We’ll use Perusall to annotate and read together. Hello 431!
Hi Everyone! My name is Abby and I’m an English Ed major set to graduate this coming December. I’m 25 years old, and returned to school somewhat recently (3 semesters ago) after a 4-year hiatus from school during which I worked, traveled, and met and married my fabulous husband. I went out of my way to schedule this class into my life for two main reasons. First, I am kind of ridiculously excited to become a teacher, and I want to collect as much knowledge and experience as possible before I find myself in front of a room full of actual teenagers who expect me to know stuff. Secondly, I don’t have any actual, on-paper teaching experience, and I feel like it would probably be good to get some before I set out looking for jobs in a year or two! I’m looking forward to the challenges and growth that I expect to experience in this class.
I took EDTE 530 last Spring with the amazing professor Al Schademan, who is a big fan of Wenger and the social theory of learning, so this is luckily not my first introduction to the concept. While I was in his class, Al said something that I think I will always remember: as teachers, our job is not just to teach kids how to do a thing, such as write, but to help them create an identity as a person who can write. This statement totally changed the way that I think of teaching. One of the elements most essential to achieving this effect in students is creating a classroom environment in which students are members of a community which is growing, participating, and engaged with one another as they collectively progress towards a goal. It’s a little bit unsettling that I’ve had maybe two or three classes that fit this description in my entire K-College experience, but it also inspires me to “be the change”, so to speak, and create a classroom which helps my future students construct capable new identities as learners.
3 Replies to “Hello 431!”
Oh, I love this: “as teachers, our job is not just to teach kids how to do a thing, such as write, but to help them create an identity as a person who can write.” I started screaming “Yes!” out loud! I am thrilled you’ve had some experience with these ideas and I look forward to you sharing your thoughts with us! Thanks Abby!
Abby, first of all, thanks for the TeaBar the other day. It was delicious and I expect discounts in the near future!
As far as your post, I couldn’t be more similar when it comes to your mindset on wanting to become a teacher. I feel like I’m almost there, but am lacking that year or two needed to be qualified. Kim and yourself already loved the quote “as teachers, our job…” and well, I’ll jump on the bandwagon. I feel like we (as future teachers) need to be the change and to vastly change the way education is presented to youth. The youth is where you are first introduced to education, and I feel that that is where we need hit the hardest. They shouldn’t have to wait until their 5th year of college to realize that education is important and enjoyable!
I look forward to this class! (and a lot of TeaBar)
This was my first introduction to the concept of the social theory of learning but in a way, by title only. When I read it, it felt like I’d known all this forever. Maybe not in so much detail, but it seemed to just be describing my experience as opposed to presenting a paradigm changing shift in my reality. That isn’t to say I could have put any of it into words or written it myself by any means. I’m also not saying that this theory is what I’ve always seen put into practice, especially in my experience in school. I just meant that it seems to describe the times when I actually “learned” something as opposed to memorized information about something. I can shoot a basketball because someone put a ball in my hands at some point and then made me practice doing it.
The part that is starting to shift in my paradigm is the part about helping someone form an identity. Making a kid believe they are the type of person who can write isn’t one of those inspiring idioms on posters with icebergs or sunrises on them. It’s an action. It’s a process. It’s something you do with them. Something you will discover together. The question isn’t “How DO you write?” It’s “How do YOU write?”-Because writing is a tool that varies to the degree of the difference found in the person doing the writing.
I’m currently processing this, as I’m sure my comment reflects, but it’s exciting to me.