Thursday, September 23, 2010
Pedagogy Forum week 6
I really cannot imagine the ride it must be to teach high school. Tuesday's class made me realize exactly how challenging it must be to make some sort of learned connection with high schoolers--especially 150 of them! It's really staggering to imagine teaching that many students, more than half of whom desperately don't want to be there, meanwhile somehow crafting an effective pedagogy. It seems like it would have to be constructed in the most basic and fundamental way--convincing students that critical thinking is a vastly important skill. However, I am ignorant to all of this. I really do not know what it takes to manage, let alone teach a class of high school freshman. And its a frightening thought, and also incredibly fascinating. After hearing Jeff and Rachael's ( and our other H.S teacher classmates) speak about these pedagogical challenges they face on a daily basis, truly got me thinking in some different ways about the craft of the educator.
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Thanks for listening.
ReplyDeleteBut do remember that complaining about the absurdity of public education is both therapeutic and an insiders dialogue.
Teachers, like a private in the trenches of battle, pride themselves in having superior knowledge about what students need than their superiors. Sometimes this arrogance goes to0 far, we can adapt, we do have some freedom, we just don't like that we lack the autonomy of a college professor or the high school teachers of years ago .
It takes a healthy ego to teach High School. You have to be able to know that you are right and be willing to be taught again and again that you really know nothing. Which is true, even if one does not like to admit it.
High school teachers love to fixate on the worst, yet we all know the thrill of getting a great mind working.
We complain about pay, but we a generally better taken care of than a college professor, especially a non tenured one.
Misery loves company, it's not so bad.
I worked a long time in the world of buisness. Teaching is better than anything I ever did in that regard. It is also considerably better than the military.
My recommendation for most potential teachers is, don't teach too young if you are not certain, if you have another dream to chase. Chase that dream and live your life, all those experiences will make you a better teacher.
many teachers especially I think female teachers teach because they were good at high school.
Teachers who had not trouble in high school and little real world experiences are generally the most miserable teachers I know because the litterally expect students to be like them, good at High School.
the truth is most kids hate high school, like I did and are terrible at it, like I was. People like me who had very few pleasant high school experiences, but later had many wonderful life experiences seem to be the happiest teachers. For one thing they know for certain that what a student learns that day will not make or break their future.
Just having that pressure off of you help. As far as trying new ideas, high school teacher can and do try new ideas all the time. If they engage students and don't turn to many heads.
the best thing about teaching at any level is that like a poet, an actor or an artist, you have an opportunity to really change the way someone thinks about something for ever.
Their are very few jobs that pay you a steady wage in which that can happen.