We've just had yet another review of teacher education. The group convened to examine how well (or not) we do as teacher educators, contained one person qualified to talk about it from a teacher education point of view: the others were from schools. They were qualified to discuss the issue from one side of the coin. But coins have two sides- they are equal and go together to make a whole. The imbalance in what is proposed (well, almost finalised) is marked. For those of us who teach people to be teachers, introduce them to pedagogy, theories of learning and what it means to be a reflective practitioner, open up the field of ethical behaviour as an educational professional, visit them on practicum and provide evaluative feedback, help them explore notions of curriculum, learning processes and puzzles of practice, must now get a teaching certificate - because this certificate proves we can do our jobs.
As someone who is both passionate about supporting people to become secondary teachers, and tries to model what I preach, I find this insulting. This is especially since I know that when our students go on prcticum, it is quite likely they will hear comments from teachers that we- those of us in teacher education- don't know what we're talking about. That 'them and us' mentality is really sad. From where I'm standing, such a belief appears to assume that because I'm not in front of a class of adolescents every day, that I don't know about curriculum, thinking, ethics, professionalism, classroom mangement, assessment - and all the other things that go to make up a school day. There is, it seems, a view that reading, research, thinking, experimentation about pedagogy and how it might manifest itself for the benefit of learners, don't matter as much as being in a classroom. I'm tired of that argument. I was in secodnary school classrooms for 20 years- I know there's more to education and effective practices than jsut being there.
On the other hand, I've also heard from others (such as PD providers or conference organisers) that teachers only want practical things - and some do. This is partly a workload thing - there is an urgency to get on and do stuff - considered, informed, evidence-based thinking and preparation doesn't get much of a look-in. But if professional development is only ever about about practical stuff, how do teachers continue to learn and grow in their profession? Opportunities to learn about theory and research and provocative ideas - these can feed the mind, inspiring really good practices. If it's only about practice, then it trivialises and undermines the reality of teachers being knowledge workers.
So, the insistence on a current Teacher Registration certificate (I let mine lapse after 3 years as a teacher educator - it didn't seem to accommodate my role) to be the guarantee of my ability to do my job - including visiting students on practicum - is therefore, an insult. It's an insult to my experience, knowledge, practices, and commitment.
I feel a bit better now.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
summarising ideas about pedagogy and ICT
Yesterday, I spend time working with the secondary graduate group explaining how and why I organised their PICT (=pedagogy & ICT) module as I did. Now that they are nearly at the end of their programme, it was time to show them what had happened and why.
I also confessed that I hadn't actually taught them anything about how to use any particular technological tool: I only gave them permission to try them out - in groups and individually. I then needed to explain why- it's because technology changes so much. I argued that if I taught them a particular tool, in 6 months it may be superceded by something else. Instead, I hope I gave them courage to experiment, to wonder 'what if I...?' and to think about pedagogical purposes to drive any use. I also argued that if they had a good learning reason to try things out in a school, it's really hard for a school to refuse - especially if they already have in place answer to the 'yes, but...' counters.
What was lovely, was that generally they left the session in a really positive frame of mind, remembering how overwhelmed they were at the start of the year, and how differently they feel now about they can do and what they've learned.
And a lot of that learning has been from each other. By making them use some kind of technological tool in their practicums and write about it in Moodle, they are now (more or less) grateful they had to do it. They even discussed how they sometimes had to think creatively to get things to work, or even think creatively about tools they could possibly use when their schools had limited access, few or creaky equipment. However, they also cursed me at the time!
This is a really good example of assessment driving creativity and learning. Sometimes it takes ages for the understanding to come, but the wait is truly worth it! All power to the cohort of 2010.
I also confessed that I hadn't actually taught them anything about how to use any particular technological tool: I only gave them permission to try them out - in groups and individually. I then needed to explain why- it's because technology changes so much. I argued that if I taught them a particular tool, in 6 months it may be superceded by something else. Instead, I hope I gave them courage to experiment, to wonder 'what if I...?' and to think about pedagogical purposes to drive any use. I also argued that if they had a good learning reason to try things out in a school, it's really hard for a school to refuse - especially if they already have in place answer to the 'yes, but...' counters.
