Years in Education: 7-10 Male Heterosexual Caucasian First in Family to Graduate From College Upper Elementary & Lower Secondary Math, Language, and Media Literacy Teacher Q: What do you have in common with your students? A: There is an archaic notion that an educator must have all of the answers in order to merit their rightful place at the front of the classroom. I think that idea is B.S! Or as my mom would say, "Bologna Slices!" Educators should avoid this trap at all costs. It is divisive and contrary to an engaging learning environment. It only serves to separate the one with the answers from those who are there to seek them out. At the heart of my instruction emerges a multi-strand rope that is threaded by students from all of my classes. We share care, kindness, responsibility, and otherliness within an environment of co-lead learners. In other words we create community, and share a collective duty to grow and strengthen it in common. In my opinion, sharing something in common like this with students must come first before any real learning becomes possible. Hence, why community building is at the foundation. If education was merely about compliance then it would quickly digress into indoctrination instead. Students need to know how much I care before they will be asked to care about what I know. Once established community can protect, support, challenge, be safe to fail, and succeed. Along the path, we become witnesses to the strengths and weaknesses of everyone. I am modelling my own humanity and incredible abilities to make mistakes alongside of the students. We become relentless encouragers of one another. We find the positive in the learning even when it looks like a train wreck in the process. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: Long answer: It absolutely matters that students and teachers share things in common. We are a people longing to connect, whether it is on a superficial level of eating at the same restaurants and liking the same music, or at a deeper level of human struggle such as a compassion for social justice issues it is crucial that teachers and students have things in common. When we connect in school, we create community. When we create community, we create a caring classroom. Short answer: Yes. Will is part of the original cohort of TED-Ed Innovative Educators from around the world. Follow his adventures in teaching and learning on Instagram @imagemined, through his escheweducationalist blog, and on Twitter @WillGourley. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong
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Years in Education: 20+ Jewish White Female First in Family to Graduate From College High School Honors Algebra, Pre-Calculus, Honors Problem-Solving Seminar Teacher Q: What do you have in common with your students? A: I have a love of puzzles, and most of my students do, too. If we have a few minutes left in class, sometimes I will pose a riddle and the whole class lights up. I have a play table in the back of my classroom with various puzzles and games from childhood, such as Connect Four or the Cracker Barrel Wooden Peg puzzle, and students often come to my classroom early to play. I love watching the light in their eyes when they work on puzzles either together or individually and solve them - it's such a good feeling of accomplishment when you get something on your own, or even with a little help from someone else. Growing up, I was surrounded by a lot of love, but there was also a lot of turbulence in my family. My mother was married and divorced by the age of 19, with me, her nine-month old baby, in tow. I grew up living with my extended family--my grandparents, aunts, and an uncle. My father was not really present for me. My mother was more like a sister. We fought constantly, and I always went elsewhere for solace. For me, math put me in the present moment; I could do math problems or puzzles, and all the issues I had with my parents would go away. I like to give students problems that take their minds off of the baggage they bring into the classroom - we all have it. And for a few minutes each day, students can smile at the delight of solving the riddle or of the trickery involved in it. Even if they don't have the commonality of liking math, I try to make it fun for them so that we all can share those moments of joy when they think, "Aha!" or "I get it!" Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: Yes, because when you instinctively see the problem that you had when you were growing up, you can help. For me, it was coming in with baggage or being a perfectionist. I work in a private school where most students strive for high grades. Personally knowing that sometimes you don't get the grade you think you deserve, I try to let them know that it will all be okay if they don't get that A on the first test. I even made a huge poster that says, "Everything will be OK," which I sometimes need to draw their attention to. But I have found that with math, it's not always about ability. I think the most important thing is letting them know that you believe in them. I had several adults in my life that thankfully believed in me, and I know that if a teacher thinks you matter or are important, your confidence soars in that class. Even if you don't have things in common, for example, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, every person deserves to feel important. As a Jew, I have been discriminated against, and I never, ever want my students to feel that way. My biggest priority in class, aside from getting the material across, is having a warm, inviting classroom for ALL students, whether we have commonalities or not. It's a privilege to be teaching my students, and I often learn more from them than they do from me. My job is to make them all shine, even if only for the moment that they are in my classroom. Lisa is a TED-Ed Innovative Educator. She is the creative genius behind many brain-bending TED-Ed lessons such as Can you solve the locker riddle? and Can you solve the virus riddle? Follow her on Twitter @Lisaqt314 . Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong Years in Education: 4-6 White Female Heterosexual First in Family to Graduate From College Former High School International Studies Teacher Q: What do you have in common with your students? A: I grew up as a first generation college student with a stay-at-home mom and a blue collar father who worked most if not all weekends of the month, to enable my mom to stay home with us and to give us the opportunities my parents wanted us to have in our affluent suburb, where there was rampant elitism. I use the term "rampant elitism" because despite the fact that my family's class status didn't impede my academic success, from my perspective, the pressure and the boundaries of elitism were almost always present in my life, though often quiet and subtle. As a student, elitism was always more apparent in my peer group than in my teachers. Group project work sessions were always held at the homes which were more desirable. Certain students always won in our school elections and ran almost all of the school clubs. We had a strong population of students who refused any attire that was not clearly expensive. When it came time to drive, there was a clear divide between who was driving a new vehicle and those of us who sported something older. My experience as a student prompted me to be highly motivated to want to see a change in how other students experienced school. I know I felt just a shadow of what many other more significantly marginalized groups feel. I always wanted my classroom to be a safe space for students where they felt free to share their honest, even if at times controversial, opinions or feelings. My work ethic came from watching my family push in every way to offer me and my two younger siblings the best possible options for our futures. My dad was initially an elevator mechanic and eventually an industrial mechanic in the Everett Boeing plant. He switched to working nights instead of the prized day shift that he had held for over 20 years because the overtime was being cut on that shift and he didn't want our quality of life to suffer. He continued to work until was mandated to stop by a doctor due to a late diagnosis of Stage 4 lung cancer. I have no doubt he would have continued to work through his illness even longer without complaint if his brain tumors weren't affecting his balance on the catwalks. Even in the last weeks of his life, he complained that they wouldn't let him fix the crookedly hung paintings in his hospital room. The drive that my dad fostered in me is guided by my mom's influence. She is the reason I care so much about how people feel. Her gentle pushing and prompting, with firm, high expectations (regardless of my low starting point) inspired my classroom management approach when I was a teacher and led me to have great success with a wide swath of students at the different schools I worked in. My mother's influence is the reason I am so driven to connect to others. She taught me to value everyone's story and it's part of the reason that I am so passionate in being supportive however I can to every teacher I work with now. Ultimately, my mother is probably the reason that I am participating in ROLL CALL, despite the fact that I am usually not a big sharer of my feelings or personal life. I am hopeful that someone may glean something from all of my sharing that resonates with them. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: It absolutely matters that teachers and students have things in common. That bond and connection created by common interests motivates drive and motivation that cannot be replicated if a teacher does not take the time to find or create a common interest with a student. As teachers we are expected to be role models for our students, part of that status requires that we ensure that all students can see part of themselves in us so that we really can function effectively within that role for students. I am a white woman. That gives me an immediate connection to many of my of my white female students. For my nonwhite and male students, I find I connect with them better over time. Because we lack the obvious outward connections, it takes time creating that connection by sharing and establishing bonds over what experiences or values we both share. For me, sharing my background with my students that includes my love of sitting in the garage tinkering with my dad or baking with my mom for big family potluck gatherings was usually a great opening connection with my students who didn't automatically see themselves as similar to me. Krystal has recently transitioned out of the classroom to become her school's Instructional Technology Curriculum Leader. Connect with her on Twitter @KJStevie72. Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong Years in Education: 11--15 Caucasian Heterosexual Female First in Family to Graduate From College English Language Development & AVID High School Teacher Q: What do you have in common with your students? A: Like my English Language Learner students, I worked hard in school to learn another language, Spanish, which helps me to connect not only with their language-related struggles, but also allows me to better form relationships with their families and encourage their primary language development. Travel has also enabled some surprising commonalities. For the past eleven years, I have spent a considerable amount of time in Asia during my breaks, so in addition to being familiar with some of my students' home towns, I know the feeling of being a stranger in a strange land, with little knowledge of the language, ability to communicate with others, and the general discomfort of being in a completely unfamiliar setting. This helps me relate to and empathize with newcomer students who are often feeling the same way within a week to a few months after moving to the United States. Another thing I have in common with several of my students is that I was the first in my family to graduate from college. While I was extremely fortunate that my parents were overall very supportive of me throughout high school, they were ill-equipped to help me navigate the world of college applications and the FAFSA. I did not have a close relationship with a guidance counselor or teacher to help me with the complexities of applications, moving away, and enrolling in college, but in retrospect, I wish I had. I hope to relate that experience to my students who may be too afraid to ask questions. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: Yes, I believe that it is important that students and teachers share commonalities. I feel that it is extremely impactful for students to see their reflection in and have shared experiences with their teachers. That being said, there are many things a teacher can do to cultivate authentic relationships and establish mutual respect and trust. I also believe that there is much to be learned from a diversity of experiences and perspectives, and frankly, learning from and about my students has made me a better person. That being said: has it been as beneficial for them to learn about my experience as a white woman? I'm not so sure. Our teacher education programs need to actively recruit more diverse candidates to effectively represent our student population. Our students need to make those connections through better representation in education and a host of other fields to better help them aspire to be whatever it is they choose to be. Tiffany is a TED-Ed Innovative Educator. To find out more about how Tiffany's Innovation Project is connecting classrooms around the world, follow her on Twitter @BadgerEDHS. Years in Education: 11-15 African-American Male Heterosexual First in Family to Graduate From College 5th Grade Teacher Q: What do you have in common with your students? A: It’s rare to see a male teacher in an elementary classroom, and African-American men are even rarer. In my school of more than 60 employees, only five are male. I believe this has an impact on our male students – especially those without positive male role models in their homes. But it also provides men like me with a unique opportunity to reach out to these students and inspire them to do great things both in the classroom and in the community. We have the power and responsibility to prevent an achievement gap before it begins. While some kids dream of becoming a teacher as they grow up, I didn’t figure out my calling until I was in my 20s. As a student, I was every teacher’s worst nightmare. I was constantly in trouble and failed 4th, 7th, 8th and 9th grades before being forced out of school at the age of 16. It was December of my 2nd year in the 9th grade when the school counselor called me to the office to tell me it was best that I pursue a GED and learn a trade. I plead my case and asked for a second chance, but the decision was made, and my time as a student was over. Within a year, I received my G.E.D., and I spent the next decade bouncing from job to job and living paycheck to paycheck. In 1998, my mom passed away after a long bout with breast cancer, and I struggled with her loss for months. Just when things started to get better, my dad passed away as well. Losing both parents within six months of each other was the toughest stretch in my life. I did a lot of self-reflecting and soul-searching during that period, and in the fall of 1999, I enrolled in Livingstone College to major in music with the mindset that I was going to make a difference. To fulfill my college community service requirements, I began volunteering at a local elementary school. Not much had changed since I was in school – students were given worksheets, the teacher sat at their desk, and students with behavior issues were allowed to sleep in class or were removed from the environment completely. I was disturbed by what I observed, and began volunteering and mentoring in that classroom. The next semester, I changed my major to elementary education. I received a full academic scholarship, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree. in Elementary Education in 2003. As a teacher, my main goal is to give my students a learning experience radically different from my own – which is exactly what