Joseph MooreThe College of New JerseyMAT Secondary Education: English

Teacher Portfolio

Educational Platform

James Baldwin wrote: "Teaching Black children is a revolutionary act"Essential to forging a new social contractBut teaching itself is a revolutionAimed at the dissolution of an institution for the sake of social evolution It is hardly a mysteryThat throughout the course of human historyThe students have been at the vanguard of the fightFor positive social change to igniteThe flame of progressTo oppose those who would oppress and dispossess Educators must instill a revolutionary potentialFor which independent, critical thought and action are essentialDominant power structures should be recognizedAnd oppressive institutions criticized, antagonized and denaturalized 

In a truly functional democracyEducation is not a meritocracyKnowledge is acquired for knowledge's sakeRather than as a means to secure a larger slice of the cake  All education is contextualTherefore standardization and universalization are ineffectualThey eradicate curricular creativity and teacher autonomyAnd subordinate educational goals to those of the U.S. economy Educators instill compassion and empathyEncourage self-advocacy and eliminate apathyFoster class-consciousness and change agencyPromote engagement and never tolerate complacencyWork to liberate but not to alienateChallenge the status quo and perpetually agitate Educators are the revolutionary classEnriching the youth to critical mass

Good Evening Revolution

Personal Philosophy• Public schools in the United States are not designed to cultivate critically thinking

individuals capable of independent moral thought and action.

• Rather, the function of schools is to train people for obedience and conformity and to make them controllable and indoctrinated.

What might a school truly dedicated to the cultivation of independent critical thinkers look like?

• A democratic space within which students are free to question the assumptions, perspectives, traditions, norms, laws, functions, etc. of the larger society.

• Students critically engaging in and investigating their world in cooperation with the teacher who is also a learner, what Paulo Freire called “problem-posing” education.

• The teacher becomes “teacher-student” and the students become “students-teachers.”

Personal Philosophy (cont.)• Students are not vacant storage receptacles or depositories in which the teacher

deposits knowledge. This model of education destroys critical thought and breeds passivity.

• Teachers model critical thought by consistently challenging the accepted, interrogating the conventional and opening up him or herself to criticism.

• As the person most familiar with the context of the classroom (students, atmosphere, etc.), the teacher is responsible for designing the final curriculum.

• Teachers foster an awareness of the “hidden curriculum.” Namely, the messages given to children by textbooks, teachers, school structures and other sources which serve the interests of power.

• The curriculum fosters social consciousness to bring about change and works to prevent the reproduction of inequities and prejudices through schooling.

Oral History• “Greg Maestri is a large, broad shouldered man with a firm handshake and an

even firmer visage. His gruff voice belies a sentimental nature that reveals itself entirely in his sympathetic eyes.”

• “Teaching is by far the most stressful job I’ve ever had. You’re dealing with students, parents, administrators, all with different goals and expectations, and now I work with emotionally disturbed children so it’s even more challenging.”

• “It wasn’t easy in the beginning. I was there past six thirty at night every night.”

• “Inclusion could be tough. You have two personalities in the classroom with different goals and I’m kind of outspoken, but respect is the most important thing. You have to respect the other teacher.”

• “The IEP’s in Brick are a joke. They’re all the same and they tell you nothing about the child.”

Oral History (cont.)• “They have different goals. The administrators aren’t concerned enough with

student’s education. All they care about is money.”

• “You have to build a relationship with them. You can’t trick them into learning, they’re too street smart. You have to build a relationship and they will listen and learn because they like you.”

• “A lot of my students only have one parent at home or they live with grandparents or foster parents, and for a lot of these parents school is not a priority. The students don’t have the support system at home.”

• “Teaching is extremely tough. It’s not at all what I expected it to be when I first started out. I should have chosen a less stressful career.”

Internship I• Lawrenceville High School

• 9th grade general education and honors classes

• Cooperating teacher was reluctant to integrate us into the classroom

• We were not given the opportunity to really get to know the students or to allow the students to get to know us

• The vast majority of the time was spent observing and we were only able to teach a few lessons

• Lack of communication between myself and the co-op lead to difficulties

• Communication is essential to any relationship, professional or otherwise

Internship I (cont.)

