One Room School House

Octagonal "One Room" School House
Cowgills Corner Delaware-1836

So as some of you know I have been working hard the past year on my MAT (Master of Arts in Teaching) at Wesley College. As the summer comes to an end and we enter the fall season, I will be starting the student teaching portion of the program.  Many people have asked me, "Are you nervous?" The obvious reply is of course, I think everyone gets at least a little nervous before embarking on a new adventure in their grand journey in life. However, my excitement to learn trumps the nerves very quickly.  You see, I believe that we set up our own barriers in life, thanks to the help and education of my late father-in-law, Rod Bullock (and this stems from Larry Wilson's book, Play to Win), once we realize that barrier doesn't really exist, we can move forward and achieve what we thought was impossible.  I had been putting off enrolling in the MAT program for a few years, then one morning on my drive to work it hit me, what was I doing? Sure, I could continue to work as an assistant manager at the bookstore, but I knew I could make a stronger impact as an educator and the only thing keeping me from pursuing that career was me.  I wanted to take a moment and share with those who know what I have been working towards and those who didn't my thoughts as I take these final steps towards my certification to be an educator.

Octagonal School House
National Registry of Historic Places 1971

During the course of the MAT program, I have had the opportunity to really reflect on my own education over the years and consider what I learned from those experiences and really help me determine what I want to carry with me.  One of the things I realized is that I was very fortunate and had several teachers who allowed me to explore not only the subject they were teaching me, but also the world around me. This began with my kindergarten teacher, Ms. Jill Mears, her teaching had a profound impact on how I felt about school.  It is pretty ironic, because if you ask my mother what my first reaction to school was (and this would be after my first day, with Ms. Mears), she will tell you I came home and said, "I am never going back there, they don't know what they are talking about".  My mom convinced me to give it another try by telling me that if I didn't go that the authorities would come and take her away.  Needless to say this worked, and I was thankful (to still have my mother by my side and school).  The things that stick out in my mind that I learned that year were: I got to finger-paint with chocolate pudding (you can paint with more than a brush or painter's knife), learned shapes by creating animals (she had us take a bar of  Dove soap and wrap it in netting to resemble a fish and adorned it with sequins- ovals), she had us read to an alien (stuffed, of course) before we read to our principal, Mrs. Scott (this gave us confidence and taught us not to fear authority, our principal was someone who should be respected), we had guest musicians (I recall my friend, Meagan Reilly's dad coming in and playing the French horn), we had a mini in-class greenhouse where we watched plants grow and be nurtured daily, we went on two field trips (one to see trees be tapped to make maple syrup and one to Bombay Hook to discover nature first hand, I remember scooping tadpoles) and we re-enacted Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.  And these were just the big highlights, I also remember loving to play kitchen/house, read the Mr./Mrs. books aka Mrs. Silly, Mrs. Chatterbox, etc. and of course, recess. Mind you all of this was back when there was only 1/2-day kindergarten, and yes, we did all of those things above and more!  Ms. Mears taught me then that learning was fun and creative, and school was a place I wanted to be.

I have had several other teachers along the way who helped me explore my world and made learning something that was not to fear.  So I must take a minute and thank a few of those now: Ms. Roth/Messer, Ms. Chadwick, Ms. Parks, Mr. Filichiccia, Ms. Meek, Ms. Surles, the late Mr. Everett, the late Ms. Carter, Mr. Shalk, Mr. Prillaman, Ms. Bonner and Mr. Shotzberger, as well as, so many of my college professors, particularly Dr. Mask, Professor Cisar, Dr. Laganella, Dr. Cooper and Dr. Clack (these particular professors helped push me further in their particular field to places I did not know I was capable of going). And I must not forget to mention the late principal, Mr. Dickerson, who made it a point to not only know every student's name but know every student.

 Now I must take a moment and talk about the one thing I realized I definitely want to try to encourage not only with my future students, but also my fellow educators.  When I reflected back on my education, I realized that along the way I had a few teachers, that were more than just teachers (this happened in college with almost every professor I had, but in high school was where I realized it had a larger impact).  Ms. Bonner and Mr. Shotzberger were teachers that became mentors, they guided you in your learning by showing they cared about you, which helped further build confidence in yourself.  Ms. Bonner taught me the power of writing, the two things I think of when I think of her journalism class: "the pen is mightier than the sword" and write "all the news that's fit to print".  She also helped me learn the importance of word choice and growing your vocabulary.  Mr. Shotzberger aka Shotz taught me so many things, but ultimately that there is more than one way to approach and solve a problem, but the key is to have a plan. And once complete it is important to evaluate the end result and ask yourself is there anything you could have done differently or that would work better?  How did he do this?  First of all, we started with thumbnail sketches, next we executed the project, then we did a self-evaluation, and then we allowed our peers to evaluate our work. These two teachers took the time to get to know you as a student, subtly they asked you what your goals were, where did you want to go in life and they began guiding you in those directions.  Both of these teachers knew I wanted to go to college, both knew I was capable, but both knew that financially this was not something I was going to do straight out of high school. (And I must mention something I think is vitally important here, neither of these teachers had this as a "college talk", the key word is this all occurred through subtle conversations).  They knew that I had a pen pal in Australia, they encouraged me to have an open-mind and explore the world, that school was always something that would be there waiting for me.  And guess what? They were right. Unlike most of my peers, I did not take the traditional route to college, I got a job in retail, saved my money and traveled. I went to Australia, and then, Australia again, with a side trip to London. Then I put myself through cosmetology school, worked in that industry for 7 years. While working in that industry, guess what, I started college.  I was a non-traditional college student, I started by taking a summer class, and in 5 years completed my undergraduate degree in Liberal Studies.   Proving my teachers were right, college would always be there, and I was capable!  This is what I want my future students to know, that there are endless opportunities, that you are capable (as long as you are willing to put in the effort and hard work) and that there is always something new to learn. 

