So, inspired by Alex's attempt at a vague summation, here's my own equally inept and incomplete (no offense, Alex) attempt at some sort of summarization of everything I learned in this class.
1. I don't know anything. All the stuff I thought I knew about teaching I found out is wrong. Then I found out that the stuff I learned about the stuff I knew before was wrong. Then I found out that was wrong, too. I don't think this is a bad thing. Being self-reflective (reflexive) is one of the most important lessons I've taken from the course readings. As long as I'm thinking about what I'm doing and whether it's working and so forth, I can be useful to some extent to my students.
2. I know a lot more than I used to. Reading all these articles and books about teaching must have taught me something, right? But seriously, folks, I'm personally a fan of how Kent State does this, where we don't teach in the first semester. Having a good, solid background in teaching theory (maybe not both good AND solid, but certainly at least one of the two) makes me a lot less nervous about being flung into a classroom (flung is an excellent word and would make a good band name) with 25 doe-eyed recent high school graduates who expect me to know stuff.
3. This blog has annoyed me from time to time, but it sure is nice to have somewhere to vent my creative impulses. I like words.
4. Language is funny. And it's much more funny if we don't try to pigeonhole it (pigeonhole. How could anybody argue that language is funny?). Errors are subjective, grammar police are despicable people (a bit of an exaggeration, but let's fight fire with fire!), and recognizing various dialects is an important part of language. While it's good for us to educate students into an understanding of a somewhat standardized form of English, it's equally important to acknowledge other dialects.
5. Nothing about teaching is ever simple. This doesn't mean it's difficult. It also doesn't mean it's easy. It just means it's not simple. I suppose this is something of a repeat of number 1. Self-reflectiveness and all that.
6. Multimodality is something I'm going to have to reconcile myself with. With which I'm going to have to reconcile myself. I may not like it (see earlier post), but I have to admit it can be fun sometimes (I had a surprisingly good time making that video of my brother and his wife). My focus remains on the language itself, but presentation style is an inescapable part of language production.
7. Portfolios are a better idea than I had at first thought. Than I had thought at first. I like the process emphasis, the lack of finality in earlier drafts, the grading focus on where students are at the end rather than the beginning, and so forth. I'm still working out exactly how to structure my class, but portfolio grading will be part of it.
8. My class isn't about me. It's about my students. And about me. Really, it's in the interplay between us, the differance if you will (and I won't...Derrida gets brought up too much), that meaning will be formed. This means that I'm going to be simultaneously putting my personality and attitudes into the class structure and trying to get the hell out of the way and let the students do the work from time to time. I'm not sure exactly how I'll strike this balance, but I look forward to it.
9. I need to watch my words so as not to accidentally convey myself as a racist. My comment in class drew a good (though not intended) laugh, but it also reminded me that I need to be conscious of what I'm saying and try not to offend anybody. This probably won't be possible.
10. Ache with caring. Like Alex, and several others, I think the Mem Fox piece was one of my favorites. I haven't really taught in this type of setting before, so I'll be interested to see just how much it clicks for me. But I hope I'll be able to put the amount of effort and caring into it that the students deserve. At least the good ones. Well, okay, the bad ones too.
There's what I think.
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