While I was not
in class for the second meeting, after reading everyone else's blog there seemed to be a focus on self assessment. What comes to mind and other points that
people brought up with regards to self assessment is motivation,
standardized testing, and content knowledge. The fact is that I really can't teach motivation,
although it is something that is extremely crucial for one to succeed. If
students don't have motivation then they will never push themselves to excel.
This is extremely scary because while a student may have a great year of
learning what if something happens in the environment or psyche that makes them
lose motivation as a result. How can one expect to truly understand why it is a
student may have lost that motivation and furthermore to help them regain it?
How can one expect to monitor motivation for maybe past students who are
now in a different grade level but had the goal for them to help within the
community or to attain higher education? A goal that has now been lost because
that student lacks motivation. Its almost as if an educator doesn't teach
mindsets along with content then students will never be able to navigate
education which is more than just knowing material and can have even further
implications for certain ethnicities, SES, etc.
With
regards to standardized testing and how they are deemed extremely
important in school districts, I always fear that I will only be teaching
students for taking a test and not actual content. The reason being that often
times schools place such an emphasis on testing in order to reach
certain benchmarks for a certain year. As a result teachers are hard
pressed to make sure students reach these benchmarks instead of teaching for fear of losing their
job. I don't want to become one of these teachers because I don't
think there is a focus on the students and instead teaching them to truly
regurgitate information. But how I am suppose to change this? For one I feel as
if I never have the time now with trying to make lesson plans and staying on
top of catering for the students, how I am suppose to find extra time in helping to reform standardized testing. Furthermore I feel as if I would be
angering a lot of people with this system already set up in place. While
I don't mind upsetting people it becomes hard if you are the minority
for a long time.
For
content knowledge I question if I can truly help students with the content of
English. For one I only have a year to hone the skills needed for teaching
students and I feel I will need at least 3 years after to actually make sure
that its helping students. But what about the students that have me as a teacher for the
first 3 years? Will they simply have an ineffective teacher or just be more or
less ginea pigs in a bigger experiment? If so then I am not doing my job for
the students. On the other hand Im also worried that if I find a niche for
teaching my content area that I will become lax in making sure to update my
curriculum for a new class of students. Just because one idea is effective with one
group of students doesn't mean that I have a model to teach all groups since each
group of students are different. Can I really help each and every student
exceed that come in to the classroom?
There
are still 11 months left in the program so that provides some relief in
that maybe I will get some of the questions I need answered. One thing that I
will just have to come to terms with is that I probably won't get an
answer to all of my questions. While the MAC program Im sure will give me great
insight and tools necessary to be an effective teacher, they can't teach me
everything and there will just have to be a few things I learn as I go and I
have to learn to be OK with this and not just deal with it. I think perception
is extremely important and how I decide to respond maybe to certain
scenarios with some of the problems listed above, will mean the difference of me
helping students and them failing.
Your post brings about so many overwhelming thoughts and especially as we are moving into the last two weeks of the program the heightened stress levels are increasing the sheer quantity of these questions (especially those that center of self-doubt).
ReplyDeleteThere are definite struggles in getting students to be motivated about academic goals, but I believe that this is a skill that is very important to building "intellectual character." Unfortunately, a large portion of the students that we will be interacting with on a daily basis lack motivation, for many different reasons. This is something that, although it seems impossible, we will be required to teach. What is most scary, as a new teacher, about motivation is that a students motivation to perform well on standardized assessments will correlate directly to our jobs, as we will be evaluated by "student growth." I have seen students at Scarlett complete computer assessments and paper quizzes by simply circling or selecting random answers. That random selection by students, could result in us as teachers losing our jobs. While that is the scary short term outcome, what is truly terrifying is that a significant portion of students go through their entire formal schooling with a lack of motivation and those students have the potential to shape our entire future. There are serious problems in our current view of education and the way that the system is attempting to solve many issues.
I, like you, feel overwhelmed. I am capable of being such an influential educator? How will I have time to make a positive impact on the educational community when I barely have enough time to get my assignments done for tomorrow?
What I do think is important is to reflect. I cannot believe how much I have learned since the beginning of the program and if anything hopefully this program will teach us how to deal with new issues and changes in policy so that we can be teachers that are both flexible and open-minded.
Muneer, this was a very sobering blog post. The realities that teachers face are going to be stressful and challenging for us to battle. I hate stress! However, we are being well equipped by educators who have been in the field for a long time to handle the stress. They have been in the trenches and have seen the field change. For better or worse we need to trust ourselves, as well as, the knowledge we have and will gain. But the stakes are high and I agree when you said, "I don't want to become one of these teachers (make sure students reach benchmarks) because I don't think there is a focus on the students and instead teaching them to truly regurgitate information."
ReplyDeleteFor me, I am still of the idealistic stance that if we teach students how to study, engage in their community in active and productive ways and employ their metacognitive, conceptual, and procedural knowledge MORE than their factual knowledge, then they will do well in life and in school. Additionally we have to hope that our colleagues and maybe some of us can shake some sense into the legislature that think they know how schools should operate and how teachers should be evaluated.
Sorry, about the kind of topsy-turvy-curvy blog post. I got a little passionate about the topics you brought up and kind of throw words to text. I hope at least some of it made sense.
Mr. K, thank you for the thoughts even though you couldn't be present at that class. You certainly put a lot of thought and effort into self-assessment. One thing I found interesting was in your first paragraph when you said you can't teach motivation. I am wondering if maybe your perspective in that regard has changed since you posted this initially, especially after Celeste's class today. I also wonder what you think the role of the community is in motivating students (and I include the school in that). You also raise a really honest point later on that I really appreciate about how one can realistically change things like standardized testing if we are so unhappy with them. Imagine having a classroom full of students, and not just the few we have at Scarlett. It's no wonder we all keep hearing about problems but nothing seems to happen to change them. Thanks for the post!
ReplyDeleteMr. K, thank you so much for your thoughts on this topic! Your comment about the first few years of teaching really hit home with me. I have definitely had the same worry that I will not be as effective a teacher my first few years as I will a few years down the line. I do not want my students to feel as though they have an ineffective teacher just because of my age and lack of experience. When I picture an effective teacher, it is not necessarily an old and experienced teacher. Instead, an effective teacher is one who cares so much about their students that they get to know them and figure out what works best for them using assessments. I think you, and each person in this program is capable of being an effective teacher right off the bat! Your thoughts were enlightening, thought provoking and also a bit stressful. However, I think after 11 months more of this program our confidence level will rise. Peace out!
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