My Third assumption about my teaching as a pre service teacher is that I will learn most of what I need to through spending time in a classroom, actually teaching.

Where does this assumption come from?

This assumption comes from the title of Steve’s blog, ‘Don’t we learn to teach on the job? What’s the point of theory? A post for my students’  (Shann, 2012). I feel like I agree with the title. I feel I am assuming this because of how much theory is being taught and it feels hard to make a link directly to a classroom from the theory as every situation will be slightly different. It has been stated in tutorials also that we as pre-service teachers cannot be prepared for every situation that will arise in the classroom and that learning is ongoing throughout your teaching career. To me it sounds like I will just learn through trial and error helping me to grow as a teacher.

After writing this assumption and thinking about it, it may be a little bit naive for a couple of reasons.

Learning as a teacher is an ongoing process, but, everybody has to start somewhere and maybe without this course, I wouldn’t have a base of knowledge to start from. This class will give me tools and ideas to deal with broader situations, then, as I fell in my assumption, on the job learning will take place with how to deal with each unique situation.

I feel like another good reason to have this theory class is to give us some material to go back to. When something isn’t working as a teaching you have materials to refer back to, revisit and strategise as to how to deal with a new situation.

Where would I be without CPP on my first day of teaching? YES I do assume that almost all of my learning will take place in the classroom BUT where would I be on day one without this theory we are being taught? Answer- LOST!

Maybe I need to know some theory to have a slight direction before my actual in class learning can begin?

All these challenges to my assumption lead to the question ‘Am I ready to teach?’

To me, this question, after thinking about it means, do I have any skills to allow me to have some pedagogical direction in my classroom? And after thinking about this for a long time, I believe I would struggle with being ready to teach without some theory from CPP. Although I am still assuming that the material covered in CPP is only a tiny fraction of what I will learn once I enter the classroom and therefore maybe my assumption is partially correct.

After writing this post on my third assumption I went back and re read Steve’s blog post from the 10th February 2012 and noticed this at the end. ‘No theory is universally true, always applicable, the solution to every problem. Yes, we learn on the job. But without theory, we remain relatively trapped by the inadequacy of our underdeveloped assumptions.’ (Shann, 2012)

I agree with Steve on this, so, maybe it’s a little from column A, and a little from column B. You do learn on the job, however without theory before, how can you successfully put into practice what you learn as you go along in your career?

 

References

Shann, S (February 10, 2012) “Dont we kearn to teach on the job? Whats the point of theory?” a post for my students [web log post] retrieved from: http://degreesfiction.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/whats-the-point-of-theory-when-we-learn-to-teach-when-were-teaching-a-post-for-my-students/