Teacher Education
This section of PBL Place is a portfolio and reflection of some of my work as a doctoral student at the University of New Mexico in the Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education program. My goal is to become a professor who teaches people how to teach middle and high school students. I want to help turn traditional classrooms into PBL places!
My Philosophy of Teacher Education
As part of my coursework at UNM, I was asked to write a Philosophy of Teacher Education Statement. The following is a combination reflection on and revision of my original philosophy of teacher education statement, which is included as an artifact to illustrate my development and transformation as I grow into the next chapter of my career as a teacher educator. Throughout the reflection/statement of philosophy I have embedded links to other artifact/reflection pairings that further elaborate on and inform my philosophy of teacher education. Taken as a whole, this portfolio provides a window into my evolving philosophy of teacher education.
Introduction
My original Philosophy of Teacher Education Statement (Artifact #1) is a rambling shotgun blast of my thoughts about teacher education at the outset of my second semester as a doctoral student (keeping in mind that my first semester as a doc student happened entirely and intensely in the month of July). In short, it lacks the clarity and cohesion of someone with an established identity as a teacher educator. I am afraid this too will reflect a student/teacher/teacher educator in transition. I am now approximately one-fifth of the way through my PhD program, and I am only marginally closer to becoming the teacher educator I want to be in the future.
Two considerations seem to be central to my core values as a future teacher educator: equity and the future. Ensuring that the pre-service teachers I teach will provide an equitable education for their students is my most sacred mission. Second to that is my desire to push education firmly into the 21st century by advocating for and participating in the evolution of pedagogical practices.
Future
We need to act now. Technology and artificial intelligence (A.I.) are changing our society faster than educators are adapting to it. While the debate goes on about whether or not AI will replace teachers, it will certainly replace workers in other areas.
Equity
As a future teacher educator, I am concerned about the level of adequate preparation our current educational practices and systems are providing our diverse student population. Every student needs to be adequately prepared regardless of their culture or background. Developing future teachers who can place equity at the crossroads of 21st-century pedagogy and relevant curriculum is my call to action.
Equity, Education, and the Future
Part of my concern about the future of education comes from Ted Dintersmith’s What Schools Could Be. While the world may not undergo as drastic and rapid a change as I suggest in a reflection about the book and other related topics (Artifact/Reflection #2), I am worried that the field of education, and teacher education with regard to secondary education in particular, is evolving at far too slow a pace and that we could be inadvertently leaving a generation of people in the lurch.
Even when educators shift their practice to better reflect the 21st century, there’s still a risk that marginalized students will continue to be under-served. This brings me to my second major philosophical focus regarding teacher education: equity. When I arrived at the University of New Mexico, the phrase culturally-responsive teacher wasn’t in my vocabulary. It wasn’t a point of emphasis in my teacher preparation program. I was embarrassed that I was in the dark about it. I started reflecting on my practice, on my eight years as an English teacher in the American South East. I wondered, was I culturally-responsive? Did I promote equity and provide an appropriate education for all of my diverse students?
Fortunately, I instinctively adopted a lot of culturally-responsive teaching practices. My mentor-teacher differentiated and modified assignments and assessments for her diverse students, and I modeled my initial practice after hers. As I grew into my own identity as a teacher, I continued to practice equitable practices, often going out of my way to create robust opportunities for students to direct their own learning. I more extensively discuss equity in education in my third artifact/reflection pair for my portfolio.
Respecting Other Ways of Knowing
One area that I would like to mention specifically as it relates to equity and my philosophy of teacher education is standardized assessments. I can’t stand them. Standardized assessments, especially those multiple choice tests K-12 students are inundated with in a seemingly endless struggle to quantify our kids, might be the single biggest problem in education. The real issue is what we do with the results of those tests. We let them influence and dictate policies that impact what and how we can teach. We take some arbitrary numbers about a paltry few content areas and measure a laughably small set of skills, and then we think we have a good picture of what our students can do. We think that those test results are an indication of our students’ intelligence, as if we even had a single, agreed-upon definition of intelligence.
My major gripe with using standardized tests as a way to measure the success of teachers and even to some extent the success of teacher preparation programs, is that the tests are not an accurate reflection of student ability. They do not take into consideration other ways of knowing. Those tests are a reflection of White supremacy and the legacy of settler colonialism (Tuck & Gorlewski, 2016). They offend me, and I take umbrage with their ubiquity. Even in higher education, we are using standardized assessments, like the edTPA which I wrote about for my fourth artifact/reflection pairing. I feel like part of my role as a teacher educator is to try to educate politicians and the public about the risks of using our current model of standardized testing.
