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29Fann
Keep Moving Forward
University Honors Senior Project
Andrew Fann
When I first came to college, I was registered as a Political
Science major with a minor in criminal justice. I aspired to be a
lawyer and envisioned that belief for most of my life, even before
college. After moving in and getting acquainted with my roommates,
classes, and the college life as a whole, I began to get the sense
that I no longer wanted to be a lawyer. However, I had an innate
sense to help people. I have always been strong willed towards
helping people, not for my benefit, but to truly bring joy and
peace to others lives when they may have no one else to care for or
provide for them. Most of the students that lived in my dorm
(Witherspoon Hall) freshman year consisted of students belonging to
the University Honors Program, Teaching Fellows Program, or were
Levine Scholars. I was fortunate enough to be placed in Witherspoon
Hall because I was accepted into the University Honors program. I
noticed from the very beginning, that I had found my home at
UNC-Charlotte.Living with two Teaching Fellows and making other
friends my freshman year, I began to hear about other majors and
extracurricular activities available at UNCC. I cant say that I
knew at that time in my life that I wanted to shift majors and
become a teacher, but I could tell that something inside of me had
begun to grow that would later help my desire to pursue a career in
teaching. That experience was certainly not the first time I had
been exposed to the teaching profession, in fact, my mother has
been an elementary school teacher for most of my life. Throughout
the semester, I continued to contemplate whether or not staying a
political science major would be the best fit for me. I also was
uncertain about whether or not I should transfer from Charlotte
after my freshman year to UNC-Chapel Hill. Growing up I had always
dreamed of attending UNC-Chapel Hill and have been an adamant fan
of the Tar Heels since I can remember. Though I was devastated that
I did not get in to Chapel Hill, coming to UNC-Charlotte has truly
been a blessing in disguise. When I began second-guessing whether
or not I wanted to continue pursing a career in law, my parents
were very helpful and influential throughout the entire process, as
well as conversations with my friends, and much prayer. It was at
that point early in the spring of 2012 that I made the decision to
change my major and become a history teacher. I have always had a
passion for history; it was my favorite subject in all throughout
grade school. I am fascinated with history and learning the
progression and transformation of the world and why things are the
way they are today. Needless to say, changing my major and pursing
a history degree with teaching licensure in 9-12 Social Studies,
was one of the best decisions of my life. Until now I have yet to
look back and reflect on how I have grown to this point in my
academic career and my aspirations to make a change as a teacher
moving forward.Since becoming a secondary education minor, I feel
as if I am already a teacher, or at least a teacher in training.
Everything that I do now revolves around training to become a
teacher and developing the necessary skills for the job. I have
gained so much experience already through my clinical observations
and teaching, which has spanned across three counties and five
schools. Along with my clinical experiences, I have taken eight
classes (33 credit hours overall) concentrated on secondary
education and teaching adolescents. I have had the opportunity to
craft and build my teaching skills and philosophy for over three
years now and can say with certainty that I have come a long way.
Coupled with my education classes, comes my experience in my
history courses. The history classes I have enrolled in have been
focal point for attention, while at UNC-Charlotte because of the
knowledge I am gaining on the proper way to teach history to
students and what key events to focus on in the classroom. My
involvement and experience with history has been just as
influential as my education courses. While one works to teach you
how to teach, the other gives you the content needed to
successfully teach a wide variety of courses. Of course, my courses
may have overlapped here and there, but I have gained distinct
insight from them all that has shaped me not only as a person with
a passion for history, but also as someone with a future in
education. This entire process and pursuit of becoming a teacher
has led to the development of my teaching philosophy. A teaching
philosophy is defined as a self-reflective statement of your
beliefs about teaching and learning. In addition to general
comments, how you put your beliefs into practice by including
concrete examples of what you do or anticipate doing in the
classroom (University of Minnesota). My overall philosophy as a
teacher is to inspire and mold the minds of the students I teach,
but more importantly, help them become better citizens and find
their own passions in life, just like I have during my four years
here at UNC-Charlotte. I believe that this can be measured beyond a
grade a student makes or how well they perform on a test. To me, if
I can make a difference in a students life and help guide them
through high school and help them to find their own passion(s) in
life I will be successful. Seeing my students succeed inside the
classroom will be great to see, but at the end of the day I want my
students to go on to accomplish greater things than just learning
history in my class. I strive to have students that want to do more
for the people around them and to do everything they can to follow
their dreams and pursue their passions. I want to be a teacher that
students can come to when they need anything, and a teacher that at
the end of the day, is more concerned about the student as a
person, rather than the student as a learner. Many personal factors
go into this philosophy such as upbringing, religious beliefs,
college experiences, influential people, and leisure activities to
name a few. I believe that a teaching philosophy is what you make
of it and defining your own can help provide you with the goals and
objectives to work toward to becoming a successful teacher. I hope
to have a positive influence on my students and create a fun and
creative learning environment that engages all students and helps
them to develop the necessary historical skills, as well as
important life skills that can be translated into the real-world.
Another big contribution to my teaching philosophy, has been my
experience with the club basketball team here at UNC-Charlotte. It
has been my dream to be a basketball coach for as long as I can
remember. I love playing basketball, but now that my opportunity to
take that skill to the next level has come to pass, I will be
looking to coaching moving forward. I look forward to the
transition from player to coach, as well as mentoring young men to
be better basketball players, but more importantly better men.
