Week+3

I thought the readings this week were particularly interesting. I think they stand out thus far because, rather than being texts on particular research and theories which are important in their own right, they instead seemed to directly address the role of the student teacher which I found engaging and helpful. The Freiberg article was useful in the way in which the author listed various methods for good teaching: Realness in the facilitator (p154), Prizing the Learner (p156), Empathetic Understanding (p157), being yourself and trusting your students (p164). In our Issues tutorial today we also discussed what made a good teacher. In our pair, Nick and I came up with the keyword 'empathy', that is relating to the student on their own level and being personally interested in the well-being and character of each individual student in the classroom. Therefore it is Ayers’ definition of good teaching that seems to best collaborate with our ideas, that “Somehow, we must reach out to each student; we must meet each one” (p6). However, for the purpose of our wiki this week I’m going to focus on Britzman’s article, “Contradictory Realities in Learning to Teach” (2003).
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In his article Britzman outlines the many problems student teachers are confronted with as they are starting out. Amongst these are the social stereotypes of teachers, both that of teachers as merely imparters of facts and the curriculum as viewed by students, and also the broader gender stereotypes that are fixed on both male and female teachers by society at large (p28-29). Britzman’s comments on the more personal struggles for student teachers I found particularly useful in this article. He claims “what occurs as well is the startling idea that the taking up of an identity means suppressing aspects of the self. So at first glance, becoming a teacher may mean becoming someone you are not” (p27). In my experience of the course thus far, limited though it is, this is perhaps too strong a statement. However, I strongly empathised with Britzman’s definition that, “[m]arginally situated in two worlds, the student teacher as part student and part teacher has the dual struggle of educating others while being educated” (p36). Especially resounding for me was Britzman’s definition of “the more private aspects of pedagogy [for the student teacher]: coping with competing definitions of success and failure, and one’s own sense of vulnerability and credibility” (p28). This sense of anxiety, apparently common for student teachers, directly echoes the conversation Angela, Beth and I had recently about how individually effective we would be as teachers in the real world. It is perhaps for this reason that this particular article held my attention at this point in the course, because, truth be told, we are all a little, or a lot, anxious at times about how our roles as student teachers are going to pan out.

Finally in his article Britzman makes use of the theorist Bakhtin. He relates Bakhtin’s theory of Language, as “not a neutral medium that passes freely and easily into the private property of the speaker’s intentions; it is populated – overpopulated – with the intentions of others” (p44), to the student teacher’s “struggle for voice” (p44), meaning their task of “carv[ing] out one’s own territory, develop one’s own style, and make a difference in the education of students” (p41). This is achieved, he claims, by both drawing on useful past experiences and rejecting negative ones, while at the same time working within the conditions surrounding them in the present (p41), what Britzman terms “the process of becoming” (p31). For me, this definition brought back the many comments that Greg has made in his lectures, that to become a good teacher we must remember both our favourite and our worst teachers from our own schooling experiences and model our own teaching methods accordingly. So while Britzman’s comments on the “relational” power struggles that occur the classroom (p40), as well as his reference “the powerlessness of teachers” (p33), are slightly alarming for us would-be teachers, it is also comforting that the theory matches up with the more practical advice of our lecturers, so that by remembering, we can too can learn and become better teachers ourselves.
 * Author: Bianca Alvarez Harris **

I agree with Bianca about this week's readings have been very interesting. All the articles provided an insight to what is required to be a good teacher. The Friedberg article as Bianca has stated is very well written and will come in handy as a teaching aid in the future; the sections on empathy, and prizing the learner were very helpful. In our discussion for the tutorial Bianca and I drew on these readings to discuss what we thought are the most important aspects of teaching. Britzman's article was very interesting and as Bianca has discussed provided an insight into what problems student teachers may encounter when they begin their careers. While I enjoyed this week’s readings, I have to say it was easy to become overwhelmed in all the terminology being thrown about although I'm sure that the points made are all valid, and I will at some stage draw on them again. There was one reading however, which stood out. I found the article by Ayers (2001) Beginning: The Challenge of Teaching to be the standout. I could almost see the children on the bus teasing each other, and playing I Spy. The sections on the myths surrounding teaching was fantastic and actually helped me to be more confident in becoming a classroom teacher. Overall I am now more confident that I can become a good and effective teacher without having to change the way I deal with people.
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 * Author: Nick Power **

"When our sense of who we are is under threat we are inclined to opt for survival rather than risk it all for growth" (Neville, 2001). Neville's article (2001) explores some interesting points relating to teaching and transformation. This author highlights upon the ways in which teaching can be undertaken, namely through experience, through telling stories, through coaching, through facilitation and through the engagement of the teacher in a collaborative exploration with the students. The previous list is not a complete list of ways of teaching but rather an illustration of the notion that there are different ways of teaching with different purposes and effects. These ways of teaching steer away from the traditional rote method of teaching which has become 'unfashionable'. Neville's interpretation of teaching stems from a belief that either through transformative learning or incremental learning or a combination of both, a teacher has the ability to help transform a student in terms of their value system, a deeply embedded view of their world, or help to enlighten a student in terms of adding to what they already know, what's referred to as the 'surface layer' of the student. It was interesting to note, that some student's are 'threatened' by what a teacher is trying to teach them because of their present understandings, their value system and perhaps their notion of who they are. Therefore there can be a reluctance of the student to learn what a teacher has deemed important to learn. A suggestion to resolve such a dilemma is for the teacher to make the context of their teaching as supportive as possible by way of giving serious attention to building good teacher-student and student-student relationship, accepting the student's for who they are without judgement and listening to what they say with real attention. Key words used were mutual respect, tolerance, concern and honesty, traits which are expected to be demonstrated at all times through the teacher's natural behaviours. A student's transformation with respect to teaching is therefore a mutual one, with the interests of the student always at the forefront of the teacher's mind and a willingness of the student to trust in the teacher's ability to direct their learning in a positive and thought-provoking way.

The article composed by Ryan, hints at the above, using references to the ability of a teacher to be reflective and also reflexive in their methods. This author states that 'change can be a useful element in our lives as it gives us an opportunity to improve whatever we are doing or have done', in this sense it appears that a reference to transformative learning is being touched upon by way of change as a catalyst for a student's learning. This article delves deeply into the art of reflection as a way in which methods of teaching can be improved upon, a heightened awareness of oneself can be achieved and thus a contribution to professional development can be therefore made possibly increasing a teacher's ability to teach positively.

The most inspiring text drawn to our attention thus far is in my belief, Freiberg's & Rogers (1994) chapter called 'The Interpersonal Relationship in the Facilitation of Learning'. This text was based on the goal of education which the authors agree is the facilitation of change and learning. This is suggested to be accomplished through what is referred to as the 'Realness in the Facilitator of Learning', also what is termed 'Prizing, Acceptance and Trust and also Empathic Understanding. The authors of this work draw the reader's attention to, in particular, the necessity of an educator to remain true to themselves and to be 'real' when interacting with their students. It is from this 'realness' that a trusting relationship can develop and a respect of the learner is acknowledged. From this, the climate for learning is enhanced and self-initiated learning and a student's personal growth begins. The most striking similiarity between this text and Neville's is the emphasis on co-learning, that is the simultaneous growth and development of both the teacher and student. My overall interpretation of this week's suggested readings is that; a successful facilitator is one that reaches the student on an inter-personal level and builds a relationship of trust, genuine emotion and compassion with their students. I have also noted and taken away from these readings that a co-learning approach in classrooms is a successful strategy to engage with the students and to aid in a teacher's professional development. Author: Angela Partridge

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 * The readings and discussions for this week’s Issues have touched closely on an area of concern that I have had as a student teacher. So far in this course we have spent a lot of time discussing effective teaching, teaching pedagogy, teaching methods and what we as educators can contribute to the learning process. I am finding it a little difficult to reconcile these theories with what I perceive as a rigidity in the curriculum that we must deliver. It seems to me that in order to see a uniformity in results we may be sacrificing a teachers ability to teach in the way that they would like. As Bianca mentioned Britzman talks about a student teacher attempting to carve out their own territory and develop their own style yet to me it seems that our system is designed to stifle that very thing. I am acknowledging that this concern is not yet drawn from practical knowledge and the experience will vary from school to school but I do have to wonder how much of this translates from the academic to the practical. I know that this issue is addressed to an extent in //Bridging Theory and Practice in Teacher Education// by Gordon and O’Brien I feel that they do not address the practical concerns I have about teaching a state ordered curriculum. Aside from this concern I actually enjoyed the readings this week and can see many things that I would like to be able to demonstrate as a teacher. **
 * Author: Beth McMullin