Sunday, February 22, 2009
Questions
Are we really prepared to teach? I personally will be going through what is known as the alternate route. That is that i am a grad from MSU in Bio Chem, but i took no education classes. I will take the praxis exam and hopefully land a job in my old high school in Passaic NJ, and though i understand the theory of biochemistry I really have no idea on how to stand in front of a class of 30 or more students and be able to truly teach them everything i know. This is a bit worrysome to me since i know that what i will be able to teach them, or what i wont be able to teach them, could certainly shape there future. Obviously this is a big weight on my shoulders because i know that i am probably the first line of fire when it comes to theses kids future. Not to mention the fact that there are so many other factors when it comes to teaching in an urban enviroment such as Passaic High school. I will have to not only face these children but also face there challenges of economic statues, at home support system, prior education etc. I presonally graudated from Passaic high school and know for a Fact that this school does not prepare you for collegae life. So what can i do different? how will i be able to pierce through all the other factors of home, friends, gangs, drugs etc. i really have no idea. Truly I hoped that this class and others in the MAT program will be able to at least guide me through this rocky road and hopefully give me what i would need to become the teacher these kids truly deserve. I am open to any possible suggestion. lol
Monday, February 2, 2009
what i think i know about urban teaching
Willie Martinez
CURR 523
Dr. Rebecca A. Goldstein
I have been raised in an urban community practically my whole life. I attended
and graduated from Passaic High School in the City of Passaic. My city is a small urban
city of about 3.25 square mile and my Graduating class of 2001consisted of about 2000
students, of which only half graduated. Please keep in mind that this is only the
graduating class of 01 and that there is only one high school for the city of Passaic. As
you can imagine saying my school was overcrowded would be an understatement.
Many of the ideas we discussed in class as to what we think about when we think
of teaching in an urban school were all present. My school consisted of about 45%
African American 45% Latino and about 10% other. All of my classes consisted of at
least 25 students per teacher. And growing up in this community my biggest concern in
school was safety. There were a lot of gangs in my school many of which were due to
cultural diversity. All the gangs were split up by race. Almost every day at 3 o’clock
when you left school the corners were filled with kids and depending on which group you
belong to, or what race you were, determine which corner you were allowed to stand on
and which ones you weren’t. Fights broke out pretty much everyday and usually for the
dumbest reasons. Some one-stepped on some ones shoes or they stared at some one
else’s girlfriend for too long and that was of course disrespectful. While in high school I
attended 2 funerals for “friends” that were killed because of there gang affiliation.
Surprisingly I didn’t run into to many drug problems while I was there. Not to
say that there went available it just wasn’t the main focus for my schools. You can
always find marijuana if you wanted it but I never saw anyone popping pills, or dealing
with any hard drugs such as cocaine or ecstasy. Of course alcohol was present at almost
every social gathering outside of school. And teen pregnancy was not such a shock, there
were at least 8 or 9 girls that were pregnant while in school and most ended up dropping
out before they could finish.
Just as diverse as the students were the teachers at Passaic High School. I had
teacher that were Caucasian and of course did not live in my community, and I had
teachers that were Hispanic and African American. Not all of them lived in my
community but they seem to adapt better than the Caucasian teachers. To be honest the
White teachers seem to be less happy about teaching there. Many of them seemed to be
annoyed or scared. I noticed that the other teachers had a better report with there class
room. Not to say they were always in control but they seem to handle the students a bit
better, especially those that had gone to Passaic high school before and came back to
teach
I personally came from a single parent home and my mother just so happen to be
a teacher at my high school. I dreaded this while I was a student there, she knew all my
teachers and knew if I have given any of them any problems. She pushed my to take
some of the more advance courses while I was there and made me participate in activities
such as the Science fair and peer mediation. Even with her watchful eye I still manage to
hang out with the wrong crowed from time to time. In the end out of all my friends in
high school I was the only one of them that made it to college. Once I was here in MSU I
realized just how inadequate my high school was in preparing me for my college
experience. I struggled a lot to keep pace with many of the other students in my major.
Sadly this is of course not the case for most highs chool students. I didn’t see many of
my friends parents to be to involved in there school lives. Of course many of them had to
work to make ends meet, this meant taking over time and working weekends. Leaving
the kids to deal with all the stress of school on their own.
Now that I am grad I guess I want to go back to my old high school and see if
I could possibly make a difference. I did have one or two teachers that I must admit
influenced me to be a better person not just a better student. This was so important since
many of the student’s parents couldn’t be involved at all. The other teachers almost seem
to give up on us before they even got to know us. I had teachers tell me to enroll in the
army after high school, because college was most likely not an option for me. In fact one
of my best friends in high school was told by his math professor that he would probably
end up in jail after high school if he didn’t join the army, he took this to heart and joined
the navy even though he had a good enough SAT score and was accepted by William
Paterson University.
Hopefully Ill be able to take my life experience back with the knowledge I’ll gain
here and be able to push at least some of the students forward. I heard the saying that if
you can change the outlook of just one of your students and thus help him/her have a
brighter future then you could honestly say that you’ve done your job as a teacher. But
imagine if you can have the influence on the whole class room. I realize that in every
school and community there will be those that love to learn and really want to make
something of him or her selves. These are the kids that wouldn’t need some one like me.
But this is really a small percentage, the rest of them are in school because they have too.
