Human

I can already forsee some of my friends wondering why I chose the quote above to introduce my philosophy of education… I have been asked by a lot of people over the past few months what my Theory of Education is.  For the most part, Teach For America’s is a good one:  “One day, every child will have the opportunity to achieve an excellent education.”  This implies both that we are not at that point, and that it is possible.  However, this statement leaves students on such a grand scale that it is still a faceless statement to me.  Thus, I chose to use Lou Ann Walker’s quote, “Theories of education don’t matter a whit…” because it reminds me of the individual gifts and struggles that every person brings into the classroom.

Education is, of course, about systems and institutions.  But every institution is made up of unique human beings.

I will start with a brief overview of what school is like at Austin Busines and Entrepreneurship Academy (ABEA).  We are a small school on the fourth floor of a once-huge school; now, the first floor is all administration, the second is Austin Polytechnical, the third floor is Austin Voice and we are on the fourth and final floor.  Students wear uniforms that need to be tucked in at all times, with no sagging pants, and no earrings for the boys.  Shoes have to be all-black, including the soles, because students have been known to show gang affiliations through their shoes.

I teach six class periods, with two subjects; Freshman Reading and Freshman Literature/Language Arts.  Because the classes are structure this way, I have all my students twice in the same day.  I like that because it lets me see into their learning in a more intense way than if I only taught them once a day.  However, it is difficult to keep their attention by the end of the day; they are used to my voice, face, interaction style and routines.

It is not surprising to me that two boys chose my ninth period class to fist fight with each other two weeks ago.  I found out later that the tension between them had been mounting all day long, but at the time, I felt like the worst teacher in the history of education.  It was such a sinking feeling to realize that the safety and routine of my classroom was put in Jeopardy for all my students because two boys couldn’t control their tempers…  But, thankfully, we all moved on and things are back to normal now.

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