Concluding Post - Building the Community of a Dream School

31 July 2013

Dear fellow colleagues, administration, and school board of The Dream School,

Our students come to us from all different backgrounds. They live in different communities, they celebrate different holidays, and their paths to school may be varied. Still, our students come together each day in their classrooms, at their lockers, and as they walk through the hallways amongst one another. When our students walk through the doors of our school, they know it is time to fill their classrooms with knowledge and learning. As our students come together at the Dream School, they are both leaving behind their communities but also bringing pieces of it with them. Their community, where they come from and where they grow up, are a part of their culture and who they are as an individual. As educators, we must honor their communities and bring pieces of who these students are into the classroom. My question then becomes, are we truly doing this for our students? Are we creating a learning center that unites both their Dream School and home communities? Are we allowing our students to bridge the gap in order to make both their school and their home a blended community? It is in these questions that I come to you with a community proposal for the Dream School. It is my goal, along with your support and teamwork, to foster community growth between the school of our students and their homes.

Nearly 60% of students in Detroit are living in poverty (http://www.skillman.org/Who-We-Are). The city of Detroit recently filed bankruptcy and an emergency manager was recently appointed to oversee Detroit Public Schools (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013307150114). It is no secret that Detroit is a city of struggle and turbulence. However, Detroit is never a city to give up. Detroit has true grit and each new generation of Detroit citizens are ready to participate in the fight to revitalize their city. Detroit does not seek those who will offer pity but rather those that will roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty in the fight for change. I am a firm believer that education, in all of its various forms, is the single greatest vehicle for change in our world. I know that education is capable of being a driving force of change in Detroit. By uniting schools with their neighboring communities, beautiful things are possible and seeds of progress can be planted. It is in this context that I have formed my proposal of uniting our classrooms and learning with the Detroit community. I believe this will be achieved at the Dream School through three standards.

To begin, I believe it is paramount for the learning of our students to bring their lives to the classroom. In School and Society, John Dewey argues that a school must be made a genuine form of active community life rather than a place set a part to learn lessons. When our students enter the Dream School, I do not want them to feel as though they are leaving their community behind for the school day. I want each of our students to bring their community and their lives with them into the classroom. It is in this way that true and meaningful learning is able to take place. For example, when I teach my social studies students about the Ancient Greek and Roman empires, I do not have them just read from the textbook or take notes. Instead, our students host their own version of the Greek Olympics and they examine photos from my semester abroad in Rome. Even more importantly, I give my students a homework assignment in which they are required to look at their community through the eyes of the Ancient Greek and Roman empires. They are asked to walk, drive, bike, etc. through their neighborhood, write down what they see and explain how it reflects the Greeks and Romans. This not only brings the content material to life but it also brings my students' communities into the classroom. It also allows me to get to know my students even further thus enhancing our relationships and how I can best teach them.

In School and Society, Dewey points to the fact that a child's “activities represent or stand for the life that he sees going on around him.” The behaviors and actions of our students are a constant reflection and symbol of the community they come from. As teachers, it is then in our best interest to meet our students where they are and to truly get to know our students in order to teach them better. For example, at the start of each school year, I have my students fill out a survey which enables me to get to know them. Likewise, I also have them take home and return a form they must complete with their parent/guardian. The form only has a couple of questions but they are of utter importance. They ask for contact information and they also ask for the parent/guardian to tell me about their child. It is in this simple way that I am able to begin contact with my student's home which really enhances their learning experience in my classroom. Throughout the school year, I also ask my students to participate in numerous getting to know you and teamwork building activities. Each time, I am asking my students to give a piece of themselves to the activity. This allows them to get to know their peers but it also allows the classroom to become their own as they put more of themselves into it.

