I have seen kids so absorbed in the tasks that I give them that they forget about time and teach themselves new coding concepts in order to learn what I cannot teach them. This exemplifies the type of teaching and learning which I value most. That is, teaching and learning which is student centered and driven. However, I also realize that students must be given more norm referenced sets of skills, such as in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Some of my students are years behind in these areas and if I were to neglect them so that they could become better coders, I would be doing their future learning a great disservice. This is why I believe there must a balance between norm-referenced and student centered learning.
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As a leader, I pledge to:
Secondly, although our actions may sometimes be misguided, most of us entered the teaching profession for idealistic reasons. As we are constantly reminded, we definitely didn’t enter teaching for the money! Also, initially most of our students began their education eager to learn. In order to preserve our colleagues’ idealism, and our students’ interest in learning it is especially important to assume the best intentions of all. If we continue to hold this belief even the most jaded individual can revive earlier optimism. Finally, it is important that in spite of what may happen in our adult lives, we must always remember that we are in the position of teacher first and foremost to promote the wellbeing of our students. Therefore, we must set aside adult drama in order to assure that our students’ needs are being met. I will be a leader who seeks to remind my colleagues of these all-important non-negotiables. I will also seek to be a leader who lives by these. I work with a leader who demonstrates values I would like to embrace in my own leadership platform. I, like Dr. Smith, am a person who believes in embracing the power of democracy and distributive leadership. I would also like practice a flat model of leadership where every staff member is empowered to lead change or take a direct role in promoting it. In order to encourage others to be proactive I believe it is crucial to forge and nurture relationships over the long term. I believe that learning each other’s stories can help us to better collaborate, trust, and genuinely care for one another. This can also help us to identify the personal strengths in others which can be used in order to make a school more effective and transformative for students.
Finally, I believe that a leader must recognize the the complexity of schools and school districts. As a conglomeration of unique individuals, interests, laws, and needs, one must never approach any challenge a school poses as if it has a simple explanation. We must assume the good intentions of all employees. Approaching a problem from this perspective will allow me to to try and understand issues from many points of view. Furthermore, it will also encourage the push and pull necessary to come the best solutions. In college I discovered that I enjoy learning and school so much that I never want to leave it. I began my teaching career as an AVID tutor where I had the opportunity to help students hone their study skills. I was also able to help students get into college. My experiences as a tutor confirmed that teaching was the ideal career for me.
After earning my teaching credential I immediately began to work at a continuation high school. Though I was initially doubtful whether this was a place where I could thrive, I quickly came to realize that I enjoyed working with at-risk youth. I was able to help students navigate past previous mistakes and direct them towards more successful futures. I was more than a teacher. I was an adviser, counselor, friend, role model, running coach, and more. After teaching for five years, I decided to take on a new leadership role at my school. I became an instructional coach, helping my colleagues learn new strategies to teach English Language Learners. I did this for two years before returning to the classroom with a new perspective in how school organizations are run. After my eighth year in teaching, my next assignment would be at a middle school. I approached my new assignment with a great deal of enthusiasm. The middle school that I was being reassigned to was a school that had its share of problems and therefore would be closed down in the following year. As a teacher at this school, I would have the opportunity to help design the new school that would be created to replace the failing one. I thoroughly enjoyed working at this school and with this age group. That I was able to be a founding faculty member for a new, innovative middle school was the icing on the cake. Now I have been teaching at the new magnet middle school for a little over a year. At this school I teach my students language arts. I also teach them how to code, solder circuit boards, make movies, music, and digitally fabricate their 3D designs. Additionally, I am also the technology integration coach. I get to help teachers discover the best ways to use technology in their lessons. I am an integral part of an grant that has paired our school with Verizon, which has provided iPads for each of our students, and has also given us access to Verizon’s cellular data. Every student at my site has access to technology and the internet and it is my job to help teachers make the most of this access. I have spent a little over a decade in the teaching profession. Each year seems to offer me a greater deal of satisfaction than the previous one. I am continuously seeking new challenges and ways to improve myself as a teacher for the benefit of my students and schools. I look anxiously towards what the next decade of my career holds in store. I am the son Mexican immigrants. My mother came to the United States in order to pick fruit in the orchards of the central valley while my father came following my mother. My mother spent a few years in American schools learning English while my father came not speaking a word of English and with only a middle school education.
Like with so many other Mexican immigrants, the odds were stacked against them. It was very unlikely that they would be able to achieve a middle class income and some day send their children to college. Yet my father was always a very resourceful and intellectually curious man. In no time he took it upon himself to learn English by reading the newspapers and talking with co-workers. He also began to learn trades such as mechanics and welding, which would lead him towards a comfortable union career. While he was able to accomplish a great deal with seemingly little he always lived regretfully, lamenting for what he could have achieved in different circumstances. My siblings and I grew up hearing the typical immigrant refrains of “America is the land of opportunities,” and “where the sky's the limit.” So I have grown up recognizing the courage it takes to leave one’s home in search of a better one. I have grown up learning the need to be resourceful and not fearful when it comes to taking on the unknown. I try to face my challenges with a sense of humility. I am not afraid to seek mentors, or to try multiple solutions. When one lives as an immigrant or as a first generation American there are very few patterns and traditions upon which to rely. Everyday provides the opportunity to redefine or reinvent oneself. This is how my family was able to succeed in the United States and this is how I plan to live a life full of discovery. I believe that the best educational experiences are those in which children are intellectually challenged and their natural curiosity is piqued. In my class, I do this by utilizing play and discovery, the most natural of domains for children. Play and discovery are far from frivolous activities; they are fundamental to learning and growth. Children thrive in novel experiences and the future we are preparing them for is nothing if not novel. Therefore I believe that we must teach students to cultivate many different skills that can be applied to many different circumstances. And play at its finest occurs when one is acquiring a skill that he or she can use to solve a problem for which the outcome is yet unknown.
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