Well, now school is about to start and (as often) I'm thinking about teaching, schools, education.... I've been a teacher for, god help me, thirteen years now - mostly teaching English, though my main subject is philosophy. I am currently (supposed to be) working on my master's thesis (I've been working on the degree over the last few years) and part of that will be an exploration of teachers' values and identities.
I find that education is too organized and lacks spontaneity. I think tests and demands for programs and concern with credit points, timetables and, well, mostly it's the endless testing, and obsession with putting students in boxes, and being 'accountable' is slowly smothering the human spirit.
Operating within this world, and hoping to provide some relief and possibly incremental change, I have tried to introduce spontaneity and serendipity into my classroom and work. I don't prepare (not very much), I don't stick to my plans, I listen to my students, and I rarely use dictionaries. I try to simplify instructions, open up minds and try as hard as I can to get to know my students (I have a large number of students and I'm bad at names so this is a real challenge for me).
As per preparation and dictionaries: I consider my years in university (in the past and present) to be preparation. I would rather spend my time reading weird fantasy novels and quirky philosophers than looking up all possible meanings of the words in a text that is to be dealt with on a given day.
Some might call me lazy, others something else, that's just the matter of the way things works.
Preparing is overrated. I assume you have a course syllabus. That's preparation enough.
ReplyDeleteAs far as spontaneity, you should pay me a visit some day.
The word verification for this comment was: kaskints. Which sound like a scouse slang word for prostitutes.