Throughout college I have been preparing to be a teacher, but what
I didnt notice was my love for coaching and teaching basketball and
at times it was right in front of me the whole.My focus for this
project will be to outline and emphasize what key events; through
the use of artifacts, have shaped my current teaching philosophy
and the skills I have gained along the way that have helped me to
become a better teacher and person overall. Artifacts, in the
context of this reflective essay, will serve as tangible
representations of my experiences and involvement at UNC-Charlotte,
which molded me into the person I am today, and the teacher I
aspire to become, once I graduate.MDSK 2100 was my first education
class at UNC-Charlotte. Going into this class I had just recently
changed my major to History from Political Science, and decided to
purse certification in education as well. To be honest, I was
somewhat hesitant and unsure of what my future may hold going into
this class. In this season of transition, I was not completely
confident if a career in teaching was going to work out or not. I
have always been hesitant of change, especially when it came to
choosing a major because I believe in planning ahead and sticking
to your decisions. Luckily, MDSK 2100 was an introduction course to
education, designed to help you determine whether or not teaching
was right for you. I come from a household where my dad graduated
with teaching certification in biology, and a mother who is
currently a fourth grade English teacher back home. Though my
father would ultimately choose not to use his degree for teaching,
he stayed involved with science, working for a company that
specializes in medicine and first aid. Because of my parents
experience with teaching they were supportive and understanding of
this challenging decision.Looking back, the main reason I didnt
feel comfortable pursing a degree in law anymore came down to the
commitments you must make in that career. Yes, the pay for lawyers
is very good and it has many benefits, but that doesnt come without
consequences. As a lawyer you are asked to devote an unprecedented
amount of time towards your work. However, the biggest aspect of
the job that made me begin to question if I was making the right
decision, was that it could bring my own morals into question, and
I just didnt feel comfortable knowing that was waiting for me in
the future. Personally, my morals and ethics are important in my
career, and at the end of the day, after much prayer, deliberation
and council. I decided to give History and Education a shot. After
completing MDSK 2100 my decision to change my major from law to
history was confirmed and I felt confident moving forward and
pursing what I loved. I have always had a passion and appreciation
for history, and the influence my freshman roommates had on me
regarding teaching pushed me in the direction of pursing teaching
licensure. History was by far my favorite subject throughout my
schooling, and I have always been a sucker for a good historical
site, or landmark trip with my family. I love all aspects of
history and it amazes me how much history impacts our lives and
helps explains not only the problems we have in the world today,
but possible solutions, or examples of what not to do to help fix
those problems. I remember being intrigued while growing up about
the presidents. In high school, my favorite subjects were U.S.
government and Civics & Economics. The reason those subjects,
as well as the other history classes that I took, meant so much was
because of the amazing teachers I was fortunate to have. They truly
brought history to life, and began to fuel my passion for history
at a young age. Becoming a history major went hand in hand with
becoming an education minor; because I knew when I switched I
couldnt do one without the other. When you begin to pursue a career
in education, you are typically required to choose a subject area
in which you will apply for certification. For me I wanted to
pursue certification in history. At the end of the day, becoming a
teacher for a college student goes beyond just having a major and a
minor, you eventually find yourself in a vocational training
program that is supplemental to your actual college courses. My
roommates freshman year had a major influence on my decision to
change majors, as well as the conversations I had with my parents
throughout much of my upbringing regarding teaching, I just didnt
know it until later. I was interested to hear about what my
roommates were learning about in their classes, and found much of
their work fascinating. I began to notice that teaching would be a
better career for me, I would still be working to help others, and
in particular adolescents. Looking back, it would have been
beneficial in some ways for me to be a history major, political
science minor from the start. I could have applied for education
scholarships in high school and possible have been a Teaching
Fellow, but that is not how everything worked out. Even though I
may have been in a better financial state, if I had received a
scholarship for teaching before I came to UNC-Charlotte I am
grateful for the experiences that I had and the journey it took for
me to change my major during my first year at UNC-Charlotte. The
transition from Political Science to History worked out quite
nicely, once I changed, because I was able to keep political
science as a minor, since I still and an interest in those classes.
In fact, once I become a teacher, those classes will pay off just
as much as my other ones. I will have an advantage over other
educators in teaching Civics and Economics thanks to these extra
courses.MDSK 2100, taught by Mrs. Tara Ellis taught the course, and
was very influential early on in the development of my teaching
philosophy. Though the course was introductory, we were required to
do many teaching activities in and out of the classroom. I received
the opportunity to go home to my former high school and not only
observe some of my favorite teachers, but also reminisce on
previous class. During my observations, I began to notice some of
the positive attributes about the teachers I previously had. In
high school, my favorite educators were my history teachers, Mr.
