WHEW! On December 17th, at approximately 8:30 p.m. I completed the last requirement for graduation and completed the Masters of Arts in Teaching program at Westminster College. Wooohooo! Three long semesters + two lap top computers + a pallet of Diet Dr. Pepper + endless hours of reading + countless reflection papers + a successful semester of student teaching (loved the third grade the second time around much more than the first time, elementary school is a much different game as a grown up) + one Teacher Work Sample + Guiding Question A, B and C (the non-traditional thesis) AND one trip to Mexico = one masters program and one really exhausted woman. WHEW! DONE AND DONE! You would think that after spending a year of my life on campus that I would have a picture or two but I don't have anything. Westminster only offers one commencement ceremony a year which is held in the spring so Burke and I will be returning to Salt Lake City in May so I can walk. At that time, I will document my time on the beautiful Westminster campus. In the mean time, enjoy a lovely stock photo.
When I graduated from the University of Utah in 2002, I intended to return to school but knew that I needed and wanted some time to become a person again before I ran head long back into school. Westminster was the right school, offered the right program, and it was clearly the right time or me to return to student life. I have no regrets about school and the last year + of my life but I am truly ready to re-join the rest of the world. Really looking forward to having my evenings and weekends back and have already created a list of things and projects I want to start working on.
On the last night of class, we meet in small groups and presented our non-traditional thesis and in true Westminster fashion, this event was called a "final sharing." Afterwards, we went to the Alumni house for a chicken-cordon-blue dinner together as a cohort and then....wa....la....you're finished....a bit anti-climatic to be honest, but on the other hand we were all really really ready to be done.
The last portion of our non-tradition thesis is a personal narrative recording our personal journey throughout the program. If there is one skill I have refined throughout this program, it is the ability to reflect. This following paper is my final reflection about my experience in graduate school, just the bare bones about what I've learned and thought about for the last year, written in normal English for normal people (non-academics) to read and understand. Go. Fight. Win!
Elizabeth Robinson Rich
Westminster College
Guiding Question C – Personal Journey
My first encounter with the Masters of Arts in Teaching program at Westminster College occurred in 2008 when I was working at the site manager for YouthCity at Liberty Park. A few months later, Tim Carr arranged a formal introduction between Westminster and YouthCity, which resulted in a new partnership benefiting both organizations. As a community partner, it became clear to me that the theoretical underpinnings of the MAT program were very consistent with my established philosophy as an educator.
When I graduated from the University of Utah with bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Human Development, I was confident that I would return to school to obtain a graduate degree. However, at that time I was unsure of the specific direction and spent several years contemplating various programs. Shortly after graduation, a volunteer opportunity at Clayton Middle School transformed into a seasonal job and provided an avenue to explore the performing arts by directing a yearly school musical. This after school activity, while fulfilling, did not provide a stable income and I was eager to find an additional opportunity to develop my skills and talents. When I graduated, I can clearly remember feeling the need to apply my talents and skills in a way that would help strengthen children and families and promote learning. Upon graduation, I joined AmeriCorps and was placed at Redwood Elementary as an American Reads Supervisor. Working inside a Title 1 school nestled within a poverty-stricken neighborhood opened my eyes to the endless disparity for students living in low-income areas. Redwood Elementary services a highly diverse population and reports some of the lowest test scores for the entire state of Utah. Working in this capacity ignited a burning desire to help close the achievement gap and provide high quality learning activities for all children regardless of race of income level. I was inspired by the dedicated teaching staff and innovative school administration and was encouraged to create a Family Literacy Program as my capstone project.
At the end of my AmeriCorps service, I was offered a position with Salt Lake City Corporation to help develop a citywide after school and summer program. YouthCity provided a blank canvas for me to apply what I had learned working in the community and allowed for me the chance to research and explore current educational theory. While working with a team of talent community leaders, YouthCity quickly became an award-winning program designed to provide a safe place for students to explore, develop and learn in a non-traditional school setting. After eight years working for YouthCity, I was hungry for a new challenge and interested in furthering my understanding of how children learn. After partnering with Westminster and hosting a cohort of MAT students in our program, it became clear to me that applying for the MAT program was my next step.
During the first semester, as we explored the political implication and funding sources for public education, I continued to find the answers to a series of questions I had had for years. Developing a better understanding of the inequality of funding for public schools helped to clarify why some students are generally more successful in school and why others, regardless of their desire to learn, do not find the same level of success due to the overarching inequality of financial support. My inherent understanding of the important role parents’ play in the academic success of a child was supported as we read academic articles and explored educational learning theory.
