Power

My last visit to my placement I was trying to focus my observations on power in the classroom. Who holds power? What does this power look like? Is too much power a bad thing? What does power mean in the classroom? Those types of questions I was trying to ask myself as I observe and analyze my placement. (Continuing with the usual structure)

What happened in the classroom?
First hour economics was interesting. I do most of my observing during that period now and take a lot more action in second hour. The students were given a packet with six scenarios and they had to say how it affected all the different people that economics affects, like the consumers, producers, savers, investors, etc. This seemed like an interesting way of showing the students that economics affects everyone and in different ways. That seemed to really bring it home to the students and they cared more about it after my MT explained it in that way. Second hour was history with the freshmen students. My MT told me once again that she was going to "throw me in the river," I am getting use to this now. By throwing me in the river this means I will be leading some sort of lesson or teaching it all in general. I know I am able to refuse, although my MT is very intimidating and I want to impress her in some way as if that really makes a difference on how she perceives me or my grade in general. However, I am enjoying this throwing around. This time I only had to check students answers before they were allowed to put it on the board. Not too difficult, though the subject was not fresh in my mind on every little definition of the civil rights. I pretty much read the students answer and assumed they were right, I didn't have the time or resources to just look up if they were right. The good thing about this was that the students had to come to me to approve something, that I was an authority figure to them, and that I had to talk to each one face to face. This was a better chance to be a presence to them.

What my MT specifically taught me that day?
I am realizing more how dominant a figure my MT is in this classroom. Everything is heavily guided by what she says and does. She usually starts every class with some sort of story about her past and how it relates to the students. This is interesting because she has a lot of things to relate to the subjects she teaches. We are heading into the civil rights period and my MT was alive during this time, so the stories she can share are possibly beneficial to the students. Whatever she asks of the students they do, no one puts up a fight or seems to complain about any of the work. Perhaps this is because its a small rural type of school and she is such a dominating force. I have hear my MT say, "if the workload gets too much for you let me know." I assume she wants to know so she could help you. The students have a large exam next week and were given a lot more work to do over the weekend before this exam; I didn't even hear one student complain about this. Maybe I just come from a generation of complainers, but I would be complaining, no body likes exams. Its almost hard to describe the time of power my MT exerts in the classroom, one can really only understand once they have observed her. If someone had told me that their teacher was exerting a great amount of power over the student I would just assume they were a bad teacher and they lecture the whole time. However, my MT may talk for thirty minutes or less and then realize that students don't really pay attention after that so you have to give them something else, a different way to understand the information. I have never seen any form of class discussion or group discussions about anything, however I am not there every day either. There is a lot of jigsaw type of learning and short readings that students are allowed to do in groups. Its difficult to describe the power situation, I am still figuring it out myself.

What does this all mean as a future teacher?
What have I learned from these small teaching lessons? Really its starting to confuse me. I thought the idea I had in my head of a great teacher was someone who encourages discussion and critical thinking, and I just don't see a whole lot of that in this class. But that is not turning into a bad thing, whatever is going on in this classroom I am in is working for them. Teachers are so different, they are not all teaching the same way. Instruction is so differentiated and students still learn. So its hard for me to try and develop who I am as a teacher, when I cant peg down the "right" type of instruction.