Who I am as a learner and who am I becoming as a teacher?



Who I am as a learner and who am I becoming as a teacher?Erin. P. ReillyUniversity of CalgaryThe Pragmatics of Learning and TeachingEduc 430Marianne Burgess4 October, 2013Who I am as a learner and who am I becoming as a teacher?“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” Albert EinsteinLearnerAccording to the different types of learners in the 21st century according to Friesen & Jardine, I would be classified as the wise analyzer, “The wise analyzer gathers evidence of effective activity, scrutinizes it and applies its conclusions to new problems and new contexts” (Friesen & Jardine, 2009, p. 21), and being critical and reflective with a desire for research and academic arguments this seems to fit my learning style. This did not fit the teaching style I was in as a student from grade one to grade 12. I felt the narrative approach and the condescending remarks from teachers were not accepted by me and I responded with terrible behavior. Luckily, I had one teacher that did not use the banking system of education with me and the teacher student relationship was not narrating, but was more like a collaboration of thoughts and ideas (Freire, 1990, Chapter 2). While completing my first degree, I was curious about my career aptitudes and my learning styles and did a Strong Interest Inventory questionnaire (SIIQ) with a trained psychologist. In the learning environment section my score was 62, which meant compared to all other people I was at the apex for preferring an academic environment learning by lectures and books. Interestingly, I seek knowledge for its own sake, according to the SIIQ, and this realization corresponds to the VARK questionnaire I did online. I must admit I just like to learn and am not so concerned about marks. I pretend to care about them, but I really do not care. How I learn is not remarkable because of my learning style, which is basically equal for all styles. There are many learning styles such as: lecture based, skills based, inquiry based, individual vs. group or technology enhanced (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000, p. 22) and all work with me as long as I am not in a banking narrative teacher-student relationship. Understanding and applying knowledge is what it is about for me. Learn with me do not teach me!I am a determined, logical, organized, able, hardworking, and persistent learner. I am keen and smart and very intelligent and have learned that difficult concepts for others are extremely easy for me. According to the Vark Questionnaire I completed, I am a multimodal learner and my scores were 9, 8, 7, 9 respectively for visual, aural, read/write/ and Kinesthetic. Kinesthetically based learning is fun for me but unsure if I value it as real learning because it is not hard for me. A multimodal learning style is good in the sense that I can learn from any teacher’s teaching style, but in the end I will always have to add another style or I will feel uncomfortable and insecure with just one. For instance, if my teacher is a Visual teacher then I will probably be ok, but will run home and read to make myself feel ok with that class and just one teaching style. Further, my score of 33 being greater than 30 indicates that I am more interested in understanding then marks whereas a score under 30 indicates a learner who just wants marks ().In summation, I would have to conclude that I am a multimodal learner that has a keen interest in learning for the sake of learning. There is a tremendous value to education and as a learner it is a privilege to be free to learn. Learning is living to me and I see the world through a learner’s set of glasses. Freire put it best; “Education must begin with the solution of the teacher-student contradiction, by reconciling the poles of the contradiction so that both are simultaneously teachers and students” (Freire, 1990, Chapter 2). Who am I as a learner? I am multimodal, wise analyzer, and a learner for the sake of learning. “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” Mahatma Ganhi“I had a terrible education. I attended a school for emotionally disturbed teachers.” Woody AllenTeacherMy journey was not an easy one and much like my transition from grade school to post secondary! My first year teaching I begged the students to like me and they hated me. My second year teaching I ruled my classroom like a military commander and my students hated me. During my third year, I found my balance and myself as a teacher. I was always wondering how I was doing and how my classes were academically and sought respect and admiration from other teachers and administrators. The fourth year I stopped asking my peers and started asking my students how they were doing. My students started to like me, but who am I as a teacher? Reflection clearly indicates that who I was as a teacher has changed so much it is unimaginable to even believe I was once a rookie teacher walking into my first classroom! Humans are viewed as goal-directed agents who actively seek information (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000, p. 10), and my learning style and teaching style are very similar.Passionate, caring, empathetic, dedicated, interactive, inspiring, innovative, goal orientated and intelligent are a few ways to describe myself as a teacher. I truly believe teaching is a vocation and my greatest benefit I can provide is being who I am and this is a teacher. It was in Kuwait when the turnover rate in a one year contract was literally 90 % that a fellow teacher laughed at me when I said I was not a real teacher