Throughout my work at YouthCity, I had the opportunity to work with a variety of students with special needs. Even as the scope of our program was to provide enrichment activities after-school, the affects of both student successes and failures before the school bell rang became a top priority. I am a firm believer in an inclusions classroom and feel that there are invaluable benefits to having all students learn together. I believe that as educators we must prepare all students for success regardless of their race, income level or learning style. I believe that effective teaching is experimental and students will make deeper academic connections when they are given the supported freedom to explore the content inside a safe learning environment. As a future teacher, I plan to hold each student to a high academic standard while striving to provide differentiated learning activities for all students. I understand the value of including cooperative learning activities inside lesson plans and hope to provide opportunities for each student to become a self-regulated learner. As the semester progressed and I gained a greater understanding of the constructivist framework, I discovered the theoretical names of education practices I had implemented at Clayton Middle School, Redwood Elementary, and largely at YouthCity.
Throughout the methods semester, I was challenged by the rigor of the academic content associated to the Utah State Core. Upon reflecting upon my own experience inside the public education system, I can honestly say that I did not make strong personal connections to many concepts covered inside the core. As a result, re-learning the “basics” before I could effectively teach the “basics” required far more time and energy than I had anticipated. I was impressed by the responsibilities teachers have to present the correct information in a non-basis way and the powerful influence teachers have in developing the lenses for which students will see the world. During this semester we were invited to put the theoretical concepts into practice inside a safe learning environment and had an opportunity to sample what full time teaching really was. My mentor teacher, while a talented educator, clearly felt the stress and pressure of working in a failing school and the focus of my placement quickly turned from gaining teaching practice to learning the importance of navigating inside the public school system and maintaining a life balance in and out of the classroom. I found the time constraints and limitations associated to the textbooks and district requirements very frustrating. As the semester ended, I began to doubt my ability to successful work inside a public school and wondered if I would find greater success in a school that afforded additional room for creativity and academic freedom. I am confident in my ability to help students become excited about the learning process and felt stifled by district requirements, unrealistic time constraints, and negative staff influences.
Throughout the methods semester we had an opportunity to apply the concept of Funds of Knowledge inside our placement. On the outset of this assignment, I felt overwhelmed by the depths and breadths of the project but quickly realized that I had been conducting informal Funds of Knowledge interviews for years while at YouthCity. Without having any academic wording or scientific research I had concluded that that building personal relationship and creating common connections with both the students and parents was the key to establishing a safe, nurturing, and inviting learning environment. Understanding the theoretical framework behind gathering Funds of Knowledge continued to flesh out my growing understanding of this educational tool. Without question, I see the value of carefully analyzing the individual components of a student, their family, their culture, the classroom dynamics, the school environment, and the surrounding neighborhood. I am confident that by gathering information about my students and taking the time to see the world through their eyes I will have greater success inside the classroom. I believe that teachers become effective educators when they can establish a personal relationship of trust with their students. When students feel safe, cared for, and are presented with high expectations they can find both academic and social success.
Student teaching was an exhausting, yet highly rewarding, experience. I am grateful for the opportunity I had to learn from Ms. Judy Beatty, a seasoned third grade teacher at North Star Elementary. Ms. Beatty is a master teacher and truly helped me refine my craft. To be honest, I was hesitant about teaching inside another public school after the negative experiences of my methods placement. But much to my surprise, I was impressed at the sense of community that is felt at North Star and could easily see the difference the administration and school leadership can have on the overall learning. During the ten weeks of teaching, I was both stretched and inspired by the various roles a public educator assumes within a community. Throughout the experience, I found myself reflecting on conversations we had in class the previous fall and saw the real world application of poverty, income level, race, social class, and learning ability manifest themselves within a classroom of twenty-seven students.
One of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of my student teaching was the connected to the opportunity I had to have a blind student in our classroom. Brianna, a delight nine-year-old girl, is completely blind and is attending a mainstream classroom like every other third grader at North Star. This year, the school administration had decided that Brianna would focus on becoming more independent and gaining the interpersonal skills required to become a truly self-regulated student. The school district provides two support staff that helps her throughout the school day on various subjects but for the most part she remain inside the classroom. Ms. Tiffany and Ms. Slade provide direction and support as needed however they are determined to help Brianna accomplish both simple and complex tasks on her own as much as possible. Working with Brianna provided endless opportunities for me to learn how to differentiate curriculum and make accommodations, both within the planning process and on the fly while teaching a lesson inside the classroom. I have a deeper understanding of how students with special needs navigate the school day and the importance of maintaining positive working relationships with special education staff members. Student teaching provided me an opportunity practice applying the various teaching methods we had discussed in class and explored through text. Throughout the ten weeks, I discovered that I can be a successful teaching inside a public school and that by applying creativity and professional communication effective teaching can occur even inside challenging schools and neighborhoods.
