Jack Anderson

Dr. Scheurell
January 20th 2013
Reflection Paper
After getting back to Dubuque I was asked a lot about my trip to Chicago, and how much
fun I had on it. I told them the funny moments with the kids and with my classmates. I was also
asked about the trip and the experiences I had, I told them all the same thing, the trip was life
changing. Growing up in a suburb of Milwaukee, poverty was the last thing on Germantown
citizens minds, well at least that, and speaking English. In Chicago it was the exact opposite,
poverty and a new language was a challenged for these kids every day. This trip affected me
greatly because of the challenges I tried to overcome, and my view of teaching has changed.
In the line of work of teaching every day is a new experience, because each student is
different. Some students are very easy to teach information to; others are much more difficult to
teach. What I have learned because of this experience is to embrace these challenges. I have
learned to try my hardest for the kid, and if I struggle use the struggles that I have endured to
become a better teacher. Already because of our trip I have had struggles teaching information to
students. On our first day of tutoring at Casa Juan Diego, I was asked to help out young ladies
math homework. This task was harder than it seemed because I was not very familiar with
multiplying fractions. The student was also very distracted by a young boy who was interrupting
us periodically throughout our tutoring session. Probably more than ten times I had to comfort
her about not paying attention to what I was helping her with. However, as soon as the young
boy left to do some more fun activities she was focus on her math so she could play with him.

Looking back on it, I should of stop the interruptions right away and asked the boy to leave. The
second challenged I had with this student was that I was not an expert on the subject we were
working on. Multiplying fractions was something I struggled with in high school and the stuff I
knew was hard to remember. The girl could easily see that I was struggling which made our
teacher to student relationship a little tainted because she felt I was not credible. Looking back
on this I found out that when I am helping out a student I need to be refreshed in the information,
before I start helping the student out.
My view on the profession of teaching has changed greatly due to the experience of
going to Chicago for a week. Having a father who was a teacher, I always had a great deal of
respect for teachers growing up. I also believed that teachers did influence some students lives.
However, going to Washington High school my respect and admiration for teachers was beyond
measureable. First, Mr. Seaquest having such a positive attitude of his school and of the kids was
amazing. Even though, their ACT scores were very low, and violence was a big problem. Even
his thoughts on sports were positive even though, fans are not allowed to come watch the games.
His love for his students was obvious and learning about how he is in Special Education who by
law is supposed to have a limit on students in a classroom, and he has to deal with so many at
one time is heroic. I was then asked to go a Social Studies class where I met the Human
Geography teacher. She was a five feet, four inches white woman who had full control of her
class. The class was part of the honors program at the school, but it still was full of trouble
makers. Even with the trouble makers she controlled her classroom, by having rules like if a
student came late they needed to do twenty pushups before sitting down. When asked about her
discipline rules she said I take no Shit! This stunned me, her ability to have such control of
these kids but giving them room to be themselves was admirable. I then finished my day with at

Washington High with Mr. Bennett who was a crazy teacher. He was all over the place, but had
so much love for his work and students. His love for English made the curriculum fun and
entertaining, but his love for his kids made his curriculum challenging and educational. The
number one thing I learned from Mr. Bennett was that you need to have balance between
discipline and friendship with students. He said it was a struggle of having a relationship where
I can relate to them, but I also need to be strict enough to keep order. He also said experience is
the best way to figure this relationship out, and after three years he still struggles with it and
learns from every class how to be a better teacher. My view for teaching has changed because I
have learned not everyone can be a teacher because of their love for students and their
profession.
I believed I learned an amazing amount about teaching before going to Chicago. Going to
Marshall elementary in Dubuque was a great experience by itself. I have learned there is a
student in every environment, and every school that needs help. No matter what race, class or
language there is at least one student who needs help in a school. I met Sam in my week and she
loved doing homework and activities with me. She was very distracted with the idea of hanging
out with me, which caused problems when the after school leader led her discussions early on in
the day. When we were matched up I learned all of her favorite colors, games and we had a lot of
fun with her homework. Sam was very smart and usually needed little amount of help from me. I
also learned from Sam some other information, which made me really see how a teacher can
influence a student. Sams mom and dad were separated (maybe even divorced) and her mom
was pregnant with other kid. Sams mom did not have this kid with the same dad as Sam. Sam
was innocent about the whole thing, she was just so happy to have a sister or brother. However,
stories that Sam told me, were very sad and disheartening how she a third grader and such a

rough household early on in her life. I truly believe I made a difference in her life for the week I
was there and she made a difference in mine.
There are so many Catholic Social teachings related to our experience in Dubuque and
Chicago. However, my topic for my PowerPoint is low socio-economic status students, so I am
going to use Preferential Option for the Poor to show how this trip relates to Catholic Social
teaching. This teaching says The common good and human dignity require particular to the
plight of those who are weak, vulnerable, powerless, and most in need. Helping out the poor
and vulnerable is a very big deal in the Catholic Church. I believe the most successful way of
doing this is by educating the poor. If the poor are smarter the more likely they will succeed. The
smarter they are they will make better choices and have more opportunities to live lives not full
of addiction of drugs and alcohol. The teaching also says We judge society by looking at the
condition of those at its margins rather than those who enjoy wealth, status and power. The
students struggling in the inner city, living a life in poverty are the ones who will make our
country more or less successful than last generation. It is the teachers job to try their hardest to
give the best opportunity to do so.
This trip affected me greatly because of the challenges I tried to overcome, and my view
of teaching has changed. What made this trip so great is because I learned so much in the
classrooms in Chicago and expressed them in this paper. The reason why the trip was so great is
because this was just half the day for us, and I did not even express the lessons I learned at
PODAR and at St. Procopius with Makita.