Now that this experience is over, how have you become (or not become) a "teacher"? Did you find that identity? Bond with that identity? Refute that identity? Use this space to unpack your final thoughts on your student teaching experience.
Through this student teaching experience I have realised that there exists major difference between my expectations and student expectations. I had to do some research to expore this area more. “The gap in expectations between teachers and students in the classroom appears to be widening.” I was immediately drawn to this article based on several conversations I have had with my cooperating teacher and my university supervisor. Ms. Brettnacher is in her 60s and has had the experience of seeing several generations of not only teachers but student teachers pass through her classroom. Ms. Brettnacher and I have often talked about the differenece in entitlement between ages but also between different cultures. I had huge paradigm shifts this semester when I realized that just because students might have adult bodies, and deal with adult problems (such as pregnancy), that do not mean that they are adults. Most of the students (and I have all seniors in high school) are used to having their “hands held.” Most of the time. Students resent having their hands held, but when faced with unfamiliar or perceived difficulty situations the students demand this “hand holding.” Sometimes “hand holding” turns into a nightmarish game of tug-o-war. “When students feel “forced” to do work, this breaches their sense of entitlement in such a way that they become resistant rather than self-aware.” I do not want to cripple my students in my attempts to educate them. Unfortunately, I have no remedy for this situation other than reflection upon my actions and immediate tailoring situations. I belive this is the reason why Purdue University Education Classes stress the importance of reflective writing. It helps sort out one’s thoughts in a logical manner. Then one is able to go through one’s thoughts, pull out the logical fallacies, and correct one’s thinking. The responsibility of being responsible for so many young people is rather daunting and yet encouraging because I see the potential in having a positive influence on a large scale. I implemented these ideas into my classroom by creating a writing prompt that asked “What is the responsibility of the teacher?” I received student’s responces and found out where their paradigms were. Then, the next class period I prompted “What is the responsibility of the student?” After I was able to read these, and pull out the good points and logical fallacies into a power point, as a class we studied (anomalously) the student’s arguments. I was surprised to see in class discussion just how many students, some of them my quieter groups, defend the rights of a teacher, without me saying anything. This reiterated in my mind that I should not generalize. That is not fair to the students who do really want an education and are not quite so affected by the entitlement era. With the help of a teacher that I highly respect, I created a behavior assignemnt. This Behavior Assignment “forces” students to reflect on their own behavior, just as Purdue has taught me to do with mine. In conclusion, I found this article to be very beneficial to my student teaching experience and my own personal teaching philosophy. I have raised my level of awareness on where my students are coming from (or not coming from). I have also used what I have learned in a real life classroom scenario. I think I have made an omelet. It’s not gourmet, but it is at least recognizable. I will continue to practice and revise my methods by using the reflection tools that I have learned from Purdue University. I hope to arm my students with these same tools as well.
When I began student teaching, I was terrified of teaching, but luckily I have found that I am a lot stronger than I thought I was. I feel now that I am a lot more confident in the classroom, and I think I have learned so much about myself and what kind of classroom I want to have. Without even really realizing it, I found myself becoming a facilitator in the classroom. Since I have always disliked lecturing and "talking at" the students, I tried to create an atmosphere that allowed for student thoughts and opinions. There were times when I lectured, but I also feel that we spent a lot of time talking about our thoughts on the characters' actions, the plot, and other aspects of our novel. One aspect of this type of classroom that I struggled with was knowing how to let students know when it was "their time" and when it was "my time." I had to learn how to let students know that sometimes it was my time to instruct them. This type of classroom became routine, and I found that many other activities also became routine in my class. I found myself being constantly drawn to the use of drawing and artwork to demonstrate understanding. I liked using the coat of arms project with my sophomores, as well as mock social profiles with my freshmen students. Of course, I had to make sure that I didn't use projects like this too often, since some students did not appreciate using art work to show their understanding. Towards the end of my unit, I tried implementing more activities that allowed for students to choose how to demonstrate their understanding. In another effort to allow students to have a say in the class, I also asked students to evaluate the class several times over the semester. Much of the feedback was positive, and any criticism I received really did help me to improve the class. The students actually gave me some really good ideas! Overall, I think I have become the kind of teacher that likes to let her students know that the classroom is a "shared" space, where the teacher and the students have to work together to determine what is important.
