Suzanne Zabriskie, or Mrs. Z for those of us that were too young to pronounce Zabriskie, is not only my best friend’s mother, but was also my church choir instructor. While I attended public school she was often times my substitute and was a large help in getting me the extra assistance that I needed to catch up with my classmates. Yet my relationship with Mrs. Z wasn’t much more than that of a student and a teacher. When I first asked her for an interview I was a bit nervous of how our conversation would go, wondering if I would still be answered like a student. To my relief, not only did she answer my questions without holding back, but she gave me advice for developing as a teacher.
Suzanne had wanted to teach ever since she was a swim
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I believe that this is due to a fear of scaring me away from the career. This is not the case for Suzanne Zabriskie. I was barely able to finish my sentence when I asked what the positive and negatives of teaching are. She started with the negatives. In her kindergarten class, they are beginning to push more academics on the students. With more time being set aside for academics, there is less time for unstructured play and creative projects. In the past, severe behavioral problems were often traced back to the home life of each student. However, with this influx of academia and cutting of play, more students are tending to act out. This behavior not only effects the student, who is taken out of class due to bad behavior, but the entire class who is derailed from the lesson plan. Yet she believes that the best part of being an educator stems from this negative. As students begin to learn how to adapt to class, you can see them grow. According to Suzanne, it’s this growth that makes all of the difficulties worth …show more content…
Something that I’ve always asked when interviewing is how they deal with stress, especially after a bad day. She told me that after one of these days she’ll just try to breathe deep and possibly take a walk. But she says the most important thing is to talk to someone about it. From a co-worker to a friend, talking about the day doesn’t only gives the ability to debrief from a long day, but it also allows a teacher to review the bad day and see if there is anything that they did to escalate it or something they could do to better handle the situation in the
In “The Teacher Wars”, by Helen Goldstein, the book focuses on the historical implications of school policy and how it affects teachers. The author goes into depth with everything from the rise of female teachers to the rise of technology in today’s teachers. As Goldstein argues teachers have an incredible ability to be able to widen equality, yet can also narrow the achievement gap that is created from birth. Her showcase of the constant strife against teachers throughout the ages gives way to multiple ways politics and decisions affect the achievement gap.
The trivialization of high school in the present educational organization for teens has been posited in the public; however, it is one vital issue that is being debated.
In the article, "Why Tough Teachers Get Good Results", the author, Joanne Lipman, is identified as the speaker. In the past, the author had a particularly strict teacher, Mr. K. In paragraph 3, the author states that research supports the fact that their and Mr. K’s other students’ eventual success is due to Mr. K’s strict teaching style. Through experiencing Mr. K’s rigorous style of teaching, the author gains credibility by experiencing the effectiveness of the aforementioned methods first-hand, but also in observing the success of their former classmates. While others may argue and provide research that would prove that other types of learning are the “most effective”, the author exhibits a bias towards traditional education that may be
My life story began when I was born on June 18, 1990 in the United States. Lived in the U.S.A for about two years and my parents decided to go back to their county and continue living there due to their business. But after 10 years living in Egypt my parents again decided to come to the U.S. for a better future for my siblings and I. However I was blessed to be in a family of Christian. Throughout 10 years being in a Muslim country was something completely different than being in the United States. At the time neither me nor my parents were feeling weird about it because my parents brought me up in churches and placed us in Christian schools that were very stricked about our behaviors and living the Godly life. But in general just never had a problem living in Egypt, I loved everyone around me and didn’t have any problems at all being around different types of religions.
