OP - On Evolution

                I’m currently enrolled in a 400 level Biology course called Biological Evolution.  This is a course for Biology major seniors, and it is an elective.  The department does not force students to take this course.  This means, everyone enrolled in this class with me has chosen to take a course on evolution. 

                On the first day of class, we were doing some preliminary clicker questions, things like “What year are you in?” and “Why did you choose to take this course?”  One of these questions was “On a scale of 1-5, how comfortable are you in discussing evolution?”  And of our 25 person class, 7-9 people were at a 3 or lower, with two students in the “not comfortable whatsoever” category.  Our professor immediately changed his direction, and began speaking about how he grew up Christian, and eventually settled on his own derived Christian/evolutionist perspective, and stressed the importance of arriving at one’s own conclusions on the spectrum.  Yet what floored me was this man’s tone of voice.  It softened and slowed down in a manner that reminded me of someone trying to soothe a small child or calm a frightened pet.  He did not want to offend these students (who had voluntarily signed up for a class on evolution), by speaking about evolution as if it were true.  And I couldn’t help thinking, “Why do we still have to do this?”

                As someone who in the future will be educating students on evolution I find the expected controversy that surrounds the subject to be exasperating.  Every unit I’ve ever covered on evolution has been prefaced by “I’m required to teach this, and I won’t give my opinions on it, but this must be done so let’s just do it quickly ok?”

                People differ in opinion, that’s the way the world works.  There are different religions, different countries, different political parties, and individual differences and preferences in food or entertainment.  Yet education goes on.  Children of Democrats are educated about Republicans, and students in English classes are told to read stories that somebody once deemed “classic”.  Yet The Great Gatsby isn’t introduced with the hurried assurance that you don’t have to consider the book a classic to read it.

                So, why then does evolution remain a subject that instills the fear of disagreement and offense?  I’m not saying that the students must believe it; I’m saying they must learn it.  If they want to look at it as an intriguing story instead of fact, that’s fine.  Reading contradictory material doesn’t force someone to change their belief.  If anything, it would likely make it stronger by looking into material to refute the material I have shown them to teach about evolution.

                I know that one of the most controversial points embedded within evolution is that of human evolution, including the inaccurate oversimplification of “man from monkey”.  Never have I been taught such a thing while learning evolution, because that isn’t actually a component of human evolutionary concept.  The way to counteract this ignorance is to teach the current theory about it, which will never occur while science teachers are expected to tiptoe around religious beliefs. 

                In short, people can get offended by many things, but walking into a situation and insisting that you have a right to be closed minded because you disagree is simply not how the world works on other platforms (presidential debate anyone?).  This same concept should apply to the classroom, where the students should see the word “evolution” on a syllabus or course description and know it is coming so as to prepare themselves to listen to the new information, even if they do not take it to heart. 

ELS – Español por un lenguaje segunda -- Literacy Autobiography 5

I took a class at UNCG called Hispanic Literature.  It was a requirement for my major, and I was incredibly excited about it.  At the 300 level, the whole class was in Spanish.  The professor stood up and spoke the first day about how what she expected could be a little challenging, but we would surely all be up to the task, and went on to say that she expected us to participate in class discussion at least once a week.  It all made sense.  I went home to do my homework, and turned to the poem we would be studying.  It was from the 9^th century.

                This poem, less than a page long, took me 2-3 hours to comprehend.  I went over it painstakingly, looking up every word I was unsure about on Google Translate.  I was prepared when I stepped into class and wedged myself behind the door to take my seat in the last row.  I could feel my cheeks flush as I waited for class to begin, my excitement a poor combination with my sweater in the intimately too-warm classroom.  The professor strode in and began class, asking if we had all done the reading.  I fervently nodded my head, practically bouncing in my seat.  She began by asking if anyone had any questions about the poem.  I didn’t but other people did.  When the first student asked his question, it took more than a minute to explain what he meant.  The professor nodded along with him, and when he finished, she told him his question was one posed by the author, and made perfect sense.

                … I froze, going over my memory of my classmate speaking.  I had no clue as to what he said, like most native speakers, he tumbled his words into each other (which is what people are supposed to do), and I couldn’t extract the separate words enough to comprehend him.  When the professor opened the floor to answer the student’s question, my heart sank.  I couldn’t understand any of the native speakers.  They were too fast, too fluent, and had a vocabulary 8 times the size of mine.  When another English speaker did finally pipe up, it was apparent (to the professor, not to me), that the girl had used Google Translate.  The professor looked disappointed, and spent the next few minutes lecturing us on the laziness of the site and recommended a different one to us, a Spanish dictionary.

                Over the next few months I tried when I could, but I couldn’t understand the new site because the definitions on the dictionary site were also in Spanish, and I couldn’t understand them.  In addition, the readings became longer and longer, until I could no longer complete even half of my readings with so many words I had to look up to comprehend the text.  It became painfully apparent that while I may have learned the Spanish words for “walk” and “run” authors tended to use the equivalent of “saunter”, “mosey”, and “meander”.

