Case Study Reflections:

Case: Myth, Who cares?

Question: How much about their private lives should teachers share with students? Why do you think so?

I think is it important for teachers to connect with their students by making themselves relatable to their students. I do believe forming this connection with students involves revealing some personal information about yourself outside of the classroom to show your students you are a real person and not just their teacher. I think humanizing yourself with your students is important because it makes you as an authority figure more approachable. Once a teacher is more approachable for students, they can feel more comfortable with asking questions or asking for help.

In my practicum class, there was a student who refused to do any school work and would often yell at teachers who would attempt to get him to participate. My teacher mentor told us that he would only do work if she or the principle asked him because they were the only two teachers who he had formed a close connection with. She told us to get to know him on a personal level before we tried to teach him, she suggested having a conversation with him about his tea he brought to class every day. I sat down with him and asked him about his tea and told him about all the different kinds of tea I had at home. Although the student did still resist some attempts at getting him to do work, he began to participate for small portions of time the more I talked to him one on one. This experience demonstrated to me how sharing small bits of personal information without having to share deeply personal information can go a long way.

Although in this article, Kate struggles with sharing personal information with her students regarding her sexuality which is a lot more personal than what kind of tea I have at home. Sexuality is a topic that some elementary students may not be very familiar with and therefore they may not fully understand, Kate could use this as an opportunity to provide her students with a few lessons on sexuality, even in her high school class. Through my experience, sharing personal information in the classroom has allowed students to open up to me more and be more comfortable around me. I think in any situation it is easier to be comfortable around someone when you know them personally, but the decision lies with every teacher of how much personal information they would like to share with their class.

Case: Bandwagon, Blurred Reflections

Question: What do you think has accounted for this change from exams to reflective journals within the teaching program?

I believe this shift from standardized tests to group work and reflective journals in the teaching program directly correlates to the new BC curriculum for elementary schools. As we have been learning in all of our courses, the new BC curriculum is progressive and focused on making the classroom environment inclusive for all different types of learners and learning through different assessment strategies instead of only tests. This means moving away from lecturing material at your students you are later going to give them a test on and towards learning the content but focused on what students are interested in and using different ways to assess their learning. For example, allowing the students to do an inquiry project instead of a final test for a unit. It would only be logical for this shift to also happen within the BED program as teacher candidates so we can observe the teaching styles/methods of our professors to implement into our future classrooms. Modeling group work and reflective journals for teacher candidates shows us what we should be doing in our future classrooms while allowing us to have the point of view of our future students who may also have to do reflective journals and group work. This article highlights both the student’s and teachers’ points of view on reflective journals showing how these two views may differ. I believe modeling these assignments within the teaching program has allowed me to take on both the mindset of a teacher and student allowing me to create and plan assignments for my practicum to be more student-focused and assignments my students will be excited to do.

Case: Moral Panics, Bang Bang

Question: As a new teacher, how will you decide when to challenge your colleagues’ certainties and when to refrain from doing so?

The article ends with Ryan considering returning to his colleagues at a better time and provide them with his experiences to give them another point of view to consider regarding violent video games. I thought this was a good way to address his colleagues: in an environment where he feels comfortable and hopefully, his colleagues would be a little more open to hearing a different point of view instead of only arguing for something they believe as a certainty. As a future teacher, I think I will try to handle challenging colleagues’ certainties in a similar way that Ryan was considering.

This article reminded me of when I was a nanny this past summer and I was giving a 5-year-old a bath and as I went to unplug the drain, they were terrified and immediately jumped out of the bathtub and ran down the hallway. They later explained to me that they believed bathtubs would suck you down the pipes if you were in the water when you unplug the drain. I realized they had never been told how a bathtub works so, therefore, they used their imagination. I then had to confront them and their misconception and help them understand how bathtubs really worked. I tried to do this by simply telling them they would not get sucked down the drain, but of course, they did not believe me and refused to go back into the bath. I now know that this is because I needed to explain and show them how a bathtub worked in order for them to understand that they won’t get sucked down. In this situation, I had to confront her but in a way that allowed her to change her misconception by learning instead of simply telling her. I think this is exactly what Ryan could do by talking to his colleagues at a better time where he can share his experience and let them reconsider their opinions of violent video games instead of simply telling them in a setting where there is no time to fully explain one’s point of view or time to reconsider one’s own bias.

As a future teacher, I believe I will try to challenge colleagues’ certainties when it is an appropriate time to do so and refrain when the situation does not seem appropriate. Mini conversations happen with colleagues all the time, most conversations get cut off especially in a school environment. I believe it is important to address a person’s certainties when there is time to fully share thoughts and ideas on the topic. In my experience with the 5-year-old and the bath drain, certainties do not simply change by someone telling us otherwise.

Responses to Classmates:

Case: Myth, Who Cares?

Response to Taylor Miller

Sociology: Although this case highlights how typical gender expectations are challenged, how might Kate actually be reinforcing gender stereotypes?

I agree with you when you mention the way the question is worded made me also think that the author of this question is biased and already believes that Kate is reinforcing gender stereotypes. I decided not to chose this question because I had found myself looking for how Kate is reinforcing gender stereotypes but had not found any. I do believe however, Kate may have some gender stereotypes as she mentioned being shocked that her class was mostly males and that they wanted to be caregivers as she stereotypically associates females with caregiving roles, a stereotype deeply rooted in our western society. This case acknowledges how we all have stereotypes ingrained in our thoughts due to our societal surroundings and experiences but what is important is what we do with these stereotypical thoughts. I believe we as teachers should challenge our own stereotypical thoughts in our classrooms in order to gain a more holistic view of our students to better suit their learning needs.

Case: Bandwagon, Blurred Reflections

Response to Monika Kuster

Sociology: Why do you think reflective journaling has become a cornerstone of the socialization of teachers into the teaching profession?

I agree with you regarding reflective journaling and it is a space where we as teacher candidates can write down and reflect on our experiences within our practicum.  We take the content we are given from the program and analyze how that looks in a classroom setting and reflect on how well we believe we implemented that into our practicum. For me, having to write journals in every class I find myself learning more and more about what kind of teacher I want to be. I use this as a space to write out my intentions and then reflect on how these intentions came across in a classroom. This allows me to decide if I like the outcome of my intentions or if the outcome does not fit the teacher I want to be, then I am able to alter my intention or my strategy to better fit the teacher I want to be. While uncovering what kind of teacher I am going to be I also find myself discovering who I am as a person and as you mentioned, my biases, assumptions and preconceived notions I brought with me into the teaching program. Hopefully, through reflective journaling, I will be able to recognize and take into consideration these biases while considering my teaching practice.

Case: Moral Panics, Bang Bang 

Response to Alex Peterson

History: Do you think we, as a society, have become more tolerant of violence as depicted on television and in video games? What evidence would you use to support your position?

Great response! I agree with you on how we as a society are desensitized to violence in general due to how common violence is in the media, news and video games. This article reminded me of EDSO when we were discussing how the news and social media feature mostly only negative and/or violent stories because that is the material they will get the most viewers with. I personally believe I am desensitized to violence due to social media because every day when I go on Twitter or watch the news all I see is violent or negative stories and because I see these every day, I expect to see this negativity and am beginning to get used to seeing them. Due to my experience, if you are exposed to anything enough it will start to become familiar and you will eventually become desensitized. Just because children are becoming desensitized to the violence in video games does not mean video games are influencing them to become violent. I think as teachers all we can do is educate the children in our classes the difference between real and fake to ensure they do not reenact the violence they see in video games.