There’s no hiding in Aaron Machado’s English class at Brownell
Middle School. When he pulls out his
”
deck of doom,
”
it’s every man for himself.
There’s no hiding in Aaron Machado’s English class at Brownell Middle School. When he pulls out his “deck of doom,” it’s every man for himself.
Unlike typical classes, where the same students raise their hands and get called on time and again, Machado takes a different approach. He keeps a stack of white index cards for each of his classes, with one student’s name written on each card. After posing a question, Machado allows the query to linger and encourages students to discuss the question with their neighbor. After giving them a sufficient amount of time to stew, he draws a name from his deck.
The index cards “keep them honest,” he said. “I don’t want to rely on volunteers. It would be the same five students all the time.”
What Brownell Principal Greg Camacho-Light describes as Machado’s “Socratic way of teaching” landed the teacher among five educators in the running for a $10,000 prize for Brownell through the 2010 All-Star Teacher Award, a contest staged by Comcast SportsNet. The contest recognizes middle and high school teachers in Northern and Central California “for their extraordinary dedication to their students in school and in the community,” according to a Comcast representative.
“What a fantastic teacher who has really touched his community,” said Jay dela Cruz, a communications manager with Comcast, of Machado.
Members of the public can vote for their favorite finalist online until July 9. The winner of the contest will be announced July 28 on home plate at AT&T Park prior to the San Francisco Giants-Florida Marlins game.
“I was blindsided when I heard about it,” Machado said. “I had no idea this contest even existed.”
If he wins, Machado will buy Brownell document cameras – a device that allows teachers to project a document onto a screen without the complicated laminating process required by an overhead projector.
“I can’t imagine a more powerful teaching tool,” Machado said.
The camera would allow Machado to collect homework and immediately critique it in front of the class.
“It’s brilliant,” he said. “It would transform my classroom. If I can get that, I’d be very, very happy.”
The initiative of one of Brownell’s best students, Kylie Robinson, landed Machado a spot in the running, Camacho-Light said. In her letter to Comcast, Robinson wrote, “I cannot even begin to express how much I have learned in his class, and I would take his class ten times over if I could. Being in his class is one of the most impactful experiences of my middle school life, and will probably be one of the best times of my whole educational experience.”
Robinson’s essay exemplifies many of the goals Machado said he’s hoping to reach in his classroom.
“I want these kids to have read a mountain of different stuff,” Machado said. “I want them to know 100 percent more than what they came in knowing. I want to foster a healthy skepticism. I want to help create critical thinkers.”
One way of doing this is to create memorable learning experiences the students will keep with them far after they leave Machado’s class. After his class finished reading “Red Scarf Girl” by Jiang Ji Li, Machado took 80 students to San Francisco for a private meeting with the author. The students had lunch with the author at a fancy Chinatown restaurant, an “out-of-the-box” experience many will never forget, Robinson wrote.
“They got to live part of the adventure described in the book they were reading,” Camacho-Light said. “The kids got a better and stronger connection with the subject material.”
For all Machado’s success in the classroom, 39-year-old Hollister resident didn’t always have a passion for schooling, he said.
“Ironically, I hated college,” he said. “I was essentially a functioning illiterate until the time I was 18.”
After dropping out of high school, Machado earned his GED and enrolled in a junior college, where he had to take several remedial courses.
“I wasn’t a good reader or writer,” he said.
It took him six years to earn his bachelor’s degree. After graduating, he spent two years teaching English in Japan before returning home. Because there weren’t many good job prospects, he took up substitute teaching.
“If I’m going to do this, I might as well do it full on,” he remembered thinking.
Two years later, Machado had earned his teaching credential and the rest is history.
“I’ve always found Aaron to be a very passionate, intense teacher,” Camacho-Light said. “He doesn’t let the kids off the hook. He questions their answers. He gets the kids to think deeper.”
