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I believe being a teacher activist is...

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I believe being a teacher activist is...

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1.  I believe being a teacher activist is making radical decisions for the benefit of students in your school.
2.  I believe being a teacher activist is stepping outside of your 7:30-4:30 teaching job and being involved in the lives of your students to create a positive change.
Reading Connections:
How One Elementary School Sparked a Citywide Movement to Make Black Students' Lives Matter by Wayne Au and Jessie Hagopian & my recent current event post about the teacher strike
In the rethinking education article, it shows how a school taking part of a local event like “Black Men Uniting to Change the Narrative" can spark a national movement.  Just as #BlackLivesMatter started with a community noticing something that needs change and stepping up to do something for their students, we too as teachers must be observant of our students, their lives, and communities so that we can see what is being held back from them, what is unfair, and what they would benefit from and do something about it. The teachers that went on strike demanded better materials for their classrooms. They stopped going into work, which always comes with consequences. However, they knew that their students deserved better so they made a radical decision and worked outside of their normal classroom hours in order to make change for their students. Being culturally relevant with our students may require us to make radical decisions, start a local movement, or starting an after school club to help teach students how to be activists as well.

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1.  I believe collaboration is vital to the growth and learning experiences of our students.
2.  I believe collaboration is taking place outside of the classroom between teachers and people other than students.
Reading Connections:
Decolonizing the Classroom:  Lessons in Multicultural Education by Wayne Au and
Classroom discussion with Mrs. Hollins
I connected with this article specifically when it talked about Mr. Davis' class.  He talked about how he had many different races represented in his classroom.  Mr. Davis collaborated with his students to create lessons that were applicable and that his students were represented in.  The collaboration between students and Mr. Davis formed their experiences in his class.
I also would like to make a connection to Mrs. Hollins and what she talked about in our class.  She talked about how she works together with other school staff, families, and community resources to best support each student.  As she told us, collaboration takes relationship and has to be between two groups.  Collaboration can be beneficial and life changing for students, but both parties have to be ready.  Collaboration may not always be instant, trust must first be formed and relationships must be built before collaboration can take place.

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I believe my students will learn best when I...

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I believe my students will learn best when I...

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1.  I believe my students will learn best when I implement restorative justice.
2.  I believe my students will learn best when I am an activist for them.
Reading Connections:
Multiple Rethinking Schools Articles
My beliefs for this topic have been pulled from various articles I have read from the Rethinking Schools website. First, restorative justice will support my students learning because it is a form of classroom management that will hold them accountable for their actions and help them to pay attention to how their actions impact others. Using restorative justice practices keep students in the classroom avoiding suspension and expulsion and therefore giving them more time to learn. Second, my students need to know that I support them and respect them. As a student, I work harder for the teachers that I feel respect me because I respect them and do not want to let them down. One way to show my students that I support and respect them is by showing them that I care about the things that impact their lives inside and outside of the classroom and using my voice or position to defend, inform, and progress the things that will help students be more successful.

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I believe students learn best when they...

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I believe students learn best when they...

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1. I believe students learn best when they can relate to the material.
2. I believe students learn best when they are involved in their learning.
Reading Connections:
The Struggle for Bilingual Education by Bob Peterson
I connected this reading to my beliefs because it is all about the students.  There would be no need for bilingual education, if it did not support and benefit the students.  With the number of students whose families speak a different language at home than what is spoken in school increasing, it is important that that is kept relevant in the classroom as well.  Of course, language is just one way that students can relate to material.  Other parts of students identity such as race and gender are other pieces that should be incorporated into a classroom to help students connect with the material they are studying.

In class, we have began making centers for our students. This is where I found my belief that students must be involved in their learning. Not only are we learning how to teach by being involved in what we are bringing into the classroom, but I have seen our students become more engaged in their learning when they have an activity to do with their hands instead of sitting and doing a worksheet.

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1.  I believe all my future students are capable of success.
2.  I believe all my future students are depending on me to do my job to the best of my ability.
3.  I believe that all my future students are in my classroom for a reason.
Reading Connections:
Baby Steps Towards Restorative Justice by Linea King

I am currently in a behavior and classroom management class and we have been talking a lot about Restorative Justice. I look at restorative justice within classroom management as the foundation to a successful classroom. My future students depend on me to do my job. Doing my job does not mean getting them suspended or even sending them in the hall. That takes away instructional time from them that I am being paid to give them. If instructional time must be lost, it should be spent growing into better people, not sitting at home. I believe my future students are capable of success but depend on me to show up and create the environment for their success.
Also, in class we have talked about how it is our job to protect students from things going on in the world that my hurt or negatively impact them. I believe that all my future students are in my classroom for a reason because I know that they will need me. They are in my classroom for my protection and guidance as we navigate this ever-changing world together.

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I believe the purpose of schooling is...

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I believe the purpose of schooling is...

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1.  I believe the purpose of schooling is socialization.
2.  I believe the purpose of schooling is to prepare students for a successful future.