Through this student teaching experience I have realised that there exists major difference between my expectations and student expectations. I had to do some research to expore this area more. “The gap in expectations between teachers and students in the classroom appears to be widening.” I was immediately drawn to this article based on several conversations I have had with my cooperating teacher and my university supervisor. Ms. Brettnacher is in her 60s and has had the experience of seeing several generations of not only teachers but student teachers pass through her classroom. Ms. Brettnacher and I have often talked about the differenece in entitlement between ages but also between different cultures.
ReplyDeleteI had huge paradigm shifts this semester when I realized that just because students might have adult bodies, and deal with adult problems (such as pregnancy), that do not mean that they are adults. Most of the students (and I have all seniors in high school) are used to having their “hands held.” Most of the time. Students resent having their hands held, but when faced with unfamiliar or perceived difficulty situations the students demand this “hand holding.”
Sometimes “hand holding” turns into a nightmarish game of tug-o-war. “When students feel “forced” to do work, this breaches their sense of entitlement in such a way that they become resistant rather than self-aware.” I do not want to cripple my students in my attempts to educate them. Unfortunately, I have no remedy for this situation other than reflection upon my actions and immediate tailoring situations. I belive this is the reason why Purdue University Education Classes stress the importance of reflective writing. It helps sort out one’s thoughts in a logical manner. Then one is able to go through one’s thoughts, pull out the logical fallacies, and correct one’s thinking. The responsibility of being responsible for so many young people is rather daunting and yet encouraging because I see the potential in having a positive influence on a large scale.
I implemented these ideas into my classroom by creating a writing prompt that asked “What is the responsibility of the teacher?” I received student’s responces and found out where their paradigms were. Then, the next class period I prompted “What is the responsibility of the student?” After I was able to read these, and pull out the good points and logical fallacies into a power point, as a class we studied (anomalously) the student’s arguments. I was surprised to see in class discussion just how many students, some of them my quieter groups, defend the rights of a teacher, without me saying anything. This reiterated in my mind that I should not generalize. That is not fair to the students who do really want an education and are not quite so affected by the entitlement era.
With the help of a teacher that I highly respect, I created a behavior assignemnt. This Behavior Assignment “forces” students to reflect on their own behavior, just as Purdue has taught me to do with mine.
In conclusion, I found this article to be very beneficial to my student teaching experience and my own personal teaching philosophy. I have raised my level of awareness on where my students are coming from (or not coming from). I have also used what I have learned in a real life classroom scenario. I think I have made an omelet. It’s not gourmet, but it is at least recognizable. I will continue to practice and revise my methods by using the reflection tools that I have learned from Purdue University. I hope to arm my students with these same tools as well.
When I began student teaching, I was terrified of teaching, but luckily I have found that I am a lot stronger than I thought I was. I feel now that I am a lot more confident in the classroom, and I think I have learned so much about myself and what kind of classroom I want to have.
ReplyDeleteWithout even really realizing it, I found myself becoming a facilitator in the classroom. Since I have always disliked lecturing and "talking at" the students, I tried to create an atmosphere that allowed for student thoughts and opinions. There were times when I lectured, but I also feel that we spent a lot of time talking about our thoughts on the characters' actions, the plot, and other aspects of our novel. One aspect of this type of classroom that I struggled with was knowing how to let students know when it was "their time" and when it was "my time." I had to learn how to let students know that sometimes it was my time to instruct them.
This type of classroom became routine, and I found that many other activities also became routine in my class. I found myself being constantly drawn to the use of drawing and artwork to demonstrate understanding. I liked using the coat of arms project with my sophomores, as well as mock social profiles with my freshmen students. Of course, I had to make sure that I didn't use projects like this too often, since some students did not appreciate using art work to show their understanding. Towards the end of my unit, I tried implementing more activities that allowed for students to choose how to demonstrate their understanding.
In another effort to allow students to have a say in the class, I also asked students to evaluate the class several times over the semester. Much of the feedback was positive, and any criticism I received really did help me to improve the class. The students actually gave me some really good ideas!
Overall, I think I have become the kind of teacher that likes to let her students know that the classroom is a "shared" space, where the teacher and the students have to work together to determine what is important.