EDU 292C: RESEARCH AND METHODS FOR TEACHING SECONDARY ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

Winter Quarter 2022
Instructed by Dr. Pauline Holmes

This quarter has been the most challenging so far, but they are challenges that I am ultimately thankful for. The EDU 292C course helped me greatly when it came to navigating some of those challenges, as it gave me a safe space to collaborate with other emerging educators in the same position as me, bounce ideas around, and ask a lot of questions. This at times was a saving grace, when I felt that I was perhaps internalizing too much of my own teaching, and not considering others’ perspectives as much as I should’ve been. Many times throughout this quarter I found my colleagues and collaborators to be kinder to me than I was to myself, while still offering constructive feedback on my work. In a sense, when I wanted to tear something I’d designed down, they were there to encourage me to instead build upon what I had and better it. In this way, they really helped me to grow. This is important to me to note, because I now feel cemented in my belief that the best educational environments are built on constructive collaboration and support. As I begin my job search, this is one of the top things I have started to ask of districts: How do you ensure and support genuine collaboration amongst your staff? What does that look like? This also has served as a reminder to me that my students also need frequent chances to collaborate with each other, and I have grown to love giving the regular group work that challenges them, but also supports them, by giving them the opportunity to co-construct meaning.

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When I began this quarter, student-teaching 12th graders at River City High School, I felt confident in my pedagogical commitments, but unsure of my actual abilities to enact them in a classroom. My 12th graders, who are full of energy and spunk and an overwhelming desire to ditch high school, have pushed me and stretched me in many ways. They have made me more responsive, more flexible, and more realistic when it comes to teaching. I have learned a lot  already because of them, both in terms of what I instinctively got right and what I need to push myself to do better. The rapport and relationship building that I have done all quarter with them has gone a long way, and though they are rambunctious, they are rarely if ever defiant. I think what I am trying to say, ultimately, is that I felt shaky about my practical teaching abilities for the first several weeks, and I felt tested really in every way by this class, but yet they still come to school every day to learn from me and I still come to school every day to teach them. So, when I reflect, I feel like I have made it to the other side of some impasse- obviously I do have the practical teaching abilities it takes, because I am doing it everyday. I believe a lot more strongly now that I have the skills necessary to be a great teacher, I just also know there’s always room for growth and improvement. I really care deeply about each student I have, and I am grateful to them for stretching me. They’ve made me a better teacher than I thought I was. I can’t believe I only get to work with them for ten more weeks!

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In terms of the academic work we have done in the EDU 292 course this quarter, I feel that I really benefited from both the Grammar Lesson Assignment and the Shakespeare Resource Assignment. Both of those assignments came at ideal times within my student teaching placement, as we were covering related topics within the 12th grade curriculum. I would say that in terms of my own learning, I actually probably benefited the most from the times in seminars when we all would share our work. Seeing the way other educators interpreted the assignments was really useful and their lesson designs and educational resources are things I have made several notes of for my own future use. If anything, I wish we had more time to share, explore, and construct ideas with each other!

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Moving forward into next quarter, I am excited to do some more graduate research, as I felt I didn’t have much time for formal research in these last 10 weeks. I truly actually enjoy research and, in particular, sharing my interpretation of the research that I find, like we did for the discussion leadership assignment. For that reason, I am looking forward to jumping into EDU 206C, and I am interested to see what topics I get to explore deeply. In my student-teaching next quarter I want to continue to increase my students’ exposure to scaffolded writing assignments, before they graduate. I want to make sure they have some practical communication and information evaluation skills, before they go off and make their mark on the world. And of course, my biggest goal right now is to pass CalTPA Cycle 2! Though it stresses me out to have to submit so much work to be assessed, I know I am a good teacher, just have to show it!