Highline Staff and Board
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How long have you been teaching?
This is my 4th year teaching 4th grade at Highline, prior to that I was a librarian and 1st grade teacher for three years at DPS.
What makes HA special to you?
The extraordinary staff and students! Our philosophy and mission, and our passion.
Teaching Philosophy
Education, according to Webster, is the process by which we acquire knowledge. The most important word in this definition is process. Process, being a verb, says both the learner and the teacher need to act in order for education to happen. Therefore, to use a metaphor of a garden, to insure that the process of education is accomplished, the soil must be stirred up, turned over, fertilized, and watered before any planting can be done. In other words, if we plan to “plant” knowledge into the minds of our students then first we must “amend the soil”.
What exactly does this mean? Again, using the garden metaphor, we need to plant the right seeds in the right season. If we are attempting to teach something to our student that is developmentally out of reach, we will never achieve our goal. If we are attempting to teach something that our students see no reason to learn, then we will never achieve our goal. We need to bring excitement and the craving “to know” what we plan to teach. We need to make our soil fertile with probing questions and interesting materials, bringing out the curiosity in our students.
We also need to make sure we have controlled the ‘weeds.” This means that we have made our classroom safe, the climate one of mutual respect, justice, and consistency. When our students can stop worrying about whose turn it is, whose first in line, whose friend is whose, or if they are going to get hurt or lose face, then they can start learning what we’ve come to teach. If all of that drama is still going on, then their energy will be channeled in protecting themselves. We also need to make sure that our relationship with our students is encouraging and accepting. If our students do not believe in themselves they will never see themselves as successful learners.
We have to make sure, as the teacher, our “seeds” are of the highest quality; that we have brought to the classroom only the truth. Our lessons need to be well planned and paced, making sure enough time is allowed to complete the tasks, but moving at a pace to keep the momentum going.
Then we need to stand aside and watch them grow, ready to “stake” them up if they start to bend, making sure the soils stays moist and the weeds controlled, insuring there is enough sunshine. Each will grow at a different rate, and we need to honor their differences, but if we have followed the steps, we are sure to have a beautiful, lush, diverse and healthy garden of learners.
Favorite Student Story
One of my students last year did not speak in class. He could not give oral presentations, could not answer a question out loud, could not play any verbal class games. Then he started singing and chanting with us, and one day towards the end of school last year, during a lunch-time review, he raised his hand and answered. WOW
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