What was lovely, was that generally they left the session in a really positive frame of mind, remembering how overwhelmed they were at the start of the year, and how differently they feel now about they can do and what they've learned.
And a lot of that learning has been from each other. By making them use some kind of technological tool in their practicums and write about it in Moodle, they are now (more or less) grateful they had to do it. They even discussed how they sometimes had to think creatively to get things to work, or even think creatively about tools they could possibly use when their schools had limited access, few or creaky equipment. However, they also cursed me at the time!
This is a really good example of assessment driving creativity and learning. Sometimes it takes ages for the understanding to come, but the wait is truly worth it! All power to the cohort of 2010.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Some exciting teaching experiences
I'm now marking my graduate students' descriptions of their teaching practicum experiences using e-learning tools. There are some really innovative things going on. Here are two:
1. Graphics and Design class
This student teacher was teaching the concept of perspective and vanishing point. Normally, he would use a blackboard/whiteboard, but it would mean his back would obscure part of the drawing. This time, he mounted a webcam directly above a drawing board that was exactly the same that the students were using. It was made from melamine so he could use white board markers as pencils. The webcam then projected whatever he was drawing through his laptop and projector onto a big screen. His drawing desk was angled so he could see the class and the screen, so it was a bit like having a horizontal interactive white board. With a mouse he could also draw digitally over the top of his live drawing in the laptop screen to emphasise areas of importance. He said that he "had total student engagement so management was a non issue and the standard of work students were doing had risen and understanding of the work doubled".
Now that's a creative way to support learning using readily available tools.
2. English class
This class was creating a number of things: writing lyrics, creating a static image, film analysis (Pirates of the Caribbean). Instead of doing the lyrics on Word, printing them out and laminating for the classroom wall, the student teacher did the following. She got students to take images of images of themselves in a pose that represented a big idea they wanted to portray, plus an image of the static images they had created on paper. They did so using the computer's webcam. These two things, plus the lyrics, became part of a DVD cover task they created as their interpretation of the movie. In order to present this to the class, each student created 3 presentation slides containing their product items. She reproted that student engagement was high, collaboration (sharing how to do things technologically in particular) was high, and commitment to completing the work to a high standard was also obvious.
And all of this was from a student teacher who, at the start of this year, was personally challenged by the PICT (pedagogy & information communication technology) class.
Don't you just love it when people experiment with new ways of doing things, and they have such a great effect?
1. Graphics and Design class
This student teacher was teaching the concept of perspective and vanishing point. Normally, he would use a blackboard/whiteboard, but it would mean his back would obscure part of the drawing. This time, he mounted a webcam directly above a drawing board that was exactly the same that the students were using. It was made from melamine so he could use white board markers as pencils. The webcam then projected whatever he was drawing through his laptop and projector onto a big screen. His drawing desk was angled so he could see the class and the screen, so it was a bit like having a horizontal interactive white board. With a mouse he could also draw digitally over the top of his live drawing in the laptop screen to emphasise areas of importance. He said that he "had total student engagement so management was a non issue and the standard of work students were doing had risen and understanding of the work doubled".
Now that's a creative way to support learning using readily available tools.
2. English class
This class was creating a number of things: writing lyrics, creating a static image, film analysis (Pirates of the Caribbean). Instead of doing the lyrics on Word, printing them out and laminating for the classroom wall, the student teacher did the following. She got students to take images of images of themselves in a pose that represented a big idea they wanted to portray, plus an image of the static images they had created on paper. They did so using the computer's webcam. These two things, plus the lyrics, became part of a DVD cover task they created as their interpretation of the movie. In order to present this to the class, each student created 3 presentation slides containing their product items. She reproted that student engagement was high, collaboration (sharing how to do things technologically in particular) was high, and commitment to completing the work to a high standard was also obvious.
And all of this was from a student teacher who, at the start of this year, was personally challenged by the PICT (pedagogy & information communication technology) class.
Don't you just love it when people experiment with new ways of doing things, and they have such a great effect?
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