Even though I am actively involved in getting to know my students and their community throughout the school year, I would like to do more and I am encouraging my colleagues to join along with me. I would like our Dream School to begin making home visits to our students and their communities (http://www.edutopia.org/carol-sharp-home-visits). Home visits would be set by appointment and two teachers would attend together. The home visits could be completed in the summer time before school begins or early on in the fall, while continuing periodically throughout the school year. Of equal importance, all staff should complete a training for what to expect and how to plan for home visits with their students. The ultimate goal of each home visit is to increase the bonding of our school community. Through home visits, we are inviting parents/guardians into their child's school and encouraging the important role they play in their child's education. Home visits will also allow teachers and staff of the Dream School to encounter their students' communities first hand which can be correlated into the classroom.

Secondly, I believe that we need to foster our greater school community where there is the most need. In Missy Bennett's Understanding the Students We Teach: Poverty in the Classroom, the breadth of poverty and its implications on the classroom are discussed. More importantly, Bennett discusses that as educators, we must learn and study where our students come from in order to be culturally responsive teachers. Bennett also points out that “many times in our lives, we choose the realities we live in, even though deep down we know the real world does not go away.” It is on this note, that I propose a student led volunteer committee at the Dream School. Our students know first hand the challenges of their communities more than anyone. They know what their communities do and do not need in order to succeed. Being so, our students should be given the opportunity to give back to their communities where there is the most need. Although the volunteer committee will only be led by a selected number of students, along with advising teacher staff, each student at the Dream School must participate in volunteer work throughout the school year. For example, students could paint murals in their community in order to bring life and beauty to their neighbors. Students could host a clothing or food drive in order to give back to the most hungry and needy of their community. Through physical education class, students could help fix up community playing fields to enhance more participation.

It would also be in the best interest of the students to ask community members to volunteer alongside them. In Johnson and Johnson's, Learning Together and Learning Alone, it is explained that individuals are truly empowered when they are organized into cooperative teams. By inviting community members to participate in volunteer activities with our students, our greater school community will only continue to grow. Students will also be given the chance to bring their school life to their community peers and vice versa. What a learning experience for all parties involved! There is also hope that community members will want to help enhance our students' learning experiences. For example, many career men and women may know of other ways in which our students can help those in need, thus creating a full circle in our community building.

Finally, if we are to build our school community for our students, each teacher needs to be wholeheartedly involved. If we are to fully incorporate this proposal into our everyday lives at the Dream School, our staff needs to be on the same page and represent a cohesive team. Because of the challenges we may face as we develop our greater school community, it is necessary that we support and communicate with one another. In Ann Lieberman and Lynne Miller's Teachers in Professional Communities, honest talk between teachers is placed as high importance. It is only in this way, that we will be able to go outside the boundaries of what a typical teacher should be. This will also allow us to use “inside knowledge” (Lieberman and Miller, Teachers in Professional Communities) because it is well known that we have a gifted staff filled to the brim with incredible ideas. Most importantly, if our staff has created a meaningful and caring community, our students will take notice. We must lead by example and be a model to our students if we want them to bring their community into our school walls.

As educators at the Dream School, there are a variety of ways in which we can incorporate our students' communities into our classroom content. For example, I took my students on a field trip this past school year to the Detroit Historical Museum. The museum had reopened to the public after remodeling so not only were our students supporting their hometown but they were also learning its rich history. As a teacher, I have been privileged to watch science teachers create school gardens as a part of enhancing content knowledge. Whether a butterfly garden or one filled to the brim with fresh vegetables, each garden has allowed students to take ownership of their learning experience. The Dream School could even open its garden doors to the greater community as well. How amazing would it be for our students to discuss gardening tactics with local Detroit farmers?! It is also beneficial to have outside speakers come into the classroom. If family members or friends of students are involved in career fields that relate to your classroom content, invite them to come speak with your students. This will only further facilitate bonding between our students' school and the community they live within. As a school community, we can also host events in which teachers, staff, students, parents/guardians, and community members are invited. These events could simply be barbeques, they could be fundraisers, or possibly celebrate different accomplishments in the school community. These get togethers would provide yet another outlet in which the doors would be opened to the school and community for the growth of our students.

