Developing an Identity as a Teacher

As a young person entering classes for Secondary Education and particularly English its important to understand that as a teacher an identity should be established. As an English teacher establishing an identity in the classroom makes the act of being a teacher more personal. Establishing this identity creates a better environment not only for the teacher but for the students. 

In the book Early Career English Teachers in Action the section dedicated to teacher identity starts with an introduction from Lindsay Ellis, who brings up this idea of identity first talks about her changing identity as a teacher especially from the transition from student to teacher that first year. Ellis brings up some great points about identity. She puts a lot of emphasis on the expectations put on teachers stating "Thinking about what your and other's expectations are for teachers is important". Teachers held to high expectations because everyone has a set idea of what an teacher and more specifically what an English teachers should be. 

This idea of a cookie cutter teacher does not allow identity to play a role despite the fact that for a teacher establishing an identity can mean keeping a job or sticking with the career path. 

Expectations surround teachers and it's more about how to handle and grasp those expectations then necessarily live up to the expectations. "Individual students will have unique expectations based upon what they themselves have experienced and been taught about teachers from their family, community, and various cultural media." Teachers need to be aware of expectation but enter teaching open minded and with new ideas ready because students can either have bad experiences in the past or great ones. 

This article really captures the job or a teacher and what makes a teacher an individual and just all around a good teacher. How to be a Great Teacher

Expectation vs. Reality

When I first realized I wanted to teach English in a high school I immediately thought of the more glamorous and popular approaches to the subject. I thought about how passionate I could be regarding literature and how I could make an impact on students so they could experience the same love for English that I did. 

After reading the introduction to the book Early Career English Teachers in Action it hit that teaching English is not always what it is perceived to be based on the amount of grading, following a curriculum and the preparation for standardized testing. Putting it lightly, being an English teacher is a lot of work and a job of value. As said in the book "Indeed, teaching can seem a world away from Dead Poets Society, with far too little poetry and far to many test booklets." This notion that being an English teacher is always perfect leads to heavy turnover in new teachers. 

To prevent this heavy turnover in English educators there needs to be a better way to convey the actual aspects of teaching, the positive and negatives.  As said in the book high teacher retention rates also come from influences surrounding there first years of teaching. "Despite these challenges from within and without, the vast majority of new English teachers do stay in their classrooms beyond their first year. They stick it out for many reasons, but one of a mentor teacher." I think the idea of having a mentor teacher makes the transitional period easier. I also think its important to establish relationships with teachers early on, whether that be during student teaching or even before when the education classes start to begin during schooling. 

By establishing a relationship with a teacher early on some of those misconception about the subject can be addressed. Its important to understand how the subject works based on the perspective of one teaching it and someone who was in the same place years previous. 

Keeping Current in the Classroom

Most students and teachers for that matter have set ideas and opinions on school and classroom environments. My high school had students who either hated or loved school and then the students who were just there to past the time. The experience with teachers was quite similar, either they loved their job and had passion or they seemed to hate teaching those students who appeared unteachable. 

Nothing But The Truth by AVI captures the displeasure a student feels for school and in particular one teacher. But the novel also captures a teachers perspective on students as well. Providing detail into the two minds. 

The first chapter or so of the novel casts a negative shadow on how students perceive English education, reading in particular, "Young people don't read at all today- outside of school requirements. They come to literature reluctantly at best, fighting me every inch of the way."(AVI 5) That generalized statement made by the English teacher in the book does not account for all students. Although this a work of fiction I have always had the notion that students do enjoy reading. I have always enjoyed literature, and I along with many of my peers enjoy reading for pleasure. I do believe that it is not the students fault for the distaste in reading material.

The problem with getting students to engage in reading and comprehension relates back to the teacher and how the teacher approaches the issue. There's a need to spike interest and promote reading, Teachers, if required to teach the classics, should be able to teach with excitement and passion in order to incite the same feelings within a student without losing interest. As mentioned in this Washington Post Article.

It was in the novel that AVI mentioned this lack of interest from students but the issue is not one sided and needs to be examined from both in order to receive results in the sense of common interest in the subject and teaching of English. 

A Little About Me!

Hello Everyone! Well to start things off, my name is Sarah Bear. I am a freshmen entering my second semester here at Western Michigan University. I am originally from the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area so I have always been in college towns. But I had to move away from my family and that environment so that I could gain some independence and be able to do something for myself.  And because of that I am looking forward to the semester ahead, because now I have a declared major so I feel much more secure this semester. I am no longer questioning what I want to accomplish and do in life. Coming in undecided last semester seemed like the right idea but after some thoughtful consideration and reflection I confidently declared Secondary Education with a major in English and a minor in history. Declaring a major was a big deal to me because it made me feel like I had more direction and guidance.

Since coming to Western I think I have matured and grown as a person just in these past few months. The last semester was eye opening and I learned from mistakes and want to improve this semester both in the academic sense and a personal sense.

English has always been a passion of mine in part because of my experiences in high school and my educational career in general. I attended Ann Arbor Public Schools from kindergarten to twelfth grade. My high school Huron High School was pretty great and all the English teachers I had there influenced me and helped me work to improve my abilities in the subject. It was because of my teachers in high school that I would like to teach high school English. But I don't think I would want to teach in Michigan, I want to get out, I just haven't decided where I wanna go yet, but I have some time.

So this isn't just about English and college, I am youngest in my family, I have one older sister who lives at home and I have three cats. I get along well with my sister, and I have a large extended family on my mom's side so family is important. Friends are also very important to me, my best friend of 15 years lives in Virginia and we always encourage one another. I have played softball since I was 6 years old and I miss it a lot now that I don't play, because I worked hard and dedicated a lot of time to it. And it was because of softball and the discipline that I have developed a great work ethic. Besides softball, I love baseball, football and hockey! I also love concerts, although I can't always afford them! But when I can't afford concert tickets Spotify occupies my need for new music and good playlists.

Anyways, there is a little background about myself but I am looking forward to learning about the teaching of English because it is something I want to do. But I just want to continue to work hard and see what happens along the way!