I heard recently of some student teachers from a program complain that they had had too little coursework on instructional techniques. They complained that they felt they went into the classroom with an empty toolbox of techniques for teaching their students. I didn't have the heart to answer them honestly.
Their comments worried me because they might be right that they're not exposed to enough ideas on how to engage students.
Their comments worried me more because they might not be accustomed to thinking creatively about solving a problem. There is a tendency toward standardization and script-reading in my line of work. There has been a de-emphasizing of teacher creativity in instructing teachers-to-be. The instruction now seems to be more about essential questions, enduring understandings, and dense, script-like lesson plans. The desire to capture a spark or pursue a teachable moment is downplayed.
Their comments worried me the most because, when desperate, one can hopefully fall back on memories of how great teacher solved problems. Might these young teachers not have such great examples to fall back on? Was there no one who inspired them like I was inspired by that constellation of great high school and college teachers?
Do they feel gun shy about just telling the kids about the past? About our government?
Are they afraid of delivering a lesson that might flop? Are they so fearful of the error part of trial and error that they won't give a possibly good idea a try.
I'm worried that the newest teachers coming into the field have not been pushed or mentored to look for the moments of this job that are creative, awesome, spontaneous, and messy.
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