Teaching Poetics:
Method for Reflection
The Significance of Perspective
Teachers talk about teaching. Alot. In fact, one tell-tale sign of a career teacher can be found in her intellectual curiosity about and interest in debating and grappling with a wide variety of topics related to teaching and learning. Hence, teachers' perspective about about what makes teaching effective and personally fulfilling is important. When pre-service and novice teachers are inducted into the profession, their perspective is different, yet equally significant and worth paying attention to.
Recently, I attempted to capture McNeese State University pre-service teachers' perspectives about teaching as they continued their preparation mid-way through the first semester of a year-long residency. I asked them to identify their "highs" and "lows," first from their own perspective, then from their cooperating teachers' perspective, and lastly from the perspective of the students they taught. The results of this reflection activity culminated in a co-constructed piece of poetry. Read on to find out more on the power of perspective. But first....
Watch the short video below and listen carefully about how our perspectives are shaped by the spaces we inhabit.
What are the "highs" and "lows" of your teaching?
Self...
Cooperating Teachers...
Students...
Meaning-Making Through Metaphor
Shaped by Wind
My mind says STOP…
But my roots are strong.
Precision by design
One stroke can build relationships.
Another, respect and
Another, academics.
Bridges
Water is my classroom full of students and
The bridge is the lesson I’ve prepared.
Making it to the other side of the bridge is a
Successful lesson.
Intersection
I can’t assume that
All my students are the same.
They all work together until the whole picture is done and
It is beautiful.
Gardening
It takes hard work to
become great,
But you know what to do.
So get back to work.
Hiking
Teaching is like a hike through the mountains
Worth every part of the journey.
Co-Constructing Poetry
Many of us may not see ourselves as poets or poetic. That was true for my students. Some said, "If you would've told me that I had to write poetry at the beginning I couldn't have done it." Nevertheless, each student was able to experience poetic reflection, something I like to think is similar to what Wendell Berry calls us to in his poem, "How To Be A Poet." Listen to and enjoy his reading below.
Mimi Wallace, Ph.D.
McNeese State University
Burton College of Education
Department of Education Professions
Farrar Hall, 217
Box 91815
Lake Charles, LA 70609
Email: mwallace@mcneese.edu
Website: onbeingteacher.wordpress.com
Phone: 337-475-5965
Twitter: @mimiwalla