Next Semester in Days of My Destiny

While I wait for my neighbour to show up so we can go for a walk together, I am reading up on the Four Resources Model. This is what we will be focusing on in one of my uni subjects next semester, and I’m reading up on it already because I don’t want to lose my study mojo!! (I’m doing 2 subjects next semester.)

I’m really REALLY looking forward to learning how to teach young children to read and use a variety of texts. I am passionate about reading! It’s one of the things I miss from last year’s students, i.e., being able to read to them! This year I am in an Intensive Interaction class, so there’s not much reading going on. It’s more about BEING. Being with the student and following their lead so they can learn that being with another person is enjoyable. In Intensive Interaction (II), people learn what most of us learned in our first six months of life. They are things that come naturally to us and we don’t even remember learning it.
I really enjoy II, but I do miss reading. I think I’m naturally good at making kids excited about sharing a book together and I can’t wait to be able to extend on this skill as a teacher.

It’s a funny experience, really. Being a teacher aide definitely has its place and its value, however I just want something more. I need to know the theories and reasons WHY things are done. I WANT to be able to communicate with parents about their child. I know that all of this sounds naive, but I am not. I do see the challenges of communicating with parents and I do see how tired teachers look, and I do know it’s because of their ever-increasing workload.
It’s still something I want to do. I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was a child. I feel that if I never try, then I will never know.

I also tire of the general attitude and culture you find within the teacher aide circle, at least where I work, anyway. There’s far too much bitching and whinging and whining going on, about anything and everything. I get so over it. I know that bitching can also exist in the teacher circles, but in general, what I see is that teachers just put their heads down and get the work done. From where I stand, it seems that teachers focus on strategies and solutions, rather than the problems and complaining. It seems that the majority of teacher aides complain a lot and the ones that don’t are in the minority, and the reverse seems to be true for teachers. I might be wrong…

The teacher I’m working with this year is good. She knows I’m studying to be a teacher so she takes the time to really explain things to me, and also gives me opportunities to have a go! This is scary and I get nervous EVERY TIME, but I really really appreciate it. I hope it means that by the time my first prac rolls around next semester, then I’ll be used to having a go! Lol.

These are things I’ve learned from the teachers I’ve worked for so far....

Ryan taught me to be fair and consistent.

Through modelling the opposite, Pam taught me that as a teacher, it is important to value the people you work with, even by saying a simple hello. (She was horrible.)

Seon taught me that if you heart isn’t in it, you really should just get out. (She was so uninterested in the kids and spent ALL her time telling them off and yelling at them, but yet at sector meetings she’d talk and talk and sound legitimate. That was frustrating and sad. I hurt for the kids.)

There was another teacher who was there temporarily last year, and she taught me much the same thing as Seon. Although she didn’t yell at the kids, ever, I could see she was uninterested, for whatever reason.

Then there was another temporary teacher that came after that first one, her name was Sue. Sue had many, many years’ experience. She’d worked at the school before and although I’d heard terrible things about her, I never once saw anything that made me think badly of her. She taught me to have high expectations of ALL the students. (I knew this already, but it was a relief to see this attitude from her after the previous temporary teacher.)

This year, Laurene is teaching me to be unafraid to make decisions, and to match those with the students’ best interests at heart. This may go against what you’ve planned, many times (especially in Special Education) but it doesn’t matter. Be unafraid.

I’ve also learned wonderful things from relief teachers. Three stand out: Bec, Cheryl and Mrs Brown (I forget her first name!!). These three amazing women are all gentle in their own way with the students, and SO full of love. They epitomise the kind of teacher I want to be.

From Ben, the II expert in the school, I have learned to be patient with the students. In order to not take behaviours personally, you really need to understand the reasoning behind them. This is especially true in II.

There are things I’ve learned from teacher aides, too:

Sarah P has taught me how to explicitly teach students when it comes to teaching safety, respect and independence.

Marcie’s enthusiasm is infectious. She has taught me that enthusiasm really is the key to a positive learning environment.

Most of these things I already knew in some way, but to see them in action really confirms them.