What I've learned from Ms. Manzella is more extensive than teaching techniques, certification requirements, and lesson plans. Especially in the world today, she, as a younger teacher, is a representative of the ideals that must be instilled on future generations. She is responsible for keeping them interested, holding their attention, and making sure they retain what she teachers, but more than that, her responsibility as a history teacher allows her to teach morality. I can't think of a better, or more kind teacher to instill the most important life skills of all; consideration, commitment, logical thinking, and conversation. Above all else in her class, my time with Ms. Manzella taught me that one doesn't have to be a teacher to make a difference, but that she does every day.
0 Comments
Recently Ms. Manzella and I have been discussing the requirements for a teaching license, and how she personally achieved the level of degree she holds today.
There are three levels of education and licensing, with varying requirements and characteristics. Preliminary requires the achievement of a Bachelor's degree, and that the individual has passed a state license test, which is different in each state. However, as Ms. Manzella says, its difficult to get a job with a preliminary license alone. The second license is an Initial License and is more involved than the Preliminary licensing. It requires a successful completion of the MTELS (Massachusetts Test for Educator Licensure) and student teaching experience, along with a Bachelor's degree. Mr. Grady, in my AP US History class, was working on his student teaching experience in preparation for an Initial License. After five years under an Initial License, teachers must either apply to renew their licensing, or gain their third, or Professional License. Along with the requirements for an Initial License, a Professional License also requires twelve credits in the subject a teacher is educating in, as well as an SEI (sheltered English Immersion) course. We also spoke about Ms. Manzella's own education path, from high school to UMass Amherst, through to her Masters course and afterward. She spoke with fond words about a teacher she shadowed while receiving her Masters, and how he inspired and demonstrated many of the teaching techniques used in US History.
Week 1 of Generation Think: Learning was a lesson in student/teacher interaction. One of the aspects that makes Ms. Manzella's Honors US History 1 class so unique is the atmosphere that encompasses her learning environment. When I stepped into the classroom on Thursday, the 14th, the room was in a pleasant state of havoc known as the Tape Game. As Ms Manzella later explained to me, this is a game based on activities she participated in during her Masters degree classes. The beauty of it, as I observed, is that it engages the students in historical learning while allowing them to apply specific topics personally. For instance, the class is currently working through the first unit, Colonization, and the Tape Game's role is to pose a question in modern context that could apply to the unit. Each student answers the question by moving to one side of the tape or the other or staying in the center, representing, "yes", "no", or "somewhere in between". Every participant is then given a chance to explain why they answered the way they did. While some students choose not to raise their hands, the majority of them not only explain their reasoning, but often turn to personal arguments. In the class I observed, the Tape Game resulted in a two minute discussion between two students about the ethics of Evangelism, which happened to apply to the modern context of the historical question Ms. Manzella posed. From experience in my AP Psychology course last year, human nature is strongly based in personal experience and opinion- therefore, by allowing her class to participate in this particular activity, Ms Manzella reinforced the historical context more strongly than a lecture or note taking activity might have.
As a side note, part of what makes Ms Manzella's history classes so effective is the relationship she is able to cultivate with her students. With the Tape Game, she demonstrated her willingness to listen to each opinion and allowed everyone to speak. Throughout this year, I highly suspect I'll be reporting more behavior like this; her ability to cultivate trust and informality in a moderately formal setting is received by a captive audience. As a sophomore who has experienced the awe of being treated as a capable adult for the first time, I can guarantee that this action has already begun to win over her class, and may very well be a contributing factor to success on the AP History exam next year. |
Noelle OttSenior at Nipmuc High School |