Kayleen Moran

Teaching Disposition Fall 2008

The English classroom is one of the few places young adolescents can and should be exposed to social and ethical issues through literature. Long Island is one of the most diversified areas consisting of mixed multi-cultural families. This provides a rich backdrop for students to explore and embrace the diversity around them. At the same time, however, it is one of the most segregated areas within the United States. The various cultural perspectives bring different ranges of learners into the classroom, all with varied learning abilities, socioeconomic backgrounds and attitudes toward learning.

In order to have fully formed a beginning to my teaching philosophy and disposition, I felt that during my field experience it was important to visit as many different types of school districts and classrooms as possible. This gave me the opportunity to collect different teaching styles, techniques, and attitudes toward the classroom environment and teaching of literature. I have observed in highly affluent areas as well as high need school districts, some which consisted of a high percentage of ESL students. I have found some teachers who recognize the significance of the unique mixture of cultures that surround the area and provide a range of literature within the classroom. These span from the traditional canon authors, such as Shakespeare and Charles Dickens to Sharon Flake, Hurston or Nikolai Gogol. I have found others who teach from Sparknotes versions of Shakespeare plays with passive, watered down lessons in fear that students who are having difficulty with the English language may not understand Shakespeare, so why bother? - Although I am an inexperienced pre-service teacher, I know this is not the right attitude to have toward any student.

My goal is to instill a desire to know more. I don’t believe that students reading a Sparknotes summary of Romeo and Juliet are going to desire to know more. It is possible to teach the same material to wide ranges of students and hold them all at the same high expectation. It must, however, be presented in a tactful and a well put together manner by differentiating instruction to adapt to the needs of each individual student, as well as scaffolding activities. I cringe to see students who are categorized and pre-judged on their learning capabilities and who are consequently put into a perpetuating cycle of performing to meet low expectations. Thus, students who were pre-judged will continue the perpetuating cycle throughout their academic career because they have not been pushed to reach a higher standard.

My objective is to provide my students with works from the literary canon, as well as a balanced mixture of multicultural texts. By providing a mixture, the works themselves address social and ethical issues as well as recognize and celebrate the unique contributions and similarities of the human experience across cultures.

I have come away from my field experience with many valuable lessons. I have witnessed examples of successful and non-successful teaching pedagogies. These experiences helped me critically evaluate pedagogical styles. The present English classroom has evolved to some extent since my own high school experience. I was impressed to see teachers who created original lessons which focused on the language of the text rather than just the plot and history. From close reading of the language students were able to develop the skills necessary for literary analysis. The close reading activities provided a way for students to see literary devices and techniques in use; in turn the students are able to develop and employ these literary techniques in their own writing. Through the use of diverse texts, both traditional and not, I will be able to equip my students with the resources they need to write, analyze and think successfully while exploring the ideas of diversity in our world. My goal as an English teacher is to create original and authentic lessons in order to provide my students with the never ending desire to know more.