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Professional Values Statement

July 2, 2014
My teaching career is comprised of an eclectic mix of experiences. I have worked with students
aged three months to seventy years and with the exception of this last year, have largely avoided
the typical classroom setting, instead teaching in outdoor or in multiuse spaces. For example, in
Honduras I was a Peace Corps Volunteer working at the local primary school while also
educating illiterate farmers and adolescent youth. And my work at the Providence Public Library
was aimed at designing and implementing integration programs for newly arrived immigrant
populations. This past year, I was teaching Secondary English Literature and Writing at the
Ecole dHumanit, a small alternative school in Switzerland. Words, books, and writing have
been a recurrent theme throughout my life, I have struggled with all three of them and
understand intimately how others might as well; I committed to teaching the English language
because I see it as crucial in accessing different levels of society, and in reaching across cultures
and boundaries; in effect, in changing the world for a more understanding and equitable one.
Simply stated, I believe that education should be accessible to any individual regardless of
economic, physical, or emotional complications. I like to consider my own teaching responsive
to student needs, flexible, and creative - improvisational in the way of jazz musicians. Inside the
secondary classroom and in preparation for college, I offer a wide range of English acquisition
classes to an even wider range of students. My classes are writing focused; I use international
and contemporary American novels as a platform, not only for writing but also for discussion
and mastery of English concepts. I complement the writing components of class with art, music,
and film in order to encourage familiarity with ICT but also learning through the five senses, a
form of experiential learning that I find students of mixed ability and background resonate with.
Through these avenues, if not through actual field trips, I like to take students outside the
classroom and into the world.
I believe in hard work but also balance. I am a yoga instructor and infuse my classes, which tend
to attract young men who need a more active class, with a healthy respect for the benefits of
being physically active, even within the classroom. Students who are normally reluctant readers
and writers gravitate to my classes because I teach actively and through life experience. I am
uncompromising and critical, compassionate and gentle. Writing assignments are student
generated and aimed at uncovering the complexities of identity, place, and current events.
Students are intrigued; they are intrinsically motivated to construct their own questions and thus
guide their own education. After all education should inspire and catapult, not deflate.

I found it interesting to encounter the idea of Diversity in college. Growing up, I had never really
differentiated between races, colors, weights, sexes, or economic situations. People were people.
We were all held to the same expectations and I did not notice the physical, cultural, economic
differences separating our parents. Within my classroom I encourage an acceptance of
differences, differences are special and make us who we become, yet nothing to get overly
worked up about. I like to meet my students as a blank slate, well, I do end up considering many
things as you will see in the following section, but I also allow them the benefit of a fresh start
regardless of prior failures or of other teachers impressions. I dont agree with being overly
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sensitive to differences at a young age, thus having students identify themselves by a diagnosis
or becoming limited by them. I am not in favor of homogeneity, even if by teaching English one
could argue that I am cultivating a globalized monoculture. People learn through experience and
struggle with people of different mindsets is both healthy and an opportunity to broaden ones
perspective of the world.

Within the classroom I rely quite heavily upon the collaborative process. My students are their
own best teachers. This past winter term for example, I was teaching a writing-focused English
literature class on crime. I exposed my students to the idea of drawing insight from the most
insubstantial of clues as Sherlock Holmes, famous for his death across the valley from us at
Reichenbach Falls, does in his mysteries. I brought to class five objects from very different
teachers on campus, one for each member of class. I asked my students to describe in writing
each item objectively, drawing as much evidence about their owner as possible. We pooled our
conclusions so that the subtleties of detection were not overlooked by anyone. The homework
involved creating an original mystery that incorporated one or all of the items into the story line.
The objective of the class was only in an effort to generate enough motivation to create a solid
fictional story, but in effect the experience of incorporating real clues into class resulted in
unanticipated and rather beautiful outcomes. Using Holmes methods of detection generated
miniscule details and insightful descriptions. Students found, and complained, that five minutes
was not enough time to both describe the item and get into the person behind it. Sharing ideas
resulted in conflicting viewpoints and thus a lively, invested discussion. And lastly, the writing
that poured into this assignment turned out to be widely varied, creative, and best of all
believable.
I collaborate with colleagues, administrators, parents, experts, and student peers to uncover the
complexities weighing upon a student in my class. Deaths, addictions, ADD, depression: I do not
leap to conclusions, but rather try to refrain from quick assumptions. Sometimes, a student needs
compassion and understanding, other times she needs deadlines and external motivation. I listen
attentively to the unspoken context behind a students actions, inactions, words, and relationships
in order that I might glean some insight into their reasoning. I read their work. I will then speak
with the student and ask what they need from me in order to be successful given the course
objectives. I will consult with co-workers and experts, and I will listen on the basketball court
and in the dining hall in order to piece together the multifaceted picture of a young person in my
class.

First and foremost the classroom should be safe. Everything that I aim to create in my class
stems from a feeling of safety. I then cultivate a collaborative, embracing environment, one that
fosters mutual respect. Again, a class of six is very different than a class of thirty. With six, I
hold a loosely structured class that aims to take advantage of student interest as it blossoms. I do
not allow for disrespect between students. I expect, and hold, students accountable for their
actions. That includes being sensitive to the working realities of their peers. It is infrequent in my
experience that a class of students is unable to, when taught and encouraged through modeling
by me, allow their peers some individual space for thoughts to be heard. For example, my class
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last term understood that it required patience of all of us in order for Julius to compose his
thoughts, just as it required that Lais be aware of speaking too often and too loudly. I encourage
exploration and play in the classroom, and for this there needs to be a tangible feeling of trust in
the classroom. I begin each term stating that writing is a very bold practice; it is however also
extremely exposing and runs the risk of making one vulnerable. Students must be respectful of
others opinions, thoughts, and ideas. They can be critical, but they must do so in a constructive,
encouraging manner that addresses the problems on the page, not of the author. I am absolutely
firm on this one issue but also firm in my modeling, so it comes across as effortless and simple.

I believe in the inherent wisdom of people and strive to be sensitive and responsive to the needs
of the people in my classes. I am accommodating, flexibly catering my lessons to dramatically
different personalities and learning styles. Facilitated by me, everyone contributes to discussion
and everyone participates in group work. Groups frequently change in order to keep students
fresh and challenged- pushing on their comfort zones and fortifying their responsiveness to a
changing environment. I make sure to offer simpler, not necessarily less thought provoking,
alternative options for assignments and homework, as well as opportunities for advanced study.
In evaluation, I offer more time for students who need it but I also try to branch into other
intelligences, and for example will ask students to create a mixed media artwork that describes
one of the major themes of a novel and then present that artwork through musical selections that
evoke the overall feeling. I am trying to ignite in people a thirst for self knowledge. I find that
frequently involves positive encouragement, promoting a positive self image, cultivating the
feeling that they can do whatever it is they set their heart upon, and that the people around them
are their best resource and support for their goals, ambitions, and questions. Weve been relating
to one another through story for longer than language. Sometimes Ill start my term off with the
simple question, whats your best story?