Greetings,
The primary reason for this post is to ‘turn in’ my final project for TE 302, the teacher education class that introduced me to the potential of using Blogs, collaborative writing program Writely, and Bloglines. Since I intend on using this blog after I leave the class, I intend to write on general topics, rather than class specific subjects, including who I am, or want to be, as a teacher, what the purpose of a school is, and what the role of literacy is.
In order to describe what type of teacher I want to become, I would first like to examine what makes for a good teacher, in my opinion. My perception of a good teacher is one that makes the classes interesting, makes effective use of the time restraints, and effectively conveys the information that is to be covered. My first qualification for a good teacher seems to me to be axiomatic in its explanation; however it might be more difficult to practically apply it. In history, I find the best way to make the more lackluster topics interesting is to use it to explain contemporary events or problems. Similarly, another good way of making mathematics more interesting is to relate it to, and give examples where one can find it in, real life. Another, more general, way to be interesting is to be, in general, excited when talking about, explaining, and asking questions. Enthusiasm for a subject is contagious and will make the class more intersecting as a whole.
Another aspect of a good teacher is the ability to effectively use time restraints. Our reading in the Weinstein text is especially helpful at illustrating this, as she breaks down the time mandated by the government, and then subtracts general distractions and obligations of the teacher, thus showing the reader that a teacher actually has a small fraction of the mandated time for educational purposed. Thus the time used for learning is a valuable and scarce resource. She suggests three ways to increasing student’s learning time: maintain activity flow, minimize transition time, and hold students accountable (Weinstein, 148). In order to maintain activity flow, Weinstein tells us to not return to topics that have been closed, and to not respond to “stimulus-bounded events” such as minor and inconsequential infractions, and to not dwell on topics or fragment directions (Weinstein, 148-9). To minimize transition time, Weinstein suggests that teachers establish a routine so that the students know what is expected of them, and notify the students of approaching transition times so that they will not be caught off-guard (Weinstein 152-154). Finally Weinstein suggests that by holding students accountable for the information, through communicating expectations for the assignment and requirements, and monitoring students’ progress. By clearly communicating what the students will be doing on their assignments, how long it will take, and how to get help, students will generally spend more time working on the assignment, rather than procrastinating through asking questions (Weinstein, 155). When a teacher holds the students accountable through monitoring students’ progress through a large project, the success rate and the quality of the work is greatly increased (Weinstein, 157).
The final property, efficiently explaining the material, is one in which I am the least qualified to talk about, because of my lack of instruction up to this point in my education. However, I have realized two aspects of this property while tutoring for this class, using the student’s vocabulary and staying consistent with explanation. I realized both of them as I would often attempt to explain concepts that I had been taught by a different teacher a long time ago. I would often use language that was not appropriate for conveying ideas to the 8th grade students. Also, since I was taught by a different teacher in a district that was very different, when I attempted to explain the material, I would explain it in a different manner, which, in some situations, created more problems than it solved. Thus, it is important to use ‘smaller’ words and set up one or two ways of solving a problem and maintaining that throughout the year.
In the end, I suppose that this is the sort of teacher I would like to become, an interesting but efficient teacher who makes the most of the time to cover the maximum amount of material effectively.
One might suggest that in order to become a good teacher, one must also be able to motivate unmotivated students. Weinstein suggests that motivation stems from an expectancy * value model, where if either expectancy or value is low, then the student’s motivation will be low (Weinstein, 173). Brophy states in her book that there are three types of unmotivated students, those who don’t value the material (Brophy, 307), those who do not expect that they can perform the assigned tasks (Brophy 55), and those who are do have low expectancy and find no value in the assigned work (Brophy 119). Although Brophy does a great job at explaining how students become unmotivated and provides several ‘real life’ examples on how to overcome the student’s lack of motivation to get through to the student to instruct him or her, I believe that if the class is efficient and interesting, motivation will come in due time. The students who expect that they will not be able to perform the material will be encouraged by the class atmosphere and the excitement that I want to bring to the classroom. From this they will also become excited and will attempt to do the work, and with sufficient scaffolding and smaller group education, they too will be able to perform the tasks that I set in front of them. For those students who are unmotivated because they find that the material will hold no value in their future will become motivated because the class is interesting and they will want to learn the material due to the intrinsic nature that interest inspires. In the end, however, debates as to what a ‘good’ teacher is, ultimately stems from what the purpose of what a school is designed to do.