  I struggled to such a degree that I dropped my Spanish major rather than face a second literature course.  I quickly became discouraged about my ability to read and speak Spanish, and that confidence still hasn’t recovered.  I was terrified to make presentations, and would spend days on essays that were mere pages long.  It got to the point where I went over the study guide for tests in the class, and actually pre-wrote and memorized my written answers to test questions in an effort to raise my grade where I could.  This series of incidents crippled my use of the Spanish language, even if it didn’t affect my English literacy.

                This issue gave me incredible insight to an ESL student, even if the E stood for a different language.  It showed me the importance of peers participating in assisting a fellow classmate, and the importance of continuity in simplistic language whenever possible to assist in comprehension and weed out extra time taken to look up words unrelated to content.  This will shape my future teaching methods in that I will likely provide any struggling students with essay prompts ahead of time (though they may get an extra one in the spirit of fairness) so that they may prepare what they need to prove in advance by looking up words and checking grammar.  I also want to make a “highlights reel” for students who struggle with literacy.  Students on grade level may be able to read chapter 14, pages 210-240 for homework, and be expected to take notes on it.  But a struggling student doesn’t need the witty anecdote at the beginning, and there may be a section or two within the chapter that I know we will not be discussing in great detail, or it won’t be on the test.  Thus I could inform students to pay special attention to pages 215-217, 220-222, and 231-236.  This cuts the number of expected pages from 30 down to 12, a much more reasonable number for someone who struggles with literacy. 

Editors -- Literacy Autobiography 4

                In my sophomore year while in high school, I began to write.  I was working on a story, my story, and had started at the end of the book.  I filled a notebook with my work over the course of a few months, and began working on, and completed, an entirely different story over the course of a year or so.  But I kept the notebook with the original story with me all the time.  I made the mistake of placing it on my desk once.  The girl who sat in front of me snatched it up as she went by and opened it. 

                I froze.  I wanted it back, but didn’t want to let the girl know how much it meant to me.  I knew it wasn’t my best work.  I’d written it at 15 for heaven’s sake, and at 17… the work seemed pitiful. 

                The girl returned my notebook the next day.  It was full of red pen.

                “I love the story, but your writing needs work,” she said.  “Did you know you use the word ‘just’ in almost every sentence?  I might’ve gotten a bit carried away, but it was hurting my head after a while and your story deserves better than that.”

               

                This moment gave me the courage to continue writing.  It could have gone in the opposite direction.  If I had been judged by my writing at that moment, I would’ve quit.  Instead of being discouraged, I was told that while my words could use work, that the core of my story was sound.  This will likely affect how I teach literacy in that I do not want to crush anyone’s confidence in their writing, despite their skill level.  I want to assist young writers in becoming better without covering a page in red pen.  I want students to know that I will judge their content first, and then assist in the development of their writing.  I also want students to know that their work, is their own, and beyond content, they have the final say in their papers.  

Family Endeavors -- Literacy Autobiography 3

A more recent photo of my mom, myself,
and my brother Thane.

When I was 8, my mom bought the “Little House on the Prairie” Series for us to read together.  Almost every night we would turn on the softer lamp, sit on my bed together, and we would read.  We read the pages on our respective sides of the book, I on the right and she on the left.  My mom would explain what all of the strange things were (like a butterchurn, or why meat was salted) when I asked.  She made me feel as if it was not only ok, but expected that I didn’t know those things.  She would actually call me out if I skipped over something that she suspected I didn’t know.  She would ask me to define the term, and if I did so incorrectly, she would praise my effort but correct me. 

At some point, my brother began to join us.  At first he would just sit there and listen, for years he sat and listened, until he was ready to chime in.  His reading speed was so SLOW, and he never seemed to know what anything was, but it was cool to be able to do something with the three of us. 

               

                This moment has affected my future teaching philosophy because it shows different approaches to learning a single subject based on what an individual needs, on an individual level.  It creates the same results, listening or reading.  I want to instill a level of flexibility within assignments.  I’d rather focus on the core of the assignment, the content, instead of being a stickler to the rubric and its minute details.  

Pass It On -- Literacy Autobiography 2

                Two years ago, I was sitting in church, before service started, listening to the organ music and doing my best not to make eye contact with the many little old ladies whose names I do not know, that would inevitably ask me how college was going and inquire as to why I wasn’t married yet.  Through the babble of the other members of the congregation, I heard a pair of sisters discussing how difficult it was to find the fifth Harry Potter book.  I whipped around, and found the girls two pews behind my family.  I moved to get up, but the music changed and I sat back down to attend service.

Afterwards, I hunted the girls down by the donuts, and told them I had heard them mention the book.  The older girl, Hannah, nodded solemnly.  She explained that the public library had a single copy, and that her younger sister was fifth on the list.  The likelihood of both sisters being able to finish the book in two weeks was nonexistent, and it was there that the dilemma lies.

