Topic brainstorming

I’ve had question that I was hoping to do for this project and through the readings, I think it’s a good potential subject.  Since I had an idea already, brain storming just kept bringing me back around to the same topic.  I hope my bubble diagram above shows what I am thinking.  

I have had concerns about the over use of technology in the classroom for several years.  I understand the reasons its use has increased.  For the teacher, I think it easier.  For the schools, I think it’s cheaper.  A good example to both would be dissection.   It’s both easier and cheaper to have students perform multiple dissections virtually than to perform them on actual cadavers.   You could look at most labs in a similar way.

I also understand that the world is increasingly tech heavy and that we need to prepare our student for that reality.  I wonder though, are students becoming numb to images and information received from a computer.  Ten to fifteen years ago, I understood the need to bring students up to speed on computers and the new thing called the Internet, but do kids today really need that?  Anecdotally, I know many elementary students who are absolutely comfortable with the digital realm.  If they are getting that at home, should the schools maybe look towards providing something they aren’t getting there?

Students often complain about the practicality and the application of science and other subjects.  Are we missing a chance to bring the abstract lesson into the real world?  Fundamentally, we need to improve students understanding of basic concepts.  I don’t think we need to improve students understanding of technology.  Most of our students will have a better understanding than us.

I don’t think we should abolish technology in the class room.  I’m just curious if there is a better, more measured approach that could lead to actually improving students understanding of the material.

Modern view of teachers

The cultural image of teacher in the modern American consciousness is a complex one.  Education is a foundational element to our society with the vast majority of people having attended school for long periods of time.  This collective experience by the general population generates a complex image, which I believe the group collage work demonstrated.

I found in very interesting the social and marketing groups seemed to find imagery that seemed focused on elementary schools whereas the Hollywood group found the imagery much more focused on high school.  There were secondary considerations that occurred after locating the image with regards to time in an educational life.  Gender, disposition, race and student relationship seem to be near polar opposites.  As previously stated, I view those as secondary to the location.

In general, all people have a more fond relationship with their memories of their elementary education than their high school education.  I attribute much of that to the developmental turmoil of adolescence as well as the bright eyed optimism of youth.   The result is when we think of the idealized teacher, we tend to think of elementary school teachers.  That is the reason that the reason that the marketing and social group found that opinion in their search.  Hollywood’s take is different.  A story without conflict is uninteresting.  So when producing a movie about education, we automatically gravitate toward high school because of the great amounts of perceived conflict.

What's a good teacher?

Pop culture tends to imply there are only two types of teachers. The terrible Ben Stein-like lecturer, who leaves learning up to the students and the ultra-liberal, hippy type who is desperately trying to make sure everyone is happy. In my opinion, neither represents a good teacher. A good teacher is active in the classroom but also has firm rules that the class works with in.

When I think about a good teacher I’m immediately struck by the word engaged. I think a good teacher is one that’s engaged in their students’ learning, engaged with the rest of the faculty, and in engaged in their own professional development. I look at that engagement as an active process, not a passive one.

I cannot lock onto one mental picture of what a good teacher’s classroom looks like. I recognize that certain subject matters and student bodies require various amount of structure. I think a good teacher can recognize what is needed from them to be effective and can be flexible enough to provide it. I think that’s a part of being engaged with their class.

In terms of research, I think that that is engagement with your own professional development and the rest of the faculty. I think the process of looking at yourself and what you doing is being engaged with yourself.

In comparing my thoughts with the pictures shown in the Phillips and Carr book on page 8, I instantly notice that I didn’t think much about disposition as much as those pictures imply their authors did. All the pictures seem to prominently show a big smiling face. I do think that a good teacher is happy to be in the classroom, but I think that can be attributed to being a good teacher.

I don’t know if I’m looking too deep into the pictures, but all of the teachers are shown with arms open. It seems like a very welcoming and safe gesture. It almost looks like the beginning of a hug. I think it’s a good indication that teachers make their students feel safe and secure. Maybe it’s because I am thinking of high school teachers specifically, but the idea of providing safety and security doesn’t immediately jump to my mind.

Another couple commonalties between the pictures are the words passion and organized. I definitely understand the passion theme. Passion, to me, is just another way of showing that the teacher really cares about the students and cares about their education. The organized theme seems to point to the idea of preparedness. Again, I connect this theme and the passion theme back to engagement. A teacher that is fully engaged with his or hers classroom is going to be prepared and passionate about being in the classroom.