Perry and Mr. Ingram. They did an amazing job of bringing history
to life and relating the content to students all in a simple and
effective manner. When I think back to a time that Mr. Perry
brought history to life for me was in AP U.S. History my junior
year of high school. We were discussing loyalists or colonists that
were still loyal to England during the American Revolution, and
patriots, who were colonists who argued for independence from
England during the Revolution. Mr. Perry cam dressed in a typical
outfit of that time, wearing a wig with a hat, waistcoat, and
tights. We were suppose to present position papers as a loyalist or
patriot during a class debate or Colonial Town Hall Debate that day
in class. Mr. Perry spoke in an English outfit and made the
experience that day in class one that I will never forget and can
remember as clear as day now. Everything assigned in those two
classes had a purpose, and they were never afraid to try something
new and innovative. In Mr. Ingrams class I remember having to do a
project on the development of the Blue Ridge Parkway for AP
Government and Politics. We were discussing the U.S. Department of
the Interior in class and Mr. Ingram made us read a book that
detailed the development and creation of the Blue Ridge Parkway,
and specifically how political the entire process was and the
parties involved. At the time I thought the assignment was
pointless and it seemed rather tedious, but come to find out after
we finished the book Mr. Ingram had prepared a field trip to go and
explore the Blue Ridge Parkway. We had spent all that time in class
talking, reading, and discussing about the Blue Ridge Parkway and
the entire political process that it took to make it a reality, and
in the end, we got to actually experience and see first hand
everything that we had learned about. For me this was just one
example of how history came to life and Mr. Ingram knew that it was
important to see where something with historical value like the
parkway came from before we actually got to experience it.Sitting
there in their classrooms again as a college student and someone
that now wanted to be on the other side of school in teaching, I
felt that I could see myself teaching just like them someday. Mr.
Perry and Mr. Ingram never wasted time in class and made sure to
keep students productive throughout the ninety-minute period. I
also noticed that my former teachers were very organized and had
great classroom behavior management. I foresaw behavior management
as my biggest potential struggle once I become a teacher. Behavior
management, in short, is correcting socially unacceptable behavior
to produce more productive and suitable behavior. For a teacher,
this is how you handle your classroom and provide discipline for
students. Beginning teachers tend to struggle with
classroom/behavior management more than any other aspect of the
profession during the first few years. I am usually someone that is
willing to help and refrains from confrontation or intense
situations, so I can see management within the classroom being
difficult at first. If I aim to eliminate that weakness, I must be
organized, stay consistent, and always try to turn a negative into
a positive, no matter a students behavior. The focus should be more
on explaining why the behavior is unacceptable and ways to correct
it in the future, rather than just suspending a student for acting
up in class, there needs to be more depth and discussion. From the
experiences I have had this far, I can honestly say that at times
it is going to be very difficult to turn a negative into a
positive, or to stay consistent. A teacher should always be able to
adapt to their environment and flexible, because during a school
day there is no telling what could happen, whether it be a fight,
the school goes on lockdown, or you have students off task the
entire day. I can think of one circumstance that I have recently
had that used to be something I just talked about in my course with
Dr. Ellis, and that was disruptive behavior. When I think back to
this I remember an argument that happened right in the middle of
class between two students over a small detail in their assignment.
Their arguing got so disruptive I had to ask them to go out in the
hall so that I could talk to them. Even though I had to make a
referral for them to meet with an administrator, I explained to
them why it was important that they pay attention in class and
handle any disagreements outside of class or in a calmly manner.
Talking with students and making a positive out of a negative can
work for some, but others there just may not be anything you could
say or do to help them realize what they are doing or did was wrong
or unacceptable and that can just be depressing to think about. Our
major assignment for the semester dealt with taking our
observations from our clinical school and generating a clinical
report that discussed the diversity, gifted education, and teaching
styles we experienced during our stay at our schools. This report
encompassed everything we learned during that semester and helped
figure out whether or not teaching was the right professional
decision, because teaching is not for everyone. The following in an
excerpt from my report and helps to show my state of thinking at
that time regarding my recent change to education: What I took away
from these observations overall, was that I definitely want to keep
my major and continue my degree and career in teaching. It felt so
strange to be going back to high school and brought back memories
of the times I had there. I really enjoyed seeing some people that
I havent had the chance to see recently and catch up with them. It
also made me think of the future and helped me to begin shaping my
teaching philosophy and ideas on how to handle things. I think this
experience was very influential and allowed me to get a small
glimpse at the day that I get to be standing in front of the class
teaching the students. MDSK 2100 Final Clinical Report
(summary)This class relates to my theme because of the foundations
it helped to establish pertaining to my teaching philosophy and
pursuit of teaching certification. This was my first education
class and helped me get my toes wet, as well as preparing my mind
to the idea of possibly becoming a teacher. After it was all said
and done, I was ready to jump all in. I found very quickly that I
was in the right place. My professor, Mrs. Ellis was very helpful
throughout the semester and the activities we were introduced to
get us very excited about the possibility of teaching. I could tell
early on in the course that I had made the right decision to change
majors, and looking back, it truly changed my life for the better.
This class will be represented by my final clinical report, because
it encompassed the time and experiences I spent at my former high
school, and the educational material I was introduced to in the
course and my first realizations that I chose the right career
path.One requirement for all history majors is to complete a 2600
level course, which is writing intensive, and focuses on developing
historical skills. This was my first challenging course as a
History major, but one of the most beneficial courses to my
undergraduate career as well. The course was designed to be writing
intensive, because of the required research paper. Coming into the
class I was worried about how I could ever write a research paper
that was to be 15-20 pages. I had completed AP US History in high
school was accustomed to writing ten page papers at the maximum.
Though I had written a research paper my senior year of high school
for my senior project, I only had a basic understanding of how to
fully research and write a historical paper. I have always been
fascinated with World War II; especially the Holocaust, so when a
course focused on that subject was formed, I jumped on the
opportunity. I thought to myself, if I am going to be writing my
first historical research paper in college, it might as well be on
something I find interesting. This course was the third history
course I had taken at the university, and by this time I was fully
confident that I was going in the right direction, pertaining to
switching my majors to become a history teacher. The course was
taught by Dr. Oscar Lansen and gave a comprehensive history of the
Holocaust and all the major characters and events involved. Going
to class was always worth it, when we werent learning the skills to
properly research and write history, Dr. Lansen narrating
interesting stories and creating vivid imagery of portrayed Nazi
Germany, in the way he portrayed history. For my research paper, I
settled upon researching Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. I
have always pondered why there was little to no mention of Jewish
resistance to the Nazi oppression during World War II, but during
this course I became informed that there was indeed resistance,
just rather small in scale due to the master plan the Nazis had
implemented in Europe. Dr. Lansen did an excellent job of dividing
up the paper into smaller portions, so that we could see the
meaning and importance of each piece that goes into an historical
paper, as well making sure we complete it in the correct manner.
