Perspective in the Garden

Come and sit, for "you can learn a lot of thing from the flowers."

For my own golden afternoon I got a little perspective, not so much from the flowers, but from the garden and the unique view of my sitting spot. I tend to take things in literally how they are, proportionally and relatively. I looked at Orchard Commons and then took everything in relation and perspective from around it. Observing how my particular sitting spot changed the angles each of the buildings, trees lining the road, and crops in rows growing in the fields. My whole view of everything was from a singular perspective, and I wasn't seeing the whole picture of any one thing.

My life is a sitting spot, I view everything from my one perspective in the garden of life. When I encounter students in teaching I have to be consciously aware of my perspective and take time to figuratively walk around in the garden. Taking the time to understand and sit with other perspectives, to listen and to learn myself as a student of their experiences and understanding of the world. Through patient inquiry and reflection I can better understand my students, better allowing myself to connect with them and adapt my teaching to better suit their needs in learning. 

An understanding of what to do, and how to do it, and whether it's being done consistently and well are all different questions. Yes I understand to inquire into my students, I understand to try to look from more than one perspective, I understand to effectively reflect on my teaching and what I've learned from my students, but how do I know if I am effectively doing those things? How do I know when my perspective is a little too fixed, when I think I've inquired but I've merely taken in information through my bias, when my reflection is just idle thought producing naught of value? I suppose I'm just going to have to keep inquiring into the material and discussions of this class, and hopefully I'll get closer to using these tools of understanding effectively.

Anyways, back to tending to my internal garden!

Becoming Routinely Reflective

1) Even though this article was written in a different time, I think it should speak to every prospective teacher. Being reflective is timeless. As our first blog has suggested, it takes a great deal of inquiry to be a thoughtful and successful teacher. Routine and acting on intuition become the enemy of the continued learning of ourselves, our class, our students, and how best to reach and teach them. I spend a great deal of my time in reflection, well I did before all of my transit time turned into reading academic material, and that reflection has led to great growth of myself as an individual. The reflection takes time, it takes continued emotional effort, but the results speak for themselves. I've never reflected so much on inquiry and reflective nature of a great teacher, but it inspires me to set the ever moving goalpost of being a reflective teacher. Much to the benefit of the article and this class, I believe the idea of a large portion of teachers being autonomous decisions makers is dated. I'm sure there are lots that still exist, but teaching is an ever evolving landscape of changes to policy, curriculum, and social politics. I would say the teachers of today are in general reflective to varying degrees, and hopefully through the continued education of teachers, that only improves. 

2) In all honesty this article seems to more reinforce the learning of inquiry from this class and my assessment one. The previous articles of this and other classes have already opened a clear vision of how teachers must inquire into all aspects of their job, self, and students if they wish to truly succeed in the profession. It's already been clear to think about why I teach something, if lessons are effective, my assumptions, my methods, biases, beliefs, students' perspectives, experiences, social events/factors, etc. It seems the greater idea is that teachers cannot get too comfortable with any one thing. It's a constantly evolving profession where stagnation can quickly turn into extinction. To teach is to grow, and to grow is to learn. 

No matter how timeless some of our methods are, if we stagnate just like this article, we too shall slowly be dated. 

An Inquiry into Inquiry

"Curiouser and curiouser," that is what I have been left with. McCourt makes a great point about how teaching benefits from inquiry into one's students and oneself. 

Inquiry into one's students helps a teacher better connect with them. Through connecting better with students, a teacher can understand what interests them, what they like, dislike, and of course build rapport. All this information is helpful in creating a learning environment where students are more engaged. Teachers can adjust learning on the fly based on how the students are feeling on a subject, a teaching style, an activity/assignment, or just on that particular day. Be curious about your students, they are a river of information, do not resist the flow of information you receive, work with it, or be washed away.

From McCourt, it seems that good teaching also leads to inquiry into oneself. The instructors keep saying that to teach is to teach oneself. Essentially that we can't remove ourselves from our teaching. To know yourself is to know your teaching, and through this knowledge we can evolve our teaching to better suit the needs of our classroom and students. I feel as though there can be levels and separation of oneself from one's teaching, so this is an idea that I'll keep an eye on during my teaching journey.

Stay Curious!   

Welcome to the Univsersity

 Hello and welcome to the University of Wonderland!

We are dedicated to the continued learning of all citizens and visitors of Wonderland. 

We hope you join us on this learning adventure, going somewhere, or perhaps nowhere at all.

She's napping now, but we would like to introduce you to the head pawfessor of our curious university!