Transcript This We Believe - Otterbein University

Otterbein
Pre-service
College
MAT
Teachers
Allan
Gunn
MAT We Believe
This
Teachers
Ken Kaiser
Otterbein
Pre-service
College
Kristen Ryan
Jennifer Gledhill
Stephanie Stewart
With an Urban
Focus
Amanda Dewey
Columbus Public Otterbein
Anne Teacher
Keane
Schools
College
In-service HeaganEducator
Hempy
Lynnly Wood
Diane Ross
Teachers
Al LaBarre
Urban
Student
Subject
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Educators Who Value Working with this Age
Group and are Prepared to do so
• wants to work with middle school
• values and respects the student's needs and is prepared to
guide this age group through awkward and difficult times
in becoming a young adult.
• chooses to be in that environment, instead of being placed.
• Sometimes urban settings are a persons last choice and the
students immediately recognize that a teacher does not
want to be in their school.
• when students trust you, they confide in you and give you
the opportunity to help them.
• urban students create a family
Courageous Collaborative
Leadership
An Inviting and Safe Environment
• Every child needs to feel safe and comfortable in the
classroom. Everyone needs to feel like they belong and is
able to be successful in the classroom.
• It is possible that a student from an urban setting may only
feel safe during their time at school. That means that this
tenet is integral to success in the urban setting. I feel there
is nothing more important than making students feel safe
and loved.
• Some students may face extreme struggles such as
homelessness, abuse, hunger, gang activity, drug use,
retention, etc.
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Dear Miss Wood,
• How come you are not applying for next year? I
think you should because I think those 6th graders
next year would love you to be their teacher. I
know I do. And they will have fun with you. I will
be mad if you don’t because I will not be able to
come down to your classroom to say “hi” to you.
Even though I don’t do my work I still think you
are a wonderful teacher and I bet everyone in
Period 5 thinks so too.
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Love,
•
Charles
High Expectations for All
• High expectations requires adults to start where students are by
understanding their needs, interests, and styles of learning, THEN
fashion a substantive curriculum and pace for learning around the
students. High expectations promote positive attitudes and behaviors.
It motivates students to tackle challenging learning activities.
• As an educator, I can not let down. They may have shut down, but as
the teacher in charge, I must set high expectations for each of my
students no matter what time of year or the situation they might be in.
• Many teachers do not set high expectations for themselves, and in turn
the students are not reaching the high expectations that are set for
them.
• I have to set high expectations for myself before I can go on expecting
great things from the students. I thought that I had every reason to
believe that my students were not going to do the work for me, when
really it was my mind set.
Students and Teachers Engaged in
Active Learning
• Middle level students are developmentally capable of
taking more control of their own learning than younger
students.
• teaching at this level of education should be reciprocal.
• The classroom teacher becomes more of a “facilitator”
• Some urban students come to school with a different skill
set and base of knowledge than do suburban students.
• accept and learn the “language” of the students
• “Slang Dictionary”
• students were able to share a part of their “culture” with
me and build valuable self-esteem as they served as
“teachers” while I served as a “student.”
An Adult Advocate for Every Student
• Advocacy is inherent attitude of caring and action
• Advocate is a person within the middle school who assumes ownership
of the responsibility of nurturing and guiding a student through
personal and academic struggles focusing on a goal of providing
support when there is none and protection when needed.
• In an urban setting adult advocates pay close attention to the social,
economic and academic realities of their students. It is equally
important to recognize and understand the extended family
relationships for that student.
• Acaring person who builds a trust relationship with the student while
maintaining a demeanor of support not coddling, advise not sympathy,
motivation and expectation of excellence not apathy and acceptance.
• Advocates may be ignorant of or not be properly trained for the impact
of inherent power structures that contribute to the achievement gap.
• An advocate may inadvertently participate in the dangerous cycle of
low performance and failure for poor students and students of color.
• Advocates may be required to challenge old paradigms and power
structures that exist in today’s urban setting.
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Multiple Learning and Teaching
Approaches that Respond to their
Diversity
This tenet means teaching the way students understand and learn best
and giving them opportunities to learn using methods that suit their
individuality.
Teachers naturally teach the way they learn best. A teacher who grew
up in a suburban setting becomes a suburban learner, and as a teacher,
will teach with suburban methods unless they make a conscientious
effort not to
In an urban setting, this tenet describes more than catering to multiple
cognitive/intellectual intelligences and differences in learning styles. It
is about appealing to the cultural, emotional, and social intelligences,
and capitalizing on the urban students’ interests and prior knowledge
as well.
Disequilibrium between the way teachers from non-urban communities
are raised and prepared
Urban schools also tend to have a heavy focus on standards because of
the need to improve their test scores. This can lead to scripted
curriculum
The limited resources available in an urban setting may also pose a
limit in the approaches a teacher can use.
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Organizational Structures that
Support Meaningful Relationships
and
Learning
in an urban setting it is most important that an educator chooses to be
in that environment, instead of being placed. These students deserve
teacher who wants to be there and are committed to being a role model
and a guide for the students.
• I feel because these students encounter many different obstacles, they
are most concerned with an educator who is dedicated to their needs.
In other settings teacher may be gradually pushed to find the
boundaries. In my experience in urban settings, the students
immediately push the teacher to find the boundaries and to see if that
teacher is committed to them, even when they are not at their best. By
challenging the teacher the students are measuring whether the
educator values their needs.
• Though I find it is harder to have immediate relationships with urban
students, the intrinsic reward when you do make those connections is
greater than I have experienced in other settings
• Once the students trust you, they confide in you and give you the
opportunity to help them. These students create a family and I feel in
the urban setting when the teacher values working with these students
the reward is immeasurable
Assessment and Evaluation
Programs that Promote Quality
Learning
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Assessment and evaluation programs that promote quality learning.
Students do not take assessment seriously. They do not value it
Many tests that are prewritten are not geared for an urban setting.
Assessment and evaluation programs need to be done on an individual
basis and in a variety of ways.
The same belief needs to be done in an urban setting, but with much
more emphasis on individuality and variation.
Teachers should work on assessing students through projects. If
students have the opportunity to take ownership of their work, they will
be more likely to value the assessment.
When giving a written test, teachers should word questions and use
examples that are common knowledge for students in an urban setting.
Oral defense is another successful way to assess students.