Transcending Education

My story’s purpose is to identify my positionality and how it affected my understanding of what is knowledge. This understanding has shaped my journey through my first year teaching as a middle school science teacher. Meeting my students was a very rewarding experience and I selected three focus students to further assist my understanding how to navigate assets and needs of my students. The students I selected were either, an English Language Learner (ELL), a student with an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), or a student with significant life experience. I not only learned about the students inside the classroom, but also their hobbies and daily routines outside the classroom. Taking this information assisted me in better supporting students from different backgrounds. Not only did I learn how to plan lessons around my focus students, I also learned about the challenges that occur within the school system. This led me to research more about the community I was teaching in. Learning about the community revealed implicit and explicit biases that are carried through generations. My story continues as I navigate through the community and understand my role as a social justice educator