Questions for "Teaching" for Friday

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Assigned by Tamara Fish for our first class on Friday:
  1. Who are you as a teacher? Or are you a teacher at all? I'm still a novice teacher, one who has the experience of management, but concerned about the efficacy of instruction and student-centered learning.
  2. Do you think of yourself as a teacher, or is this a new concept for you? I'm a teacher; have been for a while.
  3. Do you want to be a teacher? If so, what kind of teacher do you want to be? Why? If not, why not? I want not only to be a teacher, but to be an effective, great teacher, if only to strengthen the learner's experience.
  4. Where do your images of teachers come from? Plummer, Nibley, Packer, Connery in "Finding Forrester."
  5. What do you think of when you think "teacher?" Especially with adults, a sharer of knowledge, skills and strategies, a fellow traveler with previous experience.
  6. What teachers have influenced you, negatively or positively? Positively -- college Shakespeare instructor(s) -- thorough, excited; high school chemistry -- personal, real. Negatively -- high school English teacher -- domineering, monolithic, controlling; college Restoration instructor -- amazingly boring, killed the subject.
  7. If you could be any teacher in fiction or the movies, who would it be, how, and why? None.
  8. What metaphors describe the teacher you are now? Mucklehorse. The teacher you want to be? ___
  9. Which of your personal experiences may help you to be a better teacher? Being an inquisitive student. Being a withdrawn student.
  10. Which personal experiences may prevent you from being the best teacher you could be? All the injuries that have crippled my psyche and spirit.
  11. How important is it to you to be a good teacher? Will you content to be adequate? Important yes, adequate, in survival mode. 
  12. What does a good teacher do? Not do? Does -- prepare, plan, engage, manage, contact, support, listen, reflect. Does not -- command, restrict, delineate one correct way/answer, brush off
  13. What does a good composition teacher do? Is this different from what a good writing teacher does? I don't know the difference, but a good ___ teacher will model, review, and demonstrate successful and unsuccessful examples.
  14. What do you believe about the way language is learned? What do you think you know for sure? Language is learned by environment, real or distant. It is assimilated and cultivated.
  15. What are your greatest fears about being a teacher? Cohort approval.
  16. What personal qualities will make you a strong, effective teacher? What qualities may hinder your effectiveness or make you week? Some strengths in organization, knowing tech and understanding how it can help the Gen Y; ability to listen and be empathetic, which maintaining course values. Qualities that may hinder include being too sympathetic to some plights.
  17. When in your life have you felt like a teacher? Was it a positive or a negative feeling? [null]
  18. Reflecting on your experiences of teaching this past week, how have they confirmed or alleviated your fears and concerns about teacher? [null]
  19. What experiences in teaching so far caused you to recall moments in your own education? How did that feel?

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