Jennifer Talarico

Meg Goldner Rabinowitz

Secondary English Content Methods
26 April 2016
Teaching Manifesto
In every classroom at my school, the following mission is displayed on every
wall: The mission of Democracy Prep Charter Schools is to educate responsible citizen
scholars for a life of active citizenship and success in the college of their choice.
Similarly, every student packet is branded with the motto, Work Hard! Go to College!
Change the World! I firmly believe that it is important for our students to be in an
environment that considers and advocates for their long-term success. While my schools
motto is an important goal for teachers and students to align themselves with, I adhere to
principles that are more tangible for my fifth graders. As I near the conclusion of my first
year of teaching, I realize that the relationships I have developed with my students have
been the most empowering force in guiding my current approach to teaching and my
teaching aspirations.
Much of the framework for my teaching is grounded in Gloria Ladson-Billings
culturally relevant pedagogy. When designing a lesson, I consider the three criteria she
defines in But Thats Just Good Teaching! The Case for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy:
academic success, cultural competence, and critical consciousness (160). While students
not only must know what it feels like to achieve success in my class, they must be
equipped with the knowledge and confidence to challenge the world around them.
Because of this, establishing trust with students and maintaining a positive environment

are essential components to my teaching. Before students are motivated to tackle

difficult material and texts, they must at first feel safe with me as their teacher and with
their classmates. They must feel recognized as an individual by their teacher and peers.
Without this, I do not believe that teaching and learning can reach its full potential in a
classroom. Similarly, the classroom must serve as a place where student opinions are
validated and their backgrounds are not only recognized, but also celebrated. These
elements are essential to creating an environment that evokes safety and promotes
meaningful learning. It is crucial that every student believes in his or her ability to learn
and succeed in my class. Because of this, interactions between teachers and students are
positive and problems are addressed with a solutions-oriented approach.
It is essential that academic instruction is student-centered, data-driven, and
focused on feedback. Instruction should be engaging and relevant to students. With this
in mind, the teacher should serve as a guide who designs lessons that allow students to
think critically to determine solutions on their own or collaboratively. In order to ensure
that every student is learning, the teacher must use data to track student progress and
work with students to ensure that they are progressing. Similarly, teachers should invest
students in their own academic success by sharing data with them. Throughout
instruction, the teacher should give consistent feedback so that students are provided with
a clear representation of what success should look like. By providing feedback regularly,
teachers will not only monitor their students achievements, but also push students
academically. This provides students with a greater understanding of academic
achievement and provides them with the knowledge to become their own advocates.

As a reading teacher, I want my students to feel empowered by the novels that we

read and participate in discussion where meaningful connections are made. Lytle and
Botels Critical Lenses inform this framework, as they define learning as meaningcentered, social, language-based, and human (11). Students should use language to
make meaning, where they act as both problem-posers and problem-solvers. Through
this approach, students are able to take part in the lesson planning process, as they guide
the lesson based on their own curiosity and prior understandings. In addition to
interacting with the text in class, I want my students to use texts to develop their
understanding of the world around them. Texts should serve as a tool that enables
students to ask questions and challenge conventional ideas, encouraging them to become
analytical thinkers who are inspired to ask questions.

Works Cited
Ladson-Billings, Gloria. But Thats Just Good Teaching! The Case for Culturally
Relevant Pedagogy. Theory Into Practice, Volume 34, Number 3, 1995.
Lytle, Susan and Botel, Morton. Perspectives on Theory and Practice. The
Pennsylvania Framework for Reading, Writing and Talking Across The Curriculum