DIGITIZED ARTIFACT FOLDER

Eassa AlkadriEDUC 430Brenda DyckFall 2013

INTRODUCTIONMy name is Eassa Alkadri and I am in my first year of the consecutive education program at the University of Calgary. This portfolio will aim to demonstrate what I have learned thus far on my journey to becoming a professional teacher.

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SCHOOL CULTURE

The definition of culture is so vast and encompasses many different aspects of a school and the environment within that school. A positive culture leads to increased morale and satisfaction. What can I do to make sure that I am contributing to a positive culture in my school?

I have learned that the answer to this question is not as simple as I initially thought it was. Everything from a teacher's interactions with his/ her students to the architecture of the school can affect learning.

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“The most important foundational element is the culture of the school.”

-Allan A. Glatthorn (1992)

VIDEO: TRICKS OF THE TRADE - THE HANDSHAKE

The way in which the teacher in this video interacts with his students is friendly but he still maintains respect from them and they look up to him as an educator. I would like to incorporate similar methods into my own teaching. I saw this as a useful review method for making sure that students are remembering previous lessons by quizzing them randomly.

SCHOOL CULTURE

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VIDEO: 21ST CENTURY PEDAGOGY

This video resonated with me so strongly because I am on the path to becoming a secondary English teacher and so emerging literacies are a major component of what I anticipate teaching my students. Books have been such a critical part of my own education in language arts in the past and I will need to incorporate a more technological approach to teaching literature in order to keep my students interested in the subject matter. By keeping up with technology it will be easier to communicate with learners in the 21st century.

Emerging Literacies

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VIDEO: LITERACY: A WORLD TO DISCOVER

This video opened my eyes to how broad the definition of literacy has become. It involves so much more than reading and writing. There are many diverse literacies and as an English teacher I will need to rely on more than just books and essays to engage my students. Multimodal literacies are an integral part of living in the 21st century and I will have to introduce my students to media literacies by having them analyse commercials, print ads and even web pages to understand how all aspects of a text come together to enforce a central meaning or convey a certain message.

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CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING

As a secondary language arts teacher, I anticipate teaching English literature to students who will not always be native English speakers. It will be my responsibility to adapt to their diverse learning needs to ensure that they receive a fair education like everybody else in the classroom.

I worry about being able to teach English at the high school level to ESL students. How can I teach English literature to students who struggle with English as a language? What can I do to provide a comfortable and effective learning environment for such students?

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TEACHING DIVERSE LEARNERS

“Culturally Responsive Teaching is a pedagogy that recognizes the importance of including students' cultural references in all aspects of learning”

-(Ladson-Billings, 1994).

I need to make a point of learning about my students' backgrounds. I have learned that when teachers use knowledge of their students' backgrounds when planning lessons, academic success increases. Students feel more comfortable as they recognize elements of their own backgrounds in the classroom.

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THE DEMOGRAPHIC IMPERATIVE

"the still relatively homogeneous teaching force"

-(Gay and Howard, 2000, p.1)

Teachers are still predominately Caucasian. How can I make use of my own experience as an ESL student and my ethnic background to enhance my students' learning experiences? I should try to relate to students with different cultural backgrounds because I was once in their shoes. I remember how hard it is, as a learner, to encounter new cultural perspectives at school. When coming to a new country, not only are you faced with the difficulties of learning a new language, you also need to be able to recognize and adapt to new cultural norms. This is why it is so important for me to learn about my students’ cultural backgrounds and incorporate aspects of those heritages into my lessons.

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UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING

A set of principles for curriculum development that gives all individuals equal opportunities to learn.

The curriculum should be flexible in that it can accommodate students with diverse learning needs. Lessons and assignments should be accessible to all students. Diverse students need a diverse curriculum.

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VIDEO: UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNINGAs an aspiring teacher, I really appreciated the methods this video provided for dealing with students with diverse learning needs. Tailoring lessons and assessments to different learners is crucial because a certain student may not excel in one area such as writing, for example, but he or she may be better accustomed to different forms of expression such as drawing or acting. It is up to the teacher to find out what mediums students are comfortable working with, and giving them a chance to learn the same lessons as their peers using those mediums. In the video, I enjoyed seeing how teachers go out of their way to make sure that every child feels included every single time they enter the classroom.

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POVERTY AND LEARNING

It was very eye opening for me to learn that poverty is not strictly limited to economic status. In class we talked about how poverty can be emotional, physical, mental, spiritual, etc. It will be important for me as a teacher to make sure that my lessons are readily accessible to all my students. I need to ensure that I have the skills necessary to provide the entire class with a fair opportunity to learn.

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LEARNING TO CHANGE - CHANGING TO LEARN

Educators need to adapt to changes in society. Students interact with technology on a daily basis and, as a teacher, I should capitalize on this engagement by bringing that technology into the classroom and integrating it into lessons.

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VIDEO: LEARNING TO CHANGE-CHANGING TO LEARNIn this video, one of the speakers mentions the “death of education, and the dawn of learning”.I understood this as learning has become less about knowing facts and more about finding information, validating it, and being able to work with it. In the future, I would like to learn more ways in which I can allow my students to discover things for themselves. I could spend an entire hour throwing facts at students but what benefit would that give them? They may remember those facts and recall them during exams but they will never be able to truly engage with that information and work with it beyond the classroom. I think it is much preferable that my students be inspired to want to learn things for themselves and actually apply what they learn beyond the scope of my classroom.