The Associate who insisted on teaching HOW to teach!

Name: Sharnjit Moondi Course: The Reflective Practitioner Professor: Dr. Maurice DiGiuseppe

S. Moondi

Introduction
Every teacher candidate goes through the mandatory and valuable experience of doing practicums in three or four different classroom environments along with an alternative environment. I graduated from teachers college last June and unfortunately was not able to secure a teaching position for the year. Other then my volunteering in a local school in my hometown of Bancroft, I have only had practicum classroom experience. My case study revolves around my third practicum during my final year of teachers college. During this practicum, my associate teacher taught a Grade 11 University Mathematics course, Grade 10 Academic Mathematics course and Grade 10 Applied Mathematics course. My associate teacher gave me the responsibility of all courses and then changed his mind to giving me Grade 10 Academic and Grade 10 Applied, due to the fact that his favourite course to teach was Grade 11 University and had been teaching it for a good 15 years. The Grade 10 Applied course consisted of 18 students, of which 3 were absent quite frequently at the beginning and 4 disruptive students with a few of them having problems with one another. There were also a few students with learning disabilities in the class. The Grade 10 Academic course consisted of 32 students in which there were a few students that were not strong enough in mathematics to be in Academic, a few students that were disruptive and a few students that were identified with an IEP that should be accommodated in daily lessons. The first time I spoke with my associate in person, he told me how he was planning on integrating me into the classroom. He told me to observe him for 34 days prior to beginning to teach his classes, which was understandable because thats how long the university suggested as well. He told me what day I would be starting to teach, which was the Friday of the same week.

Problem
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Associate Teacher who insisted on teaching of HOW to teach! After establishing the day that I was going to begin to teach, where the classes were in the curriculum, and looking at my associate teachers long term plan, I started to think right away of what I would be teaching and how I would approach my first lesson to a group of students that just met me. I prepared my lessons for that Friday a couple days in advance so that I could show my associate teacher and get any suggestions that he may have towards the lessons. He looked at them and told me to change them. He also added by saying that I should keep student interactivity to a minimal in my lessons, due his class not being use to getting up and working around the room nor are they capable of doing it without being disruptive and disrespectful. I was completely surprised by all that I was hearing from my associate teacher but did what my associate teacher asked of me. From everything stated above, there is probably a good understanding of what the problems with this scenario were. Associate teacher insisting on using his method of teaching. My associate teacher directing me to follow his way of teaching because he seemed to have believed that no other method is as successful as his own. His way of teaching was strict and demanding and that was not my way of teaching. I felt uncomfortable, which made me quite stressed due to the pressure of teaching just like him and the fact that I do not feel that I can approach him with any of my concerns. He made me feel like my way of teaching is incorrect. I also felt as though with his approach to teaching, I was not able to accommodate all the different students in the two classes and I was not able to assess my own teaching style in such dynamic classes. Fearing a bad report due to not complying by associate teachers principles. Knowing that the Practicum evaluation that the associate teacher completes at the end is so valuable to a teachers career, put the fear in me 3

S. Moondi that if I do not do what is recommended, it would result in a bad evaluation. The pressure of a bad report along with the pressure of using his method of teaching, made me highly stressed and feeling as though I was going through this experience alone. Associate teacher interrupting while I am teaching. Delays happening in the class regularly from students being disruptive or students having a difficult time understanding a concept is understandable. Although during this experience, I was interrupted in every way by my associate teacher and students. My associate teacher repeatedly interrupted my lessons whenever he felt. He would sometimes interrupt to describe concepts the way he wanted them to be and sometimes he would interrupt to talk about something that was completely off topic. He would not only interrupt for a few minutes but most of the time take over half or more of my lesson time and material, which threw me off of my prepared lessons. It would result in me perhaps not being able to complete what was intended for the day or not allowing the students sufficient homework time according to me. I felt as though the associate teacher did not respect anything I had to say or do because he always changed it by interrupting or by changing my lesson. I also felt as though some students may have thought I did not know what I was doing and they were placed in a situation where they could feel confused with two different approaches. The pressure of marking all assignments, quizzes and tests according to the way the associate teacher wanted them marked. All assignments, quizzes and tests that I have prepared and/or given to the students are definitely my responsibility to mark but during this practicum, I was not given the opportunity to come up with my own way of assessing the assignments, quizzes and tests. I was also given the quizzes and tests for the class that he taught and I felt that was not my responsibility and I felt as though I was being taken advantage of. 4

Associate Teacher who insisted on teaching of HOW to teach!

