Week+3

=__Week Three:__ = =So you want to be a teacher! March 16, 2009 =

Amber is purple  Luke is **__BLUE__**  Nicole is PINK Mathew is GREEN 

**LECTURE WEEK 3 - Howard Nicholas**

The ideas that stuck out most in the lecture for me this week was the idea of a child leaving your classroom and coming home, the parent then asking 'How was school?', to which the student replies 'It was ok'. This means to the student that class was routine and nothing stood out. When people get in a routine they become uninspired. I think from what I gather from the four of us this is not the reason we got into teaching. We were/have still been inspired by special teachers and that is why we want to become special teachers. What do you think are ways we can inspire our students? How can we ensure none of our students ever feel their class has become routine and boring? Then eventually become uninterested in learning and you. As a teacher there is a fine line between simply having fun all the time and actually getting the student to work. Where is that line? How do we combat the attention spans of young children when our job is to prepare them for the rest of their life, especially VCE, a life of ROTE learning...

I want my classroom to be one in which children go home stimulated from the learning process. I want them to go home and teach their parents, friends and guardians something they have learnt in class. I want to inspire my students to want to learn and to look beyond what is written in books or is told to them. VCE is presented in a sterile environment that doesn't allow for students to learn in their own way. To me VCE is targeted at a narrow range of students and the rest simply fall behind or out into the shadows. That is NOT what we want in the primary education. At the same as saying I want my classroom to fun and engaging it must be realised that life is not always fun. I think we should be also teaching in an environment that at times is strict and silent. In this way we can encourage students to self learn as well. We are aiming to teach students about the world and we should not shelter them from things being hard at times.  It's true, we all want out students to go home and be excited to tell Mum and Dad what they did at school today. I don't think that's very hard to acheive at the lower levels. I've only seen preps, ones and twos recently, and they are excited to tell Mum what colour ribbon their friend had in there hair today! So it doesn't seem hard to excite them. I think it's the older levels who are less excitable... And it's also harder to do 'fun' things with them in a way. They have harder and more intense work than the younger ones. So less time for fun activities. I think you can make a classroom fun, simply by choosing fun ways to learn. As we've talked about Luke - Maths footy, or as Greg often mentions - the race to beat your time in writing all the timestables in a grid. They are much more fun ways of rote learning timestables. It seems hard now because we don't know any other activities than those we have done, but I'm sure we'll come across them and it's a great idea to make note of these somewhere...

I don't understand this fixation with VCE. Life isn't about a set of exams. Nor are these exams the only ticket to success, though they are ONE WAY. I, for example, never sat any form of VCE, though I did have good grades. This allowed me to go on student exchange. My grades coupled with my exchange got me into university. Also, in New Zealand (I speak of what I know, it may also be true here), plently of people go to university later in life. They are accepted in, not on account of past grades, but on life experience, and are given a year to show that they can study at university level. Apart from this, plenty of people choose not to go on to university and still go on to live happy and successful lives in whatever they have chosen to do. For me, this is one of the things that education should be preparing people to do: choose and be happy through the choices they make. This will require people to continue to ask questions and continue to learn. Education should be about preparing people for life long learning and constant change (for, in this day, there is nothing so certain in life as change!).

Learning IS fun! Not knowing something or how to do something is invariably interesting to most people and the challenge of learning something new whether it be a skill or knowledge is inherently enjoyable for most people. I don't think that this changes at any point in life. I have never heard someone say that they don't enjoy learning! If a teacher conducts their class with the belief that learning is fun, that learning can come through mistake making and that learning can be about taking risks, then children will believe it too. Also, if a teacher conducts their class in a way which offers children the possibility of learning in many different ways (catering to the needs of different learning styles), then this will also add to that idea of learning being fun. It should also help to make the learning available more accessible to all; INCLUSION of all children in the learning also being vital to creating a lust for learning in a classroom.

The next part of the lecture which was amazing was the story of Jaime Escalante. A Bolivian born teacher Jaime movied to the United States in 1964, he did not speak any English then. He began teaching in Los Angeles in 1974. He began teaching at a very poor school whose students were pretty much expected to fail. In 1982, Escalante came into the national spotlight when 18 of his students passed the Advanced Placement calculus exam. This was the first time anything like this ever happened. The Educational Testing Service found these scores to be suspect and asked 14 of those who passed to take the exam again. Twelve of the 14 agreed to retake the test and did well enough to have their scores reinstated. In 1983, the number of students enrolling and passing the A.P. calculus test more than doubled. That year 33 students took the exam and 30 passed. I found his story to be very influential as he believed in the profession of teaching and had the passion needed to succeed. He believed so much in what he did that he never gave up hope that he could get through to the students. He also believes making mistakes in teaching is the only way to learn. That each mistake is something you can learn from and ensure you do not repeat the following year. I admire what he said, you must like kids, have respect for them and want to teach. Also the notion that you must simplify complex concepts through using examples. This will definatley be usefull in the classroom. Below in further readings are some quotes I found of Escalante. Did you take anything from Jaimes' story? From hearing this story has this changed any of your current views on teaching?  I thought the story of Escalante was awesome. He really emphasised the notion of not always following the leader. He was told not to bother with the students but chose to ignor this and instead inspired a class which lead to greater understandings of his students. I believe in our career as teachers we should be always questioning things. I also think that with each year we can improve our skills as teachers with new and better ideas. One thing we should learn to do is to also ensure we are always asking questions too.

There are many stories like the one of Jaime, and they are very inspirational. It shows us that we __can__ make a difference in the lives of our students, but that's also very scary. What about if we make a difference in a bad way? I'm very nervous about my first year. Everyone says it's a learning curve and you'll learn so much in that year... I feel sorry for the poor kids! I feel I am going to be very ill prepared and the kids I get in my first year will suffer because of that. It seems we are not going to be taught how to teach things. By this I mean, how to teach kids, who have not been taugh before to read. I wouldn't even know where to begin! How much help do you give them? How do you teach them how to write? I'm very very nervous...  Nervousness is a normal reaction to something new or to change. Once you start to spend time in a classroom, you shall start to learn the nuts and bolts of how things like teaching reading can be conducted. Whatever you do, as Amber suggests above, make sure that you continue to be on the lookout for ways to further improve what you do - continue to ask questions, learn new methods and reflect upon the practices which you engage in. Self reflection is an important quality in a teacher, as is the drive to keep learning and to keep improving what we do.

There are many inspirational teachers out there. You will work with some. They will be the ones with HIGH EXPECTATIONS both of the learning and of the behaviour they think that the children are capable of. They may try things where others will not. They will learn through their mistakes and always strive to be better BECAUSE of their respect for and enjoyment of the children they teach. They will practice what they preach and because of this, they will be appreciated by all in the school community. What is stopping you from being the next inspirational teacher at the school you teach at? <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #ff008f; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">

**TUTORIAL**

In the Issues tutorial we were asked to write one word that we thought was important about being a teacher. The words were as follows; Relationships - Passion - Encouragement - Committment - Relevance - Diversity - Individuality - Influential - Respect - Fun - Approachable - Positively Challenging I chose Encouragement as my word. The reason I chose encouragement is it is one of the most important things you can do with a child when they are trying to grasp a new concept. Whether they are a student doing really well, they will appreciate the encouragement, or a student not doing so well, they will need the encouragement. It helps students remember you are their friend and you want to see them do well. If they work towards getting encouragement from you, the will work harder I believe. What word/words noted do you find to be the most important?

<span style="font-size: 110%; color: #ff007e; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I looked at the word Individuality. Each person in the classroom comes with different experiences, values, home lives, religious beliefs, cultures etc. We need to cater to all the abilities in the classroom. We can use these individual differences to engage our students and to help to teach them new things about each other. One word, however, can not sum up what teaching and learning is. It is a combination of things that create a learning environment.

