Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Myths of teaching


Last week you read an excerpt from Bill Ayers' book, To Teach, that discussed what he calls the 12 "myths of teaching." We were able to talk about a few of these in class, but we didn't have time to discuss most of them. Choose one of the myths that you found interesting and write about why you think Ayers' critique is on target )or not). If you agree that it is a myth, why do you think it persists?

Alternatively, can you think of any other "myths" about teaching that Ayers doesn't mention? If so, share one, and tell us why you consider it a myth.

12 comments:

  1. Myth 8-Students Today Are Different From Ever Before. As soon as I started reading it and the phrase came up, "I can't teach these kids", it reminded me of a teacher who left a school in the West side, for that reason and now will be working at the school I work at up Northeast. Many teachers don't want to take the time to understand their students and they don't have the patience for them. Instead they judge them by the area they live and their background. Certain teachers feel they have a lot to offer and it's being wasted with these type of students.Instead of taking the time to get to know their students and finding ways to adapt, teachers just pick up and leave. I agree with Ayers that this is always going to be a difficult goal to acheive for certain teachers.

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  2. Many teachers come to the teaching arena with great dreams and wishes but only to find the dreams and the wishes hard to catch right away. I remember seven years ago,a teacher told me that her first year teaching was so hard that what she did was only disciplining but not teaching. Therefore,she said she walked out and the principle begged her to come back and so she did. Today,She is so grateful that she stayed and I'm sure that she has a lot to contribute. abbey

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  3. Myth #7-Good Teachers Treat all Students Alike. I will agree with that myth. I know from experience that teachers don't treat all students alike. William Ayers mentions a few students in his article and it reminded me of some of our students that we had in our classroom. The teacher did not treat every student alike. Every student has different needs and come from different circumstances. It is kind of like having an individualized relationship plan with each student. Teachers should make an effort to get to know their students and build positive connections. More than often, teachers and students are at a constant battle for control that they end up creating tense and conflictive atmospheres. Ideally, it would be great if teachers and students got along, but reality is that students as well as teachers come with different ideas and personalities. We as educators need to find and create a balance among all those traits that are brought into the classroom.

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  4. Myth 5, "Good teachers begin with the curriculum they are given and find clever ways to enhance it", is a myth that I agree with. I don't think every teacher has high expectations or high hopes when they teach. I don't think a lot of them are passionate about teaching and it shows through students' behavior and their lack of cooperation.

    Some teachers teach the same curriculum every school year without considering if a student enjoys it or if he/she has understood the material. I spoke to a teacher once and when we were discussing about curriculum, he told me, "hey, they either get it or they don't. Some of them are going to drop out and the students who do well are the ones who understand it". I found this very disturbing to hear. I felt that he wasn't taking into consideration the feelings of these students. He had the same type of lesson plans every school year and never bothered to enhance them where students can be more involved in the material. Then I asked myself "why isn't he motivated to teach? Why did he choose teaching as a career? Was it because of the set schedule and summers off"?

    I guess I'll never know what runs through this teacher's mind or any teacher who doesn't teach from the heart. But what I do know, is that I will try to find strategies to make learning fun and not feel discouraged. I see teaching like retail. You always have to find ways to intrigue consumers. If one item didn't sell well, maybe it was because of poor advertisement or consumers were just not interested. Trying different methods of selling will make a business successful. This is how I see teaching, students need a diverse curriculum where learning can be enriched through good teaching practices and experimentations.

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  5. As I read Mr. Ayers excerpt on the 12 myths of teaching I found it to be very insightful and knowledgeable as he explained each myth. I found Ayers’ critique on these myths were on target. There were several statements that Ayers addresses that to me makes a greater statement as to why these myths have taken place in the educational system. He states that …”we attend to the voice of the supervisor and the administrator, the academic and the researcher, and not to the more immediate and important voices of children and youth, their parents and community.” We become so focus on the academic and leadership expectations that we become ineffective educators lacking in courage, creativity, and spontaneity. As I continued reading I couldn’t help but to mark on my paper “DIDDO” to his next statement. “I know that becoming an outstanding teacher is an heroic quest”….”Teaching is not for the weak or the faint-hearted; courage and imagination are needed to move from myth to reality.” DIDDO to that!

