Week+3

= So You Want to be a Teacher? =



"So You Want To Be a Teacher?" – Week three lecture by Dr Howard Nicholas What a question to ask a group of Diploma of Education students, just three weeks into their studies! What a great question to think and talk about and to discuss.

How do you answer this question? I don’t know yet. Also, how is the question being asked? You can be asked that in a demeaning, negative way - //I can’t believe you’re considering teaching! Why would you do that? Is it the holidays, or because ‘those that can do, those who can’t teach?’//

Or is it a challenge, //“I am a teacher, I know what it’s like, why do YOU think you can do it too?”// Or a warning from someone who has been there done that and should have made a career change back when Richmond was a powerhouse, prime ministers were being dismissed and lamb chops were found growing below men’s ears (as well as on the BBQ)?

Whatever the case may be we have to ask ourselves that question and make up our own minds as to how we will answer it.

//So I’ll summarise the lecture…//

Dr Howard Nicholas presented a thought provoking and captivating lecture examining this question and the issues that surround it.

Some varying points of view on what is teaching were presented through music, video and illustration. The idea of content versus presentation was raised -what’s the point in being charming if you have to issue a parking ticket, likewise, you can jazz it up all you like but at the end of the day if you are watching paint dry it’s always going to be boring.

To answer “so you want to be a teacher?” you have to examine who you are, who you are in the world and (amongst other things) what is your view on various aspects of the world. You have to start thinking about your teaching philosophy.

The idea that teaching must be a thing of constant change and adaptation was covered. Some good news was presented to us – education in Australia is ‘OK’ - it’s not perfect but we’re not jumping onto a sinking ship, so to speak.

Then we concluded with some personal reflections – what are we going to be like as teachers, how will we present ourselves, etc.

A great lecture – thought provoking, humours, sobering, confronting and it still begs the question, “So You Want to Be a Teacher?”

In “Beginning: The Challenge of Teaching” words that appeared like “tedious, demanding, confusing and uncertain” surely would lead a student to answer with, “Actually, no. I don’t want to be a teacher – I think I’ll go back to accounting.” Who would want a job that could be described in those terms??? But then words like “creative, dazzling, graceful, purposeful and full of possibility” pop up and you can see the light.

As teachers we will not be perfect – not in the first year or even our last. We will make mistakes, but we will learn. As we are continuously being told by our own teachers a Dip Ed will not, it cannot, teach us everything we need to know. Our real life experience, this year and every year we step into a classroom will teach us (and it won’t stop nor will it be everything we need to know because what we need to know is an infinitely ever changing collection of skills, knowledges, theories, understandings and even the latest slang.

Teaching, maybe more so than any other profession is harsh. Not many people approach a commercial pilot and say, “Look, I’m not going to tell you how to do your job….. BUT – “. Teaching is sometimes confused with childminding or parenting. The people who do this will be the same ones to give you “tips” on teaching from their own experiences. Teachers have the responsibility to educate our future. I can’t even say our future doctors and nurses, pilots and engineers; plumbers and electricians because some of the roles our students of today will take up haven’t even been created yet. Teaching is notoriously underpaid. Most people will say you get what you pay for, yet when little Billy is struggling with something Billy’s parents will be quick to let you know that you should teach him, because it’s your job.

I want to come to a close by thinking about passion. I think that’s a very key word. To be passionate about education; to believe that teaching is a job that WILL make a real difference and to be passionate about the future “teaching is an act of hope for a better future” (Beginning: The Challenge of teaching, p 24) is to begin to understand WHY some people think, “So I Want To Be A Teacher.”

(Tegan de la Torre 18 March 2009)

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**Home** | Week 1 - Sir Ken Robinson "Ideas Worth Spreading" | Week 2 - Classroom Management| Week 4 - Planning for Learning | Week 5 - Models of Teaching and Learning | Week 6 - Teacher Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct | Week 7 - Who Are Your Students? | Week 8 - Issues from the coalsface - VIt and planning