I recently watched a TED Global Talk from 2010 in which Emily Pilloton, an interior designer, spoke of Teaching Design for Change. Pilloton was able to help in the transformation of a rural school by bringing a fresh perspective on education. She spoke of education being hands on, “in your face”, active classrooms, and having classes be taught with a local purpose. In the school Pilloton assisted in renewing, students were able to build and remodel aspects of their community for the better. Students were not only learning and using content knowledge but they were also reviving their neighborhood. It was in this format of education that Pilloton explained, “youth becomes the biggest aspect.” Like Pilloton, I have a strong desire for our students to help in the transformation of their communities for the better. In Dewey's School and Society, there is no doubt that the author agrees in the potential of children when he explains, “But with growing power the child can conceive of the end as something to be found out, discovered; and can control his acts and images so as to help in the inquiry and solution.” What a beautiful thought to imagine and reflect upon. Our children truly are the future and we must give them the tools to help them shape the communities they will thrive within.

*The “Dream School” is just that … my “dream school”. I recently interviewed at the University Yes Academy in Detroit who I should hear back from any day now. This school would provide me the opportunity and support to do just what my letter proposes. If I were to be currently employed, this letter would be addressed to whatever colleagues, school board, and administration I would have the privilege of working alongside.  

Cycle Three - Schools as Embryonic Communities

This morning, I sat down to eat my cereal and turned on the Today show. It usually annoys me and is not something I typically watch. But this morning, Phil Mickelson was on! He spoke with Matt Lauer not just about his British Open win (amazing!) but the new school he is helping to build with Exxon Mobile. Phil and Matt played ping pong together as Phil explained the math and science behind the game. He pointed out that he wants the students attending his school to learn math and science skills while also applying their knowledge to what they encounter in the real world.

After having spent time this week reading about school communities for our third cycle, I found myself happily surprised that even Phil Mickelson gets it. He understood that school communities should not just be four tiny walls with desks in rows but, rather, a place where the real world and the classroom connect so students can relate.

Our schools are in a large part designed out of a need for oder out of chaos. Many of the designs for our public schools were created during the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. It has often appeared to me that, like suburbia and factories, many Americans desired organization and structure. You can see that in our schools because they are oddly designed to match the machine like system (Dewey, School and Society). I do not find myself faulting Americans for doing this at the time. It was indeed what they knew and what they expected back then. However, I can fault Americans today for the inability changing our education system and its design. In School and Society, Dewey asks his readers, "why are we so hard of heart and so slow to believe?" Yes, really. Why are we so afraid of imagination and a classroom that lives outside of the box?

While reading Dewey's School and Society, I found myself completely in love with the idea that our schools should be our ideal home but on a larger scale. What a brilliant yet simple thought! My home is where I made and sold lemonade, it is where I learned to pitch a softball, where I learned to love and have empathy, where I learned to cook mac and cheese, it is where I fought but also forgave, and it is where I felt most comfortably happy. I am truly fond of the idea that our schools should be modeled after our homes ... a place to test, to observe, to take a chance, to fail, and to try again in a comforting environment. Our schools should not be "a place set apart to learn lessons" (Dewey, School and Society), our schools should not be isolated factories, and our schools should not have a disconnect between learning and the student (Lieberman & Miller, Teachers in Professional Communities).

So, how do we get there? How do we create this type of community? How do we take the chance and dive right in so we can change education for the better? I believe there are five essential elements to model our schools after our ideal home. For one, you need colleagues and teamwork. I would be nowhere in my teaching career if it was not for my colleagues. Whether they be on Twitter, at MSU, or in the classroom next to mine, my team of colleagues is everything to me. I can be honest with them, exchange ideas, be challenged and questioned, reflect, and be given approval to think outside the box (Teachers in Professional Communities). The beautiful part about my relationship with my colleagues is how similar we are to a family. We argue, debate, and discuss. We often disagree but we always come back to the commitment we have for one another and for teaching. This reinforces all the more how much you need support from trusted colleagues, or a family, if you are to venture forth in the world of teaching, or life.

