After observing your class this week, I’ve been forced to reconsider a lot of important aspects from my own education. My classes revolve around pedagogy, ideology, and strategy. However, the real meat of the equation often goes missing – the classroom application. Because let’s be honest, discussion can only get you so far; you can’t feel the heat in the kitchen if you’ve never taken over to cook. I’ve come to discover that teaching does not follow one, strict recipe, but variations of that recipe to suit the taste of the individual.
As a young educator, I acknowledge that many of my developed ideals are just that – extremely idealistic, but not necessarily realistic. I am aware of my impressionability, but I no longer think of it as a weakness I must overcome. To me, knowledge is dynamic, and to be open-minded is to constantly grow. However, my goal by the end of this experience is not to completely revamp my own beliefs, but to refine them from gained experience – whether mine or someone else’s. This is an incredibly positive and sensible outlook, of course. It's also the foundation of all education - if you don't believe in knowledge as a dynamic or shifting thing, this isn't the career for you. With that said, I hope you know I don't expect to agree - I hope we can productively and honestly search for a practical middle-ground in both belief and practice. As I always tell my kids, teaching is at the top of the pyramid of learning - thank you for being willing to teach me!
The greatest thing you have done for me so far has been your open and honest conversation. You bring a realistic perspective to the profession that I have not gotten anywhere else. You are not afraid to disagree with the norm, and I find it extremely eye-opening. You approach your classroom with a positive intentionality – forcing students to recognize that success comes from growth, and that everyone has the ability to learn. I truly admire that, and hope that I can somehow replicate that sense of “I can” in my own classroom.
One of
the texts our campus has been working from this year is a book titled The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. The
primary dysfunction identified is a lack of trust, that leads to a lack of
ability to communicate honestly. The book draws a strong distinction
between the false sense of "harmony" fostered when a team isn't
comfortable being direct, and the sometimes UNCOMFORTABLE communication only
possible when real trust has been established.
In my attempt to learn from you, I will do my best to call it like I see it - even if it's not politic, popular, or pretty. I think much of the pain many beginning teachers experience in their first few years has to do with unrealistic expectations; they've been coached and prepared for a job vastly different from the one they have.
In my attempt to learn from you, I will do my best to call it like I see it - even if it's not politic, popular, or pretty. I think much of the pain many beginning teachers experience in their first few years has to do with unrealistic expectations; they've been coached and prepared for a job vastly different from the one they have.
Growth
mindset is foundational to my personal pedagogical beliefs, but it's also very
empowering for students. I find that our culture often fosters a sense of
identity as a fixed rather than fluctuating element. Instead of seeing
scholastic success as something achieved through effort and practice, students
learn quickly to treat skills as inborn gifts: "she's smart," "I
can't do math," etc. This is an educational curse, and a kind of
mental "learned helplessness"; student come to see themselves as
locked in a permanent stasis, unable to change their own destiny.
The
saddest part is that whatever they feel they're skilled at tends to be
something they've worked at and been rewarded for, but by conceptualizing it as
identity, not skill, they prevent themselves from applying their understanding
of the procedure necessary for success to any field other than the first few
they experience. The "jock" sees himself as talented at sports,
but academically deficient; even the "nerd" makes the mistake of
seeing himself as unable to succeed in athletics since he's never worked at or
achieved praise for sports.
I try
to build a culture of growth mindset into my curriculum. Teaching Speech &
Composition demands that I find a lot of relevant, interesting, engaging pieces
of non-fiction, and I tend to turn to op-eds for texts. In that vein, I
have a number of articles about current youth culture, narcissism, growth mindset, the importance of behavioral skills over academic,
how practice is the key element in genius, even
summaries of longitudinal psychological studies like the classic Stanford "marshmallow test."
Rather
than simply have isolated, single-incident focused conversations with
individual students, I try to build an understanding of how professional
conduct, the ability to regulate emotional responses, effective collaboration
strategies, error-focused practice, and determined, organized hard work are
essential to personal and professional success. By building social,
emotional, and professional skills into the content, I try to address my
students as complete people: people who, very rationally, want a clear, deep
understanding of WHY the things they are asked to do are important to THEM and
worth doing. Students need a rationale, they're curious about the truth,
and they want to be challenged (just hard enough to make success gratifying,
but with enough support that they never feel abandoned or give up).
The
signs above my board are part of what has become my approach. Each serves
as a reminder of some major concept in the course, either behavioral or
academic, and allows me to quickly and repeatedly emphasize the importance of
those concepts "on the fly" during any given class.
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