Experience & Inspiration
Along with her Theatre Arts degree, Sara Bunge graduated in May of 2024 from Loyola Marymount University with her Multiple Subjects Teaching Credential. During her time as a School of Education student, Sara had countless enriching opportunities between being a part-time student teacher in a third grade classroom, to eventually becoming a full time student teacher in a sixth grade classroom. These opportunities have given Sara the skills and confidence necessary to catapult her into her current positions-- working at Ocean Charter School as the Intervention Teacher for Grades 6 through 8, teaching Musical Theatre to first and second grade students at WISH Charter, and being both a private tutor as well as working with the Gravity Assist Tutoring team.
Sara feels overwhelming privilege to be able to say that educators throughout her life have been the primary vehicles for the culmination of her many passions, inspirations, and successes. She has now had several glimpses at the reality that being a teacher is no small feat, but she is determined to continue in the profession in an attempt to give to future generations what she was able to receive. Recently, Sara has become particularly interested in advocating for accessible and pragmatic sex and special education, as well as the implementation and proper funding for music and arts programs across all grades. Being surrounded by a variety of different students, fellow teachers, and mentors, Sara is committed to using these experiences and resources to work towards learning and growing pedagogically and even starting her own school.
Vision & Intentions
Author, professor, feminist, and social activist, bell hooks, focuses her work on the interconnectivity of race, capitalism, and gender, and how these systems produce and perpetuate greater systems of oppression and class domination. When it comes to education, bell hooks' emphasis on transformative learning, critical thinking, and the importance of engaging students as active participants in their own education has been a driving force for Sara in the classroom as she advocates for an educational setting that promotes a sense of freedom and encourages students to challenge the status quo. Compounded with advocacy and freedom, however, must be care. Nel Noddings, an American educator and philosopher, argues that education should be based upon care. When mutual respect and empathy are at the heart of educational practices, we are able to catch a glimpse at what it might look like if we are able to strip away the suffocating and imprisoning systems and practices existing within current educational structures.
As Sara has seen while working at schools such as Marina Del Rey Middle School, Ocean Charter, and Charnock Elementary, these practices are glimmering in theory, but take serious grit, problem solving, determination, and work ethic to put into action. In an attempt to put these theories into academic practice throughout her years of teaching, Sara has dedicated a great deal of her time to creating lessons and assessments that are not only accessible to all learners, but also properly showcase student learning across the board.
Application- Creating a Just & Effective Classroom
Through Sara's training and experience in the elementary classrooms, during instruction at LMU, and as a Project PEARLL Scholar where she participated in a national professional development grant and worked alongside teachers who were implementing the SEAL model, she has a vast knowledge of practices in differentiating instruction and creating and using effective assessment to inform instruction. When it comes to differentiation, Sara has found technology can be her best friend as she teaches a class comprised of English Learners, students with IEPs and learning differences, GATE students, and everyone in between. She has also found that allowing students to choose their means to assessment has greatly improved student engagement and motivation. She looks forward to continuing her pursuit in the world of education as she stays curious, keeps her mind open to learn, and works to inspire both herself and others.