Secondly, if we are to create schools that are like our ideal home, we must involve the community. What I found most beautiful about John Hardy's Green School was the constant connection to the community. Whether it was through the environment or through the people of Bali, Hardy's Green School involved the community in which the students lived. Often times, when students enter their school, they are then shut off from their community for a set amount of hours each day. It shouldn't be like this! We must connect them to the culture and the livelihood of the place in which they call home. I recently had a meeting with the vice-president of the Skillman Organization in Detroit. The Skillman Organization focuses on funding and facilitating good work in Detroit that aims to help students graduate high school and to be prepared for college, career, and life. Equally as important, the Skillman Organization involves the communities in which these students live. They work with the people living in these neighborhoods to truly foster homegrown initiatives for a better Detroit community. The Skillman Organization is helping to bridge the gap between schools, workplaces, and the home in order to create a united community. What a genius way to create collective learning environments in the process!

Third, our schools need to foster the whole person. Students are more than a number, more than a percent on a test, and more than an essay on the SAT. Our students are creative, imaginative, and beautiful human beings. We should not be suppressing their learning experiences by ignoring all they are capable of accomplishing outside of a pencil and a scantron. I found it fascinating that many Finnish citizens do not focus on their outstanding test scores (LynNell Hancock, Why are Finland's Schools Successful?). Those involved in Finland's education system know they are indeed great but they do not dwell on the numbers. Instead, they cheer on their soccer teams, foster teacher companionship, and provide their students with solid learning groups. This only perpetuates the idea that a school should be a nurturing home environment rather than a box that produces testing machines.

Fourth, I believe that our curriculum should not be a set amount of detailed standards. Instead, I believe schools should apply a curriculum to each subject that is more broad and open for interpretation. As a social studies teacher, I am tied to a tight and concise curriculum. The GLCES and HSCES cover a broad amount of material that is impossible to cover completely in a school year, let alone a semester or trimester. This also limits me to have more creativity in my lesson plans as a teacher. In turn, there are days my students have to suffer through a boring lesson rather than engage themselves in a group activity. In all honesty, I often fear the politics of working around the curriculum in my classroom. I wonder what my administration will think but I also wonder how I will impair my students when it comes to the standardized tests they must take over the state chosen content. I believe that if schools broadened our curriculum standards, many teachers may feel less fear of branching out and trying out a classroom that is more free flowing instead.

Lastly, I believe that schools should foster small learning communities. Whether it be group work in the classroom, reading buddies between grade levels, or student teamwork groups that teach about healthy living, all schools should recognize the importance of smaller learning environments. I have fond memories of my schooling in which I was a part of a team, a group project in Spanish class, or a student led fundraiser through an after school extracurricular. Students are able to learn so much from one another, through testing their knowledge, and by taking chances on something new together (Creating Small Learning Communities). It is okay for the teacher to be the guide or the facilitator in order for students to take ownership of their learning as a team. Just like when teaching our children how to bake cookies or how to ride a book at home, we should not be afraid to let them have their shining moment and to take ownership of the learning process in the classroom.

One of my goals for this coming school year is to give more of the classroom over to my students. I am a control freak with a type A personality. This can come in handy sometimes but other days, it can also be a curse. This year, I am determined to loosen up my need for control, in whatever form it may take in the classroom, and be okay with my students taking the reigns more often. Who knows, maybe I will learn even more than I already do from them in the process!

Resources:

• Phil Mickelson on the Today Show
• The Skillman Organization
• Sir Ken Robinson discusses how schools kill creativity and how we try to solve this problem as educators.
• A look into the Reggio Approach, in which schools are redefined as community learning centers.
• Twitter has become a new and unique place to foster teacher communities.  Here is why you should join twitter to better yourself as an educator.

Cycle Two: Challenges & Opportunities in Building Classroom Communities

Cycle Two: A Differentiated Classroom in the Making

When you walk into my classroom, you will first notice everything that covers its walls. Van Gogh's Starry Night, a black and white of Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, a National Geographic info-graphic of the Han Dynasty's many achievements, the Beatles' Let it Be album cover, and Spartan Stadium on a beautiful Michigan State day line my bulletin boards. I also have photos of my family, friends, and travel adventures. There are postcards from all the cities and countries I have been blessed to travel to and from. Most importantly, you will my students' work. Everywhere. It covers the windows, it lines the top of the walls, and scatters the bulletin boards. This always makes it feel more like their classroom, too, and not just mine (TEDTalk: Teaching Design for Change).

