Teachers have to make little decisions all day long. Going in to our practicum, we are going to have a difficult time with just basic everyday tasks that together are needed to manage a classroom. When we are new at something like teaching, we need to reflect on each and every little decision we make, each and every little action. We are going to be sensitive to everything that doesn't work and will spend a lot of time wondering how we could do it better and observing someone with more experience.
Moving back and forth between trying out teaching for ourselves and watching a more seasoned teacher in action will help us pick up on where we need a little work and what we can do to improve our own methods. But trial and error on our own will also help. If something doesn't work, we will have little reason to try it a second time and will probably have lots of situations in which we could employ new methods and tactics.
Once we know what works, it will become more like a reflex. We will subconsciously be able to read the situation and know what action is appropriate, just by our experience in the classroom. Until we encounter new situations that throw us once more out of our comfort zone and give us reasons to reflect on what we could do better.
No matter how well things are working though, there will always be ways to do them better. New ways to include students that may be left out in our well-practiced or instinctive teaching methods. Maybe students with disabilities or from different cultural backgrounds would require different actions in different situations to achieve the same goal. As teachers, we need to take time to reflect on these situations - developing and expanding our "instincts" to make classrooms more inclusive and comfortable for all students, not just the students who do what we expect every time.
Moving back and forth between trying out teaching for ourselves and watching a more seasoned teacher in action will help us pick up on where we need a little work and what we can do to improve our own methods. But trial and error on our own will also help. If something doesn't work, we will have little reason to try it a second time and will probably have lots of situations in which we could employ new methods and tactics.
Once we know what works, it will become more like a reflex. We will subconsciously be able to read the situation and know what action is appropriate, just by our experience in the classroom. Until we encounter new situations that throw us once more out of our comfort zone and give us reasons to reflect on what we could do better.
No matter how well things are working though, there will always be ways to do them better. New ways to include students that may be left out in our well-practiced or instinctive teaching methods. Maybe students with disabilities or from different cultural backgrounds would require different actions in different situations to achieve the same goal. As teachers, we need to take time to reflect on these situations - developing and expanding our "instincts" to make classrooms more inclusive and comfortable for all students, not just the students who do what we expect every time.
Beautifully said, and wise thoughts, Sonya! Thanks for this.
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