All of this played a large part in the difficulty of actually embedding myself into the role of a homeroom teacher. This was and will be a practicum that I will not able to forget because of all the problems listed above.

Research based Inquiry: understanding what should happen

This experience had led to many questions such as what is right and wrong as a teacher? How should a teacher candidate be integrated into the classroom? How should a teacher candidate be treated? Looking at many perspectives of renowned researchers, I have come up with answers to most of my questions. All the following researchers have brought up many great perspectives that help to understand teaching practices with a higher degree of understanding. Donald Schon According to Schon, people learn by doing A virtual world in the sense that, in that world, students can run experiments cheaply and without great danger practicum in interaction with someone who is in the role of coach, more like a coach than like a teacher, because that coach is trying to help them do something. (Schon, 1987). An associate teacher should play the role of a coach by helping teacher candidates, through motivating and supporting them in accomplishing their goals. They should have the understanding that student teachers are there to learn and that they will not only learn through guidance but also by making their own mistakes. The teachers cannot tell them. The teachers can say things to themthey come to be able to understand whats meant is by plunging into the doing (Schon, 1987). These statements made by Schon demonstrate the emphasis in giving teacher candidates the freedom to do, as they feel with every or most of the components of being a teacher. If teacher candidates establish their own rules for the classroom and style of teaching, teacher candidates are given the opportunity to plunge into the environment with having the support of an experienced teacher. Indulging

S. Moondi themselves into the environment, gives them the opportunity to experiment and learn what works and does not work for them, and learn from mistakes that they may make in handling classroom behavior. All of this together, would give them the opportunity to perform reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action as Schon states. Reflections are given a high importance because it allows a teacher candidate and an experienced teacher to think about their teaching and their classroom management to improve it or maintain it. During my practicum, I was unfortunately lacking the opportunity to experiment and learn how to teach on my own. Christopher Day Days research brought me to the same conclusion as Schon, that teacher candidates should be given the opportunity to try new things and just have someone experienced there to support them to develop a high level of professional development. Teachers need challenge and support if their professional development is to be enhanced (Day, 1993). Days statement could not be any more accurate for me, teacher candidates are lacking the experience that teachers have but they have the same passion for the career and/or subject. Just as a teacher should challenge themselves with new approaches, a teacher candidate should also be able to challenge themselves by trying new approaches especially since during this time in their life, they should have a supportive associate teacher watching over them. Challenges help any human being grow because they learn from the new events, whether they are positive or negative. As an associate teacher, I would give teacher candidates the opportunity to challenge themselves with something that they normally would not do. Alison Hine Many people reflect and know that they reflect but they do not realize that reflection is a conscious and unconscious process. Hines research revolves around the importance of reflection and the different approaches to reflection that not everyone uses. She discussed that self-reflection encourages more 6

Associate Teacher who insisted on teaching of HOW to teach! open minded and creative thinkers and effective educators. (Hine, 2000). During my practicum I was not entirely given the opportunity to reflect appropriately. I was able to make time out of my schedule to reflect deeply and as teaching to perform reflection-in-action as Schon describes but I was never able to experiment what I had reflected. According to Vygotsky, written in Hines article, "importance of learning is being framed through metacognitive and reflective experiencesas part of a journey leading to the aha experience of certainty. (Hine, 2000). Due to the restrictions that I felt I was given, I was not able to reach the aha moment because that would take an incredible about of reflection and experimentation. John Loughran In this world, many individuals are use to structure, a right or wrong way of doing or approaching things but just like everyone has their own learning style, there is also a unique teaching style that comes along with a good teacher. The world is in need for teacher educators to articulate and explicate the problems in their own teaching so that student teachers may begin to look beyond a recipe approach to their own learning about teaching (Loughran, 2002). The teaching style that a teacher chooses to take on is unique to that teacher and within that unique approach is a step-by-step process that that teacher feels comfortable with. This unique approach is not established at the beginning of a teaching career but throughout the teaching career. My associate teacher was teaching me his recipe of teaching and wanted me to follow it exactly because he felt as though, that was the only right way of teaching. He should have looked through new eyes (Schon, 1987) and have thought that he may learn something new from me such as lessons that were entirely or mostly using technology, as well as me learning strategies from him. Beck & Kosnik Understanding that practicum experiences have such a large impact on a teachers career. Beck and Kosnik outlined the 6 main aspects that should be included in a relationship between an associate teacher and teacher candidate. 7

