One of the biggest struggles I have encountered this student
teaching semester has been finding the balance between having too much control
and doing two much work and letting go of two much control and doing too
little.
Jumping into student teaching, I wanted
to do whatever I could to make sure my students would succeed and all get A’s
in my class, especially during my unit. I was devastated when I received only
five found poems for our first assignment. I sat there racking my brain trying
to figure out what I did wrong. Did I not explain the assignment well enough?
Did my students not get it? Was the assignment too hard? After talking to my
CT, we came up with scaffolding and ideas to make the explanation of
assignments better. Robyn Jackson says in “Never Work Harder Than Your
Students,” teachers in this situation often default to compensating for
students lack of responsibility by taking complete control. I was determined
not to do this, and I had a great mentor by my side to help ensure I would not
fall into this trap.
Later in the semester, I was receiving the same missed questions on the
learning logs. Students were not making connections to the themes in the text.
Instead, they were explaining the quote. I noticed that on the learning log, it
asked them how the motifs and symbols supported the theme, but not to identify
the specific theme. I immediately changed the learning logs to reflect what I
wanted from students. The next class I had students work collaboratively to
look over their past graded learning logs. They discussed the most commonly
missed sections and comments that were made by me. They then used this
information to complete their next learning logs together. The result was
learning logs that were complete and met all of my objectives.
Jackson’s article hits this point
as well. Instead of me lecturing about what I wanted from students, I did my
part and let students do theirs as well. As opposed to one group being in
control, I transformed my classroom into “a community of learners.” It was
extremely important that I worked with my students, not for my students.
Jackson states, “Our job is to help our students find their own voices and
develop their own understanding of the subject matter.” By giving students
their own voices, and control of their learning, they were able to not only
learn from their past mistakes, but work as a community to meet the learning
objectives.
I can’t pretend that student
teaching has been a breeze. I have made plenty of mistakes. But those mistakes,
just like the mistakes of my students, have fueled my learning. They have
enabled me to come up with solutions that work for me, and work for my
students. They have forced me to be reflective and think critically. I know
even when I enter my first year of teaching, I will continue to make mistakes.
But those mistakes, as I use them to grow, will make me a better teacher and a
better learner.
