Posted in Philosophy of EducationTeaching on Nov 24, 2009 - 03:36 PM
This past September, I was hired to teach first grade at a private Islamic school. The school housed grades K-12, and in addition to the standard language arts, mathematics, science and social studies; religious instruction and Arabic language were also offered. Due to low enrollment and a reduction in the anticipated school budget, I was laid off shortly after being hired. In the brief one week period that I actually taught, I struggled between doing what was right versus doing what was easy. In other words, I strived to teach in a manner that lived up to my ideals. However, I found myself defaulting to methods and practices that I despised about my own education.My adventure in teaching wasn't exactly planned. I didn't major in education nor do I have a masters degree. I'm in the nascent stages of the certification process, and I didn't start that until after I had already started my job. At the same time, I have always had an interest in working with children and youth, especially in a way that would empower them, and felt that education was one of the fields that would allow me to do that. Teachers, I believe, can have an exponential positive effect: in other words, a good educator has the power to help their students realize their talents and potential, and to help them become positive change agents. However, I doubt that more education or state licensing would have given me the capital to teach in a way different from the way in which I was taught.
I had started to lose my struggle to teach ideally by the middle of the week. That day, it so happened that my husband, a firm believer in democratic child-rearing and education practices, had to pick me up from work due to car issues. I began to discuss the day with him, talking about assignments I had given to my kids during the day. I discussed how much they hated writing, how much they hated copying words and sentences from the board. At that point, our discussion took an interesting turn:
Husband: Why do they have to write in the first place?
Tanya: Because they need to become familiar with words and sentences.
Husband: Why don't you allow them to write things that they like to write?
Tanya: This is what we had to write in first grade, and writing things repetitively will allow them to become familiar with words.
Husband: So, why can't they have fun with it?
Tanya: Life isn't fun, and it's better that they learn that sooner in life rather than later.
GASP. My husband looked at me as if I had turned into a werewolf. He then asked, “Are you listening to yourself? That's just evil, Tanya."
It took me a good five minutes to stop hating him for being right before I actually acknowledged how right he was. I threw faulty defenses like “You don't know how hard it is to be a teacher," at him, but I knew deep down that he had a point -- a very, very good point.
Needless to say, the next day, I gave the kids more freedom and came up with a more creative lesson plan for language arts. I also began to reflect, and realized how scary it was for me to live up to the ideals I read about and believed in, like some “fear of the unknown.”
At the same time, I'm optimistic about my journey ahead. I believe nothing but good can come of the whole "unschooling" process.
Tags for this entry:
k-12 education,
curriculum,
freedom,
classroom strategies,
writing,
ideals,
fun,
fear,
uncertainty
Comments
Dec 03, 2009 - 09:09 PM
I think when we are the most nervous or unsure, we most quickly revert back to what we “know”—like a conditioned response. When parenting is toughest we often revert to how we were parented in crisis. Or when we are least sure we ignore our internal voices the most and hunt down books to tell us the “right” way to do it. I bet it was the same for you in the classroom, trying to find your bearing, going back to what is “known” about the “right way” to do it. How nice that you have someone with whom to share a reflective conversation, and how brave of you to share your own process of unschooling here!
Melia Dicker
Nov 24, 2009 - 06:22 PM
Strange, isn’t it, how our own upbringing comes into conflict with our ideals? I’ve had similar experiences, when I’ve ordered my students to do something “because I said so.” I have to check my impulses to teach them the way I usually had been taught, with the infallible adult laying down the law for the young ones.
It’s moments like the one with your husband, or when a child looks you in the eye and asks, “Why?” that you stop and think about whether the way it’s always been done is really the best way.