To understand teaching and learning in relation to sociopolitical and cultural contexts including school, home, and community I decided to interview a very experienced educator at PS/M.S. 15. Her name is Lena H. and she teaches seven and eight graders at an age range of eleven to thirteen years old. Ms. H has been dancing the dance of education for quite a while now. She has been teaching for fifteen years. Lena loves teaching. The school in which she is currently in has treated her very well and so she has been teaching at PS/M.S. 15 for nine years now. The subjects she teaches are math, social studies, and English. I was curious into what was her favorite subject to lecture in and she said math. Ms. H has two masters and she holds the Common Branch teaching certificate.
There are many things educators love about their profession and there are also things that they dislike or disagree with. Lena’s most positive aspects of teaching are changing lives, and making a difference in today’s society. On the other hand her most negative aspect of teaching is that of parent involvement with teachers. She said that parents do not support teachers, and some do not return teachers calls. Some major problems in schools and education today are the classes being over-crowded, there is no individual creativity, no consequences for behavior, and no suspension for kids. I asked her to provide an example of misconduct on students in which she beliefs that the student should be suspended. Ms. H said that when a student hits a teacher he/she should be suspended. Even when they hit teachers nothing is being done. Lena beliefs that there should not be any zone schools, and that students should be able to attend school anywhere they want. One thing she would like to be improved is the education salary.
Being that Lena has been teaching for more than ten years, she has encountered drastic changes of students over the years. Students in her view are no longer dedicated, motivated,...