Prac
I thought I would blog a little about prac. It is nearing the end of my semester at uni, and I really think the thing I am going to miss most of all is my prac class.
It images like this, which to me, capture the essense of the class. It is so vibrant when the kids were enjoying learning and relating to the teacher. I am, on a teacher share (and composite) class. I think the thing I have hardest is working with two different teachers who have very different styles of teaching. It is good, in one sense, because I get to see a lot during my time at the school, but there are things which make me cringe.
I have really realised that it is important to me to really love teaching "my class" and to take interest in who they are, even if it means spending 5 minutes extra at the beginning of the day talking to little johnny who won his soccer game on the weekend!
Teacher's can have such a powerful impact on kids, I can see that from my own experiences at school, and I want it to be positive for my students. It is so important for kids to love to learn, and I feel priveliged to have the chance to educate them.
Jen
Some more thoughts..
I was thinking again about "What does it mean for me to be a teacher", and I started thinking about what do I think is the most important things for me to do when I teach.
I was talking to my co-operating teacher from prac about what she sees to be the most important thing when teaching, she said "boosting children's self esteem". So I've started to think ... how important is this?
Well, some of you may know that I teach flute to a number of primary school (and two high school) students. I have noticed during lessons that a few of my students seem to demote their playing all the time. For example I might ask them to play something and they'll look really downcast and say they can't. It made me think the following questions:
- do these students have low confidence in themselves?
- are they like this in everything?
- do people always put them down?
I was thinking that as a teacher it is really important for children to gain self esteem. So what if they aren't the best at something! Who cares if Bb harmonic minor isn't perfect one week (sorry for the music analogy)! And so I've started thinking about how can I encourage children to have confidence in their abilities? I'd be interested in your thoughts (that is if anyone reads this) - either on how can you help children gain confidence while still maintaining a balance of seeing them improve, or whether something else is significant in teaching. I think it is also important to make sure that teaching methods are varied so that the kids have a chance to learn in different ways.
I think that with self esteem that kids these days are really prone to being put down and are constantly fighting a battle with themselves to do better. The saying "we are our own judge", meaning that we judge ourselves the hardest is true - so do we as teachers really need to be down on kids who don't do their best all the time - or perhaps if we are we should make sure that we know why first.
So I guess in closing I can say that I do agree with my co-operating teacher in that it's really important to help kids value themselves particularly for later in life when they will need confidence in themselves to get through.
I thought I might leave you with a thought from Mr Holland's Opus. I was watching it yesterday and there is a young girl (Miss Lang) who learns the clarinet. She isn't very good and gets very upset because everyone else in her family excels in something except her. It is only when Mr Holland appeals to her own situation and helps her gain a love for learning that she actually progresses. I just thought that was cool. Sometimes kids don't seem to progress and perhaps it's our methods of teaching.
Jen.
Roles of the teacher
I was just doing my reading for professional experience 1 this week. Today's reading was about "Roles of the teacher" (Barry & King, 1998).
It had some interesting activities that it said you should write about in your journal. It also suggested that you keep a journal of your thoughts from when you start your degree to when you have been teaching for a few years so that you can see how you have changed etc. It referred to it as being 'a reflective teacher'.
In the first week of class we did an activity where we wrote down "why I want to be a teacher". Here are my reasons.
:: I enjoy working with children
:: I've always wanted to be a teacher
:: My mum is a teacher, and her experiences had a huge impact on my career choice
:: I have been involved in schools before I was old enough to be a pupil.
:: People told me not to be a teacher because I was bound to regret it. I want to prove to them that this is the thing for me.
:: My friends told me that I was so much like a teacher that it seemed natural for me to follow my dream
:: I want to use the gifts God has given me to teach.
I thought the next task I'll put in here was also very beneficial. I am going to list 10 qualities of a 'good' teacher that I deem most important.
1. An ability to help children gain confidence in themselves
2. Encouraging a positive learning environment
3. Being orgainised and careful in planning
4. Being creative and original/ aware of students needs
5. Being willing to learn!
6. Enthusiasm!
7. "Fair, firm and flexible" (Barry & King, 1998)
8. Caring and compassionate
9. Positive attitude to learning
10. Energetic
What do you think are important qualities for teachers? I'm interested.
I thought I should also indicate some of my practical experiences. I am on a year 2 and 3 composite and teacher share class. This class is cross-stage which is a challenge, but they are all lovely kids. One thing i noticed in the first week was the difficulty kids have calling me "Miss Yager" when their teachers are "Mrs"'s!!! Also Yager seemed a bit of a challenge.
I really am enjoying the kids, they have so much to offer, and I am learning more and more about teaching each week.
I don't want to make this entry too long, and I also have to go to bed. So signing off...
Miss Yager.
Hi again,
I thought I would post a little more about what I think I should write about in this...
I start on prac soon, and I think that I will write about reflections that come up based on my experiences there. Prac will be a fun and interesting experience for me (sorry got a little excited with HTML there...) and I think I will learn a lot about teaching and who knows, maybe it will turn me off the idea.
I also thought I might explain a little about why I want to be a teacher.
Ever since I was in kindy I have wanted to teach. My mum is a teacher and that always inspired me, and I guess it seemed natural to follow in her footsteps.
HAHA. How short was that. It's what I want to do so there you go.
I shall leave with a graphic....
Teaching Reflections
Hi everyone,
I decided that it would be worthwhile to make this blog during my years at uni. I can't promise to write every day, but I thought it would be useful to create some sort of weblog for my teaching reflections.
Well...
Uni has begun. For those of you who don't know I am doing a Bachelor of Education in Special Education at UTS (affectionately known as utes). It has been really good so far. I have discovered that it is a very career based course, as even on the first day I was bombarded with ideas for the classroom! I am excited by this as it's not all theory but practically based.
I start practical next week at a school located on the North Shore, quite near where I live. I have to prepare myself that it may not be like the primary school system I am used to, and I want to try and go in there without too many preconceived ideas.
I think that is probably enough to start me, so I shall dissapear now.
Your not quite yet a teacher friend
Jen
