This week we had a super engaging conversation with Trevor Mackenzie. There were two points he said that really had an impact on me. He asked us, as teachers, to ask ourselves, “am I doing something for my students that they can do themselves?” This question really struck me. I worked for a year as an EA, and I constantly felt that I was doing the student’s work for them. When I confronted the teacher about my feelings, she said that the work needs to get done. How does that benefit the student?! Not to mention how is that fair to other students when an adult does all the work. I realized that I was not going to enjoy a year of that. So, I worked alongside the student and if an assignment didn’t get finished we handed it in with what was completed. After a few weeks, the teacher was actually able to assess what the student could do rather than what I was able to do. In my practice, I will definitely ask myself, am I doing something for my students that they can do themselves.
The other point that struck me from Trevor’s presentation was that inquiry is not always free inquiry. As a pre-service teacher, we are taught that inquiry based learning is the so beneficial for our learners. And it is difficult for me to separate free inquiry from the broad concept of inquiry. I would hear my instructors promoting inquiry and I couldn’t wrap my head around how it would work in such-and-such a subject — but I jumped to free inquiry. I need to remember there are many forms of inquiry, not just free exploration.
Feature Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash
jaimem March 5, 2021
I also really resonated with what Trevor said about making sure we as the teachers aren’t doing work that the students should be doing themselves. Your experience of being an EA in that situation must have been so frustrating! I am sure standing up to the teacher wouldn’t have been easy, but I think that you made a really good decision.