Accumulated Experiences of Teaching, Including

¶ … accumulated experiences of teaching, including my most recent in-class efforts at Myra S. Barnes Intermediate School together galvanize the key factors that are essential for schools to attain an excellent learning environment and sustain it over time. The five factors that contribute to a school's level of excellence include the level of safety it provides, it's location, the condition of its facilities, how the people working in and leading the school including the principal perceive their roles, and most important, if there is a sense of purpose or not. These five factors can become galvanized together to create a highly effective learning environment and in the process create an excellent school. As the video Learning Matters: School Sleuth - The Case of an Excellent School shows, all five of these elements must be orchestrated by a highly effective leader, often the principal. These five attributes form a foundational ecosystem that can either choose to embrace the status quo (cleverly portrayed as the antagonist in the PBS video) or choose to pursue excellence instead. These five attributes of a highly effective school are also exemplified by the intensely competitive nature of the documentary The Lottery. This heartbreaking film portrays four families, all very deserving of an opportunity to have their children get excellent educations, competing through a lottery to see which one gets a change to enroll in Harlem Success Academy. Just five minutes into this award-winning documentary one realizes that in the United States, with our exceptional spending on so many areas including national defense, that denying these children whose entire families could be lifted out of poverty, is a crime. This documentary speaks volumes as to where the United States' government spending priorities are yet also shows just how powerful an excellent school is in galvanizing a community together for the benefit of its children. The stories of personal sacrifice amidst major personal struggles makes this documentary exceptionally moving. Combining the lessons learned from The Lottery and the five core attributes of an excellent school as defined in Learning Matters: School Sleuth - The Case of an Excellent School together form a solid foundation for defining and acting on a sound philosophy of teaching excellence.

The Purpose Is Always The Child

Of the many experts who spoke in the film Learning Matters: School Sleuth - The Case of an Excellent School, Dr. James Comer was the most profound. His statement, the purpose is always on the child, is resonating and clearly a galvanizing factor in his research and continual efforts to bring excellence into education. The many challenges of ensuring a school galvanizes all of its efforts around a child can be seen in the hard realities shown in The Lottery. In that documentary the point is made that much of the U.S. school system in general and those specifically in Harlem are predicated on World War I and World War II-era educational frameworks. Yet an educator must push beyond these constraints and still stay passionately committed to ensuring every student has an opportunity to attain their maximum potential from a learning standpoint.

This perspective on learning became especially relevant through assisting a young man to find purpose in the study of social studies. Withdrawn in class yet exceptionally bright on written tests, it was clear he was not motivated to participate in class. Through scaffolding techniques and the assistance from my advisor Mrs. D'Amour, we worked with the young man to find out which areas of social studies interested him most. He found World War I Trench Warfare the most fascinating. Giving him the challenge of being the class expert in this area, setting the goal of presenting at the white board at least three times during the semester, and being the go-to person during class discussions all gave him a strong sense of purpose.

This experience and the student's continual improvement served as highly effective forms of feedback as well. While much has been written about assessments and metrics in education, one of the most powerful scenarios where they matter most is in the tradition from passive to active learning. Working with this student to give him ownership of a given area and the confidence to contribute in class shows why it is critical to use both qualitative and quantitative assessments. As the Student Teaching Effectiveness evaluations showed, it is better to create a culture of participative learning that take control of the entire learning process. Of the teaching lessons learned from this example, the ability to create the opportunity of continual learning and ownership of the process was the most significant.

This finding correlates with the attributes of excellent schools as defined in the video Learning Matters: School Sleuth - The Case of an Excellent School in that the best schools create a culture that continually underscores not just physical safety, but safety to learn and excel as well. The learning culture of Myra S. Barnes Intermediate School is specifically designed to create this type of learning environment. This example also shows that the learning culture at I.S. 24 is deliberately designed to ensure a student is challenged, yet not intimidated by the learning process. This example also shows that creating a passion for learning is also essential for any student to grow, and through scaffolding techniques this occurred.