On Teaching (well, at least a tiny sliver of a reflection)

Last week marked the first week during which I was actually a “teacher.”

I began my student teaching at Mt. Lebanon High School.
I’ll be working with students enrolled across four sections of Biology (roughly 26 students each) and a single section of Physics (having 10 students).
With ages ranging from 13-17, there really is a developmental disconnect from student to student.  It amazes me how differently younger adolescents perceive something, when compared to students just a few or even a couple years older than they are.
My experiences this past week at the High School have solidified my interest in and commitment to teaching at the high school level.  Teaching at the university level does have its advantages (see below), but there’s something spectacular about taking a young student who was convinced (s)he couldn’t “do science,” and showing him/her that (s)he can.

At the University of Pittsburgh, I was awarded a Faculty position.  Currently, I’m teaching 3 sections of Biology Lab (18 students per section).  So, throughout the fall, I’ll be instructing 178 students.  I can honestly say that I’ll know them all by name very shortly.
As I’d said, teaching at Pitt is a lot of fun.  As a teacher, one is able to push university students *much* more than high school students (granted, the high school biology sections I’m teaching at Mt. Lebo aren’t honors or AP level).  You can make them intellectually/socially uncomfortable, and yet they still spring back into the classroom environment, ready to digest more material.
As I went from section to section of Biology Lab last week, I found myself constantly tweaking my lessons and the ways in which I was presenting them.
The course rewards students with one credit, upon successful completion, but the work required for that credit is rather intense.  Students are in lab for a single 3 hour period each week.  I had been a TA (with my own recitation sections and a smattering of guest lectures here and there) for 3 years before teaching this lab course, so I was somewhat prepared; though, trying to fill 3 hours of instructional time seemed particularly daunting.  As I progressed through each section, though, it amazed me how little time we actually had to cover the necessary material.  The lab course is based upon tenets of “student-driven/centered” learning (sort of a “guided inquiry” environment).  Therefore, much flexibility is required of the instructor, as each section is comprised of individuals who cover material at different rates.
I was able to adapt, though.  I’m sure that each section walked out of the lab with the same major take-home messages (we’ll see how well they perform on the standardized quiz).

So my days are packed full.  In addition to teaching at Mt. Lebo and Pitt, I’m also taking 15 credits of grad classes this semester.  Being that they’re all education courses, I can’t say that I’m close to being mentally exhausted, but it’s still a huge chunk of time carved out of my 126 waking hours each week.

Last Wednesday, I was at Mt. Lebo from 7-330.  I then had to drive down to Pitt and teach lab.  By the time I’d cleaned everything up, it was around 930.  I got home at 10 pm, utterly exhausted, and a commercial popped into my head… It was for Sam Adams, and although I could have certainly used a drink at that point, my subconscious was trying to tell me something else.  It was the commercial wherein the founder of the brewery says “If you do something you love, you’ll never have to work a day in your live.”  I’m lucky to have found something I truly love doing.  As tiring as teaching is, it’s endlessly rewarding.

So, among teaching my students about Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, I’m also going to teach them to find something they love to do and then find someone who’s willing to pay them to do it.

The Purpose of Education

The Following is an essay I wrote for one of my education classes.

The education system within the United States is, I believe, at an interesting crossroads.  Not necessarily in a strict temporal sense, but in terms of its ultimate goal: Should it be the goal of the system to produce academically oriented students with a more philosophical bent, or should the goal be to create functional cogs that can operate within and contribute to the global economic machine.  Or, is there possibly a compromise between the two?  Do they, practically, represent two extremes of a single spectrum?

Before I go any further, it should be noted what I mean by “produce.”  The implied analogy coincidentally commodifies students.  I, in no way, support this mental leap.  By “produce,” I instead imply something along the lines of “facilitate the development of.”

The word “educate” has acquired a complex meaning, rife with implications.  If one traces the word back to its origin (educere), I believe an important aspect of its meaning is uncovered.  Educere means to lead out.  To lead out of what? Some have said darkness, some ignorance, some say naïveté.  I tend to believe that, as educators, we will be leading our students out of their pasts into their futures.  Whether that past implies actual ignorance or simpler naïveté, is somewhat inconsequential.  What is important is that we will be facilitating the futures of our students.

This, in and of itself, would be of tremendous value, noble even; if one extrapolates the effects educators (operating within the educational system) have on students to the broader societal level, then educators are facilitating, and thereby shaping, society’s future.

