Track 7: Get Set - Taxiride (My Journey Continues... )

hold on to what you know is gonna break

a rollercoaster ride inside your mind

is what you need to terrify you

get set, everybody

we're on our way to nowhere (Wild, 1999)

So how am I going? Have I answered this question along the way? Are there still questions about my roadtrip to Educare that haven't been answered?

I know I still have so much more to learn about my beliefs, my personal identity as a learner and as a teacher, what motivates me and what my future goals are to further my development... 


My best lesson plan so far is a Mathematics lesson about number patterns and even then I had to change my lesson mid-session to suit my students' abilities because the worksheets I had painstakingly put together just went over their heads. For this lesson, I managed to focus on Elements 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Professional Teaching Standards (see annotations on lesson plan).  Feedback from my cooperating teacher also shows that I was able to demonstrate Element 5: by reinforcing my behavioural expectations throughout the whole lesson and using table group names to direct students from the floor to their desks (NSW Institute of Teachers, 2006). 


I still haven't pinpointed what particular behavioural discipline theory I strongly believe in and will uphold in my teaching practice because I have only been able to imitate what my cooperating teacher has modelled for me. I do, however, believe that the classroom is not a place for silence, rather it is a place where students should feel comfortable in discussing their learning experiences. 


I really like Dufficy's ideas about 'becoming' in classroom talk, how teachers should encourage a spirit of exploration in their curious students and to value classroom talk even if it means talking off topic at times. It is through this open, unrestricted dialogue that students can develop critical independent thinking but also instill in them deeper values about respect for others' opinions, taking courageous risks in putting forward uncommon ideas,  trusting others to listen, and nurturing academic resilience when they realise that uncertainty and making mistakes are part of learning in itself (Dufficy, 2005).



So where to next?
You may not believe me... but I'd like to continue mapping my roadtip to Educare. I really think I need to be more proactive and try my best at becoming more reflective about my experiences. I know it will not only benefit me as a learner but as a teacher too... so far it has really helped me to track where I've been, who I was, who I am becoming and where I want to be as a teacher. 


"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. " - T. S. Eliot 

Reference List

Dufficy P. (2005). Becoming' in classroom talk. Prospect 20(1) 59-81.

New South Wales Institute of Teachers. (2006). NSW Professional Teaching Standards. Retrieved November 1, 2010 from http://www.nswteachers.nsw.edu.au/IgnitionSuite/uploads/docs/Professional%20Teaching%20Standards.pdf

Wild, T. (1999). Get set. [Recorded by Taxiride]. On Imaginate. [Online video]. New York: Ocean way studios