Educating ESME Comprehensive Reflection

either teachers worst nightm be that is the setting to which Madame (whatever you do feignt c each her Mrs. ) Esme Raji Codell stepped into as her first job fresh stunned of college. In this sink or swim world Esme, unknowingly, became a lifeguard to thirty youngsters, as she counted the only bingle who could protect the children from the rough water that ar inner city Chicago. Through studying her genuinely open and personal diary, I am awe stricken by her peculiar display of pedagogy as she exemplifies what it truly means to be a teacher.Esmes proficiency in her dealings with situations surrounding impartiality, creating a safe, relaxed and ordained cl tailroom environment, expectations as a teacher, gender, diversity encyclopedism, multi heathenish competence and readjustment argon, at times, straight come let on of a teachers workshop. somewhat aptitude argue with her protocol, as she is both sharp-tongued and downright stubborn, but n whizz john c entirely to question her motive or incapacity for com modelncy.As on the whole teacher goes into the workplace, first year, or twenty- twenty percent, and despite every subconscious devotion you might possess of the hideous class you might be challenged to educate, there is always a certain comfort in knowing that, irrespective the case, you obligate the support of your administration to uphold most either sensible expectation you place on your students. As the school year move near, Im sure this was the case even for Madame Esme, as she seemed gauge to start her first year of precept. She set her expectations high in all aspects and from sidereal day one seemed determined to see her students achieve accordingly.She maintained her themels passim the year, though, it becomes much evident that her superiors might not shargon such(prenominal) marvellous values. No case much certain than is seen on May 4th. by and by trying to reach a male student, B. B. , who seems to be having behavioral fusss relate to his home life, Esme finds herself separating her student from a big pounding fight on the playground (Codell, 1999). In the latermathematics which followed, Esme receives a tongue lashing from B. B. in which he right off calls her a bitch. Outraged, Codell storms into the office of her incompetent principal, Mr.Turner, and continues to sh be with him her turn ones stomach of the issue. Full of remarks which any rational person would have left to pattern, she gladly gave to Mr. Turner in words. Summoned up, her venting stood strongly on the f meet that she didnt get paid to be called names of that sort, and she both didnt have to, and wouldnt tolerate such. Reason qualified justified whitethornbe, whitethornbe not? only the same, nothing in my (and hopefully anyone elses) study of education could have alert me, or apparently her, for his unprecedentedly repulsive response. You dont understand.Theyre corrosive Its just the way black people are. The black child is different. They deal with so much. Drugs, gangs (Codell, 1999). How bum one articulate the hopelessness of such a situation? I am deeply s getened at the thought that this is ground on the account of a real conversation, which took place at a real school, concerning the expectations of real kids. Pro demonstrate knowledge directly linked to the situation can be found in the Pygmalion report card (Rosenthal, 1992) where student achievement was found to be directly proportional to the expectations fit(p) on them by teachers and administrators.Knowing that this was the standard set for students school wide, one may only speculate at the vast number of children who fell victim to such complacency and negativity. As I am only able to imagine how detrimental it must have been to Esmes moral in that moment to hear such foulness reign down from your superior, I commend her in the highest sort for the manner in which she handled herself before him. I only hope that I have the courage to stand so boldly should I find myself under such circumstances. The months of April and May seem to be full of touching moments in Madame Esmes first year.I found myself rather moved in taking stance from an omnipresent perspective. On tax day, Codell finds herself frustrated with Latoya, a young black young woman in her class, seeing as it was the foursometh consecutive day she had been a one-half hour late (Codell, 1999). Bound by her own pledge to professionalism in educating the kids she is so blessed to have, Madame shows sign that she might possess human qualities, after all, when she admits that she was inclined to yell at Latoya as she was becoming frustrated on having to repeat herself, consecutively.However, Esme is able to withhold her wit and refrains from doing so as she has vowed to verbalise and listen privately, as of late. Upon speaking with the student alone in the hall, Latoya sedately informs her that they are in the shelter this week and sh e must drop her minute sister off and purpose the train over it takes longer than expected (Codell, 1999). Stepping punt a moment to gain perspective, these are fifth graders. The same one where you look forward to daily recess freshly removed from the ideas that the confrontation sex have coodies and light up sneakers are cool.Remember? Oh, yeah And you base on balls your sister to drop her off in the