To put it succinctly, I have decided that, to me, the purpose of a school, and ultimately a teacher, is to produce educated citizens that will contribute to the work force and society in general. In the Middle and High School settings, the students learn what is expected of them in terms of interpersonal relations, hierarchies, and society. Primarily in middle school, the students should learn how to resolve disputes independently and maintain friendships, which are interpersonal, as well as how to relate to those who are their superiors, such as teachers, parents, bosses, and administration. In high school, students continue to learn more about these relationships, but it is here that the students should also learn about and analyze what is expected from them in society.
Some may argue that schools maintain the status quo and therefore force minority students into the lower, stereotypical, positions in society. I would agree, to an extent, with that statement. Through lowered expectations and a tracking system, minority students are often misplaced into a track that they should not belong and through expectations; those students are expected to perform certain services or work certain types of jobs in the remainder of their lives. However, this does not have to always be the case. I believe that despite what track or if they belong to a minority, students need to learn how to think critically and be able to analyze information given to them.
With this, hopefully, they will be contribute to society, or even change those aspects of society that they dislike, by electing politicians that reflect their best interests, realizing what problems inherent in the system and being able to come to a logical conclusion that will lead to action to correct the problems that they identify. This I believe, is one of the primary purposes of secondary schooling, to educate students on how to identify injustices and then correct them peacefully. This does not mean, however, that we should neglect the traditional form of education, as in order to identify and correct injustices, one must also know where they come from, and be able understand the arguments that they would encounter as they attempt to change it.
Many people would argue that becoming literate would be a critical lynchpin to becoming a critical thinker, but what, exactly, does this word, literacy, mean. In TE 302, I was forced to think about what literacy was. Originally I believed, as most people did, that literacy was the ability to read and write words. Then, through the Tozer reading, my perception of what literacy changed. Tozer claims that there are four different types of literacy, conventional, functional, cultural, and critical literacy. Conventional literacy is the basic, most general definition, namely the ability to read and write (Tozer, 251). This, in retrospect, seems a very weak definition, as Tozer points out, because there is no ‘what’ involved. What can they read or write? Can they understand what is going on in a simple book? A more complex book? This form of literacy seems to be a requirement, but in the end not the proper type of literacy in order to function in today’s society.
The second type, Functional literacy, is more stringent, as it defines literacy as the ability to understand the most common activities, such as being able to write a check or fill out an envelope, to understanding instructions for taking medication or using chemicals (Tozer 253). Again, this is another type of literacy that I would hope that students will be able to do when they leave my classroom, however, I do not believe that this type of literacy will provide for the ability of the students to truly be able to make a difference in today’s society.
Cultural literacy seems as a good starting point for my plan, as Cultural literacy states that there are certain things that people need to know in order to truly understand what is going on in the world through newspapers, television, and other scripted sources (Tozer 255). Although I believe that E.D. Hirsch goes too far by making a list of things that people should know (Tozer 257). This sort of idea, that within a single cultural society, the scripted sources of news and information generally assumes that the readers know a great deal of information before reading, listening, or watching the article or episode. If my students do not know what is going on in the world, or have the ability to keep current with trends they will not be able to change or oppose trends that they find unjust or unfair.
The final type, Critical literacy, seems to align with my thoughts in some respects, although, again, taking it slightly too far in my opinion. Critical literacy states that through reading and education, people can become enlightened and overthrow the yoke of tyranny or oppression, but it could also lead people to become ‘brainwashed’ by those who produce the works that the rest read (Tozer, 260). This happened to many Indians under the British Raj, as they would claim that Britons were naturally good natured people who were here to help them, while ignoring events such as the Amritsar massacre. While it is key to make sure that one is not purely digesting propaganda by the ruling class, I do not think that it is as omnipresent as many of the critical literacy supporters might claim.
Right now, however, these are merely my theories, as influenced by one class. I would assume that my theories of what a ‘good’ teacher is, what the purpose of schooling, and what role literacy has in the process of education, are still prone to change, as it would be influenced by other readings, lectures, and other personal experience that affects each one of us.
Work Cited:
Tozer, S. E., & Willis, A. I. (1995). Liberty and literacy today: Contemporary perspectives. In S. E. Tozer, P. C. Violas & G. B. Senese (Eds.), School and society: Historical and contemporary perspectives (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Weinstein, C. S. (2003). Secondary Classroom Management: Lessons from research and practice (2nd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Brophy, J. (2004). Motivating students to learn (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
