December Mentor Meeting

This month's mentor meeting with my mentor our topic was tips for interviews. Dr. Felan as usual is very creative with his answers, the first question I asked him was about a piece of advice that is usually given which is: "always be yourself". He told me that it was good advice to give someone with also a good piece of advice being "be honest and don't get off topic". He gave a few examples about that saying that if somebody takes too long with an answer then it leaves a bad impression of that person. He also told me that when he speaks to his students about interviews he tells them that whether they like it or not an impression of them will be made within the first 30 seconds of an interview. Another thing he told me is that in an interview both parties have to be honest and that an interview is only trying to see how the interviewee reacts to the work environment. When asked about the flip side about what is the worst thing to do at an interview he simply said "to lie and to get off topic of the question". He would know this as he has been on both sides of the table whether being the interviewee or interviewer, because he's been on both sides he knows a lot about what may be the best answer and what may be the worst answer. Another question I asked him was "When you've been the interviewee what has been the toughest question you've been asked" and he sat for about 45 seconds thinking about it and he responded with the experience he had when he first got out of the PhD program and had an interview at a private university in Pennsylvania. I also mentioned to him about cultural differences regarding times for interviews and he stated that here in the United States and other western countries it is expectation to look others in the eye while in other places that may not be the case. He also mentioned the fact that when American companies try to do business abroad it is advantageous to learn the cultural norms so the meeting will be smooth. I agree with him because in my culture while it is expected to look someone in the eye, time on the other hand is more relaxed in terms of actually being there on time.

November Mentor Meeting

In my November Mentor meeting with Dr. Felan I asked him about tips to make a resume. His response was "That because we ask teenagers to have a 1 page resume its kind of difficult to give any tips on how to improve them but obviously as you get older always make sure that you don't put too much on there". He also mentioned to me that he really hasn't used his resume other than when he's worked outside of education stating "By the time you have a PhD people assume that you know what you want to do and the title itself does most of the work on job applications". However he did tell me to make sure that whatever I do to make sure that my resume stays updated. I agree with him on that note because what is the point of saying that you have a basic understanding of a foreign language when that is no longer the case, or giving the wrong contact information means that chances are you will not receive the job as the employer cannot properly contact you. Obviously these things are very situational but doesn't mean that it does occur on a regular basis around the world, wherever it may be.

October Mentor Meeting Reflection

In my October meeting with my mentor Dr. Joe Felan of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) I discussed with him about Teacher Licensure and news on the state board's decision regarding the local school district. In our last meeting, he mentioned to me that at some point in time he was a member of the local school board since the State of Arkansas is returning control to local control after 5 years, I asked him if he would run. He did express interest but said, "I don't think that now is the right time as it is a brand new school board elected from scratch". While talking about the school board I got to ask a few questions about how it works and how the local school board essentially makes final decisions when it comes to expulsions. He did say that telling a student that they cannot go to school is possibly the hardest decision to take while being on the school board. Soon after I touched the topic of teacher licensure and asked him what was the difference between the process in Texas vs the process in Arkansas. He told me that because of both Texas and Arkansas have an agreement regarding teachers crossing state lines that all he needed to do was pass an Arkansas History class. I would imagine that a teacher moving from Arkansas to Texas would have to complete a class about Texas History. Obviously, both states have totally different histories with Texas even being it's own Republic for 10 years. I also want to mention that while I see myself working a long time in this career, being a teacher isn't the only way to impact education, I was very much looking at the possibility of improving the system through writing laws about education. However, I would only pursue politics after a good 20-25 years of being a teacher in order to be able to put forth legislation that actually helps rather than hurt our education system.

Clearing Student Debt

In our upcoming election a "hot button issue" is the student debt crisis, our country currently has $1.6 Trillion in Student Loan debt. In a Washington Post Article regarding student debt, author, Micheal Birmbaum, states "European students stare with astonishment at the burden their American peers take on" and mentioned that free education can be done in Germany because luxuries at Universities are kept to a minimum and buildings are mostly built from the rubble left after WWII. Birmbaum also asked a German University student, Alexandra Decker how she felt about the issue. Decker stated, "Education should be paid for by the whole society". A prominent American politician; Senator Bernie Sanders, supports this idea and stated on the week of June 17th on a Facebook post "In Germany, college tuition is free. In America, it’s increasingly unaffordable". According to Times Higher Education about 81 different countries across Europe, Latin America, Central Asia, and North Africa offer some sort of free higher education. Astonishingly, the US is the major power on the world stage that has an issue that has been managed by nations that have far fewer resources. Although in some cases in Scandinavian countries access to free higher education is restricted to domestic students only. At one point Germany also tested with tuition which were around $567 but was ended in 2014. A Vox video published on YouTube, in August of this year explains how we got to this point and if all student debt were to be cleared; also show who would benefit the most. Clearing this debt is very much possible, countries with fewer resources than America keep their populous educated because as a society everyone benefits from it, the same is possible here. Referring back to Washington Post writer; Micheal Birmbaum he stated: "Germany is often singled out for focus by U.S. policymakers. Its economy drives Europe. Its unemployment rates are low. And it manages to power a tuition-free university system without breaking the bank." So America let's take the initiative to do something about this and not be the only major Western Power to have this much student debt.

First Meeting with My Mentor

On Wednesday, September 18th I went to meet my mentor Dr. Joe Felan at his office. there we talked about several topics about teaching including; the role of politics in education, what can be done to increase the amount of teachers and how to we keep current teachers, difference between high school teaching and higher level teaching, etc. When discussing the role of politics in education, I learned that Dr. Felan, at one point ran to be on the school board, and stated that he believed that as a society politics has to accepted in education and that as a community we must be actively participating. In that meeting I also mentioned the teacher shortage in our state and the incentive that some teachers see in moving elsewhere. In the Little Rock School District a teacher starts off with 36,000, while in other areas of the Little Rock Metro Area a teacher could make 41,000. In Texas, specifically the Garland Independent School District, a teacher starts off with 50,000+, mostly due to the petrol and natural gas industry in Texas. Dr. Felan suggested to lower the teacher shortage in Arkansas to increase starting wages and to quell any concerns of the best teachers to give existing a better working environment. He also described that as a college professor he has a lot of autonomy when it comes to dictating how the material is taught for that day, i.e, if he feels like showing videos all day or giving lectures all day then he has that freedom to do so unlike in some high schools where everything has to be done in a certain way. He talked to me about the fact that likes the fact that as a professor has that freedom to teach as he pleases without having someone looking over his shoulder watching his every move.

Reflection of week 1 of Teacher Cadets

During the first week of class I was able to learn more about the world of education. It was eye opening the fact, that teaching is a lot more than just standing in front of a classroom, a teacher also has to find a way to connect to their students. In education a teacher also has to look out for different learning styles in their classroom and may have to adapt differently depending on the student. I also learned that teaching is not as respected as much as it should be, as a profession and some even look down on it but when one decides to teach it is because they want to make an impact on the next generation, or they were good in school and want to see the other sides of education, whether it's teaching, counseling, or administration. After this experience I am definitely more determined to actually go into teaching as I want to make an impact in the next generation of children that come through the American Education System. I myself was that kid that feel through the cracks as there was a language barrier and luckily I had classmates who helped me and so now I want to give back to the very community and neighborhoods that saw me grow as a person most of my life. Me being able to give back to Southwest Little Rock will make myself be proud of what affect I could have in the area.

Different Learning Styles Video