Week+3+-+So+you+want+to+be+a+teacher!

//**Lecture Review **by Michelle Lotriet //   This weeks lecture looked at different perceptions of a teacher. This is an important issue to look at as the way in which teachers are viewed by others and the way teachers view themselves ultimately impact on their teaching style and the ways in which they implement discipline. Sometimes teachers are seen as boring and as teachers we need to combat this by making topics interesting and relevant to the student and their community. In order for children to learn more effectively. An important focus of this lecture was the ever changing view of teachers and the topics they teach. We have progressed from an "old view" of teachers to a world where teachers enjoy their work. The way we view the content we teach, and what we decide to teach is also very important, as this will affect the way we teach children, as well as the way we discipline students. We as teachers must be careful not to impose our view of the world on students, this includes our view of the economic world as well as the moral and ethical or spiritual world. We must give the students a balanced, yet positive view of the world around us. Education and the views there of should change with the times, we as teachers need to be aware of the ever changing world around us. We need to think about who our students are and who we are to know who we will be as a teacher. //(Picture:// //[]// //)//

**//Contradictory Realities in Learning to Teach, Britzman (2003).//** //Reviewed by Svetlana Spaseska//    Britzman's main focus is on what teaching does to teachers, looking at the private struggles that teachers go through as they build their teaching practices, and identities. This text focuses on student teachers and their experiences, as a student teacher will be confronted by various meanings, constraints and possibilities of a teacher's identity during their experience and road to becoming a teacher. A student teacher is shaped into a teacher through a long process, they will learn how to teach and will then be compelled to possibilities of creative teaching methods. The teacher’s skills can be reduced due to certain limitations that they may face; e.g. enforcement of school rules, ability to communicate textbook knowledge, grade student papers, cope with classroom discipline. Sometimes it may seem that this is all a teacher will do, although there are a lot of things that happen in the background. The way that a teacher takes in content and then how they deliver the content to the classroom is important to the development of their teaching methods.

I belive that a student teacher will learn more while they are watching other teachers and taking in how the teacher delivers the content of the lesson and how they interact with the students. A teacher needs to develop their own way to construct and develop teaching methods that they are comfortable with. Learning to become a teacher is a social process of negotiation, teachers need to come to terms with different peoples' intentions and values, how different people can struggle and become dependent on others. I believe that both teaching and learning are related, teachers learn from students and students learn from teachers. 

//**Bridging Theory and Practice in Teacher Education, Mordechai Gordon and Thomas O'Brien (2007). **////Reviewed by Michelle Lotriet. //I found this reading very useful as it talked about how to relate the theory we are learning at University to real life situations in the class room. It also dealt with some common misconceptions of applying theory to practice. The articles focused on showing that teaching theory is not the be all and end all of teaching practice. These theories are not proven facts they are just there to help us out along the way and give us ideas on how to teach. One theory may relate to many different situations within the classroom. Therefore it is important to figure out who you are and what sort of teacher you will be before you walk into the class room, so that while you learn from real life teaching situations you are not losing sight of your goals.

I felt this was an important quote that to me summarises very concisely the article; Peter Taubman, who writes on the contribution of psychoanalytic theory to teaching "not to arrive at fixed truths that will replace those currently framing our discussion of teaching, but rather to shift our perspective such that we can think differently about what it means to engage in these practices." (Gordon & O'Brien, 2007, p12). We are being encouraged to be more thoughtful as teachers. And think about theory before we put it into practice, to use it more as a framework as such. This being said theory is not useless to teachers; it helps define problems they face in everyday life. Personally this was a very interesting lecture because it dealt with not only other peoples view of teachers, but also of teachers own view. The reading then tied in really well with the lecture as they are both sort of steering us toward deciding for ourselves what sort of teachers we are going to be and how we are going to teach learners. (picture: [| http://static.guim.co.uk/Guardian/artanddesign/gallery/2008/jul/08/art.design/Teacher-stick-4951.jpg] )

//**Beginning: The Challenge of Teaching (Ayers 2001) and The interpersonal relationship in the facilitation of learning (Rogers and Freiberg 1994 **////**). **Reviewed by Alison Harvey // This week's lecture threw up some interesting questions? What sort of teacher //do// I want to be? When I look at the description of what a teacher actually is from Ayers paper (1991) page 4; I think: "Can I really do all that?" All I know is that I certainly intend to try! I agree with Rogers and Freiberg when they talk about teaching being a constantly evolving subject (but disagreed with the example they used: "The one thing I can be sure about is that the physics taught to the present day student will be outdated in five years or less" Why? Will gravity change direction? Will the basic laws of physics be disproved?). We, as teachers are facilitators of learning, celebrating the achievements of our students.

Why do I want to teach? This is another interesting question. Embarking upon a second career in my lifetime, I see it as a privilage and having made a firm decision to change direction in life to follow a dream, this is an easy question to answer...It is certainly not for the money, status or respect from society as a whole. It is because I want to challenge young minds, to fill them with a love of learning and make them realise that this is a life-long process. I enjoy spending time with young children and listening to how they perceive their lives and the world around them. I have spent some time in Primary classrooms demonstrating science and every time, I come back having learned as much as I have taught. All these readings tie in with the workshop in week 4 (where we started developing our electronic portfolios) and the lecture in week 5 "Learning styles" in which we were encouraged to think about our personal philosophies for learning. Ayers writes of "Teaching is the vocation of vocations, because to choose teaching is to choose to enable the choices of others. It is about empowerment...The reward of teaching is knowing that your life makes a difference". Powerful words. (Picture: [] )

<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//**Teaching and Transformation (Bernie Neville, 2001).** Reviewed by Richard Gay// <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Neville’s article is well chosen for the topic of ‘So you want to be a teacher’. He asks if we possess knowledge, skills, values or attitudes we would like to pass on or whether our motivation is more social and political – working toward universal literacy for the sake of us all. It may be that we want to pass on an appreciation of beauty through knowledge or encourage the emergence of the person. Perhaps it is an apprenticeship in democracy or as the current political climate would have it, simply a means to a more efficient economy.

He suggests that education is a process to become more fully ourselves by balancing the needs to defend ourselves to survive and improve ourselves to grow. This is at the deeper, transformative level where the person can feel threatened if they are being exposed to experiences which challenge their core values, attitudes and beliefs. This compared to incremental learning which simply adds to our knowledge. Transformative learning is usually more subtle and is usually achieved through modelling, telling stories, experience, coaching, facilitation or collaborative exploration.

[|Bernie Neville] is widely published, on the staff at La Trobe and is the author of 'Educating Psyche, emotion, imagination and the unconscious in learning', which is also an interesting read.

Teaching is a role which is very much aligned with my values. I enjoy learning and helping others to learn and believe that education is the basis for civilisation. Starting with each persons right to literacy and knowledge plus skills such as empathy can transform an individual and a society. Like many other roles, teaching can be hard work but what a priveledge to be involved in something so vital!