Sarah Kushner

800 Fuller St Apt 03

Ann Arbor, MI 48104
sakush@umich.edu
German Teacher (734) 258 - 3358

Last edited 02. April 2021

Philosophy of Teaching and Learning

I believe all students are capable of great things and of mastering any new skill that they set their minds to. I
believe that students thrive in an environment where they feel safe, represented, and challenged to push
themselves and their preconceived limits. Students learn well from an effective teacher, but they learn more deeply
when surrounded by students who hold diverse perspectives and whose lived experiences are both similar to and
different from their own.

While student teaching in the beginning of Winter 2021 semester, there was an insurrection at the capital.
Teacher connections on social media and my peers from the University shared about how thankful their students
were that their teachers acknowledged the turmoil. In my middle school classroom, my mentor teacher and I
provided students with a Fred Rogers quote about finding the “helpers” around them -- the adults who keep them
safe -- when they see scary things on the news. Part of me wishes we had offered the students a chance to air their
concerns, but I am still grateful that we addressed it at all. When I was in high school, I am sure that some of the
teachers would not have said anything at all. Students deserve to learn about real, practical, and relevant topics
which affect their lives and/or the lives of their peers. To omit a topic entirely on the basis of perceived maturity, or
a lack thereof, is a disservice to students, as it is a way of pretending that they do not notice current events or are
not capable of understanding an idea. Within the German language, history, and culture, there are certainly
problematic features regarding prejudices and violence which should always be addressed. When presented with
age appropriate scaffolding, vocabulary, and framing, every topic is appropriate for students, and every student has
the right to learn about the things that they experience and notice in their daily lives.

Students also have a right to learn about the world beyond their front door and beyond the borders of their
home country. I believe that learning about other cultures by way of learning a new language is one of the best ways
to help students connect with the world around them and to navigate the incredibly diverse perspectives that folks
from around the globe -- and from around their neighborhoods -- hold. When students begin to understand that
their peers from around the world experience similar struggles to them, they will be interested in learning about
the different ways that these peers go about combatting those struggles. Authentic cultural content, whether that
content is centered around immigration or simply why a German server might not ask how your day is going, is
inseparable from world language instruction and it is absolutely consequential to the way students understand the
way that both the target language and their home languages function in the real world.

When I first went abroad to Switzerland -- despite being aware of Schwyyzerdüütsch as a concept -- I was
shocked to learn just how diverse and (for me) difficult to understand the language ended up being. Menus were
difficult to read, and I found myself looking for Hochdeutsch and/or English translations if I was in a pinch. I
stressed over the possibility that, on a solo-trip to Europa Park, I might not understand where to find the bus that I
rode to get there at the end of the day because the driver hailed from Bern (a city with a different regional dialect to
that of Basel, where I was living at the time). Students have a right to learn using materials that they are likely to
encounter in their daily lives. Many world languages classrooms compartmentalize grammar and vocabulary in
distinct lists and present students with texts written with language learners as the specifically intended audience.
 Sarah Kushner
800 Fuller St Apt 03
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
sakush@umich.edu
German Teacher (734) 258 - 3358

While these resources centering academic, written Hochdeutsch were helpful to my learning, I believe it is more
effective to present students with authentic resources that are targeted towards native speakers of a language, so
students can begin to understand how people in cultures which speak the class’s target language actually interact
with and use their languages on a daily basis. Aiming for 90-95% target language use in each and every lesson that
I design helps students experience the language in a more immersive and authentic way. Similarly, I believe that
texts which contain regional dialects ought to be included with as little editing as possible because this is how
students would likely encounter language within the target culture -- in a regional dialect. Languages are living
constructs -- they change with the people who use them -- and regional or cultural variations should be celebrated
within a world languages classroom.

I have noticed through my studies of German and through consultation with colleagues who have learned other
languages in an academic setting that World Languages classrooms also tend to be rather Eurocentric, focusing on
one or two language regions at most, when any one language could be spoken all over the world with its own
regional differences. World languages should not work to perpetuate the idea of European societal superiority.
World language is in a unique position as a subject, in that it can frame difference and diversity as an important and
normal part of life, which will help students to develop a mindset through which they can fight hate and prejudice.
We must strive to open our minds and our idea of “normal” to include ideas and perspectives with which we are
unfamiliar, and we ought to teach our children to do the same.