What’s your first and last name?
- Michelle Waters
What do you teach / what is your ‘title’ at school?
- English Teacher
How are you involved in education?
- I am currently in my 9th year of teaching and have taught English from 6th-11th grades in rural and urban schools. I am also a student myself working towards earning my master’s degree in Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum with a concentration in English Education at the University of Oklahoma, and I am working towards becoming a National Board Certified Teacher. I have been a member of the #oklaed Twitter community since 2014. I also own reThink ELA LLC, an educational publishing company that started out as a web design and hosting company in 2001. My goal is to not only help students discover and use their voices, but also guide teachers into a role of amplifying and developing student voices.
What does your ideal school or classroom look like?
- In my ideal classroom, students would know that they are valued and that they have a voice. Each student would have the opportunity to explore their interests through reading, listening and viewing. They would then be encouraged to evaluate and create content to express who they are in relation to the rest of the world, their peers, even themselves. Students would be free to explore without being fettered by high stakes tests and the apathy and resistance that sets in as a result of being told they’re not good enough for years. We would be noisy, but excited to work with each other in exploring the world through print and nonprint texts, and sharing our discoveries through our own creations. In my idea school, the administration and other teachers would all be focused on helping each student grow as an individual with strengths and talents valuable to the world. We would all work together to nurture students as they grow into successful young men and women.
If you were to lead a session at Edcamp, what would it be about?
- I could lead sessions about choosing curriculum and making pedagogical decisions based on knowledge of students, rethinking grading, and rethinking classroom management.
Do you have a website or blog?
Are you on Twitter?
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