Front Seat Explosion

I thought you handled the explosion nicely in the conversation afterward, giving the student your time outside of class, showing him that the relationship mattered to you, and the student did well too. I was impressed that he apologized to you. When we split up in the tutorial into our HBDI categories and discussed how we might have handled it, I was surprised and pleased to hear others saying what I was thinking, but not brave enough to say—there might have been a way to laugh about the explosion when it happened, of course with good will and without humiliating the student. I think that expressing your surprise at his freak-out and gently laughing it off might have diffused some of the tension for everyone, including the student, who was just as surprised and very embarrassed. It would have let him know that you were okay, that he hadn’t hurt you too badly. Of course this would only work if amusement were an authentic reaction to his explosion. But wouldn’t good humor be a great way to respond to almost everything? Obviously, I’m not suggesting laughing like a fool at everything that challenges us, but cultivating the disposition I know I will need to stay happy in this job.

My learning style came out very strongly C and D. I’m sure this will affect my teaching style—it already affects everything else about my life. In this course, I’m struggling to strengthen the A and B sides—the digital literacy, the unit outlines with all their coding and columns, the standards and rubrics and bullet points. I understand and respect the value of being highly organized and prepared. But wow. It’s doesn’t come naturally. I want to be spontaneous and nimble in my actions, with my mind in big-picture-land, thinking about what issues motivate my students, what kind of theatre piece we can make or book we can read together, what they care about, what their lives are like, who they are and want to be, building quality relationships in the classroom. Maybe if I think about how A-B skills can promote that, I’ll be able to connect them more to MY motivations (What kind of teacher do I want to be?). For example, Meg talked in her lecture a few weeks ago about lack of access to technology and good ICT learning--and therefore lack of digital literacy--further disadvantaging already disadvantaged kids, I had a little “aha!” moment. Suddenly all of ICT, stuff that I had thrown squarely into the A-B zones, was C-D. Cool. 

Week 2 Task PPLE

• To what extent do you think that Steve convincingly demonstrated, in the lecture, his assertion that theory can make us better teachers?

I think we can assume that Steve was using some theory even as a beginning teacher, but perhaps an understanding of the theory that individuals behave differently alone and in groups might have helped him respond more effectively to Nick. If Steve had recognized early that Nick's way of dealing with his sense that he wasn't good enough to do what was asked of him was to make jokes and disrupt Steve's plans for the class, he might have been able to change things by developing a stronger one-on-one dialogue with Nick about how he thought the class was going, what was working and not working, etc.

• What did you notice and what did you wonder as you read your chosen section of the Krause article?

I noticed how much research is done into education, on just about every imaginable level. I was impressed that we have all this information available to help us improve our practice, but I was wondered if there would be lots of pressures from all sides to prioritise the issues that are on everyone else's agenda. I guess this is where a critical perspective comes in and we have to figure out how to incorporate this unceasing tide of new information and somehow also remember to ask What kind of teacher do I want to be?

• In the lecture, Steve described five different models of classroom management. (Krause describes three.) If you had to choose one of these five to study in depth (and to become something of an expert on), which one would it be? And why?

Interactivist model. I like the good communication practices that were associated with it in the article: using I-statements, dealing with a situation in the present, etc. I also like the acknowledgment of the emotional life of the student. I think that how a person feels has an enormous influence on everything he or she thinks and does (perhaps especially in adolescents). In some respects feelings are private; I believe that teachers should take only an appropriate interest in their students' inner emotional lives, but that said, communicating with people in a way that's open and warm and acknowledges the whole person can have amazing results, not just in a classroom, but in life in general.

• What thoughts did you have as you listened to Steve’s story about Nick, the boy in the Year 7 English class? To what extent did this story contribute to your developing understanding of how to promote effective learning environments?

 I love these classroom stories--it's like peeking through a hole in the fence and getting an eyeful of the other side. That sticky-tape story knocked the wind out of me, with the force of the sudden connection, and yet it wasn't sudden at all, but painstakingly built. The vitality felt in that moment reminds of me E.M. Forster--"Only connect!" (And actually, there's more of that quotation that resonates with what we're doing here as learning teachers: "Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer." (from Howards End))

So I guess I would hope that in my classroom, I'll remember some key points of the theories we're learning and have them so clearly understood and easy to grab in my mind that I can apply them quickly and effectively. We're going to be making a poster in Phil's class that I think should help with the remembering part.