Excerpt

I am working on finishing up my cultural autobiography for my multicultural education course. This is the kind of paper I love writing because I get to use my own voice rather than a "professional/technical/graduate student voice." I have written 17 pages which speak to my life experiences and speak from my heart. The end of the paper relates my cultural understanding to the implications on my teaching.

Here is an excerpt:

Throughout my first three years of teaching, I was provided adopted curriculums for reading and math, which I used as Gospel. My understanding was that the adopted curriculum was what I needed to teach; therefore I taught it with fidelity. During my first year, especially, I found that blue scripted print in the teachers’ manual to be very helpful. I followed each lesson in succession, yet I often felt uninspired because the material I was teaching was not “mine” and I did not have a sense of true ownership of the words that I spoke. Each time I had the opportunity to invest more of myself into the lessons, adding my creativity, and drawing from my own experiences and connections, I became a better teacher. If the same notion is applied to students, it becomes vibrantly clear why some students fail to become invested in their learning. Given the use of streamlined curriculum packages that are designed to meet the needs of the standards, rather than the students, we can hardly expect students from diverse backgrounds to flourish in their role as learners when the content does not sufficiently pertain to who they are. Just as I sometimes felt like a shell of the teacher I had the potential to be if only I could put more of myself into my teaching, surely students could explode to reach a whole new potential given ideas, concepts, and lessons made meaningful to them. The consequences of such curriculum use are twofold. Firstly, if teachers are not reflecting true passion for the scripted curriculum, that lack of passion will be evident and transferred to students. Also, if the curriculum does not draw upon students’ own life experiences, cultures, languages, and backgrounds, surely they will not be as enthused and motivated as they would be if those aspects were incorporated. If teachers incorporate who the students are into the lessons, based on authentic knowledge and relationships with those students and their families, I believe students will rise to the occasion in their role just as I can in mine.

Ok, this part of the paper is a little more "professional voice-ish" than others, but as I was writing it, I thought that it was a piece I wanted to share with my blog readers.

I am always thinking about you guys!

I am really interested in what experiences other teachers have and whether or not my thoughts are consistent with those of other teachers or way off base.

As always, I will eagerly await your comments!