 Now, my mom’s hobby is rescuing and collecting children’s classics from yard sales for a quarter apiece, and as a result, we’ve created a small library downstairs over the years.  She had 3 copies of the book in question, in addition to her personal set.  I checked with her, and picked a new looking paperback from the shelf.

The next week I brought the book in to church with me, carrying it under my coat.  I waited until after the service, so the girls weren’t distracted during service.  I found Hannah and her sister after service (before they reached the donuts and had sticky fingers) and asked them if they knew how to treat a book.

The younger sister rattled off the rules she had learned in the library at school, you shouldn’t eat food with the book, get it wet, or fold the pages etc.  I then pulled the book out from under my folded coat, and presented it to the pair of them.  Hannah asked when I needed the book back.  I smiled, and shook my head. 

“This is your book, for you two, your parents, and your sister when she gets old enough to read it.  You can have it forever, or until you get tired of it and want to pass it along to another child who wants to read it.”

Hannah’s sister took the book and rushed off to tell her parents the news.  Hannah stayed behind for an additional moment, tilted her head to the side and said “Thank you, we’ll take good care of it”.

               

                This moment changed my outlook on literacy, and instilled the drive to encourage other’s reading abilities at young ages.  I appreciated my own literacy, and began to read again after 3-4 years of looking at reading as something for children and English class.  I re-discovered the joy to be found in books that I picked out, and the love of older classics. 

                This will change the way in which I teach literacy in a small but important way.  Particularly in high school, students tend to wander the halls when they’re free to, and seek out teachers for various reasons.  It doesn’t matter if the teacher is planning, eating lunch, or grading papers, students have the tendency to wander in.  I want to keep a visible book on my desk that I’m reading for the thrill of it, something that has nothing to do with work or teaching.  I want to lead by example and re-kindle the love of reading that children have, the voluntary choices that encourage daily literacy beyond the content area.  

Life Savings --Literacy Autobiography 1

The sun streamed in through the bay window as I sat on the floor of the living room with my mom and sorted coins.  They never seemed to slide into the brown paper rolls from the bank that they allegedly fit into.  When I finished a roll, I tried to tape it closed, and usually ended up dumping half of the roll back onto the carpet when I accidentally squeezed the tube to fold it closed.  I was excited and nervous, with a touch of what I now recognize of apprehension.  I was going to buy the fifth Harry Potter book.  I’d never bought anything before, and was literally counting out my life’s savings of coins in front of me on the carpet.  What if I didn’t have enough?  What if I was going to have to wait a month for the library to buy the book and then I was too far down the waiting list? 

                I asked my mom to take me to Target as the store opened.  I carried a purse for this very special occasion.  It was heavy with the rolls and jingled as I walked along, torn between walking a half a step behind my mother and wanting to dash ahead in case Target sold out of books.  I picked my copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix from the display and clutched it to my chest.  I smelled it, and rather than smelling “old book smell” as I expected, I experienced the beauty of “new book smell” for the first time.  I remember the cashier looking confused as when she called out the price of the book to mom, my mom shook her head and looked to me.  I pulled out my two paper dollars, and then began pulling out my rolls of coins, adding the money up out loud until I ran out of rolls and began making stacks of coins on the conveyor belt.  I did, in fact, have enough.

                I still own that copy of the book.

                See, I’d always loved to read.  I was looking at pictures and making up stories before I could read, going through stacks of cardboard books in one sitting.  The above moment gave me a direction in my reading, and let me choose to acquire a book that I knew I’d cherish forever, and not enjoy for a single read-through.  It was a moment in which I chose to become a reader, because that was what I wanted to do.  I didn’t buy toys with that money; I bought a book, and would later defend that decision to my friends. 

                This moment contributes to how I plan on teaching literacy in terms of simple respect.  Some students will love to read, and be highly literate, some may dislike reading but love science, while some students will always see reading as a chore.  As an educator I have to respect these differences, especially when they do not align with my wishes.  The trick is to find alternatives to traditional reading/writing assignments, things that resonate with students as fun instead of work.  

About me

Hey all, my name is Tori S.

I'm a biology major, spanish minor, at the undergraduate level.  When all is said and done and I graduate, I hope to be certified to teach both science and spanish at the high school level.  For program's sake, I'm slated to teach science, particularly biology.

Personally, I like nerdy fandom things, reading, and sports.  I'm the captain of UNCG's quidditch team, and my ultimate goal as a future teacher would be to start a team at whatever high school I work at.  I love the beach, and the heat of the summer.  I do not fare well in the winter, and would prefer to wrap myself up like a burrito and watch Netflix until all of the white stuff on the ground is gone.  I've been to Australia, and learned about the quokka, which rivals the hedgehog in its adorable asthetic.  However, I still firmly believe that Lenore, my own prickleball, is the cutest angry thing to exist.