mornings before school and so jump on the inner-city Chicago train to get to school, yourself. As a teacher, youre taught that your students will live very different lives and of the necessity to fox accommodations accordingly. Students backgrounds cover a vast spectrum, and in order to achieve equity in your classroom, you must accommodate these students and cater to their specific needs so that, they too, have an opportunity to be successful.Latoyas story, in particular, strikes me a hunky-dory too close for comfort. In fact, it is unsettling to know that these situations ar e not the ejection in such areas, but can be found, all too, usually when the teacher takes a closer look. Is it because, like umteen, my childhood was so very contrasting to what you find, time and again, throughout the diary? I was pleased with the kookie temperament in which Esme handled the situation. She made it clear that Latoya had done a dandy thing and that she appreciated it, followed by a means of accounting for any work that she might have missed.I find it especially significant that she reflected clear reflected on the matter, and how close she had come to scolding the student who in all actuality, deserved praise. I still burned with shame at the thought of what I almost said and at all the occasions I have spoken harshly (Codell, 1999). These are words which should be perceive as an echo in the minds of every teacher followers his or her sharp tongue. As a boy, myself, I will attest based on my personal account that boys are in crisis.Though, I was understanda bly not in a state of mind to fathom it at the time, I (and most other boys alike) struggled with the restraints of public school. Sitting in a desk for an hour or so at a time with, but, basketball team minutes to use up all of my energy in the hallways before my next bound session was rough to say the least(prenominal). It is trying on a boys soul. Comprehending what the teacher is scribing on the board is the least of your worries, so paper folded in some fashion or other becomes a common means of passing time. Other days, its the kid sitting next to you.Meanwhile, you, likely those around you, are missing out on the entire point of being there education. Esme seemed to have mastery understanding of this early on whether she fully knew the science behind it, or not. Though, she make fors just a small note, a few words says it all. In what appeared to be Esme, merely, jotting down a few random observations for her diaries stake she hit on something rather insightful. June 4 th Kyle performs better in math if I let him stand on his head whenever he wants. (Codell, 1999). like a shot what does this mean?The fact of the matter is, when you let boys get their raw bodily energy out they are significantly more receptive to the idea of sitting at a desk and learning, as well as more proficient in doing so (Slocumb, 2004). Girls learning styles and general behavior are more in tune with the establishment of the public school system, when compared to boys. These are gender specific issues that you must be aware of in the classroom. As anyone who has ever been through grade school knows, being different can realize a problem for you among peers, and a grand one at that.Whether that variance be the way you dress, your intelligence, speech patterns, race, ethnicity, customs, physical trait, the way you act or any of the other items which fall into such an infinite classification, that difference is enough to arena you on the wrong end of someones jokes. Whil e, we have learned that regardless of their likeness, there are as many differences within groups of people as can be found amid one some other. Thus, there are no real grounds to iodin anyone out under the premise that they are different.However, this is a opinion far, too, fetched for fifth graders usually. Early on in the year, September 27th, Madame Esme read the story The one degree Celsius Dresses by Eleanor Estes to her class. The plot of the tale is about a little girl who claims to have one hundred dresses, despite wearing the same one to school every day. After being teased, endlessly, the poor girl moves away. and then her peers come to find that she truly does own a beautiful hundred dresses like she had said one hundred drawings of dresses.The story is significant because following its closure, Ashworth, a boy in class stood up and whispered to Madame that he had something to share with the class. Esme speaks aloud to the class to give him their attention, as exp ected then, she adds I hope you will keep in mind The Hundred Dresses when he tells you. Stuttering, Ashworth gets out I I only have nine and a half fingers. Please dont tease me about it. (Codell, 1999). In her journal, Codell is quoted in describing the moment as macabre (Codell, 1999).After the silence which she captures eloquently, students speak out to defend him one after another with claims that theyll kick anyones ass who says something. If youve ever witnessed someone publicly disclosing something truly personal about themselves such as this before, then perhaps you can grasp what a large moment this must have been. As a teacher, you know this is a victory. This is one of those extraordinary moments that pay back to the nth degree, but cant be found via pay stub on Friday. As a teacher, theres not much that you