I’m doing today. My classroom, better known as Johnsonville, really isn’t a classroom at all. It’s a collaborative community – a real-world simulation of adulthood where kids come to work and play as they learn about personal finance, government, and global affairs. In Johnsonville, there are no lectures. I integrate technology and problem-based learning to capture the attention of even the most disengaged students. Just like in the real world, my students show what they can do through projects, teamwork, and research. Is it working? North Carolina state testing shows that my problem-based learning model improves student scores. My students consistently score higher than other science classes in my district. At the end of the 2016 school year, my fifth-grade students scored an average of 85 percent on the state science exam, while my school as a whole scored 58 percent. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: Yes. Anthony is the 2016-2017 Rowan-Salisbury Teacher of the Year and is a TED-Ed Innovative Educator. To follow the adventures in learning happening in his real-world simulation classroom, visit johnsonvillelearningnetwork.com and follow Anthony on Twitter @a_p_johnson. Years in Education: 11-15 Caucasian Male Heterosexual First in Family to Graduate From College Library Media, Technology, and Language Arts Teacher Q: What do you have in common with your students? A: As a student growing up on the North Shore of Boston, MA, I managed to progress through school with a minimum of interest and engagement. Neither sufficiently advanced to be flagged as “gifted”, nor challenged enough to require individualized support, I floated straight through that bucolic center passage of mediocrity, serenely disengaged from what was transpiring around me. When the time came to acknowledge the oncoming reality of high school graduation, I had no ambitions to attend college. I had no understanding of what college was, or how it worked. While my mother had returned to school as an adult to earn her Associate’s Degree, no one in my immediate or extended family had ever graduated with a four-year degree. I simply couldn’t imagine a scenario in which I was a college student because I had no conceptual framework, no schema, for what that even looked like. Faced with this uncertainty, I fell into assuming that I, too, would graduate high school and find employment somewhere, doing something. And this would no doubt have been the case were it not for a series of serendipitous events that directed me, last minute, to attend college. In the years since, I’ve become the first member of my family to graduate college with a four-year degree. I later spent time traveling and teaching in Beijing and India and discovered that I have a heart for education. Returning to school in 2004, I earned my Master’s degree in education and have spent the past decade focused on creating an environment that encourages students to assume greater agency in their own education. I mention this because I honestly believe that my experiences as a middling and disinterested student has provided me with a keen sense of empathy for similar students in my classes and in our community. How can I help to build learning opportunities that encourage engagement and place students in the driver’s seat of their own education? How can I help spark the interest of a student who is struggling to find their place and create a stronger sense of purpose and agency in their school experience? Q: Does it matter that sudents and teachers have things in common? A: I think it's essential for students and teachers to find common ground. Teaching is about relationships, and finding shared interests, experiences, and realities help to forge and develop relationships and strengthen empathy between everyone involved. Teachers need to understand and relate to the experiences of their students. Place themselves in the shoes - and the seats! - of their students in order to build relevant lessons that spark engagement. Conversely, I believe it’s equally important for students to see that the circle of their experiences overlaps with that of their teachers. That there is a commonality, a shared commitment to growth and learning on both sides of the relationship. I read somewhere that ‘Teaching is relational, not transactional’, and that, I believe, sums it up quite nicely! David is a 2017 TED-Ed Innovative Educator. He is currently connecting students across communiites to work together to document our collective history. Follow David on Twitter @designsaunders. Years in Education: 4-6 Caucasian Female Heterosexual First in Family to Graduate From College High School English Teacher Q: What do you have in common with your students? A: When I was a student, I was always too much. I asked too many questions, I was too loud, I was too anxious to sit still. I was also always too bored to care about what we were learning. It seemed to me that school took something I had always loved (reading and writing) and turned it into something I loathed. I wasn't stupid, but I failed quite a few classes in 9th and 10th grades. I even failed my 9th grade English class, which is pretty ironic considering I taught freshman English for the first four years of my career. If someone had told me that I would become a high school English teacher I would have laughed and laughed and laughed, but that's what makes it so incredible. Anything can happen. I want to be the kind of teacher that takes something students love and makes it even better, or something students can't stand and show them how amazingly-ridiculously-mind-blowingly-life-changingly beautiful language is. Okay so I made up the word changingly. But that's because language is awesome. My students know that I am there for them, no matter what. Without judgment. I tell them I am a real model more than a role model, and that we're all imperfect and in it together. Every single one of us, teachers and students included, learns best when we are challenged, and we grow the most when we are outside of our comfort zones. We all learn from each other and need each other. We cannot do any of this alone. