A teacher’s educational philosophy is often guided or tainted by past experiences. Lortie (1975) calls this phenomena “Apprenticeship of Observation.” From kindergarten to grade 12 and beyond, we have been observing many teachers for thousands of hours over a 13 to 18 year period. We have favorite teachers, we have teachers we did not like. All in all, it is easy to understand why public education is often under scrutiny because people, in general, have many years of experience observing teachers.
One of my ‘beefs’ about education is TOKENIZED LEARNING. My defining moment did not occur with a teacher, but with my father. In high school, I was a competitive curler and my curling team was on our way to the provincials. My dad baited me with a walkman (yes, I’m dating myself) to enhance my performance and motivate me to win. We were runner-up and I walked away empty handed. I wanted to win for the wrong reasons. I wasn’t focused on playing well, I was focused on winning.
In education, learning is often tokenized. Do this assignment, it’s worth marks. Act in a particular way, that’s worth more marks. The learning process becomes more about accruing marks versus learning for the sake of learning. The drive is a pull, not a push. Teachers take on this responsibility. As a result, “learners” become more motivated by the extrinsic rewards and not by passion, genuine interest, or curiosity. Life-long learning is not about acquiring “the token,” it’s about the love.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, July 13th, 2011 | Comments Off on Tokenized Learning – December 22, 2010
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What is the best part about teaching? Some people might say the best part is the summer, spring break, and winter vacation. Teachers are like Energizer Bunnies. They keep going and going, and going… and yes, they need time to recharge. Breaks are needed to do the job that teachers do. What else? I loved the people I worked with. The teachers, support staff, custodians, administrators, and parents were all fantastic. But, so what?
The Best Part About Teaching are the STUDENTS. They are the best part. I may have taught hundreds of high school students something about math, how to learn math, and maybe even like math. What I appreciated the most were the relationships and engaging with them. Teachers have a strong influence on students and get the opportunity to be a significant part of their journey. I enjoyed making math exciting and I think they did too. What I love even more are the connections I still have with them. Thank you.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, July 13th, 2011 | Comments Off on The Best Part About Teaching – December 18, 2010
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