Teaching and Learning - a draft philosophy

I question my abilities in the classroom on a daily basis. Today is the start of Education Week. There were school groups that travelled to the mall. They sang, danced and performed beautifully. It made me think of last week when I returned some test booklets to a school I have done some casual work at. Walking into that school, seeing the students that I had taught: some for only one day, others for longer periods of time - but it made me happy. I smiled to just be walking in the grounds. I have seen so many places that make stories out of bad or incompetent teachers... It seems to drown out the good stories sometimes.

Take "Bad Teacher". Haven't seen it yet. Not too sure if I want to.
Has anyone seen this and enjoyed it?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1284575/

So, I have finally figured out that I definitely want to teach. Despite the hours, the challenges, the hard work... I want to teach. I love teaching. 

 

My Developing / Draft Philosophy of Teaching and Learning

E minaka ana taku ngäkau ki te ako mö töku oranga katoa

My heart desires to teach / learn for my whole life.

To the right is a representation = Learning is relationships.

The outer koru indicates the world and its impacts on the classroom environment. The triangle has as its base the subject matter, what is being learnt, the sides represent the teacher and student, each bringing their own background, experiences, needs and desires to the classroom.

I believe that it is through inquiry, social interactions, the dialogue in the classroom (whether between student and teacher, or student and student) that learning happens. Posing an authentic and relevant question is the means through which engagement and motivation occurs. Facilitation and mediation by the teacher enables the students to engage with content that they find interesting and appealing.

I believe that learning is a life-long journey and that my job is to instill in students a passion for learning, for reading, for inquiring, for engaging in dialogue. If there is one thing that I manage to achieve in the classroom, I would hope that I can validate the belief that it is important to follow your heart and to provide students with the cognitive strategies through which they can reach for their goals.

I believe that the classroom should be a safe environment, where everyone feels okay about making mistakes – mistakes are how we learn. It is okay to find a problem or to raise a question.

We need to query to discover our place in the world: our relationships to others and to our environment. We need to be able to question the government, the workplace, and our communities and not just passively accept the situations we find ourselves in.

To be human is to inquire (Aulls & Shore, 2008:vii).

I miss teaching every day =(

Just last year, I looked forward to the school holidays. Every holidays, I would commit the first week (although sometimes it took a little longer, sometimes a lot longer and on the odd occasion it took the whole of the holiday period) to planning and preparation for the upcoming term. Then in the second week, I would have some quality time with my daughter, time to relax and recharge.

Now, I am counting the days until the holidays finish. Actually, I'm counting the hours... There are 33 hours and 3 minutes until I will be able to ring the agencies and say, "I'm ready. Please ring if a job comes up".

I've found life as a casual teacher, without a car, to be very hard... Especially for someone who is navigationally challenged, living in a new area. At first, I thought that I had covered my bases by signing up with two major agencies and hand-delivering my CV to the six closest schools.... But, I was mistaken. I've had so many days 'to myself' that I have been able to:

• order my external HDD (1TB of data, dumped from CDs, DVDs, my computer and school laptop before leaving NZ - all of my projects, coursework, portfolio pieces, workshops and conference presentations.... a feat and a mission!)
• read up and study four new curriculum frameworks (the local NSW curriculum documents K-10; the IPC; the England and Wales National Curriculum; the IB framework - the differences and similarities between the organisation of learning areas is fascinating)
• organise a re-write of my will (last done in 1998)
• catch up on all of the movies I haven't had time to watch (since becoming a mother in 1996)
• photograph and backup my important documents
• post a video to YouTube, as a way of practicing my te reo Maori
• join livemocha.com and start to learn some basic phrases in Ukrainian, Mandarin and Indonesian

There's also been a lot of time to think. Although I am only in my third year of teaching post-qualification, I have committed to teaching and learning since 1998. Being a mother is what drew me (like many others) into teaching. I started as a teacher's aide (kaiawhina), going in to my daughter's kohanga (nursery or kindergarten) to help. I was and always will be, passionate about learning. I wanted my baby to have every opportunity and it is from this, that my belief in the right of every child to excellence in education came from.


My brother asked me a question, when we first arrived in Sydney. He asked me why I stayed so long as a teacher's aide. I didn't know how to answer at that time. But, I thought about it as I was sorting my HDD. I thought about it while I was sorting photos (getting all teary eyed and 'homesick'). 

http://goo.gl/photos/V7AjmFiDqJ

I worked many more hours than I was paid for, especially when I started as a teacher aide at my baby's primary school. I realised... I found it hard to leave and do the formal training, because I love the children. I love the job with all the associated ups and downs. I love learning and teaching and I love the 'click' moments.


I strongly believe that teaching should be an apprentice-ship first and foremost. You learn how to teach by teaching. All of the theory and academic readings in the world cannot help you if you don't go through the practicum experience. Perfect attendance at lectures and great note-taking skills won't help you if you cannot question and reflect on your own practice. Getting A's on your assignments won't help you if you cannot accept constructive criticism or feedback about your classroom practice, using it to learn and grow as a practitioner.


I love reading books. I love watching movies and I like keeping up-to-date with news and current affairs. But I am saddened by what I see and hear sometimes. I believe that teaching is the hardest profession in the world, after parenting... yet, despite (or maybe because of) the challenging nature of this profession, teachers are constantly looked down on. There are so many reasons that are given. Teachers are not professionals, who work shorter hours, get longer holidays and are not even capable of constructing a grammatically correct sentence. Teachers 'brainwash' their students, don't care, or that it's such an easy job anyone can walk off the street and be a teacher. 


I believe that this is the reason why I (unintentionally) insulted a practitioner, while in the process of writing my thesis. I was not a qualified teacher at this stage, but I was in the fourth year of my apprenticeship. I sincerely apologise to you and I hope that you know how wonderful and painful every teaching day is. I constantly question my practice and invite questions and dialogue from colleagues. It took me many years before I was able to drag myself away from the classroom for the university qualification... and I used every excuse I could find to return to the school and the classes that I was missing dreadfully. Every one of my classmates quickly learned of my passion for the school I loved, for the 'master' colleagues that I had been apprenticed to and of how badly I wanted to return. 

It was likewise very difficult for me to leave this school that I love, at the end of 2010. But I had to leave. I believe that, as a practitioner, I need to study and apprentice in the programming and implementation of new curriculum frameworks, in new countries - immersing myself in new cultures to learn and grow.