Typically a historical research paper is divided into five
sections: 1) the introduction, where the thesis is found, 2) the
historical background of the topic that is being covered, 3) the
historiography; the history of history, which in general terms
refers to research which has already been done on that topic or
theme, 4) a series of two to three arguments that will help support
the thesis, and finally 5) the conclusion, which determines if more
research is needed, or if your thesis/hypothesis was in fact
correct and can be substantiated. Though the overall learning
process was challenging at times, the entire course was well
designed and the results helped me not only to become a better and
more informed historian, but also helped me to develop foundation,
on how to make history come to life. History became more than just
names and dates, and put context and meaning to why things happen
the way they do. I have included three different stages of my
research papers writing process to represent this course, my
proposal, rough draft, and final draft entitled The Relentless
Fight: Jewish Partisans in Eastern Europe (1941-1945) (Fann, "The
Relentless Fight: Jewish Partisans in Eastern Europe
(1941-1945).Learning how to properly conduct and write historical
research will help me moving forward when I become a teacher, so
that I will be teaching my students the correct way in to learn and
write history. This idea of learning to teach so that I may teach
others to learn reminds me of the quote Give a man a fish and you
feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a
lifetime. If I only give my students the information they need,
without actually teaching them the skills that go in to learning
and writing, I am merely a facilitator that has no purpose. But, on
the contrary, I will help my students to become self-efficient and
give them skills to take with them long after they experience my
class. The next influential teaching experience that helped shape
my teaching philosophy came in the spring of 2014 in READ 3255.
READ 3255 is an education course designed for provided students
pursing teaching licensure with ways to integrate reading and
writing into the content. Dr. Jean Vintinner taught this course and
throughout the semester, we were given various strategies and
methods to help integrate reading and writing into our own content
area. Along with in-class work and assignments, we were also
required to complete thirty clinical hours in a school that would
be selected for us. We were to set aside one day to teach a lesson,
which was I was very nervous about, because this was going to be
the first time that I would be fully teaching in front of a group
of students. This course was very rewarding, but nerve-racking at
times, due to the high expectations placed upon us. However, Dr.
Vintinner made the course fun and laid-back, so we all felt
confident and comfortable and knew that we were gaining a valuable
experience from experiencing a class first-hand the strategies we
were learning. Some strategies that we learned about were Reading
Circles, KWL charts, Jigsaw groups, Group investigations, and
Discussion webs. For example, a group investigation could be used
in history to answer one overarching theme/questions pertaining to
the causes of the Civil War. In a group investigation, students are
divided up into groups of four and can be assigned roles to take on
when researching the topic, if needed. If student roles are not
needed, each student will be reading the same sources and filling
out a corresponding chart to each source, and that the group will
come together to discuss. They will then develop one well
thought-out answer and historical evidence for support. I was
assigned to Cox Mill High School in Concord to complete my clinical
hours and satisfy my lesson requirement for READ 3255. This was an
excellent school to observe and the staff was more than willing to
help me as a young teacher and provide me with feedback on my
performance in the classroom. I chose the lesson I taught to
represent this course (Fann, READ 3255 Final Lesson Plan). At Cox
Mill, I had the opportunity to teach Civics and Economics to two
classes, accompanied with a PowerPoint and activity. This was
technically my first time teaching students, and needless to say it
was an eye-opening experience. The topic that I discussed in my
lesson focused on the Impact of Media on the U.S. Presidency. I
thoroughly enjoyed teaching this lesson and had a great response
from the students in the class about my performance. It was
exciting to hear from the teacher that I performed well and it was
even more encouraging when the students acknowledged it, because I
was beyond anxious going in to that day. However, while getting
into the lesson I felt more relaxed and at ease. During the lesson
I gave a brief lecture accompanied with a PowerPoint outlining the
impacts and effects of the media on the presidency, followed by a
group investigation activity, to determine whether media coverage
was good or bad for the president in office during the time of four
major events. The major events included Watergate, September 11th,
the 2008 presidential election, and the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal.
This assignment and experience helped prepare me to improve my
teaching and was more beneficial else I had been exposed to at that
point. It was my first real look and chance to teach inside the
classroom. This correlates with my theme in two aspects. It helped
me to develop my teaching philosophy in regards to what group of
students I feel most comfortable teaching and where I want to
teach. Cox Mill was an amazing school and I had one of the best
experiences of my college career at that school. But it also began
to raise questions I what type school I would fit in best at, and
the type of students I would like to teach. I will be going more
in-depth with another artifact on this topic, but the overall
course did provide me with great strategies to use in the classroom
to differentiate learning, and early teaching experience.This past
semester I was required to do clinical observations at Cox Mill
High School. This was my assigned school for my READ 3255 class and
the same class in which I taught my first lesson. This school was
one of the most well kept high schools I have ever encountered. I
was blessed to have the chance to work with an amazing staff at
this school and had a wonderful time meeting the students there.