This aspect of teaching is what most excites me.  As a future science teacher, I have a tremendous passion for the content I’ll be presenting.  Luckily, my undergrad career was filled with instructors who also had a passion for the content they were teaching.  Some classes, though, I realized would not directly serve any practical purpose in my future career.  Why, for example, did I, as an undergrad, have to take Calculus?  I can remember sitting in Hillman library, attempting to complete my homework, when it really hit me: It’s not the content that’s important (I haven’t had to take a derivative since the fall semester of my freshman year), but it’s the thinking skills that were important to obtain.  Using methodical logic and applying abstract tools to scientific problems is essential.  Calculus provided me with some of those abilities.

I’ve been a teaching assistant in the biology and chemistry departments at Pitt for the past three years.  I’ve always struggled as to whether I should let my students in on this “secret” that I discovered in the library.  When I’m going over biochemistry with a bunch of freshman whose eyes are glazed over at 8 in the morning, part of me wants to assure them that the content they’re learning will be re-learned in later courses, and that it ultimately has little utility, even for those students planning to go onto pharmacy or medical school.  But I stop myself short of ever doing that.  Why?  I’m not sure yet.  This is a question that I still struggle with, but it’s allowed me to realize something about science education specifically, something that I believe could be generalized to education within most content areas: For the majority of one’s students, the actual content you’re asking them to learn will be of little practical utility in their lives.

So, why do it?  Why should we attempt to teach content to students that they’ll never put to use?  I think it’s important to return to the original question: What is the purpose of education?  After admitting that a spectrum exists between the two aforementioned extremes, my following point of view could possibly be taken as extreme as well, but I’m willing to defend it.  I truly believe that the core purpose of education is to produce (i.e. facilitate the development of) individuals who can function sympathetically, effectively, and thoughtfully within society.

It might sound as though I’m trending towards the more functionalistic side of the spectrum, but I assure you that my point of view is rather moderate and incorporates both extremes.  In order to achieve the three adverbs in the above purpose statement, a student must be somewhat academic, philosophical even.

The role of the educator then becomes to facilitate this transition, development, leading out, of the student into a functioning member of society.  Personally, I feel that my role within the lives of students is to make them think about what they’re learning, and to make them ask questions about why they’re having particular reactions to material.  I want students to expose their own biases, recognize questions of axiology.  I want them to understand that there are different ways of knowing, different ways of asking questions: Is this an ontological or and epistemological question?

As a practitioner, I hope that I can find ways to implement this theoretical approach into my classroom.  As a scientist, I’m interested in measuring the success of said implementation.  I want to ensure that my students are able to glean everything from the education that I provide to them which I was able to glean throughout my education, and then some.  I want to train them to think scientifically and to use those tools of inquiry to analyze the paradigm that encompasses their being, including their own biases and experiences.

As education has evolved from the transfer of salable skills to the facilitated development of thinkers, we must recognize that, as teachers, we will have to teach (i.e. educate) the future carpenter, theoretical physicist, and artist.  Our lessons need to provide both immediate and lasting utility.  This is the purpose of education.

Where I Am, This Day.

As you might have previously read, I’m (well my boyfriend and I are) building a house.

In addition to being a full-time grad student, I hold two jobs:
Lab Instructor at Pitt
&
Marketing Associate at Ideal Integrations.

LIFE. IS. GOOD.

I’m a big fan of MoJo and currently have a spot reserved for her on my iGoogle dashboard.
I was reading an article that she linked to (find it here), and I found myself totally captivated by the story.
For those of you who don’t want to expend the time/energy reading the whole 5 page story, allow me to sum it up:

Family re-loacates to industrial town in search of new-found riches.
Mom and dad are both employed by same industry.
Said industry booms while US economy supports conspicuous consumerism for all.
US economy fails.
Said industry fails.
Mom and dad both lose job.

Mom and dad remain unemployed for close to a year, supporting the family by means of unemployment.
Mom and dad forced to pawn their possessions to pay rent an utilities.
Unemployment is no longer able to sustain their meager lifestyle.
Whole family is forced to move into mom’s mom’s cat-urine-soaked basement.
[Side note: They were probably McCain supporters last year]

So, I read this story and reflected on my own life:

I just graduated college, and I’m surrounded by stories of people who can’t find work.  Many of my friends are going to grad school, so that they can avoid the inevitable: Having to pay back their college loans.
I’d like to think that I’ve struggled to get where I am, but I haven’t really…  While I was in college, I was constantly reminded by my family and by my professors how difficult college is and how proud of myself I should be for “doing well” and then for graduating.
When I got my diploma in the mail, I was sort-of proud… But of what?  For spending the last 4 years of my life amassing facts that (I’m constantly reminded by my friends and family, when I pull them out of my hat) are utterly useless?  For kissing administrative ass, allowing me to make political connections that got me jobs paying 150% more than my peers enrolled in work study programs?  For learning to play the game so well I was able to coast through college without much effort at all?

