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I'm a Senior in college, set to graduate in Summer of 2011. I'm planning on going into teaching, and I'm also considering graduate school. I don't consider myself a lazy student, but I doubt I'm on par with places in the North or in Europe. I would really like to strengthen some of my academic skills and also help my future students hone theirs. I'm from a city where most of the public schools heavily test for standards, but leave off teaching a lot of really useful strategies, like taking notes for college, study skills, college reading, and long-term knowledge retention. I really feel like "teaching to the test" and watering down the curriculum hurts our students. I too wish I got more out of my high school education. Alas, I tried to tutor math a few days ago and didn't know most of the stuff myself, even though I had it in high school. I'm really interested in learning and memory. There must be a way to maximize what is retained. As an English teacher, I will be providing my students with skills they will need to remember for a life time, and I want to know how to ensure they never forget. I don't want them to forget one story we discuss. I want them to be the smartest, most informed group of English students in the school! Does anyone have any strategies for this?
Be enthusiastic. Don't be excited about teaching them the subject, be excited about the subject itself. Share with them why Shakespeare is important, and the really cool funny parts of his comedies. When Helena says she's as ugly as a bear, and the beasts run from her in fear, show them her aggravation. When you read A Doll's House, don't just say Nora was brave for walking out, look at why it was a brave thing to do. What are the parallels for contemporary couples? Would it translate into a modern setting?
As they say in writers' circles...show, don't tell.
On "really useful strategies, like taking notes for college, study skills, college reading, and long-term knowledge retention.", finding a good learning system, get familiar with it and recommend it to your students.
It can be useful to get at least a passing knowledge of cognitive neuroscience so that you can get an idea of what exactly happens in the brain when a child/adolescent/adult learns. Some types of learning are more appropriate for different types of tasks and different stages of development. In a middle school classroom, you would have an extremely broad range of learning modalities. Once students reach late adolescence, they begin to learn more like adults, while young teens often benefit from rote learning which comes more naturally to younger children. High school teachers must be able to bridge that gap.
As an English teacher, you would probably find the study of cognitive linguistics to be useful. You may also want to learn more about the processing of aural and written language and the common obstacles faced by children who process differently. For example, there are special techniques that I have found to be useful when working with left-handed boys--a subgroup who have an elevated rate of language-processing challenges. The problems are sometimes aggravated by well-meaning grandparents who (still) force left-handed preschoolers to be right-handed. This practice can cause problems because of the way that the brain processes language function in left-handed people. Knowing how the brain works helps me teach the children. I can also help the children understand how they learn, so that they can benefit from this metacognition. [My daughter learned the word metacognition from her second grade teacher. She gravely informed us that it meant "thinking about thinking."]
You can't teach learning. We start learning from the moment we are born and don't ever stop. Our love for learning stops and one of the things that does this is the education system.
I encourage you to read just about anything from John Taylor Gatto, especially his latest book "Weapons of Mass Instruction." YOU will LEARN a lot. It's a quick, easy read too.
Also, there's a great book written by Blake Boles who was inspired by Gatto, called "College Without High School." I'm currently using this book to mentor to homeschoolers and unschoolers on creating resumes outlining their high school "work" and what they've learned on their own to use to get into college.
Vary your instruction and be creative in your approaches. Keeping student interest piqued is the most important thing in aiding retention. Things that were unexpected and out of the routine are the things that stand out in most people's minds, and remain memorable.
Not to be a pessimist, but if you look at the internet many teachers are being terminated due to budget cuts. So maybe in 7-10 years you may have a job waiting. As to teaching, it depends on the requirements of the state. You may have a dream to make things better, but truthfully if you cant get into a school district that leaves room for it then you end up teaching towards the test. Many teachers dont make it to the 3 year mark. Also parents are a real headache. If you have arguments with yours then think about having 150 sets in any given year (30 students per class x 5 classes).
Teaching to a test to the exclusion of anything else sucks, to be sure (thanks, NCLB!), but the truth is, even teaching to the test can be approached creatively.
Thanks everyone, but "teaching to the test" is the last thing I want to do. It means no authentic learning will take place. If I have to set the bar high, challenge my students, and have them do way more work than is necessary to pass those stupid tests, then so be it! I want my students to discover the joys and challenges of learning. I may have to do a lot of work to make sure most of my students have appropriate coursework, but I think that's way better than watching students bore themselves to tears with dumbed down assignments.
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