It’s been a while since I posted. We had spring break the last week of February. I was lucky enough to go on vacation and some students used the time to get in some field experience hours. Disturbingly, a number of students still have not gotten any field hours.
During the last class I devoted the first 30 minutes to a discussion of what they are experiencing in the field. There are a couple of things that bother me: 1) that there are a number of them that haven’t gotten hours in yet 2) that a number of them see the hours as something a hoop to jump through rather than as an opportunity to learn. It saddens me that some of them do not recognize their field experience as a chance to learn about teaching without the pressures of daily lesson planning, bureaucracy, etc. They are still in the mode of being students rather than being learners. 3) They are caught up in behavioral issues rather than learning issues. Conversation keeps coming back to student behaviors or lack of behaviors rather than what students are or are not learning. 4) The disparities between what is being observed in the urban settings as opposed to the suburban settings. I fear the students are being indoctrinated to accept things as they are instead of gaining a vision of what could be.
It’s discouraging. I’m not sure whether the time I’m devoting to discussing field experiences is worthwhile or not. I’m not doing a good enough job of connecting what they’re seeing and experiencing to literacy support. I’m doubting my abilities as a methods teacher. I guess it’s part of the difficulties of trying to conduct a class around generative issues rather than leading the students through a preconceived program of what they need.
The students also spent time on their wikis. I’ve begun reviewing them. Some are really well done. Comprehensive, imaginative, and push the boundaries of the technology. Others are mundane and meet minimal requirements. I think what I need to do is have the students do a self-assessment of their learning at this point. If they were to grade themselves right now, what would their grades be. There are a number of them that in my mind are in the B range. A handful are doing A work.
We spent the second part of class on grant writing. I gave them time to find grants and to start writing them. I asked them to bring in rough drafts to the next class. We’ll see what they come up with. I’m hoping for some good stuff, but fearful that I won’t. There just doesn’t seem to be any energy among the students. Is it me? What am I not doing? What am I missing?
Teaching is a transaction between student and teacher and some how this semester the energy is low. I’ve come to the conclusion that teaching the same group two semesters in a row is not a good idea. I think maybe we’ve gotten too used to each other.
March 11, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Well now I kinda feel bad that we are not giving you as much energy in class as we should. I know that with me time is a real issue. This semester is really hard in terms of all the things that we have to do that we don’t have time to give our full energy to everything. By the time that we are in class, we are so tired especially for those who have been in class and doing homework all day. I don’t have classes all in the morning so I have to try to get homework done in between my classes and its hard on mondays and tuesdays for me…a lot of the math folk have the same workload as I do or even more. I know that with me I have so much stuff to do that I don’t have the time to sit…relax and think about my learning. I was sadden by what you have said because I have realized this within myself…I see reading and writing assignments as assignments and not as a way to explore new ideas that other have written about. Last semester I feel like i had more time to do so…I’m glad that you have lessened the workload for us…but please don’t give up on trying to have the class have more energy!