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: It matters so much that teachers and students have things in common. As a student who never fit the mold, I was bored and rebellious in school. I ended up attending an alternative high school and it changed my life. I am now teaching in the same district where I once sat at the end of my first semester of 10th grade and told my mom I was over it. I was dropping out. I hated it. I recently had a conversation with one of my sophomores who was refusing to work and told me he was just "done with school." I was able to say to him, "I have been where you are and felt what you are feeling right now. I want you to know I understand. How can I help? What do you need?" Is that going to change his entire life? Probably not, but it's a good start. I also believe that we have more commonalities than differences, and that when we focus on the love that we all need and share, the lessons flow freely. Building relationships based on understanding and love is the single most important factor for effective teaching and learning. Rachel is a 2017 Washington State Teacher Leader. Follow her on Twitter @wildnfreewiley. Years in education: 20+ Cuban-American Heterosexual Male First in family to graduate from college Middle School Science & Technology Teacher Q: What do you have in common with your students? A: When I started teaching in South Central Los Angeles back in 1991, I was a young Hispanic heterosexual male in a female dominated profession. Frankly, that never was an issue to me because I was raised by my mother. My father wasn't present so I was used to being around women. Teaching in L.A. was within my comfort zone because my school was 85% Hispanic and almost 15% African American. The staff I worked with in L.A. was quite diverse too. We had a Cuban-American teacher (me), a couple of Mexican-American teachers, a Panamanian-American teacher, several African American teachers, and a few Caucasian teachers! And three teachers on staff were homosexual. A great team to work with. I started teaching mixed classes of beginning English speakers to English-Only speakers. Because I could speak Spanish I moved to teaching full classes of beginning English speakers so my classes were made up of 100% Hispanic kids. I had Mexican, Salvadoran, Nicaraguan, and Guatemalen students! Back then California had a full bilingual program so that kids could learn in their native language while increasing their English learning as they progressed instead of hearing English all the time and learning what they could. When my wife and I moved to Washington, I left my Hispanic kids and moved to a rural town teaching kids that were predominantly Caucasian. It was a culture shock! While I do miss teaching Hispanic kids, I do enjoy working with the kids in my community. I live right across the street from my rural school now so I’m not just their teacher, I’m neighbor to many of my students. And I’ve been here for 20 years! I never speak Spanish anymore though. I barely remember my native tongue. I’m so Americanized that I don’t even remember what it was like being Cuban. Part of me has always thought that I am so American because I grew up in Miami. But I really didn’t. In Miami, I grew up Cuban in America. My elementary school and junior high school were both predominantly Hispanic (mostly Cuban) and African American. Now, I am all American. I’ll have to remedy that someday. I just don’t know how. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: I think teachers and students having things in common matters. My own daughter admitted that her favorite teacher in 7th grade was the youngest teacher on the staff. It was my daughter who told me that she really liked that teacher because she was, "relevant." That's where I got that from because until my daughter said that to me, I didn't know the generation gap was a thing. Until my daughter mentioned relevancy, I didn't realize how much kids appreciate having teachers that they can relate to. I try to relate to my students by learning about the things they like. I have always enjoyed talking to my students about things they like. It makes school more of a family setting and less of a job. Plus, it keeps me current. I am 49 years old, almost 50. When I started teaching in grades 4 and 5 I was 24 years old. At that time I felt that I was still relevant to my students because I was young enough to understand their pop culture such as music and TV shows. Fast forward to 2017 and I'm seeing the generation gap between me and my students more and more. I refer to things such as 9/11 and have to back up and explain because of all the blank stares I get. Luckily, I'm young enough at heart to listen to some music that middle