7th March 2013

This week, I found the class becoming busier, and busier. As more and more concentrated planning for the class got underway, the teachers became busier and busier, with less space in the classroom timetable to practice reader's theatre, and watch a handwriting lesson. Thus, I found it was difficult to achieve the tasks set out in my learning journal.

Creating a classroom profiles was quite difficult; most student files had no background information in them whatsoever. At best, the information was limited to gender, address, and transferring school, if appropriate. And that really got me thinking about the difficulties a teacher faces. A teacher needs to teach effectively, without sometimes knowing the full picture of a child. In order to access the information, they might have to make many phone calls, emails, and trips to the front office to organise. With such a busy timetable, limited DOTT, and many children in one class...if this a real possibility? If not, what can you do? I found that my mentors prioritised very well; systematically working through the children on a case-by-case basis, in order of need. This prioritisation appeared to occur in assessments also, which has just begun for reading levels in literacy.

It's also been interesting to watch the dynamics between three very different teachers; all in one classroom, having to work together to work out the planning, and teaching roles. I can see at times that it's hard for them...can you really 'own' your lesson if you don't do the planning for it? Is it okay for another teacher to interrupt the lesson you are running in front of the children in order to change something, or add something in? What if that makes you feel like you can't make a mistake/learn? What are the ground rules? What if you don't agree with something and the other two teachers overrule you? What if your teaching style/behaviour management is different to another and the children react to this? It got me thinking about what a shared teaching position would entail, and the issues that surround it....I also was struck between the parallels between an adult collaborative learning environment, and the collaborative learning environment of a classroom.

And then, it got me reflecting even more; what is it that motivates any of us to learn? After this week, I would answer " the right environment". But what does that mean? To me, it means creating/experiencing a sense of genuine ownership in a learning task, having a learning goal that is challenging...but not defeating, having/conveying a strong sense of what the expected outcome is, and how to achieve it, and a strong respect for the learner as a whole.

What does that look like in the classroom? I've seen it in the way a teacher thanks a student for their effort, and acknowledges the difficulty involved. I've seen it in the way that a teacher placed a child at a particular table to ensure distraction free learning, and I've seen it in the way a teacher writes down the expectations for the lesson, and then explains to the children how they will achieve it. And I've seen it in the way a teacher activates (and scaffolds onto) a child's prior knowledge to ensure a higher chance of a successful outcome, this reinforcing the pleasure of learning to the child.