When you walk into my classroom, you will also notice students working together whether it be in formal, informal, or base learning groups (Cooperative Informal and Base Groups, Johnson & Johnson). Toward the end of the school year, my students completed a case study on pollution at the summit of Mount Everest. The students were divided into groups in order to study the pollution problem, delve out a plan of action to help Mount Everest conquer this problem, and then present their POA to the class. My 7^th grade students were engaged, excited, and deliberation filled the room (Teaching Democracy: Learning to Lead Discussions, Parker). As their teacher, I made rounds to each group making sure the students were on task, to answer questions, and notion for them to push their critical thinking brains a bit more.

In those moments of teaching, I am at my happiest. It thrills me to see my students being the hosts of knowledge and having the opportunity to study the world around them together. Often when I do group or partner work, students may be assigned a particular role that I know will challenge them but also give them the chance to excel (One Classroom, Many Minds, Schumer). In group or partner work, I also love to have a variety of students working together. I always choose my groups for my students because I want their to be a team atmosphere but I also want a balance of intellects and talents from the students. This type of lesson planning can be time consuming and it can be difficult at first, but I have truly find that it not only works best for me but also my students.

As I peal back the layers of what my classroom looks and feels like, I notice that differentiated instruction is often taking place. Or, at least, attempting to take place. It is a goal that I constantly have for myself and one that I try to attempt as a young teacher. One of the great pieces of differentiated instruction is that it allows each student to openly display their talents and what makes them tick. This opens the door for so many possibilities for me as a teacher to a classroom of diverse students. For example, this past year I taught a student who excelled at everything he did in our social studies class. By the time we began to study the Ancient Greeks, he already knew everything about them because he stayed up late reading history books on the Greeks. Instead of trying to teach him knowledge he already knew, I had this student help me teach his peers. One of his best friends often struggled in the classroom so I had them work together on assignments. Each student gained so much more out of the lessons than they would have otherwise if differentiation had not taken place.

Differentiation is important to me as educator particularly because I am a proponent of inclusion in the classroom. I strongly believe that classrooms should be mainstreamed with students who may have learning disabilities of any kind. For the past two years, I had the immense gift to have a student with Downs Syndrome in my homeroom. This young woman was not only a teacher to me but she also provided her classmates with profound lessons on what equality and justice truly mean. Through my experiences with her, I was able to learn how to teach a child with a severe learning disability but also how to form a classroom community around her beautiful soul.

I have also had experiences of inclusion through my ELL students I taught while student teaching at East Kentwood High School. When I taught at EK in the 2010 – 2011 school year, there were 48 unique languages spoken at the school by students. EK is one of the most diverse high schools in Michigan because of its refugee population from all over the world. My minor is Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL) so being able to teach ELL students in my regular World History classes was an incredible opportunity. I had one student in particular who was Bosnian and Muslim. During our World Religions unit, he proudly taught us about Islam and his religious life. His lesson made such a difference in our World Religions unit and it allowed him to have an immense moment of success as an ELL student. Likewise, having a peer who was Muslim gave many students in the class a different insight into Islam than what they may just hear on the news. This worked to build our classroom community and I know that it enabled our class to achieve better outcomes in group work.

Yesterday, I experienced one of the greatest professional development conferences of my teaching career. I went to Nerd Camp in Battle Creek, a subset of Ed Camps that are sprouting up across the country. At Nerd Camp, I participated in a talk on the “Flipped Classroom”. In essence, a flipped classroom has students watch brief videos at home which enables teachers and students to have more in class time for hand's on, engaging activities. One of the teachers who spoke at the talk discussed her experiences with the flipped classroom as a 9^th grade ELA and Special Education teacher. She explained that the flipped classroom has allowed her to spend more face to face time with each student, differentiate instruction even further, and provide each student with appropriate and challenging work. After Nerd Camp and spending more team researching the “Flipped Classroom”, it is something that I am extremely interested in attempting for my own classroom. I was advised at the conference to start small and try just a unit to begin in order to gain a feel for the change in instruction. I am anxious to see what the concept of the flipped classroom could do for my students when combined with differentiated instruction.

