Our cohort gets together on Wednesday's and Thursday's for classes, with those days featuring long 8 hour sessions. Towards the end of the sessions someone mentioned how the other cohort thought that we were... the dot dot dot is because my mind started to tail off, as it usually does, with respect to the other cohort. Am I glad that there are others seeking entrance to the teaching profession? Yes, as the teaching profession needs good people, with good ideas, and a willingness to create safe and caring learning environments. I'm not thrilled to be competing with them for positions when hiring starts, but competition is a good thing as well.
Where I'm going with this is the idea that teacher certification requires blinders. You can't worry about the other 30+ people in the other cohort. You also can't necessarily be bent out of shape by other people in your own cohort. We're all on individual learning journeys. I liken it to running a marathon, something I have done 5 times. We're all in a race together, agreed? We're all going towards the same finish line, no? If I start to worry about the person next to me, seeing them pass me at mile 18, should I worry about them? Probably not. My use of extra energy here will likely hurt me a few miles later (when I want to draw on energy I have already used!). What do you do then? You continue with the plan you have (assuming you have one), and go at a pace that is suitable. At this point, it isn't worth it to worry when I don't have the time or energy to expend. I've got too much else to do. Student teaching starts March 23rd.
Phanson,
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting reflection. I'm really torn about your comparisons of your teaching journey to such an individual and competitive experience as running a marathon, though.
Are their consequences to seeing peers as competitors and to keeping the blinders on?
I only ask because I think that we've gotten to the point in our profession where competition is pushing collaboration to the wayside----encouraged by testing pressures and merit pay----yet my greatest successes in teaching have been collaborative efforts.
Wild, isn't it?
On the one hand, we're told to collaborate and on the other, there is subtle pressure to compete.
How do we justify that as educators?
Enjoyed your post,
Bill Ferriter
The Tempered Radical
Hi Phanson,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I'd like to wish you success and enjoyment in your career as an educator. The fact that you are already reflecting on your experiences (because you want to, not because you have to) is quite impressive in my books. You raise some interesting points, and so does Bill in his earlier comment.
You might find that your journey will take you through many stages: currently you are trying to do all that you can to establish yourself in a very competitive career; it's hard not to be focused on yourself, maybe even a touch self-centered. Once you become established you will likely switch your focus to figuring out how to improve student learning and engagement (there will be a combination of both internal and external pressures). This is when collaboration and networking (with positive people) becomes a must.
I would argue that you would benefit from adopting a "collaboration" mindset sooner rather than later, but that's easy for me to say. It sounds like you are off to a strong start, and just out of curiosity, I wonder how many of your fellow teacher ed students are engaging in this type of reflection in hyperlinked environments? Hmmm...
Thanks Mike and Bill for your comments, as I need to be pushed in my thinking (as I think everyone does).
ReplyDeleteThe oddity of the marathon is that it is a competitive event where collaboration (in my experience) is natural. Everyone is racing towards a place or time, and you are ranked in the final results. But as you go, after the first 2-3 miles, you often settle into a pack of similarly paced individuals. People share the load of breaking the wind, while others sit behind, and you go along together. Some may shoot past or jockey for position, but you need to put blinders on to not lose the rhythm you have.
I still wonder if you need to put your blinders on, at times, in order to stay focused on where you are going? I wonder if it requires making those decisions about what is most important, and what is distracting? I do see collaborating as important, and want to. I am with the other interns at my placement. You can't get better with closed doors or hording ideas.
As far as blogging, reflecting in the public universe, etc, there are some out there. We did more in the fall than in the spring. I find it to be an effective way to process my thinking, and "think aloud."