teacher

Teachers Should Transform Schools

Elijah Heckstall is a 6th Grade Science Teacher at the Dearborn Middle School in Roxbury, MA and a Former Teaching Fellow. 

Elijah Heckstall speaking to current Teaching Fellows.

On the very first day of the Citizen Schools Teaching Fellowship, the founder, Eric Schwarz, asked every single one of the new recruits, “Who was influential to you?” He had us share one individual that affected us when we were in middle school. And everyone said, “Oh, my coach.” “My teacher.” “My parent.” “My mentor.” His goal was to make us think about that caring adult that we could potentially be.

I started thinking about what middle school was like for me, when it felt good. I think that a lot of people in Citizen Schools, and in education in general, ask themselves, “What can I do to make these kids feel how I felt in middle school when it felt good?”

And honestly, I think there’s a big problem with that.

Our kids need life-changing schools.

Schools are very different now. Our kids don’t need good teachers—they need great teachers.  They don’t need good schools—they need amazing schools.  And a part of education reform is changing the perception not only of what they think school is, but what we think school is.

Don’t think about what middle school was like for you. Be transformational. Be a new school. A new school is what our kids need. And Citizen Schools is a large part of that.

In my classroom every day, I use things like investment and culture that I learned at Citizen Schools. But it isn’t just about what I do in my classroom. Citizen Schools wouldn’t exist if everything could happen in the classroom. One of the biggest things that I’ve taken away from my time at Citizen Schools is thinking about how I can utilize every single partner who comes into my school.

As a Teaching Fellow, there are teachers who think you’re incompetent and think you can’t do anything and think you just sit there with the kids, and it’s not true. But now that I’m coming from the other side, I see City Year Corps Members, and I say, “Oh, you’re coming? I need five of you.” I’ll take 20 people in my classroom if you like, and I’ll utilize them up here.  We’ll figure out how to make it work.

Re-envisioning the school day.

And it goes the other way. It really bothered me during the fellowship when I would hear other Fellows complaining about the schools they worked in. “I can’t do anything—my school did bla-bla-bla.” “It is my school’s fault that bla-bla-bla.”

You are the school.  You are a part of the school.  You need to drastically transform the school.

At Citizen Schools and as a teacher, I think that I’ve seen that. And I’ve seen people who have envisioned that. And those are the people who are going to be the adults kids need in their lives.

What are you doing to be transformational for students?

Teaching Fellows Wear Many Hats

Ashley Kirklen is a Second Year Teaching Fellow at Eastway Middle School in Charlotte, NC

Over the past year and a half, I’ve learned to be able to perform many roles.  As a Teaching Fellow you have to be able to wear many hats. Two of the hats that you’ll wear the most are educator and confidante.

Middle School is a tense time for all involved.

First, let me put on my educator hat.  When I put on this hat, students don’t think I am as cool and “real” as they would like me to be. They tend to say things to me like, “Ms. Kirklen, you’re boring” or “You just don’t understand what it’s like to be in middle school” as if I miraculously teleported from kindergarten to my 20s!  Though my students can be a bit dramatic, I understand why they cannot relate to me when I am wearing my educator’s hat.  I remember thinking my teachers were in this little box and they were only teachers.  In my mind they didn’t have other responsibilities, they didn’t have problems, and I didn’t see them as human.  When I saw my 10th grade Spanish teacher smoking a cigarette as she pulled out of the school parking lot I felt like someone had just told me Santa Clause was not real!  Now I am one of “them” and students have the same ideals about me.   A student once saw me out at the grocery store and looked at me as if he’d seen a ghost.  Of course he probably thought that I bought my groceries from the magic teacher store that we all go off to in abyss so we are not seen by our pupils.  This hat is great for teaching lessons, but not so much for relationship building with the students.

When you get to know students, they can really look up to you.

Next, there’s the hat or role of confidante.  This role was not in plain text when I read the Teaching Fellow job description, but it happens to be my favorite!  When I put on this hat students trust me and they begin to open up in a way that they don’t feel they are able to with morning teachers.  As adolescents, they go through so many emotions and ups and downs (more of the latter), so they need to know that someone is in their corner.  I must admit, sometimes I would rather they didn’t spill their middle school beans to me about who’s dating who, issues in their homes or questions about everything from A to Z.  Other times, I am grateful I can be there to listen and give sound advice.  Just when they think their teenage world is crumbling to pieces, I assure them that I have a PhD in adolescence and if I made it through, so will they.  I am also happy to debunk some ridiculous myth they heard from their friend in 3rd block.  A student asked the other day if it were true that students in college have to go to class from 8:00am to 3:00pm like in middle school.  I sparked her enthusiasm for higher education by explaining that in college students are able to make their own schedules which usually consist of 3-4 classes per day.  There’s a privilege to wearing this hat, you become human.

On both sides of the coin it can be challenging, but is always rewarding.  There is a time for each role to be played and it’s inevitable that you will have to play both.  I didn’t only sign up to teach, I signed up to care.

“You can pay people to teach, but you can’t pay them to care.”  ~Marva Collins

What other hats do teachers and Teaching Fellows wear?

Teaching: There’s an App for That

  • November 9, 2011 by
  • 1 Comment

Otto Katt is a Second Year Teaching Fellow at the Irving Middle School in Roslindale, MA

Archery Apprenticeship

At Citizen Schools there are some things we do really well, and one of those things is apprenticeships. Apprenticeships are 10 week classes where students learn from volunteer experts and then present what they have learned to an audience. Like the applications that make your smartphone – well smart, apprenticeships are what make learning dynamic and impactful. Phone apps and apprenticeships share more than a prefix, they are accessories that enhance and improve. Apps make your phone into more than a device that makes calls, they transform it into a device capable of a incredibly wide range of functions. Just like apprenticeships bring volunteers into the classroom to transform learning into an incredibly wide range of 21st century subjects.

Need to know when the bus is coming, there’s an app for that. Want to find amazing tacos, there’s an app for that. Have a predilection for creepy dolls, yes there is an app for that too. The variety and dimensions of phone apps is endless, as is the gamut of apprenticeships.

NASA Apprenticeship

One reason apprenticeships are so special is because they not only impact the student, but also the volunteer, the teacher, families, schools, and communities. Apprenticeships, because of their vibrant nature, are a powerful way to make lasting impressions on multiple constituencies.

I’ve had the opportunity to support a variety of apprenticeships. One of the most successful experiences I had was with my database design apprenticeship. At the beginning I was nervous. I knew nothing about databases, let alone designing one. But, I was extremely fortunate to work with a volunteer who was not only passionate about her field, but also compassionate towards exposing students to opportunities and experiences they would otherwise never have. It was a struggle explaining to students cardinality versus optionality. I still don’t understand what entity relationships are. And don’t ask me why there is a crow’s foot on my database design.

What I do know, is that for 10 weeks my student learned and were exposed to material and opportunities the vast majority of their peers will never have known even existed. I saw how a local business was able to make connections with a community and its school. I heard from thrilled parents who shared that their child was so excited about the potential to work in field that will only continue to grow as technology progresses.

Robotics Apprenticeship

As an educator you are often limited to working in your subject area.  Apprenticeships allow you the opportunity to teach subject matter you may have no familiarity with. You are forced to collaborate and come up with ways to engage students.  Apprenticeships are a microcosm of what learning should be: exciting, hands-on, relevant, engaging, inclusive, etc. etc. I know that learning is a complicated process. What is simple, is learning that is diverse and exciting- is learning that will make a difference.

Otto is interested in crazy phone apps you’ve encountered, and ideas that would make great apprenticeships.