because I did not have an education degree and he cited the fact that only a “real” teacher could last in a contract like that one. It is passion and a calling that inspires me to become better and learn more and find different ways to get my students engaged into the material. I recently read Transforming school culture and the authors stated “people commit their energy only to what they believe in, what captures their enthusiasm and imagination” (Stolp & Smith, 1995, p. 15). I believe in education and ideologically understand the fundamental building blocks required to allow people to grow and become productive happy citizens. My part of this process is to provide an inclusive, open and free, active learning environment where all learning styles can flourish. I do not want students to like me anymore. I want them to love me! I want to be a better teacher.Having taught internationally for over 10 years, I am extremely aware of diversity in and out of the classroom. I also am aware that “technical competence in teaching and classroom management, as well as their knowledge of subject matter, are factors that strongly influence whether they will be successful in helping students learn” (Banks et al., 2005, p. 243). The authors went on to state that more is required with the new demographics in the classroom. As a teacher I am keenly aware of how not knowing cultural norms, traditions and values can affect me in the classroom and out. Further, having a basic understanding of all the religions is not merely a good idea nowadays it is imperative to ensure I do not marginalize a student (s) in my class. It is very important that teachers “draw out and work with the preexisting understandings that their students bring with them” (Bransford et al., 2000, p. 19). This idea helps break the “banking” narrative approach to teaching and allows me to witness the students as having value on the first day of class and not just on the last day when I have “filled” their heads with information they might forget after an exam. I need to light fires and allow them to grow and become who they are supposed to be. Teaching is a true gift and to be in a position to help a student self-actualize and become who they are is who I am! Seeing a student “get it” or having a student cancel their vacation because they heard I was teaching a summer class and they wanted to attend is who I am as a teacher. No amount of zeros at the end of a pay cheque can replace the feeling I get when students are doing well and love coming to my class.Education is not about filling buckets, it’s about starting fires (W.B. Yeats)As a teacher, it is my goal to create a community of learners in my class “It is not a matter of determining the frames into which learners must fit, not a not a matter of having predetermined stages in mind” (Greene, 1995, p. 219), but it is about me creating the environment that fits the students. The culture is extremely important to me and it is a “historically transmitted patterns of meaning that include norms, values, beliefs, traditions, and myths understood, maybe in varying degrees, by members of the school community (Stolp & Smith, 1995, p. 13). Climate is the term typically used to describe people’s shared perceptions of the organization (Stolp & Smith, 1995, p. 15). I am a teacher that wants to create an inclusive culture with a supporting climate that allows all students to let their fires be lit. Scaffolding is extremely important for students and as a teacher I want to be more cognizant of this fact. These words leapt of the page at me when I read them “ The principle of teaching within the student’s zones of proximal development implies that students will need explanation, modeling, coaching and other forms of assistance from their teachers, but also that this teacher structure and scaffolding will be faded as the student’s expertise develops” (Brophy, 2001, p. 24). As a teacher, I have almost felt used or mistreated when the student’s expertise developed and they were on their way. Their reliance on me decreased and then it was more of a respect thing to check in with me, but they were already done with me. After reading this article, my ideas of this process have changed and I see that my success is truly when they do not need me and have mastered the material. I want to be the teacher or person that I want to befriend. ReferencesBanks, J., Cochran-Smith, M., Moll, L., Richert, A., Zeicher, K., LePage, P., ... McDonald, M. (2005). Teaching diverse learners. In L. Darling-Hammond and J. Bransford (Eds.). Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to do , 232-274. Retrieved from , J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school (expanded ed.). [Adobe DigitalEditions version]. Retrieved from []=ContentType%2CBook+/+eBook&s.fvf[]=ContentType%2CGovernment+Document&s.q=bransford%20brown%20cocking%20how%20people%20learn&keep_r=trueBrophy, J. (2001). Generic aspects of effective teaching. In M.C. Wang and H.J. Walberg (Eds.), Tomorrow’s teachers, 3-45. Retrieved from , P. (1990). Pedagogy of the oppressed. (pp. 57-70). New York: Continuum. Retrieved September 30, 2013, from , S., & Jardine, D. (2009). 21st century learning and learners. Retrieved from (2).pdfGreene, M. (1993). Diversity and inclusion: Toward a curriculumn for human beings. Teachers College Record, 95(2), 211-221. Retrieved from , S., & Smith, S. C. (1995). Transforming school culture: Stories, symbols, values, and the leader’s role. University of Oregon: ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management. ................
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