This year, 2015, marks my twenty-first year as a teacher; I am proud of my journey thus far and look forward to teaching another 30 years. In the past year as I have been working closely with the Stretch Acceleration cohort at Pasadena City College, I realized that one of the reasons why I have such fond memories of attending a Community College is that I actually began as a student in a cohort in the Humanities Block with Joseph Sierra—that cohort experience helped me gain academic confidence as well as a willingness to be part of clubs and ultimately attend the Oxford Abroad Program. I also chose my career while I was a student here—from Roger Marheine and Judith Branzburg, I gained an appreciation of educational equity; from Mel Donalson, how to be a scholar; from Len Franco, the value of storytelling; and from Howard Hertz, the insertion of history into the context of literature. After graduating from UCLA with a BA in English, I began teaching at Crenshaw High School and entered their California Teacher Credentialing Program—it was hands-on and it grounded me with a rich pedagogy that emphasized scaffolding, metacognitive and schematic awareness, and collaboration. After completing the program, they asked me to help teach and write curriculum for it which I did for approximately 7 years. I also earned my MA in TESOL and another MA in Rhet/Comp. For the past 13 years, I have taught at the CC level as an adjunct—Even though I have taught consistently for the last 20 years, I wanted to be part-time when my children were little so I could spend time teaching them. They are pictured above; both girls are on the local swim team and participate in their meets. In the last three years, I have been working hard in preparation to secure a full-time position: I have been active in committee work at PCC, including Distance Ed, Composition, Writing Center, and STACC. I am among the first group of professors to teach online courses after taking the training—I have taught English 1A and 900. This past year, I was appointed to work on the California Online Education Initiative to help choose a statewide Learning Management System. I am part of the core leadership of the STACC committee—I have developed curriculum for it, designed the first draft of the Directed Self Placement Survey, and wrote and taught Professional Learning Modules. I have presented for APL on VoiceThread in addition to one of my VoiceThreads being published in How to Humanize Your Online Course with VoiceThread by Michelle Pacansky-Brock. I believe that teachers have three main areas of focus: the content, the pedagogy, and the affective domain—I regularly consider how I may improve in each of those areas so that my students can attain their professional and personal goals. I am a rigorous instructor with high expectations of both my students and me; yet, while I am demanding, I am supportive in the process.
My goals as an educator are to facilitate a learning community that helps ALL my students regardless of where they are at academically move forward in their scholarly preparation for their careers as well as take time to be introspective as to what type of people and community members they wish to be. I consider schema as well as help them reflect upon metacognitive strategies. Collaboration is a central part of the curriculum I design. Both in and out of class, students participate in activities such as, pair shares; small groups; jigsaw; Voicethread; Discussion Forums; ask a question, answer a question; gallery walks; text-mapping; Socratic Seminars; and Pinterest Boards. Finally, I require an ePortfolio as a high stakes assessment because not only will they be able to utilize it to help them with their careers in the long run, but it gives them an opportunity to think about their own goals and where to proceed from once they leave my classroom.
My professional goals are to find a full-time English position at a reputable Southern California Community College where I would take an active collaborative role in in the department. Ultimately, I would like to earn a Phd. in African-American Literature or Composition with an emphasis in Acceleration.
My personal goals are to continue to educate my children and support their journey to adulthood. I love to travel: last summer, my family and I traveled to Europe for three weeks; this year we took time to traverse our home state as my younger daughter studied it for social studies this past year. Also, I would like to join a year-round book club--I have lead a summer club with other homeschooling parents for the last four years. Finally, I want to continue my exercise regimen so that I can maintain an active lifestyle.
My goals as an educator are to facilitate a learning community that helps ALL my students regardless of where they are at academically move forward in their scholarly preparation for their careers as well as take time to be introspective as to what type of people and community members they wish to be. I consider schema as well as help them reflect upon metacognitive strategies. Collaboration is a central part of the curriculum I design. Both in and out of class, students participate in activities such as, pair shares; small groups; jigsaw; Voicethread; Discussion Forums; ask a question, answer a question; gallery walks; text-mapping; Socratic Seminars; and Pinterest Boards. Finally, I require an ePortfolio as a high stakes assessment because not only will they be able to utilize it to help them with their careers in the long run, but it gives them an opportunity to think about their own goals and where to proceed from once they leave my classroom.
My professional goals are to find a full-time English position at a reputable Southern California Community College where I would take an active collaborative role in in the department. Ultimately, I would like to earn a Phd. in African-American Literature or Composition with an emphasis in Acceleration.
My personal goals are to continue to educate my children and support their journey to adulthood. I love to travel: last summer, my family and I traveled to Europe for three weeks; this year we took time to traverse our home state as my younger daughter studied it for social studies this past year. Also, I would like to join a year-round book club--I have lead a summer club with other homeschooling parents for the last four years. Finally, I want to continue my exercise regimen so that I can maintain an active lifestyle.
