Future Teacher, Forever Student

This past weekend, I was eager to curl up with some hot chocolate and finish the last few chapters of Julie Murphy's Dumplin' . Since my last post about the novel , some serious drama had developed in all aspects of Willowdean's life, and I was curious to find out how Murphy would resolve the different conflicts her protagonist faced. As I closed the back cover, I admit I was happier with the book's ending than I had originally thought I would be. However, while the story was heart-warming and humorous, there were less reasons to recommend the book for classroom use than there were to offer it as a casual read outside of school. While Murphy is able to deliver her narrative in a way that resembles a typical teen's thinking and speech, I found several places in the novel that lacked depth and insight from Willowdean. Murphy tries to balance a lot of concepts in one storyline: friendships, relationships, loss, self-image, homosexuality, family life, and communit

As a future social studies teacher, I am always excited to see how my school incorporates history into special events on campus. From parties to film screenings, the possibilities for history to reach beyond the classroom are endless, and this past Wednesday I participated in a unique experience that brought the 1800s to my computer screen. February 14th, often celebrated as St. Valentine's Day, is one of those dates that have a long list of reasons for their historical significance. Don't get me wrong, St. Valentine deserves all the celebration he gets, but this year my school gave Frederick Douglass some special attention. Unsure of his exact date of birth, Douglass chose to celebrate on Valentine's Day. February 14th, 2018 marked the 200th birthday of the abolitionist, and the Saint Michael's community (with some help from the Smithsonian) celebrated in style. Working with a series of handwritten documents from the 1800s that were scanned onto a Smithsonian websi

Nepal (shaded in yellow). Source link: http://www.yourchildlearns.com/online-atlas/images/map-of-nepal.gif As a part of the Secondary Education Program at Saint Michael's, students have the opportunity to work with English Language Learners (ELLs) in local middle and high schools. When I first learned about this placement opportunity, I was admittedly a little nervous. How can you work with a student that doesn't quite understand you? Expecting a lot of frustration, "uhms," and "uhs" on both ends, I took a few deep breaths before meeting my student for the first time. For the sake of privacy, I will refer to my student in this and future posts as "S." Prior to our meeting, I knew that S. was from Nepal, a place I had never been to and knew little about its culture. Luckily, I did know where to find it on a map! Wanting to better understand what sort of environment S. had emigrated from, I conducted a general search on Nepal. I also looked

Looking around a college classroom, it is less likely that a student will ask the professor a question than it would be if the students were all in kindergarten. Somewhere along our careers in education, the wonder dies. Not completely, but almost completely. Students stop asking questions, but continually feel pressure to produce correct answers. Where is the education system going wrong? The American education system has abandoned a wide variety of academic subjects for a more STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) based curriculum several times in the young country's history. The Industrial Revolution, the Machine Age, and the Space Race all shifted the focus of American schools to mechanics, math, and other STEM subjects. While there is less pressure to teach strictly STEM, the effects of the educational shifts are long-lasting. Even today, it seems that humanities classes are more focused on grammar and syntax than creativity and imagination. However, th

Nowadays, young adult literature covers a wide range of themes, offering commentary on everything from self-image and confidence to abuse and death. While the recent release of the Netflix series (based on the novel) 13 Reasons Why   has arguably created a negative association between young adults and literature, there are plenty of YA novels that deal with teenage realities beyond suicide. Julie Murphy's Dumplin' , a novel full of southern charm and the narrator Willowdean's no non-sense sarcasm, provides the reader with a classic battle between feeling good in your own skin and wanting to fit in with society's bodily expectations. Willowdean, an overweight 11th grader in a town obsessed with an annual beauty pageant, can't seem to get away from the local pressures to be a beauty queen. Usually comfortable in her skin, Willowdean starts to question her confidence when a co-worker shows romantic interest. Although dealing with a serious topic that could

Photo from goodpsychology.files.wordpress.com Looking back on my high school days, I often wonder how I managed to retain most of the information I learned. By the end of senior year, I was mentally exhausted and completely convinced that senioritis wouldn't wear off in time for college. Unmotivated and disinterested, the only time the classroom seemed interesting was when I was working on something that related to my future college career. After studying the vast changes that occur in the adolescent brain, I'm not surprised that "senioritis" has become a popular term to describe the lack of motivation that comes with senior year. What I am surprised about is that senioritis isn't actually "teen-itis," especially since secondary education seems less geared toward formal thought processes and more focused on lower-level thinking. The biological changes that take place during adolescence provoke an increased desire for peer acceptance, risk-ta