Advocacy
Finding Your Teacher Voice
“I had a teacher who would always remind my class of the three R’s. She would say ‘Remember class, we are here to learn the three R’s: reading, writing and arithmetic’…I too had my own three R’s as a student. My three R’s were rats, roaches, and rent.” In a new book, Student-Centered Learning, Nine Classrooms in Action, Suzen Polk-Hoffses shares her personal story of how she grew up in the inner-city housing projects in San Francisco and worried about if roaches from her home would crawl out of her book bag when she opened it at school—or if she and her sibling and single mom would become homeless if her mother couldn’t make the rent that month. The former Maine Teacher of the Year finalist turned author, knows all too well sometimes life gets in the way of learning. Polk-Hoffses joined eight other Maine Teacher of the Year winners, finalists and semi-finalists, (seven are MEA members), to share their personal stories of teaching and learning and how the student-centered model works for them and their students. Bill Nave, a former MEA member and Teacher of the Year in 1990 edited the book, bringing all the stories together. MEA interviewed several of the authors about their collaborative book and how it can help other educators in and out of the classroom. Below are the responses from Cindy Raymond (CR), Mary Graziano-Glynn (MG), Suzen Polk-Hoffses (SH), Shannon Shanning (SS), and Karen MacDonald (KM).
Why did you want to contribute your story in this way? CR: As educators, it is important to share with one another what works. Collaboration, networking, and sharing ideas all contribute to our growth. When we work together, we improve our craft. MG: I always feel empowered and inspired when I read about other educators’ teaching practices/ positive stories. We all feel burned out at some point in our careers and also like nothing we’re doing is working. It helps to read about other teachers’ experiences and not only learn that we’re not alone, but learn about what they did to change things around and to keep students engaged. I Cindy Raymond, Grade 7 hope other teachers, especially those who teach Hall-Dale Middle School, Farmingdale in high poverty areas, can not only use some of the techniques that have worked for me, but feel inspired to do great things in their schools and communities.
Member Authors Include:
Mary Graziano-Glynn - RSU 19 EA Suzen Polk-Hoffses - SAD 37 TA Cynthia Raymond - Kennebec Intra-District Schools EA Shannon Shanning - RSU 16 EA Susan O’Brien - Education Association 22 Karen MacDonald - MEA-Retired Alana Margeson - Eastern Aroostook EA
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Maine Educator • October 2015
SH: At times, I feel that teaching can feel like an isolating experience in the respect that others might not know all the wonderful work that is going on in a teacher’s classroom. Contributing my story allowed me to share, with a wider audience, what is happening in my own classroom. SS: Teacher voice is a powerful tool that can be used to showcase some of the incredible teaching and learning opportunities that occur on a regular basis in classrooms both locally and globally. I wanted to find a way to highlight the work that is being done within my classroom and school, as we have worked hard to be a responsive learning community. Sharing this story allowed me to reflect and improve upon on my own practice. KM: Contributing to this book was a challenge for me. I have not always viewed myself as a writer. However, I have been talking about how important it is for teachers to use their “voice” to share information on the positive things going on in today’s classroom. So I decided to take up the challenge.
