The University I attend has not prepared me for teaching. For the past two years I've engaged in the Bachelors Program and I've perhaps had a half-dozen classes that were of real benefit. I know how to steer kids away from Yes/No questions. I know how to be welcoming, interested, and available to my students.
However, I've learned more about teaching philosophy and theory than actual practice.
I'm not bad-mouthing my university. They've actually put me into classrooms and they've given me the opportunity to see where what they teach ends and "the real world" of the classroom begins.
This post is a short one, typed hurriedly as I grab my morning coffee and rush out the door.
I've learned that Statistics was a waste of time and money. Most districts have modernized to the point of using computer software that calculates and standardizes scores for the teacher. Granted it's good to keep a back up in case the system crashes (which can happen) but doing all the math by hand with just a scientific calculator is pretty much an exercise in inefficiency. I was taught how to make test by a woman who hadn't made tests in ten years. I am learning how to translate Old English into Standard English on the off chance I have a transfer student from Northumberland, circa 6th Century A.D. I've been given templates called "lesson" plans and told to fill them out based on examples offered by instructors.
Couldn't we build one as a class? Then build a weeks worth in groups? Then build a semester plan on our own? I feel so inundated with deadlines that I'm finding it hard to meet them with any enthusiasm.
I'm making lesson plans I cannot at present teach, as many schools now have pacing guides and reading lists upon which the novels I've read for this class are not yet to be found.
Again I'm not badmouthing my University. They've put me in not just one, but a series of classrooms of various types with teachers of various skill and experience. I've learned not to listen to the lounge-lizards. I've learned to introduce myself to the APs and the Janitorial Staff. I've learned to always wear a suit to distinguish myself and show my respect for the institution I serve.
At the end of this Pre-Student Teaching run, I'm looking forward and not back as much as possible. I see boxes to check and forms to fill out of the benefit of graduation and certification. However, in terms of practical knowledge, I feel I've learned everything this University can teach both useful and useless. The time has come for me to actually learn the bulk of the practicle things. I do not know if I'm as prepared as I should be for the departmental politics, the policy shifts with each new administration, the shifting standards and ever-challenged curricula. I don't know if I'm prepared for that parent that accuses me, that student who challenges me, that principal who will not be my "pal" and have my back. I don't know about unions accept that I'm urged to join them.
*Sigh... I have to go now. I don't want to be late for my students. They've become a source of great comfort to me. They make me laugh, they challenge me, they get me thinking about how to explain the minutia of daily learning. "How do you start an essay?" "Where do I find that evidence in the book?" "What page was that on, what chapter?"
I don't think my University has prepared me, but I feel I am finally getting something useful from being in classrooms everyday, working with students at various levels on daily work. If I have to check boxes and meet requirements for another semester, so be it.
Pouring coffee. Adios!