I know from firsthand experience that differentiated instruction is difficult and there are numerous challenges. It can be highly time consuming to devote time to organizing lesson plans that pertain to a variety of students. However, I believe that differentiated instruction has allowed me to get to know my students more which then allows me to further build my classroom community. I imagine that my classroom environment would appear much differently if I did not incorporate differentiation into my teaching practices. As Tomilson and McTighe explained, “It requires persistent intent for teachers to break old teaching habits and replace them with routines that are flexible enough to support the success of many kinds of learners. Few teachers suggest that it is easy to make such changes, but many demonstrate the benefits of doing so for their students – and for their own sense of professional self-efficacy” (Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design).

Helpful Links for Going Further:

• The Flipped Classroom is not ... (YouTube video)
• The Flipped Classroom info-graphic
• Clintondale High School in Detroit has completely flipped.  And they are 100% urban Detroit.  Here is a link to their school where it details their journey!
• Pros and Cons of the Flipped Classroom
• Special Education: Promoting More Inclusion at Your School

Happy teaching!

Kaitlin

Cycle One - On Failure

Over Christmas this past year, my mom and dad had asked me to clean out some things in my old room. I am married now, living across the state, and it was time to go through many of the leftover boxes. I found a binder of my middle school and high school achievements that my mom had put together. As we went through the pages, we laughed, cried, and reminisced. I was especially emotional when I came across a “Turtle-Gram” from Mr. Hertel's 7^th grade math class. To get a “Turtle-Gram” you had to receive an A on a math quiz or test. In my year with my Mr. Hertel, I had only received one “Turtle-Gram”. Though only a certificate on a piece of printed computer paper, my mom had saved that blessed “Turtle-Gram” for me.

I grew up being horrible at math. I was always the student that had to stay in at recess to go through number flashcards. I was in the “special” extra class period of math in middle school. The only reason I passed math in high school was due to my two best friends I shared the classes with. I always had a tutor and I always ended up in fights with my dad because he didn't understand why I just didn't get it. Point being, I often failed at math. Hard. Terribly. Rock bottom. However, this failure has been incredibly important to me as I have grown into a woman. I have always been the student that had to study for hours and put in the extra time with the teacher in order to get the grade. I often times would fail, especially in math, but I always felt pride in my work. My parents, my teachers, and I always knew how hard I worked to get my grade. There was never a question that I tried my hardest even amidst moments of utter failure.

In Paul Tough's article, “What if the Secret to Success is Failure?” he expresses the idea that overall success can be attributed to students who bounce back, stay focused, take the extra step, and have true grit. As I read this article, my heart honestly leapt with joy. At times, Tough described how students like me are able to succeed. I wholeheartedly agree, largely because of my experience as a student, that students who are not gifted with natural brains can succeed in school. Students can arise from failure in miraculous ways to achieve the grade, to make the team, or to be the star in the play.

I believe that failure can be a beautiful thing. I have always been taught that great lessons can arise from failure. I hold the truth that your life is often a reaction to the trials and tribulations you can experience. Your choices of how to react can often define you as a person. As the great poet Maya Angelou is quoted, “I can be changed by what happens to me but I refuse to be deduced by it.”

When I taught at my most recent school, we held a “no zero policy”. Students were not allowed to receive failing grades in our K – 8 classes. We could still deduce student work for late work or failure to complete an assignment. I still tracked down students and contacted parents to get missing assignments turned in or for incomplete work to be finished. Still, our students were essentially not allowed to fail. You could not give a student an F on a homework grade without approval from the principal. You were not allowed to give a student an F on a quiz, test, or project unless they had every opportunity to re-do the work. I understood the administrations perspective on this policy but I also found it to be completely unfair to the teachers but most of all to the students. As explained, I grew up in an environment where you learned from failure. To teach in a classroom in which students could not receive a deserved F was frustrating. I often questioned how we were preparing students for the “real world” with this type of policy.