Reading Connections:
Multiple Rethinking Schools Articles

I actually pulled my beliefs from reading the devastating facts from the pipeline to prison articles. Seeing the statistics of the result of schools makes me thing the purpose of school is to do the opposite of what is currently happening. Schools are able to identify a number of students who will more than likely end up in prison and instead of working to avoid that and pouring resources and support into those students, they accept the facts and assume that is just what has to happen. I believe that schooling should prepare students for a future of success. Socializing the students to what is right and wrong will also help them. As we talked about in class, students spend more time with their teachers than their parents, so they learn a lot more than just academics while in school. It is our job to teach them how to be genuinely good people while also academically preparing them to be successful.

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1.  I believe community/family is valuable.
2.  I believe community/family is what shapes the child for the first years of their life.
3. I believe community/family shows us who the students are and teaches us as teachers how we can interact with them.
Reading Connections:
"To be in touch with the community, one has to enter into the physical places where the students live, and work to be invited into the emotion-laden spaces the youth inhabit" (Edmin, 2014, p.21).
Colonizing Wild Tongues by Camila Arze Torres Goitia
I have formed my beliefs for this topic from both the Edmin quote and the Rethinking Schools article. It is impossible for teachers to fully understand where students live and the circumstances they are under if they go out into the community and explore. However, going out into these places is not enough. We have to go out and talk to citizens and gather information about life in that city or town to understand what their life is like. It is not enough to see the houses and shops, but to understand where students really struggle or succeed we must have challenging conversations to get to the heart of the people and experiences in their city or town. I also pulled beliefs from the Rethinking Schools Article because the story of the student who went to school speaking spanish and was told they speak english in her school was interesting to me. I believe that a community and family forms who a family becomes and it is not our job as teachers to change or "fix" them, but to go out and learn about who they are now and who they are becoming and find ways to support that and incorporate it into classrooms.

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1. I believe that teaching is about more than teaching curriculum and standards.
2. I believe that teaching is active and engaging.

Reading Connections:
American Education Chapter 5

This chapter talks about the diversity of students in a number of aspects.  It discusses race, gender, and ability.  As teachers, I believe that we have to educate our students about more than math, science, literacy, and the other basic school subjects.  We have to be knowledgeable about who our students are in order to incorporate them into our lessons and educating our other students in our classroom about one another.  There are many groups of people that have fought for their right to education and it is important that we as teachers take it seriously and empower them in their learning to get what they fought so hard for.

Also, we have been talking a lot about stations and how to have a hands on classroom. This is where I found my belief that teaching is active and engaging. Being in field, I see the importance of having hands on, engaging activities for students to build and practice what they are learning.

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1. I believe that learning takes place in many forms.
2.  I believe that learning happens in and out of the classroom, and in school is where students can sort out and understand what they have learned in the real world.
3.  I believe that learning is inevitable and unavoidable.
4. I believe that learning is continuous throughout a person's entire life.

Reading Connections:
A Framework for Understanding Ruby Payne by Anita Bohn & Savage Unrealities by Paul Gorski

These articles are where I got my belief that learning happens out of the classroom, that students have to sort it out in the classroom, and that it is continuous. They talk about the survival quizzes Ruby Payne had students take that stereotyped them based on their economic status. As sad as it is, parts of what she said about this is true. People in lower class communities grow up learning different "survival skills" than people in middle or upper class. As our students learn how to defend themselves or hire people to help them, I feel responsibility as their teacher to help them sort out those thoughts from the outside world and help them understand when it is and isn't necessary. For example, as our students learn to defend themselves, we must also teach them other ways to talk through problems so that violence is not an instant reaction in every situation. As students learn to buy things or hire people, we must teach them the value of doing their own work, and that not every situation requires outside resources; that they are capable of doing their own work too. The fault in some of this thinking comes when we believe that students in certain situations, will only learn certain things and are not able to learn whatever they would want to. This is also known as deficit theory. A person's life is never set in stone, as their community, social status, and economic status change, so will what they know. They will continue to learn essential "life skills" for the rest of their lives.

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I believe my responsibilities as a teacher are....

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I believe my responsibilities as a teacher are....

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1. I believe that my responsibility as a teacher is to prepare lessons that challenge students and provide opportunities for growth and learning.
2. I believe that my responsibility as a teacher is to build confidence and hope in my students for who they are and for their future.
3. I believe that my responsibility as a teacher is to build relationships between student's families and support them however I can outside of the classroom.
4. I believe that my responsibility as a teacher is to partner with other teachers in my school to share ideas and bring exciting ways of learning to our students.
5. I believe that my responsibility as a teacher is to show and help students learn how to make their own decisions and beliefs for themselves.

Reading Connections:
A Pedagogy of Resistance by Catherine Capellaro

In this reading, Capellaro interviewed Howard Zinn about teachers responsibilities.  He stated that, "the teacher has to make a decision right from the start that 'I am not here just to prepare these students to pass tests so they can move ahead and become successful and take their dutiful place in society.'"  This quote connects to the responsibilities that I feel because it discusses how teaching is more than providing education, but preparing students to have a successful future.  Zinn also talked about how important it is "to give race the importance it should have."  This is about giving students confidence in themselves and respect for those around them.  Students must leave my classroom knowing that they are important, but also knowing how to treat and respect those around them.