I’ve decided at thirty three to go back to school to become a teacher. My experiences throughout grades K-12 and college were full of turmoil. I attended four elementary schools, three middle schools, six high schools, four colleges and one university. Not until now, my first year at Florida Atlantic University, a teacher has impacted my life. Though it would have been nice throughout my academic upbringing to have just one of the numerous teachers make any difference to me; I find now as an adult and ready for my career having not one but two brilliant teachers, when I really need them, is amazing timing. My teachers, I should say professors, Dr. Schoorman and Dr. Cruz have taught me so much more than the traditional curriculum I was used to. Dr. Schoorman and Dr. Cruz have genuinely brought out the best inside me. Through their dedication and surprising compassion they exceed at their profession in teaching. The hidden curriculum they exemplify is how learning is a two way street between student and professor.
Dr. Cruz is an excellent communicator and has a style of teaching that draws on her and her students’ strengths, knowledge, skills, values and experiences. Her high expectations are not only for herself, she demands excellence of her students as well. Throughout her many years of teaching she has worked within different school systems in and out of the country. Her classroom management skills have helped to develop a positive attitude within her classrooms. Teaching for over fifteen years Dr. Cruz has seen a continual exclusion of many races, women and other ethnic groups’ perspectives. She has explained that this is the reason, for the last five years, she has become a college professor of teachers. She has made sure that the curriculum is equitable towards race, women and other ethnic groups’ perspectives. She has also been able to interpret and adapt the textbook by asking her students intellectually leveled questions, so that they are able to expand on traditional curriculum.
Dr. Schoorman’s expectations of herself and her students can be observed in many ways. Striving for personal and professional excellence with Dr. Schoorman can be observed by student and colleague alike. The expectations she has towards her students include their behavior, their decision making process, their academic gains and their individual expectation. She is able to incorporate objectives, work toward the mastery of those objectives, spend more time on instruction and actively monitor student progress. To say she has a command for her subject-matter content would be understating her knowledge and abilities in teaching. She believes that the more she understands her subject-matter, the more ways she is able to teach her students. With this she is able to assess learners’ skills and background knowledge. She then incorporates many learning styles into her curriculum to make sure all of her students have a full understanding of the materials. Her belief is that high teacher expectations produce high student achievement. The dedication Dr. Schoorman has in terms of critical pedagogy has been remarkable. Teaching her students to think analytically in order to problem solve, come up with solutions and resolve social problems dealing with injustice is a dedication she seem to live by. Incorporating affective classroom management skills into her classroom has been one of her highest achievements. Dr. Schoorman’s secret is to know her students’; in our class she had us write a cultural profile. Her reasons were for her to understand where we came from and how and why we had incorporated different biases throughout our personal experiences but the important part of this assignment was that we learned about ourselves. She uses assignments and classroom assessment techniques that help her get to know the individuals in her classes (e.g., journaling, background learning styles questionnaires, cultural profile assignments). She then used this knowledge to help her incorporate our culture into her curriculum. Having the students share their culture also opens the ability for students to have a voice. By valuing her students and their culture she has been able to excite students to learn.
I can only hope I have accomplished my goal of exemplifying the dedication Dr. Cruz and Dr. Schoorman have for their students. They exemplify what it is to be an excellent caring teacher. To have two professors of teaching, when I am ready to enter the field of teaching, makes all the years of turmoil seem worth it. To say there is a time and place for everything; is actually corresponding to my life now. I am thankful at this time and place to have had these two teachers training me.
--Julie S. Yevzeroff, Florida Atlantic University