I enjoyed the playful reminiscing of the interviewees at the beginning of the video. The fact that even experts in the pedagogical field were neophytes at some point in their teaching career was comforting. Also, it was helpful to learn that there are so many different theories about pedagogy. I sometimes feel like my teaching style somehow doesn't fit the mold. However, this video made me feel like my style was valid. I think I'll take a note out of the Take 20 video and describe my first moments as a teacher.
(dissolve for dramatic effect)
I remember my first teaching experience. I was 20 years old in my sophomore year of college. The principal of my old high school asked me if I would like to start substitute teaching (probably at the behest of my mother who is a math teacher there). My experience in that first class can only be called "unique." Because I was an alumna, I knew most of the students there. The weirdness was compounded by the fact that my three younger siblings had not yet graduated from this institution. I had zero credibility as a teacher.
The process of learning how to be comfortable in the classroom was almost a harder lesson than how and what to teach. I felt like any minute I was going to be fired for doing something wrong or stupid. Finally, I learned how to exert my authority, what clothes to wear to emphasize power, what things to say to get kids under control, and what material to focus on to engage kids in the learning process. I taught at this particular school for five years. Because I could adapted to that institution's teaching style, I was able to substitute for longer periods of time. My typical job usually lasted anywhere from two weeks to an entire semester. During that time, I also learned how to specifically adapt to each individual teacher's pedagogy without fully compromising my own views about teaching.
Of course, the process seems to start over again at every new institution. Even after 4 years of experience, my first semester teaching at the TTU French department was terrifying. Perhaps it was because I was instructing my students in a mix of English and French, and perhaps it was because I had moved out of high school into the university sphere, but I again felt as if I were going to be fired at any moment for screwing everything up.
I can only hope that I will continue to be confident in my personal teaching methods while at the same time learning to adapt to the pedagogy preferred by my employers. The Take 20 video reminded me that teaching theories are varied and that everyone gets scared and feels inadequate at some point.
4 comments:
Okay, okay. I'm going back and correcting all the errors.
It's amazing your whole family, maybe except for your dad, was in the same school. How cool is that? It's like there's no lie that you can say "mom, I'll be late from work today. Don't wait me!" and go for a drink or something.
Anyway, I'm surprised and happy for you that you found the way to compromise your teaching style in your boundary. Sometimes I imagin what I can really do when I get to teach 1301 next year. Maybe it is better for green teachers like me to follow the exact syllabus and lesson plan, but I hope I could figure out at some point like you did.
If the commas serve as parentheses then the math here is correct. [(10/5) + 8] x 2 = 20.
But that's not the point of the post. Or maybe it is. In math, the placement of the parenthesis will determine rightness or wrongness. In writing, we could have a series of items with the comma left off before the final series or included and the meaning wouldn't change in most cases.
In both math and writing, however, there can be different styles of teaching. It would be interesting to watch a Take 20 video with math teachers as the speakers. I'm sure there would be lot of similarities in approaches even with the varying subject matter.
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