S. Moondi 1. Supportive An associate teacher is there to support the teacher candidate in any manner possible and use their experience to help guide teacher candidates. "It helped them do a better job as a teacher and grow as a teacher..." (Beck & Kosnik, 2002). 2. Respected An associate teacher should respect teacher candidates as fellow colleagues and as adult learners. They should be able to understand that we all have out own learning style, teaching style, and are able to learn something new everyday. 3. Collaboration As we all grow from being a baby till now, we are always told sharing is caring or working together, you can accomplish anything and they are both accurate sayings. In school, it works the same way, teachers are now relayed the message that "working together can create an effective lesson" (Beck & Kosnik, 2002). The more open-minded teachers, the more ideas are brought up that could possibly make a lesson even more effective. 4. Flexibility There should be a "significant degree of flexibility during practicum...to teach and develop as teachers in their own way" (Beck & Kosnik, 2002). Experimenting is a teacher candidates best friend. 5. Feedback Teacher candidates should receive sufficient feedback from associate teachers. There should be continuous feedback and not only when the university requires it because feedback is what gives a teacher candidate the idea that they are on the right track to fulfilling a passion and provides them with suggestions on improving their teaching. 6. Workload Teacher candidates should be given the workload that they are entitled too according to the courses that they teach and provided with support on how to handle it.

Associate Teacher who insisted on teaching of HOW to teach!

Conclusion: role this situation has in my past, present and future

This particular situation during my final year in teachers college is an experience that I will never be able to forget. It is an experience that I have learned from and will use to help me succeed in the future. This is not to say that every horrible experience leads to a great learning experience because some experiences could turn individuals the opposite direction then they were heading. For instance, the practicum that I went through could have gone either way but I choose to push through it and to learn from it rather then take it negatively upon myself and push myself away from the direction of teaching. I will always remember that I have had first hand experience with someone telling me what to do and that this is not an effective learning experience. Students need to be given the opportunity to play a role and try new things to succeed in their goals for not only school but also life. Overall, this experience has shown me the importance of giving students the openness to be creative because not only will they learn but so will I. Openness allows for a higher level of creativity which brings out different approaches, strategies and methods that contribute to students learning process. The experience embedded in me that everyone has his or her own comfortable way of teaching and that everyone should be considerate of that and not judgmental about it. It also showed me the power of critical friends (Day, 1993) and if they are truly a critical friend then they will help make a situation better in one way or another. I realized that critical friends can be individuals whom you have just recently met, as long as you trust them and are able to understand their perspectives. When I get my dream job, I will become an associate teacher when I can, so that I can motivate teacher candidates to do well in their own way. I definitely understand after this experience, what type of associate I would like to be.

Work Cited
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S. Moondi Beck, C. & Kosnik, C. (2002). Components of a Good Practicum Placement: Student Teacher Perceptions. Teacher Education Quarterly, 81-98. Day, C. (1993). Reflection: A necessary but not sufficient condition for professional development. British Educational Research Journal, 19(1), 83-94. Hine, A. (2000). Mirroring effective education through mentoring, metacognition, and selfreflection. Available: http://www.aare.edu.au/00pap/hin00017.htm Loughren, J. (2002). Researching Teaching about Teaching: Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices. Studying Teacher Education, 1(1), 516. Rodgers, C. (2002). Defining reflection: Another look at John Dewey and reflective thinking. Teachers College Record, 104(4), 842-866. Schn, D. (1987). Educating the Reflective Practitioner. Presentation to the American Educational Research Association, Washington, D.C. Retrieved January 12, 2011, from http://resources.educ.queensu.ca/ar/schon87.htm

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