#teaching issues

like we're taught how to diversify methods of instruction in order to most equitably reach the diverse populations of our classrooms and inspire them to do their best writing/reading/speaking (im an English teaching major) but then in reality the students in your classroom are insanely below the level they need to be at in order to engage with age-appropriate lessons for them

we're taught how to take common core standards and transform them into meaningful and deep lessons but we're only given 45-90 mins of planning per day (if we're lucky) and the rest needs to be done outside of school or after hours if you can't do it quickly enough, and teachers are always expected to do research outside of the classroom, as well as collaboration, tweaking of lesson plans, etc.

we're told that students crave learning and they crave fun projects and they crave kinesthetic exercises, but then when I try those things in the classroom everyone complains and halfasses their participation, and im lucky if half of them actually pass something in, whether its an assignment, a test, a project, or an assessment.

we're told that we need to have open communication not only between teachers but between teachers and admin and parents, but then im lucky if one of the ten parents I email about their kid failing emails me back, and im luckier if admin takes a behaviorally disturbed student out of my class for insulting me or other students.

like... i guess my point is that teaching education is so idyllic and utopian, and actual classrooms are a goddamn nightmare of behavioral issues, lack of time/resources, exhausting interactions with students who don't want to be there or participate, and insane expectations from students, parents, and admin alike.

Reflective Teacher – Teacher Self-Development

Teacher Training: Devised by academic management Pre-determined training course structure Addresses ‘global’ teaching issues* External evaluation Input from “experts” Unthinking acceptance of knowledge Teaching seen from ‘outside in’ Stresses professional skill

by Sophia McMillan (Shane Training Centre)

Teacher Development Initiated by “self” Development through reflective process Addresses…

Now, during our preparation, I'd mentioned that this is a Gifted and Talented Education classroom and that we, unlike the other students, were working with fifth and sixth graders, and so our students were far more likely to know the meaning of an angle, and to have a better grasp on understanding it, and therefore might find some of the exercises in the lesson plan boring, if not patronizing. I suggested that we ought to bring in some more advanced material to hold their interest. My groupmates didn't believe me, and it was fun to watch their faces as we lost control of a room full of kids. Of course, we pulled them back in, and I was constantly from then challenging them with questions that were not in the lesson plan -- the questions I would have wanted to be asked.

In addition, I had mentioned to the two classmates I was teaching with that it is well documented that teachers don't call girls as often as boys. I suggested we might want to avoid this pattern while we were planning our lesson, and they waved my concerns off. Nevertheless, while we were teaching, they called on two girls at the very beginning, and after the beginning effort, they didn't call upon a single girl. Of course, I took it upon myself to make up for that, but it just... this is one I really didn't want to be right on. I wanted them to call on students equally to give everyone a voice, and yet they continued to call on the same set of boys, the ones who raised their hands the highest and most frequently, each time without fail. That's not how you engage a class, and it's destructive to other students.

It's just funny -- because the research that shows this is thirty years old and still they refuse to do a damn thing about it. Boys will be boys? Nah. But hey, it's not all discouraging. The students are great. For my part, when I was talking, one kid, H, wasn't paying attention. Our teacher, whom I'll refer to as S for the remainder of this, directed him to sit on the carpet immediately in front of me. I engaged H, and after that, he was possibly my most loyal listener, and made me a beautiful origami table out of the pinwheel form we were working with. I repeatedly called on the girls, and on the boys who weren't raising their hands as often, and they really got the lesson, in addition to the bigger questions I was posing. The classroom was totally engaged.