Ramiro Carbajal
Professional Portfolio
As students walk into my classroom for the first time every year, I see that once again I have the opportunity to help shape the educational careers of these students. I feel that I have the responsibility to help these 16 and 17 year old students get ready for life after high school. Hopefully, I can help them get ready for college or whatever direction they will ultimately take.
Today, I am a very proud U.S. History teacher. If someone had told me in tenth grade that I would love history, I honestly would not believe it. That is because I despised my tenth grade world history class. My teacher was one of those teachers who was retired mentally but not retired physically. He did not try to make the class engaging, interesting or fun at all. It was all about shoving the notes on us and having us study them. This class did not stress student involvement at all. We would just have to read out aloud to each other and no one really paid any attention. It was a horrible class. I often think of what we did in that class and make sure I never do that in mine. Luckily, for me, I had a great eleventh U.S. History teacher and he changed my view of history. Add to that several great professors in college and my love of history began!
One of the first questions I ask new students every year is whether they like history or not. I tell them not to be shy and that they should feel free to raise their hand if they do not like history. A few will raise their hands and I will proceed to kick them out of my class! How dare they not like history? I do not actually kick them out but it is a good introduction to how I feel of history and that I will try to make them laugh in my class. I explain to them that I love history and that it is my mission this year for them to like it as well. I explain that I will try almost anything to try to get them to laugh and enjoy my class. I act like a clown throughout the year to make them feel that even though we are working hard in learning history, we can have a good time in the process. At the end of the year, I have them take an anonymous evaluation of my class and one of the questions is whether they now enjoy history after taking my class. Every year I feel validated that my ways of doing things are working because the vast majority of students answer yes to that question even though I have made them do a lot of rigorous thinking throughout the year.
My Philosophy
The Art of Enjoyable Rigor
From day one, my students begin to understand how my classroom will be run. I explain to them some of the governments that have come and gone through history and ask them to decide what type of government we will have in our class. Of course, they always choose democracy and I always quickly correct them that it will be a Tyranny. I tell that I am the tyrant of the class and we will do things as I say. At first, they are put off by this but then I explain to them that as long as they do what they are supposed to do, this will not be a problem. Some might think that this is not the way to get students to respond to you but it completely works for me. I tell students that we will be doing a lot of work in my class but I will do whatever I can to make sure that it is completely enjoyable for them. Even though I am a tyrant, I am also the court jester. I make it a goal to be as funny as I can to make it fun for them and I am also very good at figuring out interesting ways to connect our material to them. I feel that it is very important that students feel that they belong to an environment where they will be pushed to take their thinking to another level that will result in a deeper level of learning but that it will be fun as we go as well. That they will be required to actively participate in their education and that will result in the class being a lot easier for them and a lot more enjoyable as well.
It takes me a good long month to break them in. Many have the mentality that all they have to do is show the teacher that they do not want to learn and they will be left alone. That might work with other teachers but they quickly learn that that is not how i do things in my class. Once this positive environment is established, it is so much easier to begin adding more rigor to the class. I can trust students to prepare for a classroom activity the night before because they realized that their participation in the activity is a requirement and that I will not move on to another student if they do not know something. I will help them find the answer while the class waits. As a result of trying to avoid that situation of not knowing, they are much more willing to prepare for the activity the night before or even the period before.
Literacy is also a big part of my class. I help students learn strategies on how to tackle a work that is difficult to understand. A big part of my class is analyzing documents that lead to a discussion with a partner and later whole class discussions. I monitor them to make sure they are contributing to their partner and call on random students to share what they discussed with the whole class. Students have often told me that since I call on them so randomly, they feel they better be paying attention and be ready to say something.
My hope is that if I constantly push my students and help them achieve levels of understanding they did not think they could get to, they will be successful not only in school but in life as well. I was lucky enough that my parents were always there to push me in the right direction even though I did not know any better. In my career, I have come to realize that many of my students do not have that at home and sometimes their parents are the obstacles they have to overcome to be successful. These students are very close to the age that society views them as adults and that is how I treat them in my class. I want them to stop acting like kids and begin acting like adults. I do not accept excuses from them and I tell them that I do not want hear them whine when they do not do something they were supposed to do. At first, they see me as one of those mean teachers that does not care about them or their futures. But after a year of encouragement, working after school with them and showing them that they can be successful, they begin to see my real intentions. I hope that I can play a positive role in the development of these kids and to their future success.