In the text, Becoming a Teacher, the author reflects on why gender is included as a dimension of multicultural education, which is defined by Parkay (2016), “multicultural education is committed to the goal of providing all students – regardless of socioeconomic status; gender; sexual orientation; or ethnic, racial, or cultural backgrounds – with equal opportunities to learn in school” (p. 291). These cultural dissimilarities between the genders are created by the expectations society stereotypes them to follow. As Parkay explained in the text, “through sex role stereotyping, families, the media, the school, and other powerful social forces condition boys and girls to act in certain ways regardless of ability or interests” (2016, p. 296). According to this, students are categorized by society standards, which
To teach is to choose a challenging life. It requires passion in the profession, genuine love and interest in children, especially when one opts to teach young children. One must have a heart and needs to be ethical, reflective, caring and hopeful. It requires faith in yourself and respect for individual children, willing to work against the odds in order to contribute to an evolving environment. Ayers’s book, To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher is a book, I consider a work that strives for educational reform. Ayers write from his personal experience and then draws his educational philosophy around those experiences. William Ayers writes, as teacher, parent, student and observer, of the children he has known, and of the things that actually
In Jane Tompkins, A Life in School: What the Teacher Learned, Jane uncovers flaws in the American education system and how poorly formal education prepares pupils for careers after schooling. She describes how her teachers at P.S. 98 used authority to form the person she is now, teaching at Duke. Her experience dabbling in alternative teaching methods established the path she took throughout her career. Although Tompkins experience is atypical of most students, I agree with her argument about how fear is a successful means of motivation for those that can succumb to it, but alternatives exist that have been demonstrated and are successful.
On Being a Teacher by Jonathan Kozol is divided into two parts. Part one is about the actual issues and the actions teachers can take. Part two covers how to organize people into a support system for teachers. Kozol advocates a more honest and successful type of teaching throughout both sections.
just a minute.” Turning to a student on his left, he asked her if she
Looking back from this past year to my earlier school days, one of the teachers that boldly stands out in my memory is Mrs. Miner. No one else has named me as her daughter, Joanie Miller. While at Grace Academy, art class at the end of the day with Mrs. Frisk still makes my sides ache from giggling. During the days when there were no art classes, Mr. Peterson’s enthusiasm for hockey brightened the gymnasium, as he and my father practiced rapid-fire slapshots on some unsuspecting ninth grader. But, through all the memories, I was trying to think of one characteristic of teachers that has shown through the many years. I thought about their dedication, patience and guidance but decided that these wouldn’t do.
Through my own experiences, and as enforced by others' opinions in the profession, I have found that teaching is one of the most rewarding careers. Not only are you placed in the position of instructing and guiding children and young adults through the life long learning process, but you are able to give back to the schools and communities which have supported your early education and experiences that opened you up to a bright future. In becoming an educator, I hope to someday share the knowledge and lend the helping, supportive hand that I was once given, allowing students to formulate their own perspectives of the multicultural society and world around them. Teaching is a career I have been interested in pursuing throughout high school, and as my experiences and study in the field expands, I feel that my desire to teach will grow stronger and develop more soundly.
My view of Literature is that it is the soul to the imagination. I may be mistaken, but that is the beauty of literary words; there is no truth, no right nor wrong in them, yet they hold just about everything to learn on life. Miss Judy Brown, my form four English teacher, has really inspired me in indispensible ways. She is definitely one in a billion.
A good education has always been drilled into my head ever since I was a little girl. Boy did I hate that, all I wanted to do was goof off and have fun with my friends. But as the years went on I started to realize how important it was to have a good education. Not that that made me like school anymore than I did; but I was realizing the different ways I was learning and how different people taught. I remember saying one day, when I was a freshman in high school, that if I was teaching this class I would have never taught it that way. Unfortunately, my teacher overheard me and I was forced to go to the front of the room and explain to the class the way it should be taught since I knew so much about teaching. Needless to say I did an awful job of it. That is when I started thinking about becoming a teacher. I know that does not make sense because I did such an awful job and was humiliated doing it. I did not like the way that man taught and I was determined to take his job. However, the reason I am here today is not that I want to take a teacher’s job; it is because I have the desire to make a difference in the lives of many students. I hope I will be a good teacher so that I will never have to hear a student say something bad about my teaching.
Every teacher has their strong points as well as weak points. Teaching is very hard work and some of them never grow to be anything better than mediocre. They do the bare minimum and very little over and above the call of duty. There are several ways to become a great teacher. Teachers are truly dedicated workers who put a lot of time and schooling into being able to teach for the rest of their lives.
I have not always wanted to be a teacher. I always knew that I wanted to work with children in some way, but I was pretty sure that teaching was not for me. I was well on my way in my junior year of college working toward a biology degree so that I could become a pediatric physician’s assistant. I still cannot explain what happened, but one week I was a biology major, and the next I knew that I have always been meant to teach children. I suppose I just took the longer route to get there than most people do. The two main reasons that I have chosen to become a teacher is that I believe that teaching is extremely personally rewarding in many ways and the fact that I can actively make a difference in someone’s life.