Not only was I allowed an extended stay observing at Cox Mill, but
also got to discover a school that was very successful, and that I
liked very much. I would love to work at a school like Cox Mill
someday, because of how willing students were to learn and how hard
the excellent staff works. Selecting a picture of the Cox Mill High
School itself felt to be the necessary way to represent this
experience (Cabarrus County Schools, Cox Mill High School). Though
I did have an amazing time at Cox Mill, this past semester I began
to sense that I may have more to offer to struggling schools in the
Charlotte area and feel that I could benefit even more in that type
of environment. South Caldwell, the high school I graduated from
was not diverse at all and though everyone was from a lower
socio-economic level than those at Cox Mill High School, no one
seemed to struggle. After student teaching at Rocky River High
School, and seeing the schools, I have noticed the abundance of
schools in need of help and the struggle of lack of resources,
passionate teachers, and motivated students. When I look at my
teaching philosophy and comprehend that I want to help make my
students into better people and help them develop life skills that
they can take with them forever, it would be rather ignorant of me
not to admit that the schools in need of driven teachers are the
ones that are struggling the most. I am still torn between what
specific school I want to teach at and what schools I need to teach
at, but I know moving forward I will not dismiss an opportunity to
work at a less fortunate school like the one I am currently at,
when in the past I wouldnt even give it a second thought. This can
also build upon my effort to stop pursing perfection. I know that
Cox Mill is going to be just fine without me, but knowing that a
school that is not nearly as successful or fortunate, gives me the
impression that I could make a difference in more students lives
because that is what I love to do. I want to help people, and the
people that need it the most are the ones in difficult times and
less fortunate breaks.In the fall of 2014 I began my Yearlong
Internship (YLI) with the university. This yearlong program
consists of weekly observations the first semester and full-time
student teaching the second. Practice became reality once this
semester started. Coupled with my YLI was a research methods course
that was taught by Dr. Paul Fitchett. This course was entertaining
and informative, because not only were we learning more strategies
and methods of how to teach history, but also we were involved with
a unique program at Central Cabarrus High School in Harrisburg
every week. This program was built into the class schedule and gave
us all a chance to tutor struggling students for one hour each
Wednesday. This experience in itself was rewarding enough, because
not only was I learning more about teaching history, I began to
develop relationships for the first time with students learning
history, as well as helping them improve their skills. I greatly
enjoyed the tutoring sessions, and typically was assigned two to
three students per week to tutor. I had some reoccurring students
show up each week, while others improved enough, they no longer
needed remediation. If I was not helping students with the content,
I was simply helping them to organize their notes and binders,
which at first may seem elementary, but one thing college has
taught me is that organization skills are vital. Some students at
the school were proactive about seeking help for tutoring while
others were not. It was difficult getting used to, however, since
we no longer had a class teacher or assistant there to help us, we
were becoming better teachers and learning how to work with
students, not just learning about how to work with them by taking
notes from a PowerPoint in class. The strategic tutoring was not
the only piece of work that was useful during the semester, but the
strategies and theories we learned as well. Dr. Fitchett stressed
the importance of developing historical empathy when learning about
history; which is a term used to describe having an open mind and
taking on the same role or thought process of the date and time you
are studying, not just our 21st century thinking. We also learned
how to use Socratic Seminars to encourage historical discussion, as
well as Structured Academic Controversy. Structured Academic
Controversy is used in history to take two contrary opinions and
pin them against each other in an investigation to develop a
conclusion to determine which one is true. For example, in class we
analyzed primary sources to determine if Abraham Lincoln was a
racist. This activity was fun and interesting to see first-hand,
because you hold a preconceived notion that there is no way Lincoln
couldnt have been racist. But when you begin to dig deeper and you
find that though he did help to free the slaves, he had his own
prejudice and bias just like many others at the time, but still
wanted to do the thing he felt was right at the end of the day.In
relation to my theme, strategic tutoring was one of the most
influential experiences I had, due to the success I saw from the
students I tutored and how it helped in shape how I will teach a
year from now. Just seeing the students that I tutored improve each
week and tell other teachers how much better they were doing
because of my work with them meant so much. In regards to my
teaching philosophy, I began to understand the importance of
developing relationships with students and how those bonds that can
go further than just teaching. My course syllabus will represent
the experiences and knowledge I gained during my semester at
Central Cabarrus, because the syllabus encompasses the entirety of
the semester and the resources we were shown while in class.
(Fitchett, MDSK 4253 Syllabus)The first C I ever received
throughout my entire education was in my Global Connections class
sophomore year. The unacceptable grade really hit me hard, but also
served as a wake up call to work harder in class and improve my
organization skills. I have always had quality organization skills,
but that semester I got sloppy and slacked off, not to mention I am
someone who is always pursing perfection. I greatly regret not
reading as much and giving my best effort in that class that should
have, but looking back I am almost glad that it happened. Not only
did it help to improve my organizational skills, but it also put my
idea of perfection into perspective. Until that point, I had been
obsessed with making sure I have everything organized and that it
was done a certain way, which included making good grades. Yes, I
may have somewhat of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), but after
that class, particularly, I realized that I cant always be perfect,
no one can. Since the wake up call, when I find myself searching
for perfection, I think back to this class and remind myself that I
may have made a C and felt horrible at the time, but in the grand
scheme of things it didnt matter. The sun was still going to come
up and I was still going to have that grade no matter what I did,
so why bother? I try not to sweat the small stuff now, and I can
honesty say that it has impacted my personal and professional life
greatly.To be a good teacher, one must have good preparation, be
efficient, as well as willing to accept what is needed instead of
what is perfect. Since taking that class two short years ago, I
have seen my organizational skills improve as well as my overall
preparation for classes, both in history and education. Not only
have my skills improved, but also my understanding of perfection
has changed, which will become very important once I become a
teacher. Now I can relate more to my students and know that I am
not perfect, in the same way they are not perfect. Mistakes will be
made along the way in our lives, but it is how you respond to them
that determine whether you are going to move forward or fall back.
