| Summary: | A teacher may say, "I have twenty years of experience,"
but just what does it mean? This study suggests explanations
for the meaning of "Experience," not by looking at the number
of years in a classroom, but at what teachers did in those
years that could make the teaching experience equivalent to
years of personal growth and development.
Three Middle Level Science teachers' experiences were
observed over two separate units of instruction. Teachers
were engaged in conversations before, during and after every
observation, such that their talk gave meaning to teaching.
The teachers, early in their units, experienced tensions
(stresses and anxieties) that affected their planning and
implementation of teaching. The study determined that the
teachers' learning experiences and personal growth were
directly related to how they met the challenge of tensions.
One teacher with very little science knowledge met the
challenge of tensions in teaching by integrating her new
science knowledge with her English and History knowledge and
repertoire. She developed new practices that increased her
energy and confidence in such a way that became self-sustaining
experiences and growth.
Two other teachers, despite science backgrounds, were
less successful in meeting the challenge of tensions in
teaching. Each found that the contents of the selected units
required study and preparation, yet the teachers acquired
information rather than truly learning the new subject
matter. These teachers, in meeting the tensions of teaching,
felt their energies wane, which reduced their dedication and
effectiveness. As a result, neither teacher experienced
personal growth. The negative experiences resulted in each
teacher becoming more entrenched in a lecture mode of
teaching to escape the tensions that existed.
Learning new subject matter can produce tensions
leading to experiences which affect teaching and potential
for teacher growth. Incremental amounts of growth are
possible, but only if a teacher responds positively to and
meets the challenge of tensions in teaching, minute by
minute, class by class. === Graduation date: 2003
|
|---|
