Educating Esme Comprehensive Reflection

At first, Eubank did not believe her son when he complained about his mean teacher. The staff at the school suggested at her son should take medication because he was not concentrating on class. She took him to get an evaluation at Baylor University, but he was fine. After visiting the school, her eyes were opened by a student who was classmates with her son. Jessica Kelmon, an author for greatschools.org, writes that “the teacher would regularly humiliate him in front of the other students, yelling at him and slamming her hand on his desk (Kelmon).” This fourth-grade teacher is an example as to how much a teacher’s attitude toward the students affects their excitement to learn. When a student is being treated poorly by a teacher, an interesting subject can be ruined for that student.

Within the poem “Schoolsville” by Billy Collins, the author describes his career as a teacher, highlighting the relationship with his students and how they have impacted him. Collins executes this through his creation of an imaginary town, intertwined with the reality of his profession and the real world. Through the frequent use of exaggerations, humorous imagery, and critical diction, Collins captures his weakening grasp on reality. The speaker captures himself in a dark moment where he realizes how detached he has become from his students and reveals his sense of hopelessness as a teacher.

At 1:00 p.m. I entered into Evoline C. West Elementary school on Thursday, July 12 2012 for an interview with Mrs. Yolanda Lawrence. As I entered the classroom, I was greeted by Mrs. Lawrence, the head teacher in this classroom. Mrs. Lawrence has no assistant at this present because of it being in the summer. After I entered into the classroom, the entire class welcomed me with “hello Ms. Flournoy”. It made my day to see all of those smiley faces greeting me. This was a 2nd grade classroom which consisted of 17 students of which 8 were girls and 9 were boys. This interview and observation was a total of 2

There were many diverse aspects to this book. Most of this book is a recall from either the main character, or one of his students. This book is intended to open people’s eyes to see that in order to change the world we must first change ourselves. Being able to go through this story and see the mistakes, and the good decisions, teachers in Michie’s life have made, has taught me that the best way to teach is through love, justice, cultural empathy and imagination. Some of the points brought up in this book include the positive and negative sides of physical contact with a student, classification/stereotyping, race, gangs, police brutality/lack of justice, and children not being able to escape peer pressure.

Earlier this month, we were very excited to have the opportunity to meet with Sonia Galaviz when she visited our main office. As a 5th grade teacher at Garfield Elementary School here in Boise, Idaho, she’s been steadily making a name for herself in the education world. In 2009, she was named Idaho Woman of the Year by the Idaho Business Review, and in 2011 she was one of five educators nationally chosen to receive Teaching Tolerance’s award of Excellence in Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, and this year, Galaviz’s devotion to her students has once again been recognized.

To understand the lack of African American teachers, an exploration of Black teacher’s reasoning and experience when going into teaching can be beneficial. A study conducted by Farinde, LeBlanc, and Otten (2015) sought to understand what contributes and hinders Black females from pursuing a career in education. They found an assortment of factors positive and negative that lead to their decision to becoming a teacher. However one of the most hindering factors contributing to a lack of diversity came at an institutional level. From a policy standpoint, more institutional support within teacher education programs is needed in order to increase the pool of Black female teachers, lack of institutional support…obstructs the pipeline from teacher education program to K-12 classroom, with little or no support in higher education, the number of Black female teachers will either remain constant or will gradually decline (Farinde, LeBlanc, & Otten,

“I won’t learn from you” is a classic and powerful group of essays written by Herbert Kohl. The first three chapters “I won’t learn from you”, “The tattooed man”, and “Excellence, Equality, and Equity” all explore ideas that students are more in charge of their learning than most individuals believe. With these theories, students and teachers can help improve each other in every way. Kohl writes a variety of humorous stories, lessons on teaching, and inspirations to be a teacher to any child, regardless of their race, gender, religion or abilities. He addresses serious issues in the public school system, such as reforming to the demands of the school district, adapting the curriculum, and the many pressures as an educator. Kohl helps the

We immediately learn that Miss Moore is not the average Harlem teacher. She is educated herself, along with being very opinionated. The children explain that she has nappy

In the newspaper article by author: Sara Drumm, “Protests outside School Board”. There is debate surrounding the issues teachers face throughout every school. Many Americans fail to realize that teaching is no easy task and that it takes full dedication as well as unique skills to teach, while masterfully controlling and executing a classroom.