school students listen to, I watch TV shows and movies that middle school students watch, and I try to keep up with sports so when they talk about it I can converse. I am a geek at heart, a big fan of Star Trek and Star Wars, so I have quite a bit in common with my fellow geeky students. I'm also a user of social media and technology so I can connect with students who also use those. So while the generation gap is WIDE and very REAL I find ways to stay current while not being creepy, like saying, "tots cray cray." Yes, I've tried saying it and let's just say it didn't work! So now I work extra hard to connect with my students. My daughter and my students are my connection to the current generation. Reading about Gen Z is just not enough, you have to connect with Gen Z kids. Al is a 2017 Washington State Teacher Leader. Follow him on Twitter @educatoral. Years in education: 4-6 Latina Female First in family to graduate from college Kindergarten Teacher Q: What do you have in common with your students? A: When I was in school as a child in Seattle, I moved a lot and my mom did everything she could to save money for a house. We were mostly in survival mode until I turned 12, and finally bought a home in Puyallup. In Seattle, I had a very diverse group of friends whose parents valued their cultural roots. My best friends were Swedish, Venezuelan, and Polish. I didn't use Spanish at school, but I got the message that being different and having different cultural traditions was the norm. When we moved to Puyallup, it was a whole other world. Everyone was white. Although adults were nice and respectful, the message I got in school here was very different. Kids here had a specific association with Latinos, and it was very negative, so I stopped using Spanish all together. Especially as a teenager, when it is so important to affirm a child's identity, I wish I had come across adults or students who were curious about my culture. I wish I had come across people who thought it was an asset to speak another language, or who expressed positive views about those I identified with. Instead, I worked very hard from 12-18 to hide things about me that made me a Latina so that I could be socially successful in school. The more my mom tried to force me to use Spanish at home, the more I rebelled and refused to use it. I still had a great experience in school and I can look back on with fond memories, but I wonder all the time where my language skills would be if I hadn't stopped using Spanish for 6 years. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: When I was doing my student teaching, I became close to many of the Latina girls in my 5th grade class. Since my Spanish isn't 100% on point anymore, I tend to use it in Spanglish style, switching between languages depending on which one lends itself better to the message I'm trying to get across. The girls communicated in a similar style, and we clicked right away. I think there's a huge need for bicultural models in my generation and in the generations after. The immigrant generation (parents) provide guidelines on "who we are" and "where we come from," but are not always able to help their kids navigate an American world. With this group of 5th grade girls, I felt like I could encourage part of their identities that made them Latinas, but I could also talk to them about college and careers and parents. One event that struck me most about our interactions was when one of the girls asked me to be her Godmother for her Quinceañera. I was excited and honored, but when I asked her what I needed to do to prepare for such an important day, she laughed and said, "You know! You've had one, right?" I shook my head. "No! I'm Peruvian." We have a lot of Latinos in our school district, but most are Mexican. We were able to share with each other what kinds of things bonded us as Latinos, but also the differences we have between countries. It was a great moment of learning, but also served as a lesson for us both. You can always learn from each other, no matter your position as teacher or student. We were equals in that moment, and I hope that I can create more moments of that kind of equality in my classroom as long as I teach. Jill is a 2017 Washington State Teacher Leader. Follow her on Twitter @LlamaLovesK. Years in education: 2-3 Mexican Male LGBTQ First in family to graduate from college High School AVID Teacher Q: What do you have in common with your students? A: I currently teach in the community where I was born and raised. My students and I both share the knowledge and experiences of our culture and the influences of our social and geographical area. We, my students and I, were raised with Mexican American traditions and share our community as part of our upbringing narrative. Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? A: I am a firm believer that "students don't care how much you know until they know how much you care" (John C. Maxwell). Having commonalities with students allow teachers to make connections with them, and in return, gives students the sense of comfort and belonging. Marcos is a 2017 TED-Ed Innovative Educator is the Founder of the South Texas Ideas Festival. To learn more about how this event is invigorating the Rio Grande Valley and the youth who will someday lead there, visit stxideas.com. |
ROLL CALLHumanizing the gaps separating teachers and students. Archives
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