Tuesday, July 15, 2008
"Engaging Minds" Reflections
The "Engaging Minds" article mentions that too much stress has been placed on learning "how to do things, not learning why" and the focus has been on "knowledge, not wisdom". Later in the article, they discuss lesson plans and what constitutes, in their view, a good lesson plan. The article argues that a constructive, useful lesson plan has to do not so much with "filling a template" but with "wrapping a particular topic around a particular group of learners". They refer to this as planned versus prepared. The former being the template and the latter more flexible to circumstances and unpredictability in the classroom environment. I linked these two ideas together and came up with the idea that planned = knowledge and prepared = wisdom. My question is how we, as beginner teachers, begin to prepare for this kind of learning and instructing in the classroom. It is our role to initiate life long learning in the classroom and the article states that "to be inventive in their pedagogies, teachers must be skilled with the forms that they intend to use", so as we develop these skills over time, are we unable to teach to our fullest ability? The article also advises beginner teachers to seek advice from more experienced teachers (interesting section on "copying"), but what if you don't like the advice you are given? This article really got me thinking and I hope we can have a meaningful discussion about some more of the topics.
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4 comments:
I found this chapter interesting, but also don't think that I fully understand it and its implications on teaching.
I think that when it speaks of teachers being skilled in the forms that they use, it means that they must be familiar with what they are teaching, or the activity through which they are teaching. In this case, the "how" of working on a farm, hence the participation of knowledgeable community members.
This article made me think of something called "pedagogie par projet" (Project-based approach/learning). The main idea is to use a larger project (normally in groups of students) as a means to explore curriculum and to reach learning objectives. This allows a more meaningful context to be created for the students. It also places the students at the center of their own discovery and quest for knowledge and understanding. If you are interested, I found a website that provides a brief overview. The address is below.
http://www.gsn.org/web/pbl/pblintro.htm
With regards to the advice of more experienced teachers, I think this is one of the best resources we can refer to as teacher candidates. However, it is not necessary that we always follow it. We must develope our own approach to teaching, what we like best, what we are comfortable with. So in observing and seeking advice from others, I think it is important to question what is being done or suggested and see how much of it we can apply, or adapt and apply, to the learning environment and professional relationships that we wish to develop in our classrooms.
I think as begginner teachers we will have our hands full grapsing the concepts of how we are going to teach rather than what.
When we begin to teach we may want to try new things, or trial and error our ideas with classes; however, I personally would not want to rock the boat until I had a couple years in.
Finding what's acceptable to administration through communication would be paramount to success.
I agree that this portion in "Engaging Minds" was great because it questions how prepared we will be in our future classrooms. It is a challenge to consider carefully. In response to your question if you had asked for advice from an experienced teacher, I would truthfully follow the advice as a survival mechanism in my first year of teaching. The first few years will be a time where we will be continually learning about how to prepare ourselves,and discovering again and again how youth interact in the learning environment. In reality we will never be perfect, but we will learn through more years in the classroom how to adapt to different scenarios. Maybe as new teachers we can prepare for our classes by being flexible in our teaching "techniques" by looking at different ways to teach a unit in biology. If the students do not response positively to one method, try another. I hope this helps. Does anyone else have anything to add?
The question raised about accepting or not accepting advice from a more experienced teacher is an interesting one. As a new teacher, trying to make connections in the school community, I don't want to be contradictory towards my mentor teachers. I'm hoping that, regardless of whether my sponsor teacher and I mesh personally or professionally, I will be able to learn a great deal from the situation. I realize as well that there many people within the school that I'll be able to 'copy' from and model my own teaching methods on. There is much to be learned and even if I don't initially agree with the advice given from a more experienced teacher, I understand that they have a broader perspective and may have good reason for thinking a certain way. I think it will take a great deal of time before I have a well-established teaching philosophy, and until then I will rely heavily on the experience of others.
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