| abstract |
The purpose of this dissertation is to shine light on the pedagogical value of the educational memoir. In a time of great transformation within the teaching profession, many aspiring teachers enter the classroom unprepared for the realities they will face. This project explores how exposure to educational memoirs can help combat that troubling trend. Part one of the project highlights four memoirs written by educators who entered the profession at different points of their lives and for different reasons. The lessons extracted from them paint a clear picture of the challenges new teachers often face as they seek to establish themselves in their careers. Examples of those challenges include educating students with low literacy rates, establishing authority in the classroom, developing a unique teaching style, measuring student success, and dealing with the educational bureaucracy.
Part two of the dissertation is an original memoir that highlights the author's teaching experience at a small high school in the South Bronx. Readers of this memoir will gain an in-depth understanding of the challenges a new teacher faces as he tries to navigate the difficulties of finding pedagogical success in one of New York City's most challenging educational environments. From this memoir, future educators will learn the importance of developing a classroom routine, and will discover a variety of ways to connect with students both inside and outside the classroom. In addition, they will learn about the ways in which the Covid-19 pandemic altered the educational landscape, and the troubling effects of the ongoing gun violence epidemic. The significant contribution of this memoir is to enlighten novice educators regarding the personal and professional challenges they will face in the beginning stages of their career, and to show how, with time, success can be achieved.
|