Self-Study

Hello, my name is Charlie Standifer and I’m currently enrolled at NC State University in the MAT program. The MAT program is designed to help career changers successfully move into the teaching profession. I have a BS in mechanical engineering from NC State and I’ve been working in manufacturing for the past ten years. The top five reasons for making the switch from engineering to teaching are:

1. I want to make a difference with America’s youth.
2. I want to coach football.
3. I want to have a fulfilling career.
4. I like the flexibility and stability of the teaching profession. There are career opportunities everywhere in the world and there is always a high demand.
5. I’m really looking forward to the schedule of a high school teacher. The schedule allows personal and professional development.

I really think the primary influence on the above points is my previous career in engineering. I enjoyed my work but there was hollowness to it. I really never felt that my job made a difference. I had a solid career, but a lot of days, it was just a job I did to get a paycheck.

It would be absurd to say that my own experiences as a student don’t affect my image of teachers and the teaching profession. I was lucky in my education. I went to high quality schools that fostered a strong learning environment. Since I’m looking at becoming a high school teacher, I’ll narrow my focus to critical moments from that time.

1. My high school football coach, who was also my position coach, was the most influential teacher to me in high school. I was an above average student, so I never really had to work hard to succeed. Football was different. This coach pushed me to be better than I expected. I think that kind of defines what I hope to accomplish as a teacher. I want to help students be better than the expectations they have for themselves.
2. Another football coach was the instructor for my first AP class, US History. I’m a fan of history, but I think my effort level was higher in this class because the teacher was a coach. I was concerned that disappointing him in the classroom would cross over to the football field. I think the idea that a coach can be a more effective teacher because he is a coach is something that I’m still holding on too.
3. My high school chemistry teacher was a blast. He did chemistry the right way. Everything was practical and involved. We had tons of labs and demonstrations in that class. He created a learning environment that I hope to recreate.
4. I guess a negative experience is warranted. My high school physics teacher was an older gentleman. He was a retiree, who taught this one class because the regular staff had scheduling conflicts. He was very much an “old style” teacher. Class was very boring, with the majority of the class spent watching him work his way through the book. It definitely was the “giver of knowledge” model of teaching.
5. I did have a separate incident with this same physics teacher a few years later. I returned home from college one weekend to visit my old high school for a football game. I ran into him in the crowd and we had a good conversation about where I was and what I was doing. This was probably the first time someone told me they wished I’d go into teaching.

No decision is made in a vacuum. Who you are and who you are around influence your decisions. I really think my very modest childhood steered me away from teaching. I was really worried about money. Also I am the only member of my family to attend college, so there was a pressure to be successful, and success was solely defined by pay.

I also think gender roles played a part in my not becoming a teacher the first time around. My father was very much a manly man. He was a mechanic and a carpenter, so to me, a man’s job needed to be one where he made/fixed things and used his hands. I think this really pushed me subconsciously toward mechanical engineering. It seemed like the manliest discipline.

Obviously my status in this program suggests that things have changed for me. As you get out into the world and work, you realize what’s important to you and what isn’t. I now understand that income isn’t a good measure of happiness. I’ve also seen the need in schools and realize that the most important thing you can make is a difference.

I come from a family of simple means. I’ve improved my social standing primarily through my education. Education as an uplifting tool is a truth in my life. I think that’s a big part of why I’m becoming a teacher. It’s one of the few tools that can truly change people’s lives. That’s something I want to help enable.

I didn’t think about research as part of the teaching process, at least initially. It seems to me that when we talk about research in this class, we are talking about professional reflection and development. The idea of continual observation and improvement of teaching techniques definitely seems to be part of the teaching process. We always talk about creating a learning environment in the classroom and being co-learners with our students. I think the research is just the teacher actively participating in the learning process.

I don’t think anyone goes into teaching to be a bad or average teacher. We all want to be highly effective at getting through to our students. So I think every teacher owes it to themselves to really reflect on what they do and how effective it is at getting through to student. I imagine being a bad teacher is more stressful than being a good teacher, especially if you really care about the students.

So the question is do you want to continue to improve yourself and your teaching abilities or not. If you do, then you want to look at this as becoming a teacher/researcher. So of course I want to be a teacher/researcher. I really can’t imagine answering otherwise. As I said in the beginning, I want to make a difference; I don’t think that’s possible without being a high level teacher.