Engelbrecht 1

Christine Engelbrecht

Dr. Mark Letcher

EDEN 4914 Teaching English

Philosophy of Teaching English/Language Arts

2 May 2010

Finding Myself as a Student, a Teacher, and a Person

I entered high school completely naive to the opportunities within my reach. Shy and

quiet, I was emerging from a private school where my class consisted of only thirty students. I

was leaving that close knit bunch for the first time, forging into a public school encompassing

over two thousand students. Overwhelmed and intimidated, I did not have the motivation or peer

support needed to recognize the opportunities available to me at Norman North. However, during

my high school career I found people like me to surround myself with and several modes of

expression which finally lead me to academic success. In addition, I would never have become

inspired and motivated if it were not for several excellent high school teachers.

One of the first courses I took in high school was Algebra I. I hated Algebra I. Math and I

had never understood each other, leading me to have a math tutor in my middle school years.

The equations made no sense to me and the teacher did not seem to care, paying more attention

to the demanding students and the exceptional students. I fell somewhere in between. It was not

long before I received failing notices in the mail. At the beginning of my sophomore year I found

myself, yet again, in the back row of Algebra I. But this time I had a different instructor. Ms.

Schlegel was an engineer turned high school math teacher, setting her apart from the other

coach-teacher combinations in the math hallway. Watching her every mark on the dry erase

board, the numbers, letters, and symbols still swirled around in my head, distressing me more

than anything. I found myself spending overtime and lunch often in her classroom, desperately

wanting to understand the material, at the very least to salvage my less than overwhelming grade
point average. Ms. Schlegel would sit with me and try every way she could think of to explain

the equations till they made sense. Eventually with the help of a tutor and Ms. Schlegel’s

determination not to give up on me, I achieved a B in Algebra I. Most likely inspired by students

like myself, Ms. Schlegel began teaching an Intermediate Algebra class that helped students

develop skills to help them bridge the gap between Algebra I and Algebra II. Throughout my

high school career I had Ms. Schlegel for Algebra I, Intermediate Algebra, and Algebra II.

Although Algebra II is the highest level of math required for college acceptance, I enrolled and

completed Trigonometry under Ms. Schlegel’s instruction, not because it was easy or interesting,

but because I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. To this day I do not think I ever have

been in a classroom with a teacher who cared so much about my success. A few weeks ago I

received an email from Ms. Schlegel, though she has since taken back her maiden name, Jones-

Parra. She said that she saw my name on a flier for a Student Oklahoma Education Association

meeting and thought she recognized me. She asked if I was a Norman North Alumnus, and if I

was, she wanted me to know that she was my math teacher and that she is very proud of me.

Although I struggled through several subjects in high school, there was one subject that I

felt confidence enrolling in, Art. My Art I and II teacher was a stiff and critical woman who

possessed immense personal talent. Despite her skills and creativity, she did not possess the

patience for teaching, she was the first to tell me when my work “wasn’t right” and when I

needed to do it over again. Rarely ever praising or complimenting my pieces, she often failed to

see my unique style or creativity, and focused on a right way and a wrong way to produce art. I

begrudgingly completed two years of instruction with this woman, though I never found any

personal encouragement from her. When I enrolled in Art III I was given another teacher, Mrs.

Shaw. Mrs. Shaw also had exceptional talent, often painting murals in the high school entrances

and doing projects to help out the district. Her class was a warm place where you were free to

create whatever kind of art you wanted, with any kind of medium. Her only qualification was
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that it had to be “quality” and “professional.” She encouraged us to use mixed media in our art

and to push the limits of traditional artwork. At the end of every week we would take our

completed pieces and put them on the wall. After observing them we would each come up with a

positive and constructive comment about the pieces, encouraging and helping each other. Mrs.

Shaw taught me work ethic and encouraged me to be different, to express myself in my art. The

same work ethic carries me through semester after semester in college, urging me to push

through late nights and get up early in the mornings. Although Mrs. Shaw, now Ms. Hill, is no

longer my instructor, I enjoy emailing her and sending her pictures of my latest paintings. To be

honest the happiest times in my life, when everything seemed so clear, were when I was

painting.

As for my inspiration to become an English teacher, it comes from many teachers at

Norman North, and even more extending into my college years. Upon entering high school I was

greeted by Mrs. Swisher as my English I teacher. Her room was a warm and wonderful place full

of knick-knacks and personal things. Mrs. Swisher has a relaxed style, but a firm discipline. She

taught the Odyssey and Shakespeare, which I found terribly interesting. But beyond her subject

matter, Mrs. Swisher was real. She was a real person with real feelings, not a teacher. She had a

family, and hobbies, and favorite books. She understood that we were real people too, with jobs

and activities. She was understanding, and most of all, I think she loved each of us. The biggest

testament to her effectiveness as a teacher was a deviation from her lesson plans one day. On that

morning a student of the freshman body had committed suicide, sending the school into turmoil.

