Hello All!
In response to last week's guiding question regarding your challenges in the classroom, many of you responded that time was always a factor. In Landscapes of Learning, Maxine Green touches upon the outside demands that make the job of a teaching artist difficult:
So many of us today confine ourselves to right angles. We function in the narrowest of specialties; we lead one-dimensional lives. We accommodate ourselves so easily to the demands of the technological society - to time schedules, charts, programs, techniques - that we lose touch without streams of consciousness, our inner time. (198-99)
Green is of course referring to the experiences and encounters that inform and enhance our own teaching practice. While some in our group might not consider themselves "teaching artists," we are all firm believers in the power of arts in the classroom. We too, would probably admit the need to project ourselves into the teaching methods we use every day. Each of us are unique individuals with very different styles and approaches. We're not teacher-robots (thank goodness)!
How much "inner time" do you allow yourself during the year? What effect does it have on your teaching practice? How much time do you allow for critically assessing the aspects of your own teaching and learning process (are you a reflexive practitioner)?
I think all of us will have a wonderful opportunity for that inner time Green refers to next week at the NEW.
See you Sunday!
Nicole
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I believe I am a very reflective teacher, and I'm very generous in allowing myself time to reflect and ponder. My hope, of course, is that it has a positive effect on my teaching! That's the cool thing about teaching, no matter how long you do it, there are new challenges and new things to learn and try.
See you Sunday!
Joanne Young
In order to produce and create daily it is necessary for me to schedule the needed time for reflective practice. This does not always happen in the car or at my desk. For motivational reflection I practice yoga regularly. When I am able to take a dance class and attend performances my teaching becomes more energized. It is good to hear new music, work through a new combination, see new dances. It is exciting that one of the art forms to be explored at LCI Kalamazoo will be dance.
It's very true for me that sometimes I find it difficult to stay creative artistically and as a teacher in a "technological" and "right angled" world. I treasure these weeks of getting together with others to discuss and experience teaching, works of art and other's viewpoints- to "multiply possibilities". I, too, am a reflective teacher/artist and have grown into someone who allows myself this time.
I believe in the power of reflection and wished I did it more often. At most I have written in a teaching journal every day and at least jotted down notes after each class. Since I only see some classes once a week, I can't rely on my memory only in planning. I also believe reflection is important because it is a time for you to review what went wrong or right and how to improve for the future.
Post a Comment