This class served as a personal example of what you need to do in
school to succeed, and how to deal with the times that you dont.
This class will help me to relate to students who struggle
organizing their things as well as helping those to cope with
failures to realize nothing is bad enough that cant be overcome.
Nothing represent this course better than my mid-term and final
essays, because they were far from perfection and even though I
could have tried harder, making a bad grade put into perspective
things in the long run.I have been fortunate enough to take
professor Jonathan Perry for two of my honors courses during my
career at UNC-Charlotte. My first class with Mr. Perry was a
University Honors topic class that focused on Capitalism and free
markets, and the second was a Honors topic class related to
American Exceptionalism. Both of these courses dealt primarily with
civics and economics, and helped open my eyes to the possibility of
on these subjects in high school. Before taking these courses I was
set on teaching only U.S. History, once hired as a teacher, but
after my experiences in Mr. Perrys classes, as well as my political
science minor, I am now hoping for an opportunity to teach Civics
and Economics. I loved C & E in high school and even took AP
Government to further my knowledge of how our government works. But
somewhere along the way I made up in my mind that I only wanted to
teach U.S. History. Having Professor Perry for two semesters,
however, help me to re-gain appreciation for Civics and Economics.
The class, as part of my honors experience, helped in the
development of my teaching style and the importance of reflection.
Professor Perry was very animated during his lectures and made the
topics we discussed apply to today, or give funny examples of
government at work. Being involved in law also opened the door to
entertaining and interesting stories that helped capture the point
that he was trying to convey. I enjoyed this class, and though it
was a Monday night class, I had no problem attending class, sitting
for three hours, and learning about our government and economics.
The courses not only helped to bring in knowledge I had from my
history courses, but political science as well. The fun thing about
teaching Civics and Economics in high school is that it deals with
both career paths I had to choose between throughout college,
history and law. This course also challenged my views of society
and provided me with resources and materials that I can take to my
classroom once I become a full-time teacher. I loved the overall
laid-back approach to teaching that Professor Perry implored, he
made class into more of a discussion and conversation rather than
just posting PowerPoint slides, to read off of. It was practical
and it fit my style. I want to have that same approach to teaching
in the future, because when you make connections to today and
establish an atmosphere where students feel free to talk and
discuss a topic, positive and academic improvement will follow.To
represent my experience in these courses, I have chosen to use two
PowerPoint presentations (Fann, HONR 3700 Find A Founder
PowerPoint) (Bledsoe, Wes, Fann, Andrew, Hoyle, Katie, and Savage,
Luke. HONR 3700 Irrational Exuberance PowerPoint). The first deals
with economics and an assignment in which we worked as a group to
read the book Irrational Exuberance and discussed many economic
principles that effect everyday life in America. My other
presentation was referred to as the find a founder assignment. This
assignment came in my second course with Professor Perry discussing
the idea of American Exceptionalism. American Exceptionalism is the
idea that America is unique and exceptional based on the way, in
which it was founded, and the many rights and liberties given to
its citizens. This idea of exceptionalism has become a hot topic as
of recent, because while some feel America is exceptional and view
it as the greatest nation on other, others feel that it shows
arrogance and isnt much different than other democratic societies
today. Our assignment consisted of analyzing and developing a
presentation on one of Americas founding fathers and outlines their
contributions to the overall development of the U.S. Constitution.
My founder was John Jay. John Jay was one of the youngest members
of the constitutional convention during the drafting of the U.S.
Constitution; also he is responsible for five of the Federalist
Papers. These two assignments addressed many aspects of the overall
themes of the courses and contributed greatly to re-discovering a
passion for economics and civics.Much like teaching, coaching
utilizes many of the same aspects and skills. Throughout college, I
have not only been preparing for a future teaching career, but
coaching as well. Though I had not imagined my life shifting from
law to education as a freshman, I have always had a love for the
game of basketball and a strong desire to coach the game. My
sophomore year, I made the Club Basketball team at UNC-Charlotte
out of over 40 candidates. This was one of the greatest experiences
I have had at Charlotte. Ever since I could pick up a basketball,
the sport has been one of my biggest passions and favorite hobbies.
While I plan on teaching high school students History, I hope to
coach high school basketball as well. During my time spent on the
club team I gained a lot of valuable experiences and developed
skills and fundamentals for coaching along the way, not to mention
my teammates were great as well and we had a lot of fun around each
other. While playing, I got to see much of the East coast from
Wilmington, to James Madison, even Princeton in NJ. This experience
helped to fuel my passion even more for basketball and served as a
great learning experience for coaching moving forward. This
activity relates to my theme because being a teacher and being a
coach is very similar, that is why most teachers are involved with
sports. Teaching should be approached the same way as coaching, you
assess what skills your students or players have, you help those
who do not have the same skill set to catch up with the others, and
once everyone is on the same page, you create a game plan or
guidelines for how you are going to play or learn and list the main
goals for the class or team. Another connection between the two is
that you develop lasting relationships and roles in adolescents
lives that cannot be replaced. You have the opportunity to model a
responsible in their lives that is there when needed and can help
give you advice and teach life lessons along with academic content.