Now I’m enrolled in a grad program, taking the easiest classes I’ve ever taken.  I pulled a 4.0 this semester, writing multiple 6 page papers a couple of hours before they were due…

So back to the above-summarized Washinton Post story…
I guess I’m just venting over the lack of true struggle in our lives (by “our,” I mean Americans-or any developed 1st world society, for that matter)…
The dad in the story was devastated over the necessity of living in his mother-in-law’s basement- literally psychologically devastated.  His wife recently turned down a job, because she could “make more on unemployment than she could as a receptionist,” failing to take into consideration the positive effect a regular job might have on her resume.  Their soon-to-be-high-school-senior son, who has been earning C’s and D’s in school, was playing XBox while his parents were trying to figure out how to pay the electric bill.  The dad dropped $16+ dollars at a bar, after being relieved that the $100 he had just won gambling would scoop the family out of true financial hardship for the remainder of the current welfare check period.  Does anyone else recognize the absurd unrealistic dichotomies herein?

It’s as though society has instilled some sort of barely-maintainable (even during the 90’s) sense of entitlement.  And, when said entitled level is not attained, people just give up.  I’m aware that this is a gross generalization, and that there are MANY people struggling with tremendous effort, but come one people- it’s time to wake up out of the capitalistic consumptive coma we’ve been in for the past 2.5 decades!

Millions of people around the world would work (and do work) 12 hour days to attain the same standard of living the aforementioned family is now relegated to- but not Americans.  Why?  Because we’re Americans.  We deign to live as others dream to.

It’s time for America to start pulling its weight (in some other way than vomitting Wal-Marts, war crimes, and Christianity all over the world)!

An Update

So I’ve been terrible at updating this blog…  I think, though, that I’ll start posting regularly again.

To update:

I have since graduated from Pitt’s Honors College with BPhil degrees in Microbiology and Neuroscience.
My thesis research centered on curriculum development at the college level, and I’ve since been accepted to and finished my first semester (today!) of grad classes at Pitt’s School of Ed.  I’m pursuing an MEd degree in Secondary Science Ed.

I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s FAR too easy to become a teacher… even in Pennsylvania, which supposedly has some of the most rigorous certifying standards.

I’m building a townhouse in Baldwin with my amaaaazing boyfriend, who shall remain nameless.  We had our pre-construction meeting yesterday and realized we’ll have a great back yard, in addition to our incredible view.  We’re currently living in his parents’ basement, but I’m totally fine with that… not only because I know our house will be completed by the end of October, but also because I honestly enjoy spending time with his entire family.

I’ll start my student teaching at Mt. Lebanon High School in the fall.  I’ve already taken my Praxis II Biology exam (literally the easiest test I’ve taken in my life), and I plan on taking Praxis II’s in Physics, Chem, and Earth & Space Science… and possibly General Science too.  I’m really looking forward to student teaching.  I’ve met my coordinating teacher, and the possibilities for getting involved with research, grant writing, and curriculum development seem  pretty certain.

After watching “Freedom Writers,” though, I feel like a total sell out, going to Lebo to teach.  Honestly, I think the resource differential that exists between suburban and urban schools is a tragedy.  At the same time, I’m concerned about my own career, reputation, and future.  I want a solid foundation on which I can build my professional life, and I feel as though Lebo will provide that for me.

I’ve taken a Part-time Faculty position in the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Biological Sciences.  I’ll be teaching three sections of introductory lab.  I’m excited because, for the first time, I’ll be the instructor (as opposed to a teaching assistant).  The classroom environment will be my responsibility to develop and maintain.  I can’t wait.

I think it will be interesting to compare the classroom environments that exist at Lebo and Pitt.  Even though I’ll be teaching college freshmen at Pitt, they won’t be much more developmentally advanced, when compared to their high school counterparts… at least I don’t think so.

I’ll begin teaching at Pitt August 31st and at Lebo around the same time.  Expect more consistent updates anon.

A Spirited Effort

Hello word pressers.

First, allow me to apologize for failing to update this little slice of cyber space for such a long time.

Last semester proved to be quite hellish.  I really considered withdrawing from some of my classes, because I dind’t think I could take the pressure.  I’m glad, now, that I didn’t.  For, even though my performance was less-than-stellar, my GPA wasn’t affected too much.

Speaking of education, I interviewed in DC for a teaching fellowship position within DCPS.

Even though the structural infrastructure is literally crumbling to the ground in many places, I still feel as though DC would be the best fit for me.  I say this because of its proximity to home (Pittsburgh) and because of its apparent disarray.

I’ve taken my Praxis 1 tests, and now I’m waiting to take my Bio and General Science Praxis 2’s.