can do here. This is, in a way, above you.You dont create these moments, they happen. You do, however, create a safe, positive, comfortable environment where the students can relax and learn. Madame monitored the situation as best she could in the moment, but the true credit here, she began earning the first day when the students walked in. She earns it daily with her greeting, Trouble Basket, and word exercises as the students enter her classroom. Further, she is service of process to break down the walls between individuals and helping them to come forth with their problems, all via her classroom environment.While we have gathered that we are all so, very, different in our many personal traits and attributes, gender, and even the background that we come from, the same holds true for our learning styles in the classroom. If there is any single thing which Madame Esme might have gotten most right, it must be her diversity in teaching styles. This is so intrinsically related to many principles of teaching associated with differences. Students learn in different ways just as they do all others things other than and to varying degrees from one another.Esme has been deemed crazy over the course of the year for her fearsome methods including the way she dresses, herself, at times. In a list from June ninth, we made light-up examine games put on shadow puppet shows built an accurate fastness had a bubble festival made sushi made video commercials had a book character masquerade party went to an outdoor Beethoven design (Codell, 1999). The previous is even an incomplete list of the interesting lessons she remembers doing. It doesnt hold any of the larger activities which she discussed in depth, over the course of her diary.The point is that the more diverse your teaching techniques, the more effective you are as a teacher. This is evident in the beginning of the same journal entry in which Esme notes that the results from her kids Iowa reading and math scores were the best in the school and intimately every student jumped at least one year in their performance from previous tests (Codell, 1999). What else do you say t o this? Cliche as it may seem, talk is cheap. These results explain it all, as they are a testament to the forcefulness of diversity teaching and learning methods.In evaluating Madame Esme Raji Codell, one must understand that any findings would be incomplete so long as they didnt acknowledge accreditation for her work regarding multicultural competence. In this country, we have had a real problem accommodating cultures other than our own. Oh, how quickly we forget that our nation was started by a diverse group whom had all made the voyage to the new land from their parent countries, alike. Over the last few hundred years, America develop foul star of self pride which demanded others become like us. When in all actuality, it would be impossible to concretely define what we are.Thus, the justly concept of multicultural pluralism and multicultural competence have since been born. Esme, the poster child for such innovative practices, exemplifies everything which the terms stand fo r. Madame wore a sari, a type of scarf, addicted as a gift to her by a student from another country (one of three) without much more thought than to show her gratitude, it seemed (Codell, 1999). The next day, she had four girls waiting on her, all dressed in customary fashion from the inbred land, seemingly inspired by the window of opportunity Codell had inclined them the day prior.In another instance, she allowed her female student to perform a cultural dance, which the student began without asking during class. Such was allowed. It was merely the girl looking to gestate herself and in the process everyone else enjoyed it. When studying the Mexican-American War Madame brought in a native Hispanic man to lecture on Mexicos perspective of the war. This is multicultural competence. I commend her for, in the midst of her diversity teaching and learning styles, she includes these fine principles, which in turn, encourages cultural pluralism and combats assimilation of culturally di verse students.They are more fluently understood for their practices and, consequently, increasingly accepted among fellow students. In studying this diary this epic monologue this compilation of pedagogy I wonder now, What do you conclude from this? What is the one thing that you can take with you from this? Its an answer so vast that it cannot be defined in this, mere, manuscript. What is my conclusion you ask? My conclusion is this what more might I add that Madame Esme Raji Codell has not already taught us? In my eyes, she is the model for twenty-first ascorbic acid teachers in America. She is motivated to educate, not just teach.She is determined to succeed, rather than participate. She strives to make a difference, rather than be a part of the problem. And, may perfection have mercy on the incompetent individual who stands in her way. These dispositions compiled with a hunger for knowledge, an inclination to reflect, a conscience to admit when wrong, and a sense of humor to laugh about it at the end of the day are the ingredients for success in the teaching profession. Such are the characteristics of a fine fifth grade teacher by the name of Madame Esme and such are the very reasons why her name will not be forgotten.