Joshua Tabshy
Joshua Tabshy is a graduate student in the Master of Arts in Teaching program at Concordia University. He is currently completing his student teaching and pursuing his endorsements in Middle School/High School Social Studies and Language Arts. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in history with a minor in Criminal Justice from Portland State University. Josh has spent the last two years as a para-educator for Portland Public Schools, working one-on-one with autistic students. He has a passion for education, history, sports, and theater. He is a strong advocate for developing effective social studies standards and changing the way history is brought to life in the classroom.
As part of my student teaching experience, I am teaching a unit on world religions with a focus on the Abrahamic Faiths (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam). From this, we are narrowing in on the conflict in Israel and Palestine and examining conflict resolution. We are then exploring how this can be tied into Romeo and Juliet (the other unit I am teaching) and the feud between the Montagues and Capulets.
With that being said, I felt compelled to write about an experience I had while teaching this unit that I found to be unique to the type of school I am teaching at. During our examination of the beliefs and practices of the Abrahamic Faiths, I arranged a field trip for our class to visit the places of prayer and worship of these faiths. We visited a Jewish synagogue, Islamic mosque, and Eastern Orthodox Church, and religious leaders in each very graciously hosted us.
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Category: student achievement | No Comments »
Tags: charter schools, church and state, community learning, conflict resolution, field trips, Israel, Joshua Tabshy, Palestine, place-based learning, religion in the classroom
In reflecting on my practicum experience at the high school level, the one thing that stuck with me above all else did not involve grading, lesson plans, or even classroom management. It was something that went beyond the curriculum and beyond the standards. It was something that even in my relatively brief teaching career will forever change my own perception of myself as an educator. It was a connection. A connection between a teacher and his students, which, in turn, fostered a similar connection between the teacher and his students’ parents—a mutual respect that blossomed through the desire to go above and beyond.
As I sat in the classroom, anxiously awaiting my opportunity to sit-in on my first parent-teacher conference, a myriad of thoughts swirled through my mind. What if they ask me how their son is doing in class? “Why is my daughter scoring so low on your quizzes, and what are you going to do about it?” or “my Johnny is not being challenged in your class.” Granted, I was only observing, but what if? In reality, this was most likely going to be a fairly dull two hours with discussions about absences, missing assignments, and low test scores. I was sure there would also be highlights about aced quizzes, perfect attendance, and “what a joy Lucy is to have in class.”
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Category: parent involvement, student achievement, student success, teacher appreciation, teacher effectiveness, teaching strategies | No Comments »
Tags: Joshua Tabshy, parent teacher conferences
Maybe it was my own personal experiences in high school that jaded my opinion of the fascinating world of communism, socialism, and capitalism. I vaguely remember drone voices muttering things like, “private ownership of industry,” “classless society,” and “economic competition.” Although, when I was a freshman, those phrases only served to wake me from my third period nap.
I was less than a week into my full-time student teaching at my cooperating high school. I couldn’t afford to turn my freshman away so early in my teaching experience, especially if I expected it to be a successful month. As I scoured the internet, racked my brain, and flipped through my cooperating teacher’s lesson plans, searching for a way to teach my freshmen about Marx’s Theory of Communism; something caught my eye.
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Category: teaching strategies | 1 Comment »
Tags: communism, history lesson plans, Joshua Tabshy, lesson plans, socialism, Vladimir Lenin