The world is an amazing place to explore and discover yourself! I only hope that I can help my future students know that I can learn as much from them as they can from me. And I also want them to know the importance of thanking those who helped you get to where you are, so thank you to everyone!!!

Math as a Language

Recently I decided that I was ready to take the next step in my educational journey, obtaining my Masters in Education (MAT).  This step has been one that I have avoided for a few years now, basically because I have allowed myself to create my own barriers, ones that I am ready to knock down and dismantle.

The largest barrier for me, has been avoiding taking the Praxis I (PPST) test.  For those of you unaware of what this test includes it is a three part test: Reading, Writing and Mathematics (the infamous Three R's- stems from a basic educational program in the late 18th and 19th centuries, when the role of schools was geared more to prepare children to work in the manufacturing industry).  If you haven't already realized I love reading and writing, but mathematics has never been a favorite subject or a strong asset of mine.  And to clarify, I understand mathematics like most people understand a second language that they studied in high school, we remember bits and pieces, because we aren't using it everyday.  Meaning I understand the basic concepts and prinicples, but when it gets into the algebraic formulas and more of a formal discipline of knowledge, I get confused over some of these mathematical ideas. 

You see, I understand fractions, percentages, subtraction, multiplication, decimals, etc...and I have used these concepts in every job I have had during and since high school (slicing deli meat, doing markups/markdowns in retail, filing invoices with retail cost/actual cost, keeping to a budget when ordering products, mixing chemicals, etc).  My largest problem with mathematics is that we do not seem to teach it as a language first.  And what is really amazing and unique about mathematics is that it is the only language shared by all human beings regardless of your native language.  Nerdy, I know, but how cool is it to think that math is universal, no matter how we are paying for our basket of groceries, dollars, euros, or yen, we are using the same concepts to weigh our groceries (lbs./kilos) and pay for them.

So I have started refreshing my mathematical language, taking practice tests and re-reading concepts I learned my sophomore year of high school, and again in my sophomore year of college.  And in doing so, I have come to a realization as to why I have always had such a hard time with certain areas of math. First of all, we do not teach math as a language first, we make children memorize addition and multiplication and give them equations and formulas to memorize before we make it available in a practical form.  What brought me to this realization was several problems in my first practice review,  but the problem that stood out to me was this one: "Use a proportion and solve this problem.   Bob uses jelly and peanut butter in a ratio of 5:2.  He uses 10 teaspoons of jelly. How much peanut butter will he use?" Now as all of you know, I love to cook, (and I no longer make PB & J sandwiches as I don't eat bread anymore), however, who makes a PB & J sandwich out of teaspoon measurements?  I know, it is meant to just be a problem, but my brain says this is completely illogical when it comes to making a sandwich.  And hence, further addresses my point about my problem with mathematics...we need to teach this language using practical and real problems.  Use cooking equations and ratios, but make the problems actual real cooking problems. For instance, how many of you have ever doubled a batch of something you were making or had to cut it in half, because you didn't have all the ingredients? 

The key to all language is foundation.  If you have a basic foundation, then you can add on, and build and grow with the language.  I remember vividly trying to explain color chemical formulas when I worked in the hair industry to high school age apprentices, and trying to break it down into terms they could understand.  I remember thinking what can I use that they will understand this, so I thought money (the basic thing everyone should know is money, 4 quarters = 1, right?)  But, I quickly realized they didn't understand quarters (not sure if its our technological culture, where children don't grow up going to the store and getting penny, dime and quarter candies anymore, because so many swipe a debit card to pay for things, or what).  So I had to teach them, by using the quarters (because I thought someone along the way failed to realize they didn't get this and moved them along).  So when mixing the formula we would lay out 4 quarters, and I would explain that two was a half (half ounce), and slowly, but surely, and after countless times of walking them through it step by step, and requestioning them when I felt they "got it", to make sure they understood.  All I can say looking back on this time, was thank God we were not mixing European formulas at the time, which mostly are measure in mLs.

Similar things have happened in my other jobs too, in regard to "quarters".  Various jobs that I have had over the years involve retail, so we often have sales in which particular products are 25% off.  Now don't get me wrong, we all have brain farts, or have had something be an odd price, that isn't an easy problem with a quick solution.  But, when so many times I have had a customer ask "how much is 25% off a $40 item or a $100 item?", it really makes me wonder about our society and our world. What I realize is that often, they know, but have been so afraid of math, that they second guess themselves.

So I am looking at mathematics in a new light, I am embracing it as what it is a language.  My hope is to not just pass this test, that I need to pass to get accepted into the Master's program, but help encourage math teachers and educators in general to have their students journal their math learning experiences and their math use experiences.  This may seem tedious, but what it allows is for a student, to see how math applies to their daily life, and to see how far they have grown (it also provides them with a reference tool for their future, which I think is very critical in one's education).  My point is I look at my son, who is a toddler and think he is learning his native language now, but I am not harping on him now, to learn that "bike" is a noun or "run" is a verb, and diagramming sentences, because right now it is more important for him to understand how to say the word and identify it- building a foundation. And currently, I am journaling for him, every few weeks or month, as most mothers do, I jot down the words in his vocabulary, what words he has formed into sentences, and what he has learned to identify. So I hope that you will join me on this adventure and help encourage math as a language, and to start journaling (it's like keeping a checkbook, but discovering that math is not just about money)!