EDH 7326
Reflection Week 5 Denise Donahue I continue to be amazed at the synchronicity of what’s being taught in this course and the experiences I’m having as a PRT. I had a discouraging week in instructional planning, with a student telling me she is having difficulty focusing and learning, because she is not interested in the content. I am trying hard to make the class as engaging as possible, but the content is the content. I am astounded that a pre service teacher would not be interested in learning about curriculum and planning, but apparently it’s not everyone’s greatest desire. I had another student ask me in class why they need to learn how to write a lesson plan when everything is scripted for them. All they do is follow the outline presented. I had to admit that this was a good point and worth thinking about. These two issues have been on my mind. Then, I read the Fuller article, and there it is. The very first sentence. “The motivation of the learner is generally conceded to influence his learning.” (Fuller, 2010). Of course I know this, but the outline provided by Professor Fuller brings it all into perspective. The new information has to be set into a contextual framework, and has to be valuable to the learner. Without this, learning will be difficult. So I continue to wonder, how can I frame the information I present in a way that appeals to my students? How can I show them the value in knowing the content? How can I appeal to their desire to become the best teacher possible, in order for them to be the best student possible in EDE 4301 and beyond? Fuller shares some of these same wonderings. “Do students become more interested and involved when course content has been selected according to surveyed concerns than when content is selected without regard to concerns?” (Fuller, 2010) I was honestly very surprised at what Fuller wrote regarding education courses. “Education courses are admittedly not regarded as the most interesting on the campus. In some quarters they are even held in contempt. They 'take' less well than educators would wish and attrition is high.” (Fuller, 2010 Burns, Jacobs and Yendol-Hoppey also concur, citing research by Beck & Kosnik, “Clinical experiences in teacher preparation continue to be held in low regard by schools and colleges of education (Beck & Kosnik, 2002; Hoover, O’Shea, & Carroll, 1988). I was not aware of this perception, and I felt a bit discouraged to read it. I value the education courses I teach and take, and find it disheartening to find that others do not. I wonder how many of my students share this view. I was not surprised, however, that more mature or experienced students found the education courses more valuable. They just don’t know yet about the nuances of educational philosophy and curriculum planning. They just want bare bones. What do we have to do, and how can we do it easily. Tell me what to do. They don’t want to change the world, they just want to get out there and get to it. Fuller goes on to talk about the discrepancy between what pre-service and early in-service teachers are most concerned about, in comparison to what is taught in their university courses. This is something that certainly should be reconciled, to address their needs. The Burns, Jacobs, Yendol-Hoppey article (under review) focuses on the lack of coherency in programs which prepare in-service teachers, the split in opinion about this process, and an examination of the literature written since the ideas behind professional development schools (PDS) have been focused on and implemented. They found five areas of particular commonality when looking at the role of the supervisor working with PSTs. These are: “(1) Direct Assistance, (2) Individual Support, (3) Group Development, (4) Curriculum Support, and (5) Research and Innovation.” (Burns, Jacobs & Yendol-Hoppey, under review). I found it interesting that the article says, “The cultural tasks include facilitating change, addressing diversity, and building community”. Having taught a class with Dr. Burns as the course lead, and observing her emphasis on these ideas in our planning meetings, I was able to align my own experiences with the course readings and research presented. On a personal note, I’m glad our university decided to call our position a partnership resource teacher, instead of a “boundary spanner”. I think the term hybrid educator would also be a good fit, as the responsibilities involved are definitely a hybrid of many roles. I found it very reassuring to note that in the study, PSTs experienced a great deal of stress at the beginning of their jobs, but this stress declined as time went on, with the support of their supervisor. I feel as if my current supervisor offers a great deal of support and I hope that my level of stress will eventually decline as well.
3 Comments
2/4/2015 11:11:59 pm
So, do your preservice teachers want to be robots?
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Tracy Wulf
2/5/2015 09:41:24 pm
I can't tell you how many times I have heard the comment about the scripted lesson plans. It is very challenging to teach the planning course when they don't see the relevance. I have final year residents who are now seeing the relevance of planning and meet with me every week to work on lesson plans. Perhaps, we need those that are just months from graduating to share the relevance of the planning course.
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C. Banks
2/6/2015 09:46:56 am
You read my mind when you asked, "So I continue to wonder, how can I frame the information I present in a way that appeals to my students? " This is what my inquiry is focussed on. I also feel like my students just want to know what to do so they can "get to it." The more in depth layer of, "why am I doing this? What is the purpose and how will it help shape my craft?" are questions that my students are not able to think about yet on their own. I believe part of it is their lack of experience and knowledge on the depth of teaching as a whole. I'm hoping that once we get into the UBD project in 4301 and really start looking at their units in depth, that they will be able to see the layers of what we do as educators.
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