First and second weeks of class...

BLOG 3

Question: " From these first two weeks in Dr. Shutkin's ED 100 class, what can you say intrigued you the most, and you considered rather encouraging in possibly pursuing a future career in teaching?" 

Answer: The readings we have covered in class so far, and especially the in-class conversations that we conduct, analyzing those readings and the messages they attempt to convey, are significantly important, in helping me grasp the concept of what it is like to teach. However, I am more of an "experience" rather than "talk" person myself, and believe that the best way to truly understand if you are fit for something or like something to the point where you could become successful in it, is if you experience it in the way the "professionals" who we look up to, experience it (by professionals I mean actual teachers). So for me the field trip we took to Mercer Elementary this past Thursday, was something significant, in that, it tested my own personality and character, in a new teaching environment for me, an actual American Elementary school which I had never been to before. I will not dig deeper into the positives and negatives of this experience, what I liked and disliked etc., but I have to admit that, out of everything we have done so far in class, this has proven to be the most beneficial for me. I feel that as is mentioned in one of our books, in order to understand that "...THE TEACHER ATTENDS TO THE STUDENTS IN ORDER TO SUPPORT GROWTH AND LEARNING..."  (Ayers pg. 26) or that "...YOU CAN BE ANYTHING YOU WANT, BECAUSE SEEING IS SUBJECTIVE..." (Ayers pg.32), it's not just about talking in class, but about actually going out there and seeing how and if appealing quotes like the ones above actually and effectively apply to the actual world of teaching and education. It's one thing sharing experiences in class, another thing living actual teaching experiences and different combining the two together for a complete and positive result. How would I have been able to talk about what I think of teaching had I not experienced it first hand by teaching Greek to eight year-olds on weekends or by visiting Mercer Elementary on Thursday and talking  with the youngsters there? It would be impossible, which is why I hope excursions like the one on Thursday continue. For me at least, the readings would be nothing had I not been able to combine the readings with the actual experiences and I hope Dr. Shutkin keeps it going that way.