<span style="font-size: 110%; color: #8300ff; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;">I was Nicoles partner, so also looked at individuality. Each child in our classroom comes to school with vastly different knowledge. This is due to different circumstances and different experiences. As we were shown in Maths, some children come to school without know how to say the alphabet or count! Some come already able to read and write somethings and able to count things! Some may never have heard of the common fairytales and such that we know because they have a different heritage. We need to be mindful of this, and assume nothing. We can also use these differences to learn new things.

<span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Arial Black', Gadget, sans-serif;">I believe in positively challenging. Ultimately this is about teaching kids to question with positivity. Question what they learn, to add more learning. Question what they do, to see if they couldn't do it better. Question their behaviour to see if they are being the best 'them' they can be. Teaching the children to positively challenge develops their learning/life tools and creates a very constructive environment for the classroom/school/wider community. <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #8300ff; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #ff007e; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">

**Some questions arising in the tute;** 1. Who are your students? What do they want from you? What do you want from them? <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #ff008f; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My students want to learn, they want to experience things and gain a better understanding of the world in which they live. My job is to give them a range of experiences, activities, ideas and methods to help them make their own way in the world. I need to give them choices and allow them to decide for themselves. I am there to guide them rather than tell them what to do

<span style="display: block; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0,128,128); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; background-color: rgb(255,141,0); text-align: center;">WHAT IS YOUR INSPIRATION TO BECOME A TEACHER AND WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES A GREAT TEACHER?

<span style="font-size: 110%; color: #ff0035; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">My inspiration to become a teacher is my mother. For the majority of her career she has been a Primary School teacher who is dedicated and extremely enthusiastic in the profession. I have seen her career grow and marvelled at how much effort she has put into her work, as well as proud of the further education she has completed. That is the teacher I want to be!! I think the key to being a great teacher is passion. If you have passion you want to do your very best, you want to be there helping in any way you can. It will help you be creative in finding solutions to teaching. - Nicole <span style="color: rgb(0,128,0); font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">When I first graduated I struggled with a deep feeling within me with regards to work and working life. I knew that I could not just do any job. It had to be something that I believed in with all my heart and it had to be something that contributed POSTIVELY to society. I could not work for some company as a cog in part of a money making, environmentally plundering, people exploiting machine. I had to be able to believe in what I was doing... It took me a while to understand that it was teaching that I was destined for, so consumed was my imagination by my one big dream - world travel! Throughout my travels I had the privelage of teaching English to local people in the places that I landed and it was through working with children during this time that I started to understand that this was something that I really wanted to do. When I worked with children I enjoyed my working days. I was never bored. I believed in the kids and never grew tired of their questions or jaded by their continual achievements and learning. TEACHING is something that I believe in and because of this I put my heart, soul and energy into my class, their learning and well being and their dreaming.

A good teacher is one who is firm, fair and fun. A good teacher is consistent, caring and child centred within their classroom. A good teacher makes all children feel safe enough to take risks within their own learning. A good teacher opens their minds and encourages children to dream up their future, then inspires them to learn to get there. - Mathew