The role of teacher educator is something I am only beginning to learn about, but I can already tell there are more facets to the job than I can currently see. In my fifth artifact/reflection pairing I write about an internship I had this semester and how that experience afforded me a glimpse into the role of teacher educator. While it was incredibly beneficial, the internship did leave me with questions about how I might gain experience as a researcher, a significant part of the job (Dinkelman, 2011; Goodwin, Roegman, & Reagan, 2016; Murray & Male, 2005). One issue I am having with respect to narrowing my philosophy and my focus is my digressive nature and multiple research interests. I want to do it all. I want to innovate new pedagogical practices and publish articles about them. I want to design and create a model teaching lab for UNM to use with pre-service teachers. I also want to study the myriad implications project-based learning has for education, especially when it comes to equity.
I’m hungry to be a part of the solution, and I know that means I don’t have to have the answers myself. I love collaboration. When I talk about being a part of the solution I really do mean just a part of it. I want to contribute, not solve education’s problems by myself. I think part of being a contributor to the solution is through action. I want to move beyond the classroom and into the real world. In my final artifact/reflection pair, I explain an idea I had for taking action against neoliberal efforts which undermine equitable educational practices and harm the students they purport to help (Baltodano, 2012).
Reflecting on my initial philosophy of teacher, I am reminded of the naivete of novice teachers. I am reminded of all the times my naivete caught up with me. The former English teacher in me is reminded of Faber from Fahrenheit 451:
“Man, when I was young I shoved my ignorance in people's faces. They beat me with sticks. By the time I was forty my blunt instrument had been honed to a fine cutting point for me. If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you'll never learn.” (p. 104)
I can only imagine that I will look back on some of my wild and brash ideas and be mortified at how naive I am/was. I’m okay with that. Unlike the older Faber, I am a couple years away from forty, but I can still look back in retrospect at my journey to the present. I can see how I’ve grown as a teacher and how I’m growing into the role of teacher educator.
Time will tell the extent of my current naivete. Right now my philosophy of teacher education might be summed up as neatly as:
My mission is to train diverse humans to be flexible, adaptive, and culturally-responsive teachers and to grow my and my students’ humanity in the process.
As I transition from a high school English teacher into a post-secondary teacher educator, my philosophy will grow and transform. As I find my niche, my eye will remain fixed on the horizon, and I will fuel the fire in my belly with the promotion of equity in education.
References
Introduction
My original Philosophy of Teacher Education Statement (Artifact #1) is a rambling shotgun blast of my thoughts about teacher education at the outset of my second semester as a doctoral student (keeping in mind that my first semester as a doc student happened entirely and intensely in the month of July). In short, it lacks the clarity and cohesion of someone with an established identity as a teacher educator. I am afraid this too will reflect a student/teacher/teacher educator in transition. I am now approximately one-fifth of the way through my PhD program, and I am only marginally closer to becoming the teacher educator I want to be in the future.
Two considerations seem to be central to my core values as a future teacher educator: equity and the future. Ensuring that the pre-service teachers I teach will provide an equitable education for their students is my most sacred mission. Second to that is my desire to push education firmly into the 21st century by advocating for and participating in the evolution of pedagogical practices.
Future
We need to act now. Technology and artificial intelligence (A.I.) are changing our society faster than educators are adapting to it. While the debate goes on about whether or not AI will replace teachers, it will certainly replace workers in other areas.
Equity
As a future teacher educator, I am concerned about the level of adequate preparation our current educational practices and systems are providing our diverse student population. Every student needs to be adequately prepared regardless of their culture or background. Developing future teachers who can place equity at the crossroads of 21st-century pedagogy and relevant curriculum is my call to action.
Equity, Education, and the Future
Part of my concern about the future of education comes from Ted Dintersmith’s What Schools Could Be. While the world may not undergo as drastic and rapid a change as I suggest in a reflection about the book and other related topics (Artifact/Reflection #2), I am worried that the field of education, and teacher education with regard to secondary education in particular, is evolving at far too slow a pace and that we could be inadvertently leaving a generation of people in the lurch.
Even when educators shift their practice to better reflect the 21st century, there’s still a risk that marginalized students will continue to be under-served. This brings me to my second major philosophical focus regarding teacher education: equity. When I arrived at the University of New Mexico, the phrase culturally-responsive teacher wasn’t in my vocabulary. It wasn’t a point of emphasis in my teacher preparation program. I was embarrassed that I was in the dark about it. I started reflecting on my practice, on my eight years as an English teacher in the American South East. I wondered, was I culturally-responsive? Did I promote equity and provide an appropriate education for all of my diverse students?
Fortunately, I instinctively adopted a lot of culturally-responsive teaching practices. My mentor-teacher differentiated and modified assignments and assessments for her diverse students, and I modeled my initial practice after hers. As I grew into my own identity as a teacher, I continued to practice equitable practices, often going out of my way to create robust opportunities for students to direct their own learning. I more extensively discuss equity in education in my third artifact/reflection pair for my portfolio.
Respecting Other Ways of Knowing
One area that I would like to mention specifically as it relates to equity and my philosophy of teacher education is standardized assessments. I can’t stand them. Standardized assessments, especially those multiple choice tests K-12 students are inundated with in a seemingly endless struggle to quantify our kids, might be the single biggest problem in education. The real issue is what we do with the results of those tests. We let them influence and dictate policies that impact what and how we can teach. We take some arbitrary numbers about a paltry few content areas and measure a laughably small set of skills, and then we think we have a good picture of what our students can do. We think that those test results are an indication of our students’ intelligence, as if we even had a single, agreed-upon definition of intelligence.
