Goal 1: Philosophy of Education

I want to be an educator. This is the simplest explanation I have for my goal in entering the UAS Masters of Art in Teaching program, but it also explains very little: I could envision my job as “educator” taking many forms in my lifetime, including that of a teacher, college professor, researcher, author, mother, coach, and public radio show host. I have decided, however, that the best way for me to continue my journey as an educator is as a high school teacher in the community of Anchorage.

I was born and raised in Anchorage, and received an excellent education in the Anchorage School district, attending Chugach Optional Elementary, Romig Middle School and West Anchorage High School. I grew up enjoying many of the outdoor activities Alaska affords: hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, and going on river float trips. My parents also involved me in the cultural scene of Anchorage; we attended opera, symphony, and theatre performances at the Performing Arts Center and went to local art openings. They enrolled me in piano and flute lessons at an early age. By high school, I was an accomplished flautist and ski racer, and was deeply committed to academics

I chose to go “back East” for college, attending Williams College in Massachusetts, where I graduated phi beta kappa and magna cum laude in June of 2009 with a BA in psychology and art. Though I received an excellent academic education at Williams, I was unhappy on the East Coast. I didn’t realize until I returned, however, how much I had missed Anchorage. I had thought that I was yearning for the mountains, trails, and wide-open spaces of my hometown. Instead, I discovered that it was the friendly frontier attitude I had missed: the way Alaskans make eye contact, strike up a conversation and are eager to help.

I think one of my greatest strengths as an educator is that I truly value a sense of community. The decision to pursue this masters program arose in great part from my experiences in coming back to the community of Anchorage to spend a “gap” year or two before graduate school. I have gotten a great sense of personal growth and accomplishment from working as a substitute teacher, mostly at West High School, and coaching cross-country skiing at East High School, and feel more engaged, vibrant, and productive than ever before as a result of becoming re-involved in these communities.

Though subbing is often billed as “a thankless job”, most of the time, this has not been my experience. On a good day (I will not pretend that they are all good) I feel honored to be included in the students’ lives, if just for a day. They are learning who they are and who they want to be, and adults who pay attention have the opportunity, the privilege even, to have a life-shaping impact. When subbing, I create a seating chart while taking roll and address the kids by their names for the rest of the period. I try to teach them not only the curriculum that the teachers left, but also to give them some insight about life outside of school whenever possible, and am often amazed at their courage and insight. After 58 days of subbing at West, I have become a familiar figure to many of them, and have received thanks from teachers, administrators, kids, and parents for my attentions. There is no greater compliment than having the kids greet me cheerfully in the hallway – after only one or two days of subbing!

Another teaching strength of mine lies in my creativity and originality. As a substitute teacher, I am occasionally faced with teaching situations that require innovative solutions and this is where my creativity pays off. Recently, for instance, I was substituting for a class that was supposed to be doing international policy debates that day. However, most of the students were unprepared, and were not versed in debate format, due to a string of recent substitutes. I thought that forging ahead with the assignment would be a no-win situation, (for the kids, the regular teacher, and me) but also did not want to surrender to the situation by allowing the students unstructured “work time”. Instead, I came up with a third option: orchestrating impromptu debates. The topics I procured included the following: Is NASCAR a sport? Should people need licenses to be parents? I wrote a debate format on the board, assigned groups, and made sure that opposing sides were separated for a more conspiratorial atmosphere. I circulated between the groups, nudging students in the direction of possible arguments and predicting counterarguments. After about 20 minutes of prep time, the students debated, and I coached and refereed. Though some debaters fell flat, I was quite impressed with the performance of most of the students. Most importantly, the students reported that they felt more prepared (and better equipped to prepare) for their upcoming debates. The beautiful thing is that this lesson not only exercised my creativity, but it also exercised that of the students.

My job as an assistant coach for the East Cross-Country Ski Team has provided me with a more stable community within which to be an educator. Among other things, this has allowed me to better exercise another one of my teaching strengths: my reliability and dependability. Over time, I have had the opportunity to develop individual relationships with each of the kids, and have learned their communication styles and quirks, something that is hard to accomplish as a substitute teacher. I am there every day and can be relied upon to assist every skier, regardless of initial skiing ability or talent, working with exchange students who have never seen snow before as well as with seasoned racers. I find that the skiers approach me with their concerns and questions, even when I am not the coach best equipped to answer them.

In this permanent role as “coach”, my reliability and creativity have compounded upon my commitment to community. I consistently promote the East Ski Team community outside of practice, sponsoring a girls’ movie night for the East skier chicas, hosting a “East High Distance Babes” skirt-making session to make costumes for the Ski for Women, attending every post-race team party and hosting one myself, and volunteering my time to chaperone and coach some of the more competitive athletes for a weekend of non-school-affiliated races in Homer. By acquiring a Masters in Teaching and teaching certification through UAS, I hope to bring the same level of energy and commitment I bring to coaching to teaching.

The joy I have experienced upon rejoining the Anchorage community as a teacher and coach has made me realize that I gain the most from my interactions with those older and younger than myself. This daily educational exchange between people of different ages and backgrounds has helped me to realize that my purpose in life as that of an educator, a life-long teacher and learner. For now, I want to pursue this goal through teaching in the public high schools of Anchorage.