Introduction

My name is My-Nuong Widenham, but I go by Miriam and my students call me Ms. Widenham, Ms. W, Teacher or the expletive of the day.  I currently teach at Fresno Unified's expulsion site for middle and high school students.  This is my second year in the classroom and my final months in the credentialing program at National.  

I came to teaching as a second career.  I graduated from Fresno State in 2002 not knowing what I wanted to do.  I was completely unprepared to know what to do next.  I had a degree in Literature, but what was I supposed to do with that if I wasn't going into teaching?  All my friends were going the teaching route and I didn't want to be a part of the status quo.  I took a job as a bartender for a year to decide what I wanted to do.  That turned into two years and then life happened:  I became a mom, and then a single mom.  13 years later my job went into flux because the restaurant that I worked for was going to be sold.  I began subbing and I discovered that I really enjoyed being in the classroom.  At that point I began working toward my credential and became a student again. 

I am in my current position because I subbed there on the regular and engaged other teachers and admin in conversation about education.  I always researched the school and the students to determine what kind of classroom I could see myself in.  An alternative school for students with behavioral issues was not where I saw myself at all, but now I'm really exploring if this is my niche.  I enjoy the small classroom numbers, direct instruction and relationships that I have developed with my students.  The negatives are having to teach from the ground up and struggling to teach the standard curriculum at grade level and of course, the behavioral issues.  The majority of my students live in poverty as well as having experienced some sort of trauma that shapes their learning experiences and how they perceive school and authority.  

How do you think your personality affects your choice of content area?

According to Metarasa, I am an ESFJ.  The chart indicates that I'm only a little bit extroverted which I agree.  Because of the job I had for so many years, I always run into people I know everywhere.  My inclination is to run and hide, but I always put my best foot forward... and then duck out early.  I also almost straddle the middle between Sensation and Intuition.  While I like facts, I think it's important as critical thinkers to include all aspects including the people who feel or go with their intuition.   I think this shows itself in the next category, Thinking vs. Feeling.  I find myself in the same spot but over on the other side.  And then finally Judgement vs. Perception. I'm right in the middle.  I think this affects my content area because as an English teacher it is important that we encourage our students to be critical thinkers by exploring all the different avenues of the multiple personalities that they will come across.  

How does or will your personality affect your relationships with your students?

The students I teach come to our school as part of their program to return back to a comprehensive school within the district.  We practice behavior modification and then academics.  However the year I was hired and since then, there has been a big push toward academics as part of the program of helping our students be prepared to jump back into a comprehensive site.  This has proven to be a challenge with our students for a few reasons.  They don't see academics as a way to success, because they don't have home models of that in their home lives and they also see authority figures as threats.  As an ESFJ, I seek to develop harmony in relationships.  I try to model functional communication in a peaceful environment.  I practice flexible seating in my classroom and use natural lighting and reading lamps.  I speak and interact with my students according to how I want to be treated.  It is definitely not something they are used to after negative interactions with parents, teachers, administration and law enforcement.  My younger students constantly pushback, but my older students have been very receptive.  

 How will your teaching and learning style affect your teaching and your students' abilities to be successful?

I think I scored what I did in my teaching style because I am learning how to teach at a school where the classroom has to be highly structured.  I scored mostly high in expert, formal authority and delegator, and moderate in personal model and facilitator.  While I would like to instruct my students and then set them free with a self directed learning group activity that I could monitor, it's just not possible.  In my classroom, where the average size at this time is about 4-5 students, we act as our own small group with me as the facilitator in order to model expectations.  I was surprised to see that I scored a 9 in the active segment of my own learning style.  While I agree the result indicate that I have trouble learning reflectively.  I disagree as I reflect on past learnings constantly.  But I'm also not surprised because I do believe in active learning which is why I try to model what small group learning looks like in my classroom.