Why Do I Teach?
Teaching is one of the most challenging things I have ever done, yet it is also the most rewarding. I have dedicated the last 24 years of my professional life working in urban schools in underserved communities. During this time, I have taken on many educational roles: from TA to teacher, literacy coach to administrator, and currently serving in higher education as a professor of Child Development at West Los Angeles College. Today, education in California is faced with many obstacles which make it necessary to utilize all of my past experiences. With an increasingly globalized society, minority students must now compete worldwide, and that stakes become higher not only to master basic skills, but to excel at 21st century literacy. Therefore, it becomes my priority to continue to seek out new research, tools, and strategies that will foster equity and student success among various populations.
I feel it is imperative to teach students about resilience, metacognition, and malleable intelligence. Both my experiences as a learner and an educator reveal that these concepts are crucial to student success. I teach my students that effort should be valued over achievement in order to help them become empowered in their learning journey. When students believe that with effort and hard work they can improve academically, these students are exhibiting a growth mindset. Research, as well as my personal experience as a learner reveals that those students with a growth mindset are more likely to take on challenges and persist in the face of setbacks—academic or otherwise. The line between growth and fixed mindset can be a tenuous one, and students tend to take on the more maladaptive fixed mindset beliefs as they enter middle school.
It happened to me, as a straight “A” student until the dreaded first “D” in 9th grade Geometry, and I found my inner voice convincing me that I had “outgrown my IQ”. As an educator, one of my primary goals is to foster a growth mindset in my students and to encourage them to welcome challenges, to become efficacious, and to reflect on their learning process. The empowerment is invaluable. I often ground my classes in the research about the brain and share lessons with my students that illustrate the ideas of malleable intelligence. In this digital age, especially, students are expected to demonstrate 21st century literacy, including advanced problem solving, collaboration, innovation, and critical thinking. Because these skills are abstract and organic, students and well as teachers, must be willing to exert significant effort and have the ability to evaluate and reflect on their learning. In order to build these skills, I also make sure to take the time to build a strong classroom community, where students can feel safe to take academic risks and learn about themselves and each other.
John Cotton Dana wrote, ”Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.” Education is quickly evolving, especially with the globalization taking place in our society. As a result, I must continue to evolve as a learner and teacher and develop my knowledge and skills to serve my diverse students. Therefore, I am a self-proclaimed conference/workshop/professional development nerd! I truly love participating in opportunities to help me grow in my craft and learn from other educators. Becoming a teacher was not fortuitous for me; I chose to be an educator, wholeheartedly, because I want to instill in my students the belief that through education, success can be a reality.
I feel it is imperative to teach students about resilience, metacognition, and malleable intelligence. Both my experiences as a learner and an educator reveal that these concepts are crucial to student success. I teach my students that effort should be valued over achievement in order to help them become empowered in their learning journey. When students believe that with effort and hard work they can improve academically, these students are exhibiting a growth mindset. Research, as well as my personal experience as a learner reveals that those students with a growth mindset are more likely to take on challenges and persist in the face of setbacks—academic or otherwise. The line between growth and fixed mindset can be a tenuous one, and students tend to take on the more maladaptive fixed mindset beliefs as they enter middle school.
It happened to me, as a straight “A” student until the dreaded first “D” in 9th grade Geometry, and I found my inner voice convincing me that I had “outgrown my IQ”. As an educator, one of my primary goals is to foster a growth mindset in my students and to encourage them to welcome challenges, to become efficacious, and to reflect on their learning process. The empowerment is invaluable. I often ground my classes in the research about the brain and share lessons with my students that illustrate the ideas of malleable intelligence. In this digital age, especially, students are expected to demonstrate 21st century literacy, including advanced problem solving, collaboration, innovation, and critical thinking. Because these skills are abstract and organic, students and well as teachers, must be willing to exert significant effort and have the ability to evaluate and reflect on their learning. In order to build these skills, I also make sure to take the time to build a strong classroom community, where students can feel safe to take academic risks and learn about themselves and each other.
John Cotton Dana wrote, ”Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.” Education is quickly evolving, especially with the globalization taking place in our society. As a result, I must continue to evolve as a learner and teacher and develop my knowledge and skills to serve my diverse students. Therefore, I am a self-proclaimed conference/workshop/professional development nerd! I truly love participating in opportunities to help me grow in my craft and learn from other educators. Becoming a teacher was not fortuitous for me; I chose to be an educator, wholeheartedly, because I want to instill in my students the belief that through education, success can be a reality.