Throughout the travel seminar my thoughts and feelings continued to gravitate toward three concepts: communication, connection, and curiosity. Each theme, carefully connected to the next, became more important as we moved from a mountain community to a small rural village and then to one of the largest cities in the world. As I now reflect upon the experience as a whole, these three concepts serve as an undercurrent of my learning and can stand as the capstone of this program.
As the trip began, my in inability to speak Spanish and communicate effectively with people in Mexico became clear to me at the Airport. For whatever reason the airline had misplaced the English version of the passport form and handed me the document in Spanish. I became overwhelmed and frustrated while reading the foreign words knowing that I needed to understand the content of the document but could not read or process the information. Becoming dependent upon others to communicate is a humbling experience, which continued with great momentum for me as the trip progressed. I have traveled to many cities and countries in the past, however I have always been able to communicate in English. I am grateful for the consistent level of discomfort I experienced throughout the trip as I have developed a sense of what it must feel like to live in the United States and not know how to speak English. As a future teacher, I anticipate that I will encounter students and families who do not speak English as their primary language and who will be required to complete forms and exchange critical information. Throughout the travel seminar, I gained a greater perspective for what it must feel like for many minority students. I am highly motivated to learn Spanish in order to ease any frustration or anxiety they may have about communicating with their child’s teacher.
I was delighted but not surprised to observe that family dynamics in Mexico (even as there are some differences associated to daily life) are generally the same for American families. Participating in the home stay visits confirmed my understanding that people are people regardless of nationality or political status. Throughout the travel seminar and particularly during the school visits and home stay my mind was constantly racing from one theoretical concept and application to the next. I feel that I was constantly critically analyzing the information that was presented to the theory we have learned throughout the program and my personal life experience.
As I began the Masters of Arts in teaching program, and now after completing the travel seminar I believe that effective education can only be based upon making a personal connection to both the curriculum and the people with whom you are teaching. Fundamentally, I believe that people are more similar than they are different and I was inspired by the humanity and honesty we observed throughout the trip. As a future teacher, I plan to make as many personal connections to my students as possible so we can develop a safe learning environment where everyone feels safe enough to participate in learning activities.
Curiosity is the mother of invention and I believe good teaching. I have always had a sincere desire to learn new things and plan to continue my study of various cultures when I become a certified teacher. Throughout the trip, I found myself writing question after question in my journal. At the conclusion of this masters program, as I reflect upon everything we have learned I am more confident that in order to become an affective educator and establish a safe learning environment for my students I will need to continually question my teaching practices and how it is affecting all of my students, and especially my students who come from different cultures. I leave this program with a greater theoretical understanding of the teaching and learning process. I have refined my ability to critically analyzing the political, social, and economic aspects of education, and have gained a greater understanding of the cyclical nature of education, poverty, and politics. I leave this program, hungry for an opportunity to apply the constructivist principles inside a community and hope to make a positive difference for both children and their families.
This is Charlie the Chipmunk and the patients follow him on a magical jungle adventure while they get their teeth worked on. Highly cheesy but very successful with the short crowd.
Welcome to the waiting room....So, the kids and parents get to hang out in a themed waiting room complete with a movie theater, game room, and jungle gym. Dentistry meets Disneyland...and it's working like a dream.
So, this little room has flat screens and gaming systems so the kiddies remain happy and entertained while they are waiting for their treatments....this kid is working some Toy Story game and laughing out loud...
...throughout the day they order pizza for the kids and families who are waiting for treatments...Snacks are provided free of charge for everyone inside this little stone box...
This kinda creepy guy holds the loot, the good, the mutha load and the kiddies get to pick a prize from his belly at the end of their treatments. Let's be honest, this was always the best part of going to the dentist.
So, the kids get to walk through this door when their names are called and leave the waiting room to begin their treatments.
This is Burke at his desk that is delicately decorated with butterflies. So, my husband is a VERY tall man and his desk is in the center of the front office. Since he will be moving throughout the practice during the day he had them build his desk to his standing height so he can just walk up to it...type a few things and walk away. Works great if you are 6'7 but if you are short-er his desk is pretty much at eye level...
This is what I call mission control.
Welcome to the exam rooms...kids follow Charlie through a jungle adventure.
Future home of the orthodontic bay...
...and this guy will eat you if you don't brush and floss...if you are a small kiddo, this is pretty big motivation...
...four score and twenty years ago....big speeches from the big people...
