Week 1: The Beginning of the Quarter

This first entry is going to be a little bit of everything. With the start of a new quarter and going back to work after winter break, there are a few things that have popped into my head that I thought would be good to write about.

First is work. I am an instructional assistant in a 1^st grade class at a private school. Towards the end of winter break I was feeling like I didn’t want to go back to work – mainly because I enjoyed all the extra sleep I was getting! However, the minute my students stepped into the classroom that Monday morning, I realized that I had the best job in the world! How many people can truly say that the LOVE their job? I LOVE my job! Teaching really makes me happy. It is hard to put into words exactly what it is I love about teaching, but I am going to try. I love helping students learn something new. There is a light bulb moment when you can see that they understand and then they are off and running! I enjoy hearing them ask genuine questions about a topic. A 6- or 7-year olds’ curiosity seems to be never ending. They just brighten my day everyday with the amazing things they say and do.

January also began with new classes at UWB. I was pleasantly surprised on Thursday night when we talked about things in class that I hadn’t already covered at NYU. We watched a short video about the history of education (one of our readings was also on this subject). I had no idea that public education started so long ago and was based on preparing students to be politicians. The chapter we read this week also talked about how the purpose high school today is to prepare students for entry-level jobs. What about preparing students to go to college? Even most entry-level jobs today require a college degree.

Now for a complete change of subject: the Ayers book was better than I was expecting. I guess I was expecting a boring text book rather than a book with little stories interspersed throughout. At first I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to feel about the book. Was I supposed to agree with everything he said or be extremely skeptical and mentally argue with him? As it turns out, I ended up agreeing with many of the arguments he makes.

Mr. Ayers did such a good job of addressing many different sides of teaching. He talked about how teaching is a list of many different duties, how devalued the teaching profession has become, and the many myths about teaching. I really enjoyed his thoughts about becoming a good teacher. He says that there is no way to become a good teacher unless you go through the process of being a new teacher. New teachers are not as respected as more experienced teachers but I think they should be. Just because new teachers haven’t been teaching as long doesn’t mean they are any less worthy of being a teacher. It takes time to gain all the skills necessary to be a good teacher, none of which are learned in classes. In my experience so far, all the helpful things I have learned about teaching I have learned in the classroom. The theory and everything else we get in classes is definitely helpful, but I never fully understood any of it until I was actually working with the students.

Another point he made that I agree with 100% is that, “…a major obstacle on the pathway to teaching is the notion that teaching is technical, that it is easily learned, simply assessed, and quickly remediated” (10). I have come across this belief many times being from a theatre background. There is the general belief floating around the theatre community that “those who can’t do, teach”. I have had people broach that subject with me and I try to explain that I actually CHOSE teaching theatre over performing! Every time they are shocked that I would make the conscious decision to go into teaching. Most people don’t realize all the effort that goes into learning how to teach. However, I also think it’s true that teachers are born to teach. As Ayers says, it takes a truly special person to want a career where they are over-worked and under-paid, as the saying goes.

I really liked all the myths he talked about as well, but my favorite one was Myth 4: Good Teachers Always Know the Materials. I laughed out loud when I read this one! I think he is spot on. I tell my students all the time that I don’t know the answer to something and then we find out the answer together. When students get the opportunity to see their teacher learning right along with them, it creates such an engaging environment. It also sets the great example that it’s OK to not know the answer to something! The school where I work consists of 200 or 300 budding perfectionists. I think it is a great example for them to see me and their teacher looking up answers to questions right along with them.

I am excited for the rest of this quarter! I hope that I learn some new things about teaching and about myself as a teacher now that I am in different place in my life. I feel very prepared to begin trying out everything I have learned.