It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. – THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Meet George Porter
I took sort of a circuitous path into teaching. After I graduated from the University of California Davis, I still did not know what I wanted to do, so I decided to go abroad. I went to Spain to teach English at the elementary level and through that process I loved interacting with the students, seeing that sparkle in their eyes and their curiosity. The teachers’ love for teaching at that school in Spain was evident and contagious. I want to be that type of teacher for students and give them a meaningful learning experience.
When I returned from Spain I began my teacher credential program at the California State University San Marcos and as challenging and difficult as the program was, I knew it was the right fit. My credential program introduced me to the ‘Marigold ‘metaphor, which views certain supportive colleagues as a positive, protective influence on professional growth. Marigolds are a complementary crop and I am mindful that at any given school, there may be some teachers that are disenchanted and disillusioned. On the other hand, I may find teachers who don’t just listen to an idea, but partner with me and turn it into a reality. I have found teachers like that do exist!
I am so fortunate to have begun my teaching career at Sage Creek High School (SCHS) in Carlsbad Unified School District. When I got to SCHS it was only four years old and I still recall what my principal told me as a new staff member: Fail forward, think outside the box and try new things. SCHS is and has been my arena for the past 10 years. It is where I put myself out there, think outside the box, and flourish.
Before I got introduced to the California Reading and Literature Project (CRLP), it was just a group of letters that sometimes my colleague, Shannon Alberts, would utter. I would pass through her room after school and see her on a Zoom call and I would say, “What is this?” Shannon would respond, “CRLP.” It got to a point where because those letters didn’t have meaning to me, I would come in and say, “Oh is that, Rsml?” Then one day, Shannon said, “You know, I think you would really enjoy it. It’s a lot of stuff that we are already doing and I think you would see the value in it.” Immediately, I realized both, the CRLP is really valuable content, but also it is a group of educators that are not just passionate, but are being deliberate about the way they deliver content and support students.
Effective instruction for students requires me to take an integrated approach to the California English Language Development (ELD) Standards. Every time I attend the CRLP Learning How English Works (LHEW) training, Part II of the ELD standards, I take away a little tidbit of how it applies to my curriculum and my students. I knew how to interpret a text, but I didn’t necessarily know how to explain it to my students or that I had to. I have learned to expand and enrich ideas using modal verbs and the sentence unscrambling routine. Taking a look at modal verbs more closely made me realize that my students may not know the implications of this particular verb phrasing and how that completely changes the way that they perceive it. The LHEW training has allowed me to take a step back and consider the ways in which I can do a deeper dive into how English works.
As a CRLP teacher leader at the secondary level, I am extremely glad that I am an English teacher and I can talk with great fervor about nerdy English things like umm dashes, appositive phrases and making sense of normalization. I have expanded my arena this year and I am an Apprentice for Learning How English Works, a CRLP signature program. I have also found more marigolds.