On that note, I leave you with the following:

Summer’s Imagery

I came across a little gem of a book entitled The Well Educated Mind. I shan’t go into it here, but I have much to say about the travesty that is the American education system.

Rants aside, Bauer deftly raises many good points throughout the book. Perhaps most intriguing to me is her call to journal. I had always thought that one should save his thoughts and capitulations for rainy days anon. Certainly, though, thinking and doing are two very different actions: I never actually ended up journaling, because it quickly became overly tedious. My bedroom, therefore, is rife with journals scantly filled with random thoughts and notes I’d taken on books I was reading at the time.

As for summer imagery: I was driving last night, going about 80 MPH down a country road in rural Pennsylvania. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the setting, relatively small farms and pastures are separated by parcels of woodlands. The rolling hills and abrupt peaks of the Allegheny plateau make for a farming environment rather different than the expansive plains of the Midwest.

Anyways, my speed coupled with the undulating irregularity of the scenery provided a unique experience: With every breath I took in, my senses were inundated with an entirely new complement of olfactory images. It’s interesting to me how intimately associated one’s sense of smell is to his memory.

I grew up among the natural dips and sudden clines of this region. I hadn’t been back for quite sometime, and the smell of moist clover and honeysuckle transported me back in time to memories of bygone years.

As I continued my drive, I passed over a small stream and was hit with the smell of wet oil with which the region is uniquely punctuated.

Ten years ago, this was me. A young boy both fascinated and contemptuous with his surroundings. Yearning for crowded streets and open minds.

god’s Wrath

I’m not going to lie: It always struck me funny that people blamed a region’s “sinfulness” for its natural disasters.  Examine, if you will, the following graphics.

This Week’s Best and Brightest

So, I’m not going to lie… this past week was a rather full one.  I found myself making almost daily trips to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.  Why? you might ask.  Well, apparently they’ve had a spectacular music collection replete with both mainstream and not-so-mainstream goodies.  For example, Thursday, I borrowed (and ripped into my iTunes library) the opera Susannah, At the Village Gate by Nina Simone, The Music Man, and Dreamgirls. They, of course, have many more genres than musical theatre, opera, and jazz… it’s just nice to be able to explore new types of music.  Thanks Andrew… or Andy-Cizzla as I so affectionately refer to him as.

On a rather morose note, my cell phone was stolen/lost… I’m not too sure what happened.  You see, I was wearing track pants (outside the apartment…), and th pockets were so large, my phone was constantly slipping out.  So, after my friend and I had finished eating burritos, I reached for my phone, and much to my chagrin, it was missing.  Oi vei iz mir!

Friday-Saturday, Pitt finally had our Relay For Life.  It rained most of the night, but when given lemons, we Pitt students inevitably make limoncello.  People were playing football and ultimate in the mud all night.  Bands were playing from 7pm-1am, and every one had a really great time.  We ended up with around $13,000… quite a bit more than CMU raised their first year… yet another example of Pitt’s superiority.

Today, I got a new phone: an enV from Verizon.  I’d always hated how Verizon so avariciously blocks various hardware features that allowed customers from other providers send custom-made ringtones right from their computers to their phones, so I really did some digging, and I found a spectacular little program called BitPim.  I HIGHLY recommend downloading it.

This Week’s Best and Brightest

Obama came to my school this past Friday. Unfortunately, I had to do some cadaver dissection and then proctor an exam, so I missed out on his speech. There was also a pretty sizable war protest (for Pittsburgh, at least) yesterday that I missed out on for various reasons. Apparently, I’m just out of the Leftist loop these days.

In other news, Pennsyl-tucky has recently taken one step closer to startling civil rights violations. A senate committee has sent a possible constitutional amendment to the floor that would disallow gay couples to marry. They cite recent court decisions in other states as evidence of the encroaching threat to the institution of marriage. Again, I argue that civil rights issues should not depend on the capricious whim of popular vote.

And finally, two music selections for your aural pleasures. The first is Nina Simone’s “Feelin’ Good.” If you are unfamiliar with her music, I highly recommend checking her other stuff out. Nina’s sultry vocals are contrasted with the perennial message contained in the Goo Goo Dolls’”Let Love In.”

This (Last) Week’s Best And Brightest

This last week was rather lack-luster.Hilary lied about dodging snipers abroad, and McCain’s minister is full of more hateful rhetoric than Obama’s minister could even dream of. Politics as per usual.

It makes one wonder: Are we really only as good as the company we keep? If so, then how can we be expected to know exactly how our friends feel? If not, then how can we plead ignorance or distance ourselves from our friends when they come under fire?

On a lighter note, this week’s song is certainly “Sun Storm” by Mac Lethal. It’s funky fresh, yo.