My major gripe with using standardized tests as a way to measure the success of teachers and even to some extent the success of teacher preparation programs, is that the tests are not an accurate reflection of student ability. They do not take into consideration other ways of knowing. Those tests are a reflection of White supremacy and the legacy of settler colonialism (Tuck & Gorlewski, 2016). They offend me, and I take umbrage with their ubiquity. Even in higher education, we are using standardized assessments, like the edTPA which I wrote about for my fourth artifact/reflection pairing. I feel like part of my role as a teacher educator is to try to educate politicians and the public about the risks of using our current model of standardized testing.
The role of teacher educator is something I am only beginning to learn about, but I can already tell there are more facets to the job than I can currently see. In my fifth artifact/reflection pairing I write about an internship I had this semester and how that experience afforded me a glimpse into the role of teacher educator. While it was incredibly beneficial, the internship did leave me with questions about how I might gain experience as a researcher, a significant part of the job (Dinkelman, 2011; Goodwin, Roegman, & Reagan, 2016; Murray & Male, 2005). One issue I am having with respect to narrowing my philosophy and my focus is my digressive nature and multiple research interests. I want to do it all. I want to innovate new pedagogical practices and publish articles about them. I want to design and create a model teaching lab for UNM to use with pre-service teachers. I also want to study the myriad implications project-based learning has for education, especially when it comes to equity.
I’m hungry to be a part of the solution, and I know that means I don’t have to have the answers myself. I love collaboration. When I talk about being a part of the solution I really do mean just a part of it. I want to contribute, not solve education’s problems by myself. I think part of being a contributor to the solution is through action. I want to move beyond the classroom and into the real world. In my final artifact/reflection pair, I explain an idea I had for taking action against neoliberal efforts which undermine equitable educational practices and harm the students they purport to help (Baltodano, 2012).
Reflecting on my initial philosophy of teacher, I am reminded of the naivete of novice teachers. I am reminded of all the times my naivete caught up with me. The former English teacher in me is reminded of Faber from Fahrenheit 451:
“Man, when I was young I shoved my ignorance in people's faces. They beat me with sticks. By the time I was forty my blunt instrument had been honed to a fine cutting point for me. If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you'll never learn.” (p. 104)
I can only imagine that I will look back on some of my wild and brash ideas and be mortified at how naive I am/was. I’m okay with that. Unlike the older Faber, I am a couple years away from forty, but I can still look back in retrospect at my journey to the present. I can see how I’ve grown as a teacher and how I’m growing into the role of teacher educator.
Time will tell the extent of my current naivete. Right now my philosophy of teacher education might be summed up as neatly as:
My mission is to train diverse humans to be flexible, adaptive, and culturally-responsive teachers and to grow my and my students’ humanity in the process.
As I transition from a high school English teacher into a post-secondary teacher educator, my philosophy will grow and transform. As I find my niche, my eye will remain fixed on the horizon, and I will fuel the fire in my belly with the promotion of equity in education.
References
- Baltodano, M. (2012). Neoliberalism and the demise of public education: The corporatization of schools of education. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), 25(4), 487–507. Retrieved from https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ993807&site=eds-live&scope=site
- Bradbury, R. (1996). Fahrenheit 451. New York, NY: Ballantine Books.
- Dinkelman, T. (2011). Framing a teacher educator identity: Uncertain standards, practice and relationships. Journal of Education for Teaching, 37(3), 309-323. https://search-ebscohost-com.libproxy.unm.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ933056&site=eds-live&scope=site
- Goodwin, A. L., Roegman, R., & Reagan, E. M. (2016). Is experience the best teacher? Extensive clinical practice and mentor teachers’ perspectives on effective teaching. Urban Education, 51(10), 1198–1225. https://doi-org.libproxy.unm.edu/10.1177/0042085915618720
- Murray, J. & Male, T. (2005). Becoming a teacher educator: Evidence from the field. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21, 125-142. https://doi-org.libproxy.unm.edu/10.1016/j.tate.2004.12.006
- Tuck, E., & Gorlewski, J. (2016). Racist ordering, settler colonialism, and edTPA: A participatory policy analysis. Educational Policy, 30(1), 197–217. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.libproxy.unm.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=111782131&site=eds-live&scope=site
My Publications
Kingsley, K. & Ramsey, Z. (2020). Innovative online instruction: Synthesizing TPACK and video game consoles. In R. E. Ferdig, E. Baumgartner, R. Hartshorne, R. Kaplan-Rakowski, & C. Mouza (Eds.), Teaching, technology, and teacher education during the COVID-19 pandemic: Stories from the field. (pp. 257-260). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). http://www.learntechlib.org/p/216903/
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