<span style="color: rgb(131,0,255); font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">As a young child I always wanted to be a doctor. If anyone ever asked me what I was going to be when I grew up, my answer was always a doctor. I never doubted it or thought any more about it, it was simple; I wanted to save peoples lives. As Mathew said, I wanted to do something in life that mattered. I couldn't bare working somewhere where I didn't make a difference to the world, so my answer to that was to be a doctor. I did work experience at a hospital and just loved it. I loved visiting relatives who had babies, I loved seeing the babies and looking at everything the doctors did. It wasn't until I reached highschool that I started realising that anyone couldn't just be anything they wanted to be, you needed certain subjects, marks etc. It was now that I also realised how high I had set my goal at becoming a doctor. That you needed a phenomal enter score, that is was many, many years of studying and extremly costly. I quickly figured out that whilst I was intelligent, there was no way I had the makings of a doctor. So as I travelled through high school, I knew that I still loved learning about the human body and medicine and psychology, so upon finishing, I had decided to try and be what I saw as the next best thing to a doctor: a nurse. I also loved maths, and it was in the back of my head that a career in finance might be enjoyable too, so I applied for many uni courses as backups, but was accepted into a Bachelor of Nursing/Psychology at Deakin. My Aunty, who is a nurse kept trying to talk me out of it, but I really wanted to give it a go. So I did. I did one full year of the double degree and I knew that nursing wasn't for me. I loved many aspects of it; I loved patient care - helping them feel better and talking to them. I did 2 weeks practical at a palliative care facility and it really opened my eyes. These people were all dying, but were completely at peace with it, so it was a really rewarding experience. We helped them die as comfortably as possible in a peaceful and dignified manner. I got so much out of it. But as I said, I knew that nursing wasn't for me; the shift work, always being told what to do by doctors, and from what I saw, the nurses seemed to know just as much as the doctors, but were allowed no initiative and were paid a very small percentage of what the doctors were. And I really felt that a university degree wasn't necessary to be a nurse. I learnt more from the three weeks placements I did, then the whole year at uni. I didn't like the thought of another 3 years of being taught things that only really stuck with you once you saw it on a patient. So I dropped the nursing half of my degree. I continued with Psych because I found it very interesting, but I knew I didn't want to be a psychologist. I started getting really frustrated; I always knew what I didn't want to be, I just couldn't figure out what I DID want to be! I really envied those people who always knew what they wanted and had a way of getting there. So as I entered second semester of my third year, I was really stressing out with what I was going to do by way of career. Another Aunty came to me with a great suggestion; her close friend owned a business and was looking at expanding and taking on another admin assisstant. It was a mortgage broking business, and I had always liked maths and numbers, so I saw it as a great opportunity and began right away. As soon as uni finished, I became full time and really enjoyed it. It was this point in my life that I began thinking about teaching. Two of my best friends were studying it, and I loved hearing their stories... it was in the back my mind all the time - Did I want to be a teacher? I constantly weighed up the pros and cons between becoming a broker and becoming a teacher. The next year - so my first year out of uni, I travelled around Europe with my boyfriend, hoping that seeing the world would help me get a better understanding of what I wanted. It didn't. I spent the day with my friends Mum who was a primary school teacher in her class and though I enjoyed it, it still didn't help me decide. It seemed like a really tough job! I think I always knew teaching would win, but there were so many perks to broking and I was really comfortable in my position and had such a great opportunity; I didn't want to pass it up. I saw the other brokers and how they loved their jobs and driving all over the place meeting new clients and raking in the cash, but I knew it wouldn't be me. Commission based work, working nights, targets to meet. Again, I knew it wasn't for me. So after I got back from my trip, I applied for the dip ed. I realised that this was the last year it was only going to be a one year course and knew I had to go for it. This year, my best friend began her first year as a primary teacher and it was getting me excited. So when I found out I had been accepted into La Trobe, I was thrilled. It's been great hearing what it's like from my best friend, and makes me feel better having someone to lean on. It was really daunting beginning at a new uni, travelling to an area I had never been before and I'm still terrified that this time next year (providing I get a job!) I will have my very own class to teach!!!! I'm so scared!!!! But I plan to work really hard this year and be very prepared for whatever next year throws at me!

Whoa I wrote a lot. It felt really good to get that out though- sorry guys!!!