She took the majority of our class that day to share a personal story about her son’s best friends’

suicide and how it affected her. It made her seem all the more human, not an English spewing

machine, but a real person that we could relate to. Another English teacher who enticed me into

the field was Mrs. Kramer. An esteemed and happy woman, she was lucky enough to teach

Shakespeare and Mythology to the sophomores, juniors, and seniors. I never formed a personal
relationship with her, but her enthusiasm and stamina for her subject was astounding. I loved

every play we studied and every story we read. She intertwined movies and activities into her

lesson plans, helping me form synapses to films I had seen. Most of all, I think that Mrs. Kramer

treated us like adults, young adults, but adults none-the-less. She never had to say anything to

discipline us; just a quick glance in our direction with her glasses sliding down the bridge of her

nose was enough to send the message. I can only hope that when I have spent many years as an

English teacher that I will have developed the confidence in my authority and skills to be a

teacher like her. A last English teacher who I found inspirational was Ms. Worster. She was a

new teacher, only a few years out of college and in the process of finishing her master’s degree, a

stage in my life that I plan to be at in a few years. She was young enough to remember what it

was like to be a high school student, and still a student herself; she knew how to distinguish good

teaching from mediocre teaching. I do not think her age made us less respectful of her, but

helped us to relate to her. Personally, I looked at Ms. Worster and saw what I could become,

what I was capable of. Mrs. Worster had completed a college degree in a field that I was

interested, held a teaching job, and was completing her masters. More than anything , I think

Mrs. Worster’s presence inspired me to look towards the next step, where I could be in two or

three years. She may have sought me out personally to congratulate me or encourage me on my

work, but I do not remember. As a new teacher, I think there were still some areas where she

could expand and develop, which to me, made her all the more human.

Now that I have completed two observations in a public school setting, I feel like I have

learned a lot about the kind of teacher I want to be. Though I have studies under Mrs. Queen and

Mrs. Worster, Mrs. Worster has been a bigger inspiration to me because of her balanced lifestyle

and creative techniques. I really like her creative ideas for assignments which also manage to

incorporate many main objectives and pass skills. There are several Ideas for assignments that I

have recycled into my own unit plans. I also like the way that she treats her students like adults
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for the most part and cuts them breaks when they have outside forces conflicting with her

assignments and classes, like sports and debate. I like her friendliness with the other teachers in

her department, even those that are not as easy to get along or collaborate with, such as Mr.

Miller. I really admire her patience with her students and her ability to not take her work home

with her, so to speak. I hope to have an ounce of her patience with my students. I also really like

her sense of humor with her students; I think its key in building relationships with them.

After watching her, I have found a lot of things that I would like to do differently. I

would like to be more consistent with my enforcement of classroom rules, effectively managing

the class from the beginning rather than trying to implement the rules down the road. I would

also try to communicate major problems, like disagreements with parents, with an assistant

principle, so that they are informed of the situation. I would try to encourage my students and

take more interest in them when necessary, particularly when they are having trouble at home

that affects their school work. Although it is probably inevitable, I would try not to gossip with

the other teachers in a negative way. In general I hope to have a very positive outlook when it

comes to my students and my classroom.

I believe that students should study literature to keep a tradition of excellence in

education alive. In order to remember the classics and keep the oral traditions alive, we must

teach them to our own children, to the next generation. Of course, new classics are always being

added to the canon and should continue to be explored in ELA classes as well. I see myself as a

guide, Charon the boatman guiding lost souls through the underworld, but less dramatic and

dreary. My goal is to help the students see deeply into the pieces we study in a way that could

not be achieved on one’s own. I hope to incorporate graphic novels into my lessons, as well as

poetry, short stories, some full length novels, some memoirs, may a couple oral native American

stories would be a nice touch too. I don’t feel like 11th grade American literature incorporates

very much Native American literature, which is ironic considering they are the original
Americans. I hope that using some audio books, reading aloud to my class, having discussions in

groups, film versions of stories and books, and using graphic novels will assist my struggling

readers, giving them genres that they can relate to. I will try to draw involved and deep responses

from my students in response to literature by using thought provoking journal prompts, trying to

draw from their personal experiences and emotions to connect to the literature. I will attempt to

teach my students a variety of writing styles, argument, narrative, personal, essay, memoir, etc. I

also think it is very important they acquire basic writing skills that could help them in any

profession, like filling out a job application, writing a living will, and writing a business letter. I

think that English class would be more relevant to my students if it taught them some general

skills about writing, some that they can draw from when they are 30 years old and Shakespeare is

a distant memory. I have taken a great deal of pride in my essay writing, so it would be a very

big proponent of my class. Regardless of which level of English I teach, I believe that the writing

process is important to prepare for the future. Whether you go into business for yourself and

must communicate with others, whether you go to college, or whether you just like keeping

correspondence with friends and family, knowing how to write legibly, clearly, and elegantly is

important. I plan to incorporate creative writing into my classes, and hope to teach a creative

writing specific class. I think that as far as collaborative writing, as long as it’s a fun creative

project that is not graded harshly, it would be a worth project. I would like to try a group piece,

where everyone starts a story with an essay, then passes it around to the next person, who writes

a paragraph, and so on. I would endeavor to teach using the newest creative methods.

I believe that it was my development in these different areas, encouraged by very

different teachers that lead me to success. Once I realized that people cared about my progress

and success as a student, it was easy to motivate myself to do more. I have also been fortunate

enough to have several excellent mentors that care about me as a teacher and as a colleague to

motivate me to this chapter of my life. This trend has continued into my college years, bringing
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me to form respectful and honest relationships with my instructors, and to do the best work I can.

I would not be where I am if it were not for those teachers, and I most certainly would not have

had the inspiration to be all that I am.