The Word Guy Has More Words. First Day Activities

I'm not sure I should be teaching Philosophy of Education, but I admit I sort of love it. It is a 15-week course asking students to develop their first philosophical statements about teaching and learning, while reading Freire, Dewey, Dubois, Greene, Noddings, and numerous others. Unique to the course, too, are opportunities to work one-on-one with a K-8 school in Bridgeport. It's a lot of reading, a lot of thinking, a lot of connection to Jesuit and social justice traditions, and even more reflection. In fact, I would say this course expects more reflection than any other I've ever taught.

I have to admit, too, that this cohort bonded much faster than other student groups I work with. I did a series of team-building activities and although they swear they've never done them before, they were quick to master the sense of community. I was impressed.

(I should also note that there's not a single male in the class. I might as well be teaching at an all-girl school)

Today, we did numerous activities including an initiation of formulating first beliefs about school. I love doing this as it helps me to plan future classes.

The Loves

• Community, being challenged, teachers, learning something new every day, making connections to previous knowledge, learning more about yourself, the endless opportunities, the need for an open mind, learning more about what you love to do, being with like-minded friends, new perspectives, new interpretations, gaining a better understanding, retaining information, the call for perseverance, experiencing the passion of others, and accessing the power of language.

The Hates

• The pervasiveness of bullying, too much memorization, homework, when an educator lacks classroom control, time commitments, standardized testing, the busy work, strictness of school policies, burnt out teachers, the same routine, Lunch! At 10:30 a.m.!, pressure, favoritism, apathy of administrators, teachers and students, cell phones, lack of appreciation, no patience, inflexibility, and talking down to others in a condescending way.

Okay, I can work with that. They also made a list:

First word you associated with school:

• Discipline, formative, growing, encouraging, understanding, exciting, friends, maturing, standardized, challenging, adventurous, journey, community, rewarding, privilege, influential, and evolving

Now it is time to read, discuss and think about our own schooling experiences to envision and ask questions of whether or not our education prepared us for the learning we envision for our own students. I feel I taught in Utopia with my experiences in Kentucky, so I have a context of learning that my students can't even imagine. 

Ah, this is the challenge of being a teacher educator - to help others to imagine what is possible.