What makes an individual special from anyone else? Is it their physical attributes, their upbringing, perhaps the effect of their environment? All of these things are the just the beginning layers of what encompasses a person’s identity. Identity is the knowledge of who we are and what groups we belong to, and unfortunately, it is not easily determined from person to person. It is a complex, developmental process that begins at birth and continues throughout an individual’s life (Sheets). One’s identity makes every individual unique, and this uniqueness facilitates growth by exchanging philosophies, ideas, and knowledge. Consequently, the most essential environment for these exchanges to occur is within a classroom. In Gregory Michie’s novel, Holler If You Hear Me, he accounts his time spent teaching inner city middle schools in Chicago. During his time in the Chicago Public School System, conflict of identity between teacher and student is present, which ultimately leads him to assess his teaching methods and reevaluate the processes he uses to connect with his students. Because the identities of his students differ from his own, Michie implements cultural relevant and sustaining pedagogy in his classroom in order to combat the students’ apathy, boredom, and lack of interest in school. There is importance in the way in which student and teacher identities intersect, and throughout Michie’s novel he demonstrates that by bringing in material that relates to the students’

Heather Ruha grew up in a “pretty rough” suburb on Chicago’s west border; this background has allowed her to connect with the hardships that her urban students face. Her interest in education was sparked by an incredibly influential teacher’s assistant in one of her classrooms, who Heather described as “giving” but always pushed her to do her best and challenge herself. She graduated from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago with a major in Elementary Education and a minor in Psychology. Ms. Ruha has been working in the Kenosha Unified school district since 2006, originally as a teacher in elementary classrooms, until she discovered a true passion for working with middle school students.

A sit-down interview, in the interviewee’s classroom, on April 22, 2017, results in responses from Rachel, a female Elementary Education teacher at Deerfield Elementary School, in Deerfield, Wisconsin. Containing eight initial questions and two response follow-up inquiries, this interview represents a 4-year Kindergarten grade level perspective, and utilizes eleven years of teaching experience. As a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate, Rachel began her career in Milwaukee before accepting her current position of nine years. With extensive knowledge of the field, Rachel qualifies as an excellent resource, both when actively pursuing plans to become an Elementary Education

Difficulties teachers confront on a regular basis are challenging, particularly in urban Public Schools. As author, Jim Trelease defines in his novel: Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher's First Year, beginner educator named Esme, whom is faced with difficulties with her career. “Esme Raji Codell has come to teach. And she's not going to let incompetent administrators, abusive parents, gang members, weary teachers, angry children, dim-witted principals, or her own insecurities get in the way of delivering the education her fifth-grade students deserve” (74). Educational institutes, like Esme’s, should be given service providers that see the dilemmas and difficulties that students, in addition to, teachers encounter and

Nothing will prepare you for that first day of being a teacher, when 25 students walk into your room and you become responsible for their learning and growth for a year. Esme’s experience as a new teacher was eye opening, she really sees it all in her first year and honestly it made me a little nervous. But at the very end of it all she reminds me of how and why I want to teach. Through all of what she sees and does she reminds the reader of what she is there to do: make an impact on a child’s life by inspiring them to learn, create and explore. Esme uses some unique teaching methods in her first year, some I have experienced before and some that made me go back and reread in disbelief. Her experience as a first year teacher is

As children, we absorb information and learn from experiences that mold us into who we are. Many individuals impact a child’s life, but the most powerful and influential role lies in a devoted teacher, a teacher provides growth to students as a gardener would to a garden of flowers. Each child can bloom into a thriving flower so long as you water their garden with optimism, love, patience, and guidance. Throughout my educational experiences I was lucky enough to have educators who poured their knowledge and optimism into me, and now I would like to reciprocate that back to students who are in the position I was once in. Balancing life and school is hard enough for a student, but a powerful and caring teacher can steer you in the right direction. In this autobiography you will read about my educational background, experiences that influenced my decision to become a teacher, and what I believe the role of a teacher should be in a student’s life.