My decision to leave banking came after a successful project to increase loan deposits in our branches awarded me a lovely round of applause at a company celebration, and not much else. Volunteering at a Head Start program and the book What Color is Your Parachute led me to the question: What am I going to do, be a teacher? to which my wife answered, Why not? And I haven’t looked back since.
My first master's degree at The George Washington University allowed me to build on my economics bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida, and transition into the field of education. Two years teaching third grade at the Thomas Jefferson School in Fairfax Virginia was a welcoming introduction to teaching, where my experience on the Multicultural Committee gave me the credibility to present on teaching english language learners to the attending cohort of elementary education graduate students at my alma mater, GWU. My having been born in Jamaica, and living in Scotland and St. Lucia prior to moving to the United States, set me up for success in the cosmopolitan, tri-state communities surrounding Washington D.C. A family move led me to San Diego, where a brief stint and valuable training on Class Size Reduction at Painted Rock Elementary in Poway School District, landed me at my current school, R. Roger Rowe Elementary School in Rancho Santa Fe School District. 18 years later, I have now taught 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, and currently 5th grade gaining an invaluable vertical perspective of stages of development and standards of curriculum. Knowing when students were introduced to concepts, and the expectations made at each grade has certainly informed my teaching, and tempered my reactions to their “not knowing.” Being trained and certified by Michael Grinder in public speaking and assessing learning styles resulted in me working with my principal to determine and catalogue the learning styles of all students at the school in order to help teachers effectively deliver differentiated instruction. Utilizing Positive Discipline (Nelson, Jane) to foster an environment steeped in mutual respect, allows me to observe the whole child and invite them to take responsibility for their present behavior and future dreams. Having been team-leader at third grade, I am aware of how important it is to let the standards shape planning decisions, and value developing sound interpersonal relationships in professional learning communities. I am trained on and experienced in using Columbia Teachers’ Reading and Writing Workshop program to implement Common Core aligned curriculum. Managing one-to-one device instruction with iPads and Chromebooks using Google Apps for Educate to create and share documents inspired me to organize a “paperless” classroom using LMS Canvas, delivering assignments as pdf’s to be completed in Notability. Using a Smartboard has become an integral part of instruction. Educreations perfectly complements Common Core lessons, creating math videos to instruct and support student learning (shared with the District for all fifth grade) — filling in the void of textbooks. In that vein, I was also a math “text” adoption team member, led by the Assistant Superintendent, and participated in the development of Common Core, district-designed math program to align to fifth grade standards. After serving on the Faculty Association negotiation team for salary and benefits, I was made to seriously envision and formalize my role as an administrator. My current (and second), master’s degree program at San Diego State University is securing the foundation I need to venture more fully into my future as an educational leader.
1 Comment
Ian Pumpian
11/14/2016 12:37:22 pm
Your belief statement reads much stronger this time through. Your story is riveting and unique and I see the clear connection back to your Deweynian beliefs. I think you could make that alignment even more overt and thereby accessible to the reader/listener who might only have a 2 minute glimpse into that connection. Refer back to belief connection more intentionally and avoid rephrasing the terms and phrases you introduced in section 1. Make sense?
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorStanding on the shoulders of friends and family. Archives
December 2016
Categories |