In my experience pedagogical practice is one of the most challenging parts of being a new teacher. We spend our whole lives learning how to manage relationships so that’s not new when you start teaching. The Professional Practice components of teaching are specific to teaching, but are not that different than other jobs. Curriculum design as a new teacher is often mostly handled by others and given to you or is you implementing something from a textbook company. The pedagogical practice however, is really the heart of what makes teaching unique. There aren’t a lot of other jobs that ask you to take a group of different people who may not necessarily want to be in the room together and build an experience where they are all provided with an opportunity to growth and improve their knowledge and understanding of a particular topic. It’s not enough to just keep them safe or entertained, they’re expected to leave the experience as better people AND you have to try to repeat this experience multiple times AND connect them all AND adjust for all the changes that happen along the way. To add to that the three key domains are interdependent and it’s very difficult to determine which aspect of your teaching is in most need of improvement. As a new teacher you know that none of it is really good, but figuring out where to start can be overwhelming. In my opinion it’s one of the most significant reasons why many people leave teaching after a year or two.
I recently read Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer. In the book she argues that 
“the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world.” It struck me how similar the process of education is to the philosophy she espouses. This short essay will only scratch the surface of the connections I am seeing, but I strongly believe that “only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.” In one of the chapters she talks about the 3 sisters garden used by some Native Americans. The colonists saw a jumbled mass of plants and assumed the farmers who set it up didn’t know what they were doing, but beneath the jumble of plants are some amazing synergies. I think a student centered classroom has a lot of the same qualities, on the surface it can appear chaotic and unorganized. At times it appears students are all doing their own thing, but a closer look or a trained eye will see the synergy and common purpose. Below are a couple of tables highlighting just a few of the connections between the 3 Sisters garden and the 3 Sisters Classroom. More detail about the garden can be found in this article or even better by reading Kimmerer’s book.
|
3 Sisters Farm |
Farm Properties |
Class Properties |
3 Sisters Classroom |
|
Corn |
Provides a trellis for the beans Needs a head start to grow or it will be smothered by the other plants Requires a lot of nitrogen which is provided by the beans |
Must be developed from the beginning if the others are going to have a chance to develop. Can be effective as increasing the learning, but only if the other two are dialed in as well. |
Class Culture |
|
Beans |
Can’t support itself without a trellis to grow on which is provided by the corn. Takes nitrogen from the atmosphere and fixes it in the soil which makes it available for the other plants. |
Very difficult to implement if there’s not a positive and supportive classroom culture to build on. Provides the content and context for the learning to occur, without this culture and assessment lose their educational value. |
Pedagogical Effectiveness |
|
Squash |
Grows on the ground and provides shade to prevent weed growth which can stunt the growth of all three plants. Shade also protects the soil from the sun and prevents it from drying out in the heat from later summer. |
Formative and summative assessment of both content and culture provides the information necessary for the teacher to make adjustments necessary to improve learning and increase effectiveness by differentiating appropriately. |
Differentiated Instruction and Assessment |
|
Ecology |
Eaten together provide all the amino acids of a complete protein |
Each can be developed independently, but in isolation they do not provide the full “nutrition” necessary to maximize educational effectiveness |
Ecology |
The following pages in this section outline how I currently think about classroom culture, pedagogical effectiveness and differentiated instruction, but like the growth of a garden the path to getting here has been very circuitous and is constantly evolving. Over the years I have found many sources of inspiration. Public and Private Schools. West Coast and East Coast. Small schools and large schools. Currently at EPS I have to give a lot of credit to my fellow teachers. I could list most of the faculty here, but the ones I mention have had a particular influence due to our close working relationship or the contrasting perspective they help me to understand. Together, they are the key plants in my current 3 sisters garden of pedagogical practice and I have to give credit to them for the inspiration and ideas that show up in many of the examples in this portfolio.
Sarah Rainwater and Amis Balcomb both have a classroom culture that I’m envious of. I often hear unsolicited stories from their students about the supportive, positive and exciting activities and experiences that come from their classrooms.
They are both have a healthy balance of self-awareness, creativity and there are many other teachers I seek advice from as well, but I could easily write a book about the things I’ve drawn just from these two teachers. Social studies and art classrooms can be so different from science and math that conversations with these teachers never fail to give me a new idea to weave into class.
I have had the pleasure of co-teaching classes with Steve Fassino and Adam Walter. Adam developed the biology curriculum here at EPS, so many of the assignments, projects and activities I still use in class are modified versions of what I first implemented with him.
Adam passed on a wealth of laboratory and modeling activities that he has developed and accumulated over his years of teaching which provide a wide variety of options to build student engagement and support their learning. Steve brings an enthusiasm and passion for mathematics that is infectious. He is always looking to improve a lesson in a way that brings math alive and makes it relevant to his students, but still keeps them grounded in the skills and techniques needed to engage with the math community.
Finding a way to connect content with each student at a personal level is one of my biggest challenges as a teacher. I have always been impressed with the sincere connections and relationships that Adrienne Behrman develops both with her students and with her colleagues.
Her commitment to community has provided the context for many aspects in my class. As the Equity, Inclusion and Compassionate Leadership Coordinator, Bess McKinney has both directly and indirectly provided me with innumerable resources and ideas to increase my awareness of student perspective in and out of class. Bess has had to blaze the trail here to both define the parameters of her position and simultaneously implement those ideas. Her ability to compassionately lead while walking beside you is one we can all learn from. The importance of this work cannot be overstated and continued growth here is one of my primary goals for the future.
I look forward to future conversations with you all as we continue to plant, weed and tend to our gardens.