Those are the students that I really want to work with. Many of my friends were like
these kids. Only in school because they had no were else to go for 8 hours, but many of
them were smart, real smart. Their parents either didn’t want to be involved or couldn’t
be involved with their kid’s academic life. Mainly because they were too busy at work
trying to make ends meet. Their children ends up getting rob of a good education, which
in turn forces them to get a job so they can help with bills. Soon they have children of
there own and get sent to the same school were they will probably end up in the
same life scenario. But if these kids find just one good teacher that makes them feel
intelligent and yes even loved then the cycle can be broken and that really the only way
any community can move forward. Hopefully I will be that teacher to these kids the way
my mother was for me and many of her own students
CURR 523
Dr. Rebecca A. Goldstein
I have been raised in an urban community practically my whole life. I attended
and graduated from Passaic High School in the City of Passaic. My city is a small urban
city of about 3.25 square mile and my Graduating class of 2001consisted of about 2000
students, of which only half graduated. Please keep in mind that this is only the
graduating class of 01 and that there is only one high school for the city of Passaic. As
you can imagine saying my school was overcrowded would be an understatement.
Many of the ideas we discussed in class as to what we think about when we think
of teaching in an urban school were all present. My school consisted of about 45%
African American 45% Latino and about 10% other. All of my classes consisted of at
least 25 students per teacher. And growing up in this community my biggest concern in
school was safety. There were a lot of gangs in my school many of which were due to
cultural diversity. All the gangs were split up by race. Almost every day at 3 o’clock
when you left school the corners were filled with kids and depending on which group you
belong to, or what race you were, determine which corner you were allowed to stand on
and which ones you weren’t. Fights broke out pretty much everyday and usually for the
dumbest reasons. Some one-stepped on some ones shoes or they stared at some one
else’s girlfriend for too long and that was of course disrespectful. While in high school I
attended 2 funerals for “friends” that were killed because of there gang affiliation.
Surprisingly I didn’t run into to many drug problems while I was there. Not to
say that there went available it just wasn’t the main focus for my schools. You can
always find marijuana if you wanted it but I never saw anyone popping pills, or dealing
with any hard drugs such as cocaine or ecstasy. Of course alcohol was present at almost
every social gathering outside of school. And teen pregnancy was not such a shock, there
were at least 8 or 9 girls that were pregnant while in school and most ended up dropping
out before they could finish.
Just as diverse as the students were the teachers at Passaic High School. I had
teacher that were Caucasian and of course did not live in my community, and I had
teachers that were Hispanic and African American. Not all of them lived in my
community but they seem to adapt better than the Caucasian teachers. To be honest the
White teachers seem to be less happy about teaching there. Many of them seemed to be
annoyed or scared. I noticed that the other teachers had a better report with there class
room. Not to say they were always in control but they seem to handle the students a bit
better, especially those that had gone to Passaic high school before and came back to
teach
I personally came from a single parent home and my mother just so happen to be
a teacher at my high school. I dreaded this while I was a student there, she knew all my
teachers and knew if I have given any of them any problems. She pushed my to take
some of the more advance courses while I was there and made me participate in activities
such as the Science fair and peer mediation. Even with her watchful eye I still manage to
hang out with the wrong crowed from time to time. In the end out of all my friends in
high school I was the only one of them that made it to college. Once I was here in MSU I
realized just how inadequate my high school was in preparing me for my college
experience. I struggled a lot to keep pace with many of the other students in my major.
Sadly this is of course not the case for most highs chool students. I didn’t see many of
my friends parents to be to involved in there school lives. Of course many of them had to
work to make ends meet, this meant taking over time and working weekends. Leaving
the kids to deal with all the stress of school on their own.
Now that I am grad I guess I want to go back to my old high school and see if
I could possibly make a difference. I did have one or two teachers that I must admit
influenced me to be a better person not just a better student. This was so important since
many of the student’s parents couldn’t be involved at all. The other teachers almost seem
to give up on us before they even got to know us. I had teachers tell me to enroll in the
army after high school, because college was most likely not an option for me. In fact one
of my best friends in high school was told by his math professor that he would probably
end up in jail after high school if he didn’t join the army, he took this to heart and joined
the navy even though he had a good enough SAT score and was accepted by William
Paterson University.
Hopefully Ill be able to take my life experience back with the knowledge I’ll gain
here and be able to push at least some of the students forward. I heard the saying that if
you can change the outlook of just one of your students and thus help him/her have a
brighter future then you could honestly say that you’ve done your job as a teacher. But
imagine if you can have the influence on the whole class room. I realize that in every
school and community there will be those that love to learn and really want to make
something of him or her selves. These are the kids that wouldn’t need some one like me.
But this is really a small percentage, the rest of them are in school because they have too.
Those are the students that I really want to work with. Many of my friends were like
these kids. Only in school because they had no were else to go for 8 hours, but many of
them were smart, real smart. Their parents either didn’t want to be involved or couldn’t
be involved with their kid’s academic life. Mainly because they were too busy at work
trying to make ends meet. Their children ends up getting rob of a good education, which
in turn forces them to get a job so they can help with bills. Soon they have children of
there own and get sent to the same school were they will probably end up in the
same life scenario. But if these kids find just one good teacher that makes them feel
intelligent and yes even loved then the cycle can be broken and that really the only way
any community can move forward. Hopefully I will be that teacher to these kids the way
my mother was for me and many of her own students
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