I found this assignment very enjoyable and educational. The hardest part for me was coming up with profound questions to ask my influential teacher. There were so many things I wanted to ask her, but I knew I needed to head towards a reflective mindset as opposed to me learning new things about her.
I think Beth’s answers were different from most of the other interviewed teachers because she teaches public school and therefore is not just teaching music, but rather a mix of almost every subject. I do think however, that this provided me with more pedagogy analysis as opposed to musical background. When Beth said “I became a teacher because it seemed like it was the best opportunity for a job that was both professional and compatible with my family life”, it struck me. I didn’t realize that ultimately that would be the reason that I too pursue education as a career. Honestly, it makes me feel kind of bad saying that, as I know education is often a life long goal that generally is just being fulfilled. I feel like if everyone knew that at Western in the education stream, they might be ashamed of me. Teaching would be a job I would do, I would do it relatively well, but I know that I would not be happy working in an education facility for the rest of my life. I’m glad Beth reminded me of this idea, and has really pushed me to look into my other passions to see if I could find a career that I would be happy and productive in. I found it interesting that Beth did not have a very positive education experience. This may be why she never saw herself as an educator. She may be afraid of impacting students the way she was impacted; but something tells me she uses her negative experience to drive the passion to create a positive education experience for her students. It’s interesting how our education experiences define our ideal careers. There was a lot of information about the layout of the education system that I learned during this interview. I had no idea that there were sessions that were conducted board wide to train teachers and give them new lesson ideas. Overall it was a positive experience, and I’m glad I got a taste of qualitative research. I really enjoyed this, and it has made me think of what I actually am interested in. It’s pushing my life plans to look further than I have for a lifetime job. Aiden:
The purpose of this interview is to interview an influential teacher that has positively affected me on my education journey. And Before we get into the interview I’m just wondering If I’m allowed to record it? Beth: Yep! Aiden: And can I post a transcript online on my personal education blog? Beth: Yes. Aiden: Okay so, the first question is what lead you to become a teacher? Beth: Well, I became a teacher because it seemed like it was the best opportunity for a job that was both professional and compatible with my family life. That’s not to say that I hadn’t always been teaching, but it wasn’t something that I saw myself doing.. until I actually was doing it. Aiden: Fair enough. So, who was your favourite teacher while you were a student. Beth: Maybe Paul Laux, maybe Linda Maskell, yeah. I didn’t love my teachers. Aiden: Well, do you have any distinct memories of those two teachers you mentioned? Beth: No. More larger impressions of how they treated children. Aiden: Alright, that makes a lot of sense. In your career, what has frustrated you? Beth: Being surrounded by people who don’t work as hard as I do. Aiden: And why does that frustrate you? Beth: Because even though I didn’t go into teaching with the idea that I was fulfilling some sort of life long dream, I work really hard at teaching. At improving my practice, at staying abreast of current research, of trying to incorporate new ideas. And because I’m in the middle of education I’m not at the beginning or the end, I have to deal with where my kids have come from and where they’re going. And when you see teachers who are not working very hard, and you get the result of that, it’s very frustrating. Aiden: I could imagine. Do you remember any distinct obstacles you overcame at any point in your career or education path to your career? Beth: No, it’s been really straight forward, but I’ve been very lucky. Aiden: Well, that’s good then! I noticed —as your child— that you generally use alternative teaching methods such as games, puzzles and art work to give students more information about a subject. How do you think this benefits your students? Beth: The idea that students all learn in one way is ridiculous. We don’t all learn in the same way and so we have to think of all of the different styles of how kids might learn something and try to incorporate them all. So, if you’re doing multiplication facts you do them through games, through songs, through acting them out, through kinaesthetic learning. Even buskarizing making it really large, or making it really small. Doing it in art so that they can see how it effects so many things in their lives and then recognize it in other places. So that it doesn’t just become about a silo of math, and a silo of english and a silo of social studies. They have to see that there’s a value to it and that there’s a reason. They have to be able to associate it with their whole lives not just what we do at school. Aiden: And have you noticed a change in focus or engagement since you began using these methods? Beth: Well, I’m engaged more so they’re engaged more. Aiden: Okay, that makes sense. Beth: There’s a direct correlation between how interested and engaged the teacher is and how interested and engaged the students are. And when I’m interested and engaged, they’re interested and engaged. So, if I am enjoying what I’m teaching, they’re enjoying what they’re learning. And the converse of that is true. Aiden: Do you notice a difference between your class’ focus and engagement compared to another class at you school? Beth: Absolutely. I see it all the time. And I hear about it from parents. Aiden: Do you have a memorable lesson from people that you teach or your colleagues? Beh: That I produced? Aiden: Sure. Beth: … Aiden: Or something they taught you, one or the other, whichever you find easiest. Beth: Generally I remember most what failed. So, a lot of the networking that we do often when people from the board office parachute in, and they try to encourage certain styles of teaching often the lessons that they want to reach for are well beyond what the children are capable of doing. And often teachers try to make their children look better by suggesting that they can do more than they can. So, in networking especially, when you go to other schools and meet other professionals and then math coaches and math coordinators or — math is a big focus right now at Thames Valley— and then they jump in and try to make a lesson and then teach it to the class.. they come to find that they have no idea and aren’t anywhere near the spot that the teacher said they were, these things are memorable. Aiden: Fair enough. Well, that’s all the questions I had for you, I really appreciate your time. Beth: Hey no problem! I chose Mrs. Honey from Matilda as an example of good teaching methods. She has all of the students engaged and interested in learning the material being presented. Mrs Honey treats the kids with kindness and respect, which motivates their curiosity to learn, and grow as individuals. I was focusing more so on classroom management and engagement during this part of the question, because I believe that being engaging and motivating is essential to teaching; as well as understanding the concepts you are explaining. This clip is taken from the move Matilda (1996), which has two contrasting teaching styles being presented: the kind and motivating teacher, Mrs Honey, and the teacher that uses fear to gain power over their students, Mrs Trunchbull. As a bad example of teaching I chose Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory, during the episode where he is teaching his roommate’s girlfriend (Penny) the basics of what his roommate does for a living. Granted this isn’t necessarily an in class example, it still demonstrates bad teaching habits.
During the clip Sheldon begin by undermining Penny. He makes jokes about her being stupid, and does not really treat her respectfully. Sheldon then moves far too quickly through the material, and when Penny asks questions he doesn’t actually answer them, but rather leads her back to the material he wanted to teach; regardless of if she is understanding or not. |
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