Assignment 1A

My name is Rodolfo De La Torre Pegueros.
But the kids call me Mr. D.

When I was in high school, I had an inspirational 11th grade English teacher, a tough but fair Spanish teacher, and a very down to earth and welcoming Theater Tech teacher.

Growing up low income in a single parent home, I was motivated to make something out of my life, and these three teachers were the catalyst that propelled me past the typical status quo that many in my demographic often ends up in.

I started to go to film school at San Diego State University, and while I attended, I started outlining a lesson plan in my spiral notebook that I would use to teach a volunteer video broadcasting class once I became famous and a part of the Hollywood Industry.

One and a half years later, I realized that, despite my financial aid, making movies was expensive.  I could not afford to take off work on the weekends to shoot short films.  Luckily, I had a co-worker getting her social science degree with an emphasis on the credential, and, because I liked the two history classes I had taken at SDSU, I switched to her track.

While getting my Bachelors, I did a summer internship with Breakthrough Collaborative in San Jose teaching English to middle school kids.  I had so much fun in this challenging environment, that I knew teaching would be my calling.

In June of 2005, I received my social science credential, and I bounced from job to job, sub assignment to sub assignment for a school year.

Then I saw a job opening: a 2/5th Government/Economics position at Escondido High School

2/5ths.

That might cover rent, my 2000 Nissan Altima's maintenance and maybe some ramen noodles for my meals.
I scrolled down the Ed-join page.

3/5ths Video Production teacher.  Same school.

So I applied to both.  Within a week I got a call for an interview.  The department chairs for both Visual and Performing Arts and Social Studies joined the principal in my interview.

One week later, I was teaching 2/5ths government and 3/5ths video production on a supplementary credential waiver  for a probationary 5/5ths full time contract.

As the years went on, my video production program grew, and today I teach 4 intro video production courses, one advanced, and one after school video news broadcasting course.

And as the years went by, state requirements to teach video broadcasting changed, and I was all out of district waivers.  So, after 3 tries, I destroyed the ITE CSETs 1 and 2 and now am ready to be an official waiver free video production teacher (which, oddly enough, while a ITE course according to the state, is still a visual and performing art according to the school and the A through G UC/CSU requirements).

One of the things I enjoy the most about teaching is seeing the looks of accomplishment in the student's faces when they finish a successful video project.  Many of my students excel in my class (or other hands on classes) where they fail elsewhere.  I have many students who use my classroom as shelter, as a place to feel safe, or a place to show off their mad editing skills.  In any case, I cherish the bonds that I create with the students I interact with on a daily basis, and it is for this reason that I feel I belong where I am at.  When former students come to visit, it is an amazing rush, as we commiserate over the "old days" and watch videos they created while they were in high school.

PERSONALITY TEST
So according to my MMDI personality report, I am INFJ.  This makes sense in that I teach a video production course and focus a lot on the story telling aspect of the class.  My imagination does drive my planning.  The class I teach does not require me to come up with examples from scratch, but I do them anyways.  According to the test, I "have a strong, private sense of knowledge and vision, often for hidden things that other people would think can't be known."  I write my own scripts to show how to write a script, I make my own video to show an editing technique, even though all of these things are available online.   I see things in my head before I do them.  However, Often I don't see them long enough to weigh the good and the bad, meaning, I usually see my idea as a good idea and implement it, then realize it was a bad idea (some of my lessons have bombed, leaving kids bored and wondering what to do).  I do have an extrovert side that I believe the quiz did not pick up on (the questioning scales were kind of strange), and I tend to project my enthusiasm in my class daily.  But I do see a lot of potential in my students, even those who feel they have no potential.  Thus, I "see imaginative possibilities and insights, especially in relation to people, anticipating a future for them that they can't even see themselves."  That is why I feel most proud when those who started the year struggling or not caring end up being the ones who turn in an amazing project or who come back to visit my class with success in their future.  However, sometimes my personality leads to a vision that indeed, only I can see, and thus, leads to frustration when students are not seeing the end product of an assignment that I had in my head.

TEACHING AND LEARNING STYLE
According to the Felder and Soloman test, I am an Active and Visual learner, with a balance in sensing and intuitive as well as sequential and global.
I see myself leaning towards my own learning styles when I teach, which often leaves out students with other learning styles.  One solution I have found is using Prezi  Prezi provides written words that students can take notes on.  Then, under the notes, I attach a video that explains the written notes or gives an example of the written notes.  Also, when it comes to operating the cameras in class, I give each video group a camera to play with as well as a page from the manual to look at When it comes to editing projects, I teach them by looking up at a PowerPoint at first, then having them do hands on in groups at a time.  However, as the year goes on, some students will take over and edit projects for their group, leaving other kids who end the class not knowing anything beyond the basics of editing.  I know I will have to use the variety of learning styles to keep students engagds, especially the ones who are not engaging in editing projects.

I am hoping that this course will give me some tools to add to my toolbox as I continue to do my best to inspire student's creativity and technical skills in my video production and broadcasting class.