SELECTION PROCESS
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On the first day, our teacher Isabel told us to use our portfolio as a kind of diary for this week. Due to the fact that we were still in the process of figurung out which provider to use and how to design our portfolios, I saved everything in a file on my computer first. Thus, there is a fifteen-page file of notes on my hard drive, taken throughout the first study week, thoughts about what we worked on and topics we discussed. Now that my portfolio is up and running, I am transferring my thoughts onto this platform. While going through my notes, I quickly realized that in my portfolio I would like to narrow down all of these notes and scribbles to the contents that stood out to me, took me by surprise and avticated deeper thoughts. For me, this page is not supposed to be a simple reiteration of what we did during the week because those who were there already know. This page should instead be a reflection of the outcome of the work we did and the ways in which it got me thinking. Therefore, I am sharing selected impressions, pictures and thoughts that stuck with me during this week at Kiel University. I captured my thoughts and reactions in quotes, texts, pictures and gifs – one could call this my digital scrap book and I hope to this way paint a more lively picture of my learning experience during the first study week.
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“I’m a teacher from Venezuela, teaching in English about the German education system in Germany, working with students from China who study in Newcastle and come here to Germany to learn about the German education system.”
Isabel Murillo-Wilstermann |
“An education system
is only as good as its teachers.” UNESCO, 2014 |
During my school time as well as in university, for me a good teacher was and is someone who makes me want to learn. When we told each other about our experiences in school and the teachers that made a difference, it again became clear to me that teachers do in fact shape lives - and that if we have been impacted by some of our teachers, we can be those teachers for some of our students, too
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WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE?
a shared padlet board from all the proPIC students about what needs to change in teacher education |
YAYs
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The sentence “Every teacher has difficulties. Every teacher fails on a daily basis. If you’re not failing on a daily basis, you’re not paying attention.” stuck with me today – I'd like to think about this more deeply. When Isabel shared one of her "failed" teaching experiences with us (one must say that the plan might have failed but it resulted in a successful learning experience for her), it was an inspirarion to see Isabel as a teacher reflecting upon her own lesson together with us, letting us analyze it with her. It became very clear that she actually valued our opinions and views on the subject – this is practicing what you preach! :)
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NAYs
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I am not a fan of all the models we looked at today. In my eyes they are merely labels to put on something that is very individual and shaped by the resources and conditions at a school, I don't see why I need to call it a certain model when I'm probably doing a mix of all of them anyway. Also, I felt that a big part of our conversations in the first part of our day rotated around the same arguments and we reiterated many of the things we already discussed yesterday and I felt my mind drifting away.
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I am a teacher.
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v e r s u s
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I work in a school.
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Being teacher is an identity – you will never stop being a teacher, even if you stop working at a school and do something else. This sentence came up when talking with Alison Whenan about the professional and personal identity of a teacher. I find it really interesting and at the same time, I am not sure if I think that it is true. Part of me wants to jump up, waving my fist in the air and say: YES! But there's another part of me that has always been wondering if there is such a thing as a set identity - don't we always have a choice? |
I know that I have always been struggling with one question when it comes to my future profession: teacher or journalist? Both are deeply intertwined with what I love to do and therefore, in my opinion, also do best and I am constantly asking myself if I have to choose. Maybe I can be both? Now, if we say that being a teacher is an identity, will I cheat on my own identity if I worked in journalism instead? Or is it then simply not my identity? Then again, who has the right to tell my what my identity is? Only me.
But maybe the sentence "being a teacher is an identity" does not have to be interpreted within these rigid lines. I can honestly say that I feel the teacher in my soul because I have always loved it and my heart pounds at the thought of teaching, even when I am writing. Therefore, teaching is definitely part of my identity and I think that it is up to me how to combine it with the other parts of my personality - all of which make me who I am. |
PROBLEM:
CLASS: RESEARCH METHOD: PLAN: ACTION: |
we need a feedback culture at school that isn't restricted to traditional ways of teaching - let's open up our minds and classrooms!
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