There are a few things I would like students, parents and colleagues to know about me that aren't evident from my training or teaching experience. First, that while I am a French teacher (and a very well-qualified one), my primary concerns as an educator are equity and whole child education. I read about work in my discipline every day, but the topics in education that I am most riled up about have to do with public education on the whole: fair funding, equitable access to the arts and languages, the perils of tying school funding and 'ratings' to ever-changing, unreliable, unproven tests...In the classroom, I am primarily concerned with teaching my students how to be successful academically (and professionally). French proficiency may be the goal of the course, but my goal as a teacher is to send students out of my class with a bit more of a chance to succeed in college or be a valued employee.
Second, in jobs that I have had outside of education, I have been a manager. I have hired and fired and evaluated employees . I bring that managerial outlook to my position as a high school teacher. I know what soft skills and habits will help young people find and retain a job - responsibility, intrinsic motivation, punctuality, ability to interact with others (especially when those others are different than them), willingness to follow directions and follow workplace rules and regulations. I think that by teaching and expecting these same habits in the classroom, I will be preparing my students to hold down a job, and perhaps advance in a career.
Third, I am the parent of a child in public education. While he does not attend school in the district where I teach, many of the things happening in public education in our state affect him as well as my students. I have a responsibility to both my child and my students to be an advocate for them when I feel that state policies are not working in their best interests. I am engaged and informed, and will advocate to the best that I can for students, as a parent, teacher and taxpayer.
I am looking forward to new faces tomorrow!
-Madame Michael