One
day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree.
"Which road do I take?" she asked. "Where do you want to
go?" was his response. "I don't know," Alice answered.
"Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."
(Lewis
Carroll, Alice in
Wonderland)
Education allows every individual to create their own paths in life;
whether that’s to explore themselves as a person, extend their knowledge and
wisdom, or even help develop a career that they would like.
Teacher Professionalism:
Professionalism, in any aspect of teaching, is a critical
component of education. Professionalism, to me, means a commitment to teaching my
subject knowledge to others and presenting what is best for the learners. It
also means having the right skills and attitudes modelled for the learners – to
be a positive role in their education. By having the right attitude to
teaching, I can take more risks with lessons and make changes that will improve
the learning. I have also learnt that flexibility is the key to being
professional. As I was unable to teach
my specialist subject, English Literature, I had to adapt to teach Functional
Skills Literacy instead. Here I did encounter problems and mistakes within my
teaching of this subject, but my experience helped me overcome this issue.
Teaching a different subject helped me to be resilient and adaptable when such
problems did arise.
My teaching experience also helped me to develop a
professional attitude to treating all students fairly and look for the best in
my learners. The learning environment showed me how focusing on the strengths
rather than their criminal record helped remove bias and prejudice from myself
and other learners. This also
strengthened my ability to follow through on disciplinary methods for the more
disruptive learners.
Teacher Values:
My values of teaching have changed throughout the
experience I have been given. At first, I thought teaching was about being
knowledgeable about the subject I teach; however, you must have the ability to
communicate to pass on that knowledge. Communication here relates to the
concept that teachers must be able to connect with the learners, and keep them
interested in every session that occurs. Yet it is not just the learners you
need to communicate with, it’s communicating your thoughts and feelings with
other members of staff to help develop yourself as a teacher.
I also believe that trust and confidence are important in
teacher values. My mentor has helped me with this aspect as my learning
environment required a high level of trust and confidence in the learners. I
was only allowed to share information told to me by the learners when it threatened the
safety of the learners and myself. However I must understand both the learners’
educational and emotional need regardless of their criminal background.
Another value that has been shaped by my experience is my
level of organisation and more pressure has been placed upon me due to the
nature of the learning environment. The learners’ work has to be marked
promptly as no work is to leave the learning environment for their own safety
and maintaining their ILPS at the end of the session was a difficulty. As a
trainee teacher my lesson plans had to be created well in advance and any
resources had to be sent to the deputy leader for system checks. This developed
my ability to create lessons that were simple, practical and achievable for the
learners and the focus was only on them.
As a result my mentor at my learning environment helped
in the shaping of my teacher values. By sharing my thoughts and reflecting at
the end of every session, I was developing as a more professional teacher all
the time. Here teamwork by all the members off staff, and my tutor at the
university, provided me with tips to control, manage and inspire the learners
and the sharing of resources; this increased my level of confidence in teaching
and make me realise you do not have to be alone in the learning
environment.
Motivating and Engaging Learners:
I
cannot pinpoint the exact moment were I finally managed to motivate and engage
all learners at the same time; it was simply a case of trial and error. This
was due to the churn factor of new learners and the leaving of old learners.
However, one way to overcome this problem was to embed a multiple of teaching
resources that took into consideration the needs of every individual; for
example one typical lesson would use activities on the smart-board to allow
group work, and the learners would develop their skills by using comprehension
tasks and worksheets which allowed for individual or paired help. By employing different
teaching methods in each session meant that the students were constantly
challenged, but were allowed to complete the work at their own pace to achieve
more than their potential.
One
thing I did learn from this was patience; some days the mixing of resources
worked whereas other days, simple tasks were the key. By taking into the
consideration of the learners' needs in a more active way, I asked the learners
how they preferred to learn. This meant that they played a more solid role in
their learning. However, I finally realise that it is not always possible to
produce creative lessons in such an environment due to the issue of
safeguarding the individuals; i.e. competitive tasks normally resulted in
learners being disruptive and physical. Yet it is possible to produce these
tasks in small quantities and not reuse the resources over again and the
session would still be effective.
Teaching Experience:
Throughout
my teaching at HMP Durham Prison, I have found it most challenging in terms of
its preparation for lessons. Unlike other educational institutions, everything
I prepare has to be checked for the safety of the learners and me. Yet I managed to overcome this by using many
online resources such as the SkillsWorkshop, BBC Skillswise, and even the Online English Dictionary. These
resources were simple to modify and adapt to each session, and the learners
took to the tasks straight away without a problem. Marking work was also a
problem within the environment. I had to learn to create assessment tasks that
could be marked within the sessions and would still provide an opportunity to
provide feedback for the learners.
A
typical day would consist of new learners stating they did not want to be in
this class, that it was ‘useless’ to them. I learnt to take these comments in
stride, and found a way to encourage the learners to stay in education. By
acting more than a teacher to them, and actually listening to what they had to
say the learners began to trust my teaching methods and turned up to the
following session the week after when I was teaching. Many had said that their
school ‘teacher did not care’ about the individual and their learning, and
began to appreciate that I went out of my way to include them all the time.
This also showed me how much learners rely on praise subconsciously. John
Wooden once said that:
“Seek opportunities to show you care. The smallest gestures often make
the biggest difference.”
Throughout
the two and three hour sessions I taught that learners seemed to enjoy the
lesson more when they were praised on their achievement. However I made sure not to
over-praise as it would appear that I was being condescending to some. The
effect of my praise towards the learners seemed to carry on beyond the
classroom doors. This showed exactly how communication “must also depend on how
interested in other people we really are”.
“When you study great teachers... you will
learn much more from their caring and hard work than from their style.”
I believe that without my mentor and my tutor showing
how they invest in what the students actually say then I would not be able to
create an environment where learners would feel like they can walk away saying
that they have actually enjoyed the lesson and that they have learnt something. I hope with everything that I have learnt over the year, I will pass on to my students. I know that obstacles will stand in my way, but that will make my career choice more exciting.
