As random as we all were in our "drawings" for 603, I think we all did say something about where we are in trying to define ourselves as teachers. Everyone's metaphor and approach was different, from a mountain of Knowledge to a Creative lake to . . . a goat. Mine was simple: I as the teacher had a collection of flowers from many different "gardens" of pedagogical theories.
I felt a little bit noncommittal about my pedagogy. I did leave some theories out of my drawing because I don't think I agree with them very much, but for the most part I feel that I agree with far too much of what we've read in 603, 620, and 621. Perhaps I'm practicing too much of a rhetoric of assent; I feel so easily persuaded by all of the theorists I read. As I'm listening to Elbow's arguments, I nod enthusiastically. But when I read Nancy Sommers, I believe what she says. And then I say, "that's right, Bartholomae, good observation!" It's not that I can't be a critical reader in other genres, analyzing and evaluating arguments, but I guess I've been teaching for such a short time that it's hard for me to discern helpful and not-so-helpful theories of teaching writing. Also, some of them seem so abstract that it's hard to tell if I agree with them or not: what would that theory look like practically--played out in the classroom? Maybe I would decide an idea was worthless if I saw its practical application. Or perhaps I am unconsciously enacting theories with which I think I disagree.
For now, then, I'll just keep teaching. Of course I'll continue to reflect along the way about different theorists can contribute to my teaching, but I don't see a need to be overly anxious about who I am as a teacher. There's plenty of time for that later.
free birds: Perchy and Kiwi
1 comment:
Hannah, your post reminded me of something I've been thinking about lately. I am not sure any one pedagogy can work well for all students, since every person is inherently different and unique. Perhaps the best approach is a "garbage can" model in which a garbage can contains many pedagogies as well as many pedagogical problems. Some approaches fit certain problems better than others, and we as teachers sort through the mess to match approaches to problems or problems to approaches. If this idea has any merit whatsoever, you're actually on the right track by picking and choosing what pedagogies you think work best in particular situations. In fact, I think a lot of teachers, myself included, use a "garbage can" model unconsciously.
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