Objectives:• Students will be able to discuss moral nativism vs. morality as a social contract and formulate their own opinion as to the accuracy of both. • Students will be able to critically examine their own moral code and compare it with those of their classmates.• Students will be able to determine William Golding's perspective on moral nativism vs. social morality and support their argument using textual evidence from Lord of the Flies.

Instructional Activities:Students will complete a morality questionnaire which poses difficult moral questions and asks students to think critically and carefully about each one. After students have finished the questionnaire, the teacher will ask them to share their answers and offer insights into their thought processes.

Morality in Lord of the Flies

Internship I (cont.)(sample question)

You can save the lives of a thousand patients by cancelling one hundred operations that would have saved the lives of a hundred different patients. Are you morally obliged to do so??

Group Activity/ Closure Students will gather in groups of four to consider William Golding's answer to the do now question from the previous day. Groups must find textual evidence in Lord of the Flies to support their conclusion. A minimum of five example will be required from each group. After groups have finished gathering evidence, they will report their conclusion and findings to the class.

Internship II (student teaching)

• Manalapan-Englishtown Middle School

• 8th grade Language Arts general ed. and honors classes

• Extremely kind and supportive co-op

• Was given near total freedom to create lessons and design instructional activities during the first half of the internship

• NJASK prep. and a rigid top-down curriculum stripped me of my freedom and defined the later half of my internship experience

• Experienced first-hand the devastating effects of high-stakes standardized tests on classroom instruction and the educational experiences of students

Internship II (cont.)The Pearl Fishbowl Activity

Who: Students will be divided up into six separate groups. Each group will be responsible for a different topic relating to The Pearl. Within each group, one person will be assigned the role of Group Director. It is the responsibility of the Group Director to divide the group's work evenly among individual members, as well as to ensure that all of the group's questions are answered and objectives achieved. What: Group members will engage in a discussion/presentation of that particular group's topic within the bowl while the rest of the class observes and actively listens from outside of the bowl. Groups will rotate so that each group will have an opportunity to be inside the bowl. Students observing and listening from outside may not speak during the discussion. Those students will have an opportunity to ask questions or make comments when the discussion is over.Where: Discussions will take place within the classroom. The classroom will be arranged so that a small cluster of desks will stand in the center of the room, with a larger ring of desks surrounding it, like a bowl. The group engaged in discussion will sit at the cluster of desks in the center while the rest of the class will occupy the surrounding ring. When: Discussions will take place during class on Thursday of the week of March 1st. Preparation for the discussions will take place on Wednesday.Why: The purposes of this activity are as follows: to engage in in-depth, meaningful discussions of topics relating to The Pearl; to exercise active listening and discussion skills; to demonstrate effective cooperation in a group activity; to review for the test on The Pearl. 

Internship II (cont.)

What is a Fishbowl Discussion?A Fishbowl discussion is a discussion in which one group of

students sits in a cluster in the center of the room, while the rest of the students sit in large circle surrounding them.

Internship II (cont.)So You Think You Can Write

Objectives: Academic Objectives: Students will be able to apply various targeted rubrics and knowledge of correct mechanics and usage to assess

peer writing. Students will be able to judge the effectiveness and quality of orally presented student writing. Behavioral Objectives: Students will be able to demonstrate effective peer critique and cooperation in the peer editing process. Affective Objectives: Students will be able to listen respectfully and attentively to orally presented peer writing. Students will be able to demonstrate a commitment to the democratic process through collective peer critique.

Internship II (cont.)Instructional Plan:

So You Think You Can Write (Round 1): (50 min.) The instructor will select the first four students for the judges panel and hand out the assessment rubrics to audience members. Students will be selected at random to come up to the podium and read their persuasive essay. After each student has read, the judges will provide oral feedback and give their scores according to the NJ 6-point Holistic Grading Rubric. Judges will be looking for well developed introductions and conclusions, thesis statements, topic sentences, transitions, compositional risks, correct mechanics and usage and overall effectiveness of argument. At this time, a few brief comments from audience members will be allowed. After having the opportunity to assess a few students, the judges panel will be rotated to provide each student an opportunity to be a judge.

Assessments: Peer assessment of persuasive essay writing according to provided rubric. Formative assessment of students' overall level of motivation for the activity.

WRITESo You Think You Can