The juggle between life/school/uni can be a tough one. I'm finding the uni course work interesting; but just wish I had more time to read, and consider things in more depth. I want to move the information I'm trying to learn to long term memory, but having such limited time to really process anything, it's difficult for that to happen. Sometimes, I feel like I'm being assessed on things I've hardly learnt to do well yet, and this can be frustrating at times.
I think the most pertinent issue that has arisen for me right now, is a sense from my mentor/site supervisor that I am supposed to somehow remove the knowledge I learnt from my prior degree. And I don't want to. I actually wanted to add onto it; fill in the gaps I wasn't sure about, and expand upon things I'd already learnt. The knowledge I gained previously is valuable, and it makes sense. It also gives me a strong scaffold to hang new pieces of information onto...I consider it my saving grace at times! I interpret information through that filter...and I'm not too sure that I want to completely undo it. However, I am happy for it to be refocused, or adjusted wherever necessary!
After completing most of language assignment readings and research, I can see that so much of teaching/reading research uses the same terms and concepts as in areas of speech pathology. Working memory, visual/auditory memory, auditory representation, phonemes, phonological awareness, phonological representations, oral language, narrative structures, receptive and expressive language are all terms that each domain uses. And yet when I mention these terms within my meetings, I've been told that I have my speech hat on, and that I really need to take it off when I walk into the classroom! I now spend much of my time trying very hard not to sound like a speech pathologist, and not to ask any 'why' questions. And it's quite draining. It feels like there is a very distinct line for some teachers between the two domains, but I just don't see it like that. I see it as a shades of grey continuum. Why do I have to be one, or the other? Can't I be both? Why can't I use the knowledge I've already learnt within a classroom? In the same way teachers, speech pathologists, and psychologists all collaborate toward the same research outcomes (and often have similar roles in the process) surely the same could be seen of a classroom?At times, I've felt a little frustrated, and defeated. Especially when I was asked "You are a speech pathologist. Do you actually want to be a teacher?" As if it's one or the other. I had to really think about that one. Perhaps not. I love learning, and I want to be the best educator I can possibly be...whatever form that takes.
When I originally thought about this issue in terms of a child in the classroom, I believed it would be like asking a newly transferred child who successfully learnt at his old school how to calculate a maths problem in an alternative way to the method his new teacher is now demonstrating on the board. When he tries to explain how/why he has completed the problem in an alternative way, the teacher replies "Do you actually want to learn how to do this? Start again, and this time, ignore what you already know, and do it my way." Rather than expand his problem solving knowledge to incorporate a new strategy into his skills bank, the teacher shuts him down, and makes him feel defeated, and frustrated.
In saying all of the above, I really am loving being in the classroom. The children are just incredible, and watching them learn, and experience joy at an achievement moves me in a way I didn't actually think possible. Words can't really express how much I look forward to seeing them each week. They bring out such a fundamental joy in me; I really look forward to teaching them. The dedication I feel towards those children led me to this:
"Be someone else. It takes great empathy to create a good experience. To create relevant experiences, you have to forget everything you know and design for others. Align with the expected patience, level of interest, and depth of knowledge of your users. Talk in the users’ language.” – Niko Nyman
Funnily enough, this quote isn't from education, it's from the field of User Experience Design. As different as that may seem from education, I can see so many similarities between these occupations, and I love how this quote loses none of it's relevance when placed in an entirely different context.
The children really inspire me to create the best learning experiences I can for them, and I think that's why I owe it to both myself and them to give this learning opportunity my all. I have to allow others the opportunity to teach me in their way too, albeit a child, or colleague. If I have to somehow adjust my 'speechie' filter to learn how to do it, then that's what I'm going to try really hard to do. Even if it doesn't fully make sense to me right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment