Hard Work!

This just in… Teaching is hard work!

When I first thought it would be fun to be a teacher I was in 3rd grade and had Mrs. Vance. She, I thought, was the most awesome adult besides maybe my parents. She knew all about nature and we did awesome art projects in her class, which was crowded with all the work we did. I thought it would be great to be able to write on the overhead projector day after day and correct papers. Little did I know then that there is a lot more to teaching. This is just one myth that I discovered from my own experiences about teaching to be false. Oh how relativity can change your perspective. I am now the teacher and know how much work teaching actually is!

William Ayers in his book “To Teach…” in the first chapter goes over some myths about teaching and states if they are true or not. Some I agree with his perspective and wish others would see the point Ayers is trying to make and others I am not sure he gives enough of an explanation or even explains his reasoning enough. Reading these myths has also made me realize some of the reason for why I teach.

The first myth is that classroom management is the first step to becoming a good teacher. When I read this I think yes it’s true a teacher much have control of her classroom so learning can take place. I do not see how Ayers thinks that it’s a myth because of its “linearity” or as he states it the assumption that classroom management takes over teaching in time. I would say if your classroom management is affective and doing its job it is not the back drop to learning but is only one 2x4 that helps hold up the foundations needed to learn. Perhaps he is saying that the focus of teaching should not be behavior. If so then I readily agree with him. I have recently attended the Future’s Teachers Conference in Auburn at Green River Community College. Each year I go, I learn something new about what I want my classroom to be like with a new sense of inspiration. The management piece I’ve learned from this conference is not that you are managing the class but they manage themselves by knowing how things get done in the classroom. For example students know what to do if they need to use the restroom, have a broken pencil, finish early on work or are doing group work. And this does not happen from a teacher telling them what to do only. It happens from the teacher not only going over the procedure but then practicing with them over and over again until they get it. Then if a class doesn’t understand what it means when the teacher needs their attention it is not because they are being “bad” but because as a class there has not been enough practice. Again notice the word procedure. These are not rules to go to the bathroom or sharpen your pencil but procedures; how we get things done. You do procedures all day, how to start the car, get up in the morning, cook dinner. The rules would be short but not simple, things such as respect yourself and others… I see though that Ayers has the idea that if a teacher gets too focus on classroom management teaching/learning can be lost. I am of the mind set though that if your classroom is managed together and not as individuals it will only become one tool of many that is used so learning can happen in a safe environment.

I teach so children can have a sense of safety in order to take chances in doing new things.

In truth my brain could probably not hold all the information I find interesting and find fun to think about. So this myth that teachers always know the material seems to be a big one. I agree with Ayers completely that teachers need to know a lot in the sense that they are always “reading, wondering, exploring—always expanding their interests and their knowledge.” I would think that as a person, teacher or not, not expanding my interests or knowledge might get boring. So to only teach what I know would be boring; fun at times and good for the students as I would get very excited to have an art lesson about color tie into a social studies or math lesson. But discovering something new about the world around me with the students like why does water boil? Why does it rain? Why do we have fingernails? Why does the weather vary so much in Australia compared to here? If the teacher is as engaged as the student wouldn’t that make a much more interesting learning experience for the students? Adults learn too. Oh my goodness.

I teach to learn more about the community I live in.

Good teaching can be measured by how well students do on tests. This is myth number 9. And talk about a loaded myth. Just reading it brings up questions that I don’t really know the answers to. Are all tests unnecessary or necessary? What about assessment of students to see what they know or have learned? As a teacher if I am teaching and my students are getting that it rains from condensation building up I would think I should be able to “test” them and if they understand this concept they would pass the test. This myth may be slightly more than a myth and more of a controversy. Do we as teachers, educators, and a community know the best way to measure the knowledge our students learn in a given amount of time? What about those students who learn faster or slower? Do they fail, skip a grade? Oh so many questions my head is bursting! I agree with Ayers when he states that learning is not linear; there is not a steady incline or incremental progress to learning. I realize this just from going to college when I would have a professor tell me something that at the time I had no idea what it meant or what they were trying to convey until maybe eight days later I am walking to the gym and have an “ah ha” moment. How do you grade, keep track, test “ah ha” moments? I hoping later on Ayers will tell me his ideas on testing and offer some insight until then…

I teach to see myself and those in my community grow and progress.

Myth number 11 which I think puts the most pressure on any student is all children are above average. I think to change this myth to a truth the more appropriate thing is to say all children can be above average. This still raises questions though. If learning is not linear than can you have an average? Bill Ayers makes a great point in that the teacher’s job is to teach to that variety and diversity in the classroom as the students skills vary. I like to think that as a teacher I am not teaching a select grade or group but I am teaching that child or this child or that one to reach their own potential.

I teach to show each child in my class their own unique potential and skills.

There a many other myths and truths out there about teaching that I could probably go into or do not realize they even exist. Either way teaching is hard work! Teaching is to value education and the growth of the community and me. Teaching though challenging has great rewards when the challenge is met. Teaching reminds us to be young and have fun. This is part of why I teach.

To see a visual explanation of why I teach click on the link below!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37014109@N02/show/