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==<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those are fantastic answers guys. I think this course is fantastic because everyone in it is that little bit older and more mature compared to coming to University straight out of year 12. Tthat means everyone wants to be here. It is great to read your differing motivations because it inspires me too as I am excited to be a part of the Primary Education faculty. I hope when we do graduate we are surrounded by other collegues who are also as passionate as you three! ==

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==<span style="color: rgb(0,0,255); font-family: Times New Roman;"> <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The reason I am so interested in working in Primary Education is that I feel by completing this course and working in the field of Primary Education not only best suits my personality style but matches very well with my character traits, tertiary qualifications and interests. Working with children has always been a passion of mine from when I was given my first baby-sitting job when I was of a young age. I completed a Bachelor of Psychology in 2006 with the intention of focusing my further studies on working with children and adolescents. I have lot of experience working with children including working in a crèche facility with children ranging from 8 weeks to school age, and extra work with school age children. Throughout this work I have grown to really appreciate the mind of a child and develop an understanding of how important it is to have a positive role model in their life. The most influential people in my life have always been the ones early in my life who gave me the confidence to believe in myself. In the early years of my life I was known to be quite a naughty boy. I was given a lot of support during these vital early learning years which has led me to be a very outgoing and confident human being. I relate a lot of who I am today not only to my family but also my teachers who facilitated this growth. I would love the opportunity to be able to be a positive role model in a young person's life. I truly believe that with the compassion and care that was given to me at a young age I can pass on this to other children. I believe there takes a lot to be a good teacher. The main factors in my mind is having the passion and belief that a teacher can make a difference. If you believe in the job and can understand how important a teacher is, especially to the primary age that is a good start. Obviously there are discipline and curriculum standards that must be adhered to but as long as the teacher is excited about teaching and excited to see children learning and growing that makes a good teacher. ==

==<span style="display: block; color: rgb(0,128,128); font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255,139,0); text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-size: 220%; color: rgb(0,128,128); font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255,139,0); text-align: center;">FURTHER READING ==

<span style="color: #8300ff; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;">I really liked the article 'Beginning: The Challenge of Teaching'. It went through the way other people view teachers and possible reasons why, all the different roles teachers have to play and lots of the difficulties they face. It kind of frightened me a little. The sentence: 'We are usually isolated from other adults and yet have no privacy, and no time for ourselves.' from this, and other things I'm hearing - teachers have no time for anything else but teaching! Obviously I knew there would be lots of work to put in, but this just seems like when you're not doing school work, you are sleeping because you are so exhausted. That's not what I want!! I think a work-life balance is extremly important for everyone involved, in any profession. If you have no time for yourself, you will only burn out faster, become drained, and not happy. If you feel like this, then of course, your work is going to suffer... It doesn't seem right. I also like the paragraph that said 'Teaching includes instructing, advising, counsiling, organising, assessing, guiding, goading, showing, managing, modeling, coaching, disciplining, prodding, preaching, persuading, proswelytising, listening, interacting, nursing and inspiring. Teachers wear many caps which is why I believe you need to be a complete person, with good common sense to be a good teacher.

<span style="font-size: 110%; color: #ff008f; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think the key to teaching is passion. I believe that we should WANT to teach and provide the best environment possible to facilitate learning. I believe that if we are happy in what we are doing and are feeling inspired every day we will WANT to be working on school things. I don't think it should feel like a burden. Have worked 2 years in a job I was not happy in I quickly learnt that simply working to live was not fulfilling for myself. Yes in the beginnning it was fantastic only working 9 - 5 and having very little responsibility. But in the end I felt like I had become no one who wasnt doing anything inspiring. I wanted to work hard and make a change. It is also through the experience of the two years that I had learnt that lesson which for me is fantastic because I now know the difference between what stimulates me and what doesnt. Basically it is all about experience. I believe you have to try to know and if you dont try how will you truly know?!

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=<span style="display: block; font-size: 170%; color: rgb(0,128,128); font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255,139,0); text-align: center;">FURTHER LINKS/RESOURCES =

<span style="display: block; color: rgb(0,128,128); font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255,139,0); text-align: center;"> Here are four of Escalantes' most famous quotes;

"Students will rise to the level of expectations" "The day someone quits school he is condemning himself to a future of poverty" "Determination + Discipline + Hard Work = Way to Success" "A negative times a negative equals a positive"

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