An Agenda for Action

My personal vison for secondary schooling in the 21st century is to continually reflect on my professional practices and to be open for change and criticism from other colleges. Although I have heard many theories about what works best and what I should implement, I have to be able to go out there in the real-world classroom and be an effective teacher with engaging lessons, authentic and meaningful assessments, and appropriate classroom management techniques that promote community and collaboration. This is not an easy task and I can sit here all day and write about all the techniques we've learned like group collaboration, inquiry-based models, having problem-solving and critical thinking problems within the curriculum, etc., but the real test is did I prepare them to go into the society and be able to make informative decisions and contributions. I want to continually provide experiences that foster life-long learning and skills that the students can take with them long after they leave the classroom. During this time I also want to be engaging in professional development and creating an environment that I want to work in. Within my classroom, I want to bring in topics that interest kids and get them thinking about the world in different ways. I want them to be able to debate and come up with their own understanding about scientific concepts. I want to be able to show my passion for the subject that I teach and if nothing else have my students want to pursue higher education and continual learning. Although standards are what is imposed on us as young educators entering the field, I want students to know and appreciate the world around them through my teaching.

For this semester one action that that I want to implement is to provide more deeper, thoughtful problem-solving questions and integrating more graphs and analytical skills in reviewing data. Students today know how to use technology for social reasons, but fail to perform in reading and interpreting graphs. With this I will incorporate a cooperative laboratory experiment during the latter half of the semester in respect to geologic time/climate change. I want them to look at real-time data from multiple media sources and be able to plot data make hypothesis' and infer what a anticipated projection might look like from the content gathered from their research. Each group member will have a role and have something to contribute. I really want to focus on the technical aspect of this project, but also allow the students to interpret the data themselves and make their own decisions based on their own experiences and research. By having a controversial topic I can also discuss debate and the differing views people have on specific topics. I would also like to collaborate with the other two teachers that teach Earth science and get their input and suggestions. I fear that I will not have enough experience in designing effective group models and the intention of the project might suffer as a result.

One action that I hope to make in my beginning career is to plan and administer lessons that really draw on students' diversities. I have a hard time at this point knowing that I am providing these experiences for my students because I do not have that much experience creating lesson designs that draw from social justice and equity. I want to make resources accessible and offer educational experiences that students will remember. I want to create lessons that other teachers will want to use in their own classrooms. Reflective practice and attending professional development seminars will other help me gain experience and the adequate tools so that I can achieve this goal.

Another action that I hope to implement after I have been in teaching for a while is to really have the science departments be more collaborative and supportive. From my experience thus far, I have not seen a strong connection between the different science disciplines. I want to work toward establishing camaraderie and increased interaction among the science teachers and other content areas as well. I hope to try to have an interdisciplinary unit involving all the sciences to show the connections and similarities between the often distant/unrelated concepts. I hope to bring forth my knowledge on interdisciplinary, holistic, 'student-centered' and authentic curriculum paths.

Many of my actions revolve around the creating new curriculum paths and powerful teaching. The interdisciplinary thematic units have connections within each of these spectrums. Having common preps and creating faculty teams within the science department also draw on new professional roles and comprehensive support for all students. Student-centered learning and authentic assessments will be crucial for my success in the classroom as a beginning teacher and as I move through the profession of teaching tommorrow's leaders.

Reading Reflection 6-Briana Overman: Change Agent

One of the very first things that I must do as a beginning teacher is to have my voice be heard and be able to articulate my thoughts. I need to not be afraid to take risks and promote interactive professionalism and collaboration among myself, other teachers, and fellow administrators. I need to also focus on my own professional development while concentrating on my students’ development in the classroom. I must be committed to the change I want to see. Therefore, I can not simply state a problem and fail to follow through with any action on it. There needs to be commitment on my part if I want to see action from others. I must not make excuses for myself in not giving attention and time to a cause that I am passionate for. I have to continue to REFLECT about action and learn how to act on my inner voice-what is my purpose? I need to have a central focus, for example I want to be voice for technology in the classroom. I want to make sure that each classroom is equipped with technology that promotes student engagement and exploration. Besides LDC projectors, ELMO’s-document cams, access to the Internet, it helps me as an educator bring the students outside of the classroom.

I believe that being educated in new effective reforms, new teaching techniques, and strategies that are working help to shape conversations between agents of change in this ever-changing society. I need to help create the professional learning environment I want to work in. If there are not teacher support groups I want to be a person involved in creating one at my school. With these groups they provide platforms on which teachers can begin to change public education. I want to see less emphasis on test scores and more emphasis on student creativity and critical thinking. I mean, who ever remembers tests? It is what students take with them after they leave the classroom, the life skills and ability to make decisions and contribute to society.