When looking at the link between teaching and coaching, it is
important to understand the learning process and application of
skills that both share. I want to be a history teacher and coach
basketball and I approach the classroom in the same way I would my
players. First, you determine what is the end goal; whether it is
to win the game, or master an understanding of history, for example
World War II both basketball and teaching plan with the end in mind
before getting to work. After you have established the purpose for
what you are going to do, you need to assess what student or
players already know. Do they have the fundamental skills to play
basketball? Dribbling? Shooting ability? Passing? Or from the
teaching perspective, can the students write? Read? Analyze
sources? Or come to well-founded conclusions? Both basketball and
teaching history have basic skills that are necessary before you
can begin to improve upon and set yourself up for success. Once you
have assessed what skills your students/players have, you have two
directions in which you may go. The first, is that you go back to
develop those basic skills that they may not have, or you have them
to apply their skills to a task. Addressing basic skills in both
basketball and learning history are key foundations to developing a
road to success that your players or students can work towards.
When you have helped to develop your players/students basic skills,
then you are able to build upon the strengths and address
weaknesses along the way through practice and repetition. Both
positions have skills that you must understand and have first
developed them to be effective. For example, if you have a player
that refuses to look up the court and see his teammates during a
game, because he cant dribble without looking at the ball, he is
never going to be as successful as those players who have
accomplished that ability, the same goes for an historian or
student that is stuck doing the wrong thing time and time again and
expecting different results. Unless you address your weaknesses,
you will only be able to live off of your strengths for a certain
amount of time. As a coach or a teacher my job is to be the
facilitator of learning and to help those when they have tried
there best but cant improve their performance or skill, and it is
also my job to serve as a role-model that can be there to support
them in their academics or athletics, and help them to all achieve
their goals.First and foremost I look forward to becoming a teacher
to help my students and mold them, but I also strive to do the same
for those I coach, whenever I may get the opportunity to do so. My
club jersey, is the best representation of all the time and effort
I put in to making the cut for the team and the amazing, beneficial
experiences I had playing and learning the game, which makes it my
artifact (Fann, Andrew Fann UNC-Charlotte Club Basketball Jersey).
Due to the fact that teaching and coaching are so interconnected in
my mind, the two together, work to create a philosophy that is
applicable to both, and that is just what it has done for me.If
there is a quote to describe my philosophy on life it is by far
going to be Keep Moving Forward. You may recognize this from the
Disney movie, Meet The Robinsons, I believe it applies to anything
that we as humans could go through in life. In the context of the
movie, it is a quote said quite often within the main familys lives
anytime they fail or are struggling. This quote is there to always
encourage them and help them stay positive. No matter the
situation, good or bad, we keep moving forward, growing our
knowledge and understanding and developing into a new person
overtime that continues to improve. I think this is very important
to my theme as a whole and encompasses all of my other artifacts
that I have. It is important to me not to waste away the day,
whether that be in the classroom, on a basketball court, or on the
weekend with your friends and family. It is important to always be
productive and to keep improving what you do. I have to remind
myself to keep moving forward when I get complacent and comfortable
in my surroundings. I feel that if you want to continue shaping a
teaching philosophy you have to keep moving forward through new
experiences, which also comes with practice. Throughout college, we
all as students, myself included, have been through difficult
encounters and pushed to the limit at times, but that is why
college is such a wonderful place. Whether it be struggling to
adjust to the independent lifestyle of college, the balance between
school and work, or developing new strategies to be successful,
college can be difficult to deal with at times. But, if you keep
pushing and moving forward, the experiences and relationships you
develop over a short four-year period pays off more than you ever
could imagine. In college we grow our knowledge far beyond, what we
ever could imagine and discover who we want to be the rest of our
lives and what we want to do. College has shown me that if you keep
moving forward, work hard, stay focused, and enjoy life you will
reach your goals and possibly even exceed them! In the classroom I
am going to encounter upwards of one hundred teenaged students
daily that are all unique and all deserve to receive the best
education available to them. When I think about the difficulty that
brings. I remind myself to keep moving forward, and not be
discouraged, but use failure and struggle as an opportunity to
become motivated and work harder towards achieving the main goal.
Studying history is a prime example of why it is important to keep
moving forward, and why we as people really shouldnt have any other
option to. Time is always moving forward, and history is being made
everyday; what we choose to do in the future and today is our
opportunity to learn from past mistakes and work towards
creating/improving new means of knowledge that can make the world a
better place. Throughout history we are given many examples of how
things should or shouldnt be done. It is our responsibility to
repeat those successful habits that have brought progress and throw
away those that brought failure.My overall teaching philosophy
focuses on building lasting relationships with my students and
helping them to become responsible and model citizens in society.
Of course I want my students to develop an understanding and
appreciation for history, but my job will be much greater than that
and I believe that instilling aspects of my own philosophy onto my
students will be beneficial. I will be using a movie poster of Meet
The Robinsons to symbolize this quote (Wikia, Meet The Robinsons).