In an article by Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post, she explains through a recent study that, “telling children that it is perfectly normal to sometimes fail at school can actually help them do better academically.” The article, “The Answer Sheet”, looked into a 2012 study which explained that failure in education can be beneficial for students. The findings of the study pointed out, “acknowledging that difficulty is a crucial part of learning could stop a vicious circle in which difficulty creates feelings of incompetence that in turn disrupts learning.”

At the same time, we can also be held back by failure. As Parker J. Palmer addressed in his chapter, “A Culture of Fear – Education and the Disconnected Life”, fear is what can prevent us from a “live encounter”. This live encounter could be team building with a colleague, sharing in “a-ha!” moments with a student, or standing up to the administration to argue a particular curriculum. Fear can in turn separate us from doing what we love, from achieving, and connecting. As a teacher, I have many fears. Like Palmer, I fear certain students or colleagues. But I also fear the upcoming Common Core standards and their lack of social studies standards. I fear the choices our legislators may make on merit pay for teachers in Michigan. I fear racism and and segregation in our school system. I fear that the students I taught at East Kentwood High School and St. Paul Catholic School will have wildly different futures because of where they live in Michigan. Because of these fears, the question then becomes, do I let these fears stop me? Do I develop a phobia about my fears and become gridlocked in who I could become as a teacher?

The obvious answer is no. But this path is a difficult one especially as a teacher. In William Ayers, “To Teach”, he describes that as teachers we all face a “moral choice”. We, as teachers, have the moral choice to face our fears in the name of the education of our students. As Ayers explains, “teaching is more than transmitting skills; it is a living act, and it involves preference and value, obligation and choice, trust and care, commitment and justification.”

John Green, a young adult author, recently gave the commencement address to the Butler University of graduates of 2013. In his address, Green honestly told the graduates that they would indeed be “a nobody for a while.” He described the difficulties of graduating college and the challenges these new graduates would face as young people. Still, he encouraged them to persevere in the face of possible failure and humiliation. In closing, Green congratulated the audience with, “we haven’t left you with the easiest path, I know, but I have every confidence in you, and I wish you a very happy graduation, despite the circumstances.”

Green explained for all of us that there will be challenges but it is all about how you face them. In education, as in life, there will be failures but it is always about how you handle each one. I will always be the optimist, as annoying as that may be to some, but this viewpoint has made me a better teacher. In closing, I again quote Angelou, “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”

Introductions & Getting to Know You

Hi!

My name is Kaitlin Popielarz.  I am originally from Grand Rapids, MI which I have proudly named the greatest city in the world.  However, my husband and I live in Royal Oak, MI which we are really enjoying.  We were married last summer, we love our new home, and we are getting a golden doodle this summer!

My husband, Bill, and I at our wedding reception (June 16, 2012)

I graduated from MSU in 2010 with a major in History.  I completed MSU's Secondary Teaching Certification program in 2011 after student teaching at East Kentwood High School in Grand Rapids.  I am certified to teach Secondary Social Studies, History, and TESOL.  My students laugh at me because I literally get goosebumps when I talk about subjects I love in Social Studies class.  I am a proud dork and lover of my subject matter!

After I ran the Detroit Marathon (Oct 2012)

I spent the last two years teaching 6 - 8th grade Social Studies at St. Paul Catholic School in Grosse Pointe, MI.  I absolutely loved my time there but at the end of this school year, I decided to take the leap and move on.  I really feel my vocation is to teach high school Social Studies in a more urban setting.  I am hoping the net will be there for me as I job search for teaching jobs in the Detroit metro area.  I am also eager to begin my MATC Master's courses at MSU.  I know they will give me the boost of inspiration and motivation that I need.

Hiking in Breckenridge, CO (June 2013)

When I am not teaching, I love to run (I am currently training for the Detroit Women's Half Marathon), cook, travel (especially road trips), go to concerts (I have been to over 40!), read (I just finished The Fault in our Stars by John Green), and cheer on the Detroit Tigers.  I look forward to getting to know all of you!

Happy teaching,
Kaitlin