Learning Teaching

As I look back on this semester, one thing I can say for sure is that I learned. A lot. This gives me both a view of the educational process from the inside, as a student, and from the outside, as a pre-service teacher. The way education works, in my experience, is that a certain general direction of inquiry proceeds from need, a pull in a direction, a goal, defined by a lack, a desire. When I take a step down that path, like taking this class, I cannot anticipate where the next step will be. Only the first. The rest is surprise, or composed of a certain percentage of surprise, as each step leads somewhere both outward into a world defined by a structure—like the education system—and inward, as I internalize the path, take steps toward becoming something I am not yet.

As a student of a teacher of adolescents, and a teacher of adults (at my college adjunct job), I have something and I want something. I love being in a position to learn. I can see vaguely where I want to go, and I feel a real need to find out, to try things, to internalize that role of teacher of adolescents, of kids. One of the most impressive things about this course has been hearing about the experiences of our instructor, Polly Emmons. The way she cares about students and her insistence on the role of Teacher as an identity that extends beyond the classroom, that follows us into the community, into our actions as members of a larger whole, with all the responsibility and promise of this role, has helped me begin to grasp some part of that which I seek to obtain. I want to be a professional, and not just a person state certified as something. There is a manner, a way of holding oneself, that I have seen teachers exhibit. I do not mean that they are possessors of knowledge, or arbiters of behavior or performance of students. There is something more, a confidence, a selflessness, a kind of proud humility, and an ability to be firm yet fair, strong yet yielding. This set of character traits does not allow room for egotistical self-consciousness, but demands self-awareness, to use the self as a tool of conveyance, a vehicle to teach with.

Our group was quite fun, actually. We found ourselves in some unexpected spots, with the skits and with the PowerPoint, but worked together as a group very well, I think. We all brought something different to the table. Joe had a strong interest in gauging behavior, and looked into statistics to flesh out the scope of our issue. Dan had a good set of observations to bring to bear, and the research he did for his paper earlier in the semester gave us some good ideas for the skits. He also wrote the basic outline of the skits and put together ppt slides to go along with them. For my part, I put together most of the ppt, adding some multimedia, and many quotes from experienced educators. I also added Joe’s information to the ppt.

When we worked together, we had a good rapport, and this helped us to work out the specifics of our delivery. Each of us contributed equally, I feel, which was a real advantage in getting all of our voices heard, and moving in a organic way to what we felt was the best way to present our topic. I must say, all the informal group work we did throughout the semester helped us feel more comfortable in small group collaboration.