BLOG #6 : A change for the better

My mother used to say "Dime con quien andas y te digo quien eres". Translated, it means tell me who you associate with and I'll tell you who you are. My mother would say this in cases where she felt I was being associated with the wrong crowd in fear that I would pick up their bad habits. While reading the article, "Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice: Membership, Conflict, and Diversity," by Ann Johns, it is more than evident that there is a strong correlation between being successful in a professional field and associating oneself with people with shared interests. 

We can all think back and tie this idea of discourse communities to some point in our lives. For example, the cliques or social groups we formed in high school influenced how we eventually came to identify ourselves. More relevantly, SDSU has clubs, labs, organizations, and separate departments that facilitate working with other students that share your particular interests and major. As a math major, my place of comfort is the Math & Stat Learning Center because I encounter other students who share the same professional interests and goals as me.

On my path to becoming a math teacher,  I have found it to be helpful to communicate with the head of the math department at SDSU as well as math teachers at Mission Bay High School. Within minutes of evaluating my degree, I was already being offered the opportunity to teach a class of incoming freshman. That goes to show what associating yourself with the right people can generate great opportunities to grow in your particular career. In my particular case, my sense of self is strengthened when I speak to math teachers at my current job. I get the reassurance that I am on the correct path and I receive valuable advice based on their experiences. My current position requires me to form strong bonds and tight relationships to students in order to assist them in pursuing their educational goals. Although I planned to employ this same approach to teaching, my mentors have advised me not to invest so much in my students. After working at arc for four years, letting go of those interpersonal skills with prove to be the most difficult in assuming the identity of a math teacher. 

As a math teacher, or any teacher in general, authority is reached in a variety of ways. The amount of education attained by an individual holds great weight in the authority he possesses. Even though getting bachelor's degree is sufficient enough to work as a teacher, earning a master's degree makes a huge difference in salary, employability, and authority in the teaching community. Another way teachers gain authority is time. Depending on the school, teaching for a minimum of five years constitutes achieving tenure. Tenure is a form of contract that protects the teacher from getting fired, unless there is substantial proof of incompetence. Aside from those cases, gaining authority can also be associated with personal awards and high class test scores. 

BLOG #5: Double Discoursing

In my first semester of college, I had the crazy idea of taking on two different first jobs in order to support myself and help out at home with the expenses. Technically, I was hired at "The Dining Room" at Cuicacalli first and then at Gear Up as a math tutor days later. The experiences were completely different in terms of setting, type of labor, and Discourse.

At Cuicacalli, it was my first time working in a kitchen so I had to learn all the procedures for each food station, cleaning procedures, and customer service techniques. Every station required a couple weeks of adaptation but there was always something new on the menu that we had to learn to prepare. Having no prior experience, there was obviously an adjustment period for me and I feel that any newcomer would experience the same.

At Gear Up, I was much more comfortable because mathematics was the field I was studying and I had prior experience volunteering as a tutor at various churches. One major difference between the jobs was that at Cuicacalli my inexperience was expected and it didn't matter how many mistakes I made as long as I was learning. As a tutor, I had to mushfake and take on the Discourse of an experienced instructor in order to have authority with the high school students I was tutoring. Everything from my behavior, mannerisms, and the way I dressed was a huge contrast to my cooking job. In order to command respect, I had to maintain my position as instructor even though I was only three years older than the students. In terms of reading, I spent most of the time reviewing math lectures, formulas, and specific procedures that I was not familiar with.

Mirabelli's response to economist Peter Drucker, "This orientation further suggests that these supposedly low skilled workers lack the problem identifying, problem solving, and other high level abilities needed to work in other occupations. However, relatively little specific attention and analysis have been given to the literacy skills and language abilities needed to do this work" resonated with me the most because of my particular experience. Having worked in the food service industry, I found this broad definition to be insulting. Much like Mirabelli, many of my coworkers at Cuicacali were college students that went on to pursue professions in law, STEM research, and business. Even at the time I was working at Cuicacali, that stereotype did not even fit because I was actually problem solving and teaching others to do the same at my tutoring job.

Mirabelli’s article, in my opinion, did wonders to defy the stereotypes associated with servers. He illustrated the profession in a way that gives everyone an inside look at the complications one faces and what solutions go down behind the scenes. In no way is it now or ever be “low-skilled” work to deal with the continuing insanity that comes with the growing need of instant gratification in our society. This same problem is something I will definitely face in pursuing a career in teaching. When I was in middle school, if a child was failing a class it was because he was not focused and needed to put more effort. Now, if a student is failing, all the blame is placed upon the teacher. I still associate respect to the profession because teachers are responsible for educating the minds of our future leaders and that is something I want to take a part in regardless of the pressure.