Searching For Meaning

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Searching For Meaning

• Grace Eason
• AETS NE Regional
• University of Maine at Farmington

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Maine Mathematics and Science Teaching Excellence
Collaborative (MMSTEC)Partners

• University of Maine
• System
• Farmington
• Univ. of Southern
• Maine
• Univ. of Maine

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A Sense of Community
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Science and Math Cross Tier Teaching Teams

• Regional Group
• University Faculty
• Regional Teachers
• Pre-service Teachers

• Year 1 2 Research On How Students Learn Science
  and Math
• Year 3 4 Research Based Pedagogy in Science and
  Math
• Year 5 Assessment and Action Research in
  Classrooms

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Sustaining CommunityYear 6

• The question we most commonly ask is the what
  questionwhat subjects shall we teach?
• When the conversation goes a bit deeper, we ask
  the how questionwhat methods and techniques
  are required to teach well?
• Occasionally, when it goes deeper still, we ask
  the why questionfor what purpose and to what
  ends do we teach?
• Palmer, 1998

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The Who Question

• But, seldom, if ever, do we ask the who
  questionwho is the self that teaches? How does
  the quality of my selfhood formor deformthe way
  I relate to my students, my subject, my
  colleagues, my world? How can educational
  institutions sustain and deepen the selfhood from
  which good teaching comes?
• Palmer, 1998

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What if?

• We create the space to ask real questions
• What does teaching truly mean to this person?
• What processes does this person go through when
  designing a course?
• How do they envision student success in their
  courses?
• What challenges do they face when they teach?
• We observe each other?

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TRUST

• How do we begin?

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Teaching as Technique

• The Heart of A Teacher by Parker Palmer
• Good teaching cannot be reduced to technique
  good teaching comes from the identity and
  integrity of a teacher.

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Finding Meaning

• If we want to grow in our practice, we have two
  primary places to go to the inner ground from
  which good teaching comes and to the community of
  fellow teachers from whom we can learn more about
  ourselves and our craft.
• Our tendency to reduce teaching to questions of
  technique is one reason we lack collegial
  conversation of much duration or depth.
• Palmer, 1998

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Feedback

• I just wanted to let you know that I felt last
  nights focus on
• "the Heart of a Teacher" was really timely. With
  standards
• being driven down our throats via "factual,
  testable, junk!"
• looking at what being a really good teacher is
  was a nice
• reflection. I would love to read his book and
  discuss with the
• group and reflect on my own about the info. I am
  at a point
• where I'm wondering how much longer do I want to
  teach in
• this environment that the NCLB is creating. I'm
  not
• sure.....regardlessThanks for bringing this to us
  and I look
• forward to delving deeper into it!

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Feedback

• First of all I thought last nights meeting was
  very stimulating
• This is just one (okay make that two) thought(s)
  I had as a question(s) to throw out and see if
  people have ideas about (first one triggered by
  the James Baldwin story)
• How do we encourage students to be independent
  learners and to have the courage to try new ideas
  and maybe fail (and understand that that is a
  good thing) while trying to keep assessment
  fair? Has anyone tried anything that has either
  worked (or failed)? How important is to keep
  assessments fair? My sense is that most college
  students feel that this is an unwritten law that
  all teachers must follow.

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Vocational Vitality

• Potent teaching, that is teaching that energizes
  and inspires students, eludes easy
  characterization.
• A teachers capacity to teach well is
  irretrieveably linked to a set of ineffable, hard
  to codify qualities describing the degree to
  which a teacher is present and vital in enacting
  their role as teacher.
• Intrator Kunzman (2004)

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References

• Palmer, P. (1998). The courage to teach. San
  Francisco, CA Jossey Bass Inc.
• Intrator, S.M. Kunzman, R. 2004. Fully There,
  Tuned In, and Leaning Into the Wind Professional
  Development that Attends to the Teacher.