Along with the quote from the movie, I value the meaning of the
quote below as well:If you stop moving forward, you start moving
backwards.Honors peer, Josh Haynes, gave this quote to me during a
small group meeting for HONR 3790 last semester. This saying truly
encompasses the main reason behind why I like the quote keep moving
forward so much. I love it because it is simple, yet carries such a
large magnitude of significance to the point I am trying to get
across in this paper and to everyone I encounter as well. The quote
embodies the idea that if you are not working and willing to
improve your life, relationship, job, or whatever it may be in
life, you are destined to start moving backwards into a world of
complacency and dullness.Though I do believe it is important to
always push forward and keep moving, it is also important to take
into account the failures that may present themselves in life that
you should stop to address. We are all going to fail at something
in our life and when we do, it is important to understand why we
did, what we did, and how we are going to improve upon our failures
to succeed. I do feel that we should all as people keep moving
forward, but we must do it in the proper way, and that involves
reflecting on our failures, assessing what we can do to improve
them, and project forward to what we want to accomplish. If you
wanted to become an NBA player someday and continued to move
forward even when you failed, you arent going to be satisfied with
the outcome. You are most likely not going to become an NBA player,
because you decided to skip over your failures and keep doing what
you knew. This is not the most effective way in life to move
towards our goals and dreams. If you want to be a NBA player you
first need to develop the basic skills needed to play basketball,
then assess and reflect upon what you struggle with on the court
before you move forward, because if you dont you will never get
better. The same can be said about life, if you forget to address
failure it will always stay with you and you will continue to make
mistakes, but if you aim to address those problems and develop
techniques or methods to help you improve then you are setting
yourself up for success in the future.Over the course of my four
amazing years at UNC-Charlotte I have seen myself grow in more ways
than I ever could have imagined. I have discovered new things not
only about myself but the world in general. When I think of a word
to describe my stay at UNC-Charlotte I think of the words
well-rounded. When I say this I am meaning that I believe
throughout my college experiences and through my development and
transition to choosing a career and major, I have achieved a
well-rounded education that not only has inspired me to continue my
thirst for knowledge, but also helped to prepare me for the
real-world that awaits me once I graduate in May. Whether it was
changing my major, learning about history, developing rigor in
education, or taking Honors courses, I was always learning and
broadening my mind when I was inside the classroom at Charlotte,
and in many cases such as my experiences with Club Basketball,
outside the classroom as well. The biggest contribution that my
experiences at UNC-Charlotte have given me, is the development and
solidification of my overall teaching philosophy. A teaching
philosophy is different for every teacher and each teacher develops
a philosophy in a different way. It is through our own personal
experiences that lead to the discover and development of an
ideological set of beliefs or goals that we as teachers refer back
to or call upon to really understand and justify why we are
teachers and if what we are doing in the classroom is for the right
purpose. Two artifacts that stick out to me the most would be the
quote Keep Moving Forward, and my experiences in my first education
course, MDSK 2100. In MDSK 2100, I discovered a passion for
teaching and desire to become a high school history teacher, and
the quote Keep Moving Forward, for now and forever will always
remind me to stay positive and stop at nothing to achieve your
goals and dreams in life. Without each of the artifacts I have
discussed above, I would not be the person I am today, and all of
my other experiences at Charlotte that are not included have
contributed just as much. I would like to thank all my professors,
friends, and family for helping me through this amazing journey at
college, because I could not have done it without them, and I will
never forget the major influence that each group had on me. As the
time come to graduate and transition into my career as a high
school teacher, I remain positive and confident that I am
well-prepared for whatever challenge may come my way in the near
future and I am beyond excited to get started. As I begin a new
chapter in my life and turn the page in my journey to becoming a
teacher I will always remember to keep moving forward, on to bigger
and better things, just as I have done in the span of four
unforgettable and timeless years at UNC-Charlotte.
BibliographyImages
Cox Mill High School. Digital image. Cabarrus County Schools.
Cabarrus County Schools, n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2014. .
Cox Mill High School. Digital image. Cabarrus County Schools.
Cabarrus County Schools, n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2014. .
Fann, Andrew. "Andrew Fann LBST 2101 Mid-Term Exam I." 2012.
Jpeg.
Fann, Andrew. "Andrew Fann LBST 2101 Mid-Term Exam II." 2012.
Jpeg.
Fann, Andrew. "Andrew Fann UNC-Charlotte Club Basketball
Jersey." 2013. Jpeg.
Meet The Robinsons. Digital image. The Disney Channel Wiki.
Wikia, n.d. Web. 04 Nov.
2014http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140322042141/disney/images/a/a1/MeetTheRobinsons.jpg
Documents
Fann, Andrew. HIST 2600 Research Proposal. University of North
Carolina at Charlotte, 2013. Print.
Fann, Andrew. HIST 2600 Research Paper Rough Draft. University
of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2013. Print.
Fann, Andrew. MDSK 2100 Clinical Report. University of North
Carolina at Charlotte, 2013. Print.
Fitchett, Paul. MDSK 4253 Syllabus. University of North Carolina
at Charlotte, 2014. Print.
Fann, Andrew. READ 3255 Final Lesson Plan. University of North
Carolina at Charlotte, 2014. Print.
Fann, Andrew. "The Relentless Fight: Jewish Partisans in Eastern
Europe (1941-1945)." Diss. University of North Carolina at
Charlotte, 2013. Print.
Other
Fann, Andrew. HONR 3700 Find A Founder PowerPoint. University of
North Carolina at Charlotte, 2014.
Bledsoe, Wes, Fann, Andrew, Hoyle, Katie, and Savage, Luke. HONR
3700 Irrational Exuberance PowerPoint . University of North
Carolina at Charlotte, 2014.