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  6. Myth 2- Teachers Learn to Teach in College of Education

    I agree with this myth because teachers learn to teach when they are in the classroom. I think that paraprofessional who are looking to become teachers have an advantage because we get to learn how to deal with students. I think that the college of education teaches more of lesson planning and things like that, but never to be prepared to teach the needs and discipline issues I think this is something we learn as the years go by.

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  7. As I read the 12 myths hand-out I was like oh yeah that for sure is a myth until I came to myth 12. As I was reading it I was in agreement with the statement. "Kids Today Are Worse Than Ever Before". I thought to myself oh yeah that has to be true I guess I was mixing a little of myth 8, "Students Today Are Different From Ever Before" in my thinking process. You know that golden age of teaching thinking that when I was little kids were well-behaved. I was baffled as I continued to read myth 12 to find out that Socrates wrote this myth about 2,400 years ago. That just goes to show me that kids are kids. Like Shakespeare said, "Kids today are kids nonetheless, and they need caring and connected adults to engage and encourage them--even if we have conveniently forgotten our own youthfulness". Now I totally agree with that statement. In our journey to become a teacher or as I like to say a child advocate we really need to keep in mind the above statement that our students are kids first and foremost and that we need to be the adult and make teaching a safe, and encouraging expereince.

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  8. Myth 2
    Teachers learn to teach in colleges of education.

    That is just a myth because they might learn what they need to learn but once the teacher is in the classroom everything becomes different. For example you have all types of attitudes, behavior, disabilities and cultural background that it becomes very overwelming. In college they don't teach us the current trends of this different children. And what they do teach is very different from what is going on in the classroom. Yes some courses do get our feet wet but not nearly enough. Once were in the classroom we would be more able to teach and also with collegues that have been teaching is were we learn.

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  9. "Good teachers are not always fun; good teachers should aim always for authentic engagement with students." is a sentence that stood in my head while I read the rest of the myths. I believe people confuse the students engagement by seeing the engaged to what the teacher is doing, as though they are singing and dancing. True authenic engagement is when you can turn that little light bulb in their heads and have them engage in that perspective. Intrigueness is the key to the authentisity to engaged learning

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  10. Myth-8
    I agree with myth eight. I also have an expirience with a teacher this year. This teacher had great experience, but she did not want to deal with low income kids and their behavior. Therefore, this teacher will not be with us this year. For this teacher money and a good neighborhood was more important for her!

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  11. Myth 2: Teachers Learn to Teach in Colleges of Education

    Recently, I was having a discussion with a peer, and he was stating how he felt frustrated that he wasn't really learning how to teach in his Education courses. This got me to thinking about what teaching is, and how one learns to teach. First, I think that colleges of education can't really teach how to teach because you need to be in front of students to really teach. What colleges of education do though, is that they facilitate information on how one can teach. Education more and more is a facilitation of information and skills. As teachers, we don't really teach anymore, but this doesn't mean that learning is not going on, but that the student is being held more and more responsible for his/her learning. Second, the verb teach has so many connotations, and the problem is most people think one teaches in school only. But parents teach their children at home all the time, and they didn't have to attend a college of education for that. I began teaching in Mexico after receiving a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism. I felt most of what I learned about myself, about how I carry myself, and about how to listen and engage with students, I learned this in that year. It was while dealing with students that I really learned how to be a teacher because some days wouldn't go so well and I had to reflect about the type of teacher I wanted to be. Afterward I returned to the US and enrolled in education courses, but those courses didn't teach me how to teach. They provided me with more information and resources, but it was up to me, after reflecting on my students, to take what would help my classroom be the most successful. But it is after reflecting on successes and failures that I have really learned how to teach/facilitate information so that the greatest amount of learning can occur.

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