Excitement about teaching

Today in my pre-internship class we hosted two students who had just completed their semester-long internship. They were invited to the class to talk about their own experiences as pre-interns and as interns and to allow today's pre-interns ask questions.

It was a pleasure to see these two women who were so clearly excited about what they had experienced and what they were looking forward to as new teachers.

In these days of deconstruction where we seem to extend ourselves in looking at what is wrong with our institutions and our society it was refreshing to watch and listen to Kam and Andrea.

They both said that this had confirmed their ambitions - they felt they were teachers and although there was always a lot to learn they were looking forward to the challenges.

There are many things wrong with school. We systemically disadvantage certain groups of people both within school and society. Sometimes we do it knowingly and other times we don't realize what we are doing. School needs to be fixed. It needs to become a more equitable place. It needs to be safe for all students and teachers. It needs to be an agent for good in our society.

These are all hard things to accomplish. We are bound up in traditions and beliefs that constrain most of us from seeing what is wrong and how to fix it.

But I have hope when I witness the enthusiasm and excitement of my students.

They will change the system by being great teachers, loving their jobs and their students and working hard throughout their careers.

Now its our jobs as teacher educators to work with them towards that excitement, enthusiasm, competence and change

Financial Literacy

I spent most of the day today preparing for a presentation I will make at the (E)Merging Conference for our pre-interns on Monday.

This conference takes up the first two days of the winter semester and is for the benefit of the pre-interns in all of our programs.

One one hand this conference is a pain - the pre-internship semester in the secondary program is already pretty chopped up (OCRE/PLACE, field experiences, WESTCast, etc.) and this conference takes another bite out of the semester. I only meet with my students 10 times over the semester for each course!

On the other hand many of the presentations are valuable, it is important for students to become acquainted with students in other programs and with people from the different school boards, the STF and others.

My presentation is on Financial Literacy and Student Investment Clubs.

I wish I knew then what I know now - financial security is so easy to achieve - especially if you start young. Its easy - spend less than you take in, stay away from poor debt decisions and pay yourself first.

My presentation will outline the problems we face in terms of debt and bankruptcies. I'll talk about the opportunities teachers have to create their own financial independence - the magic of compound interest, etc. I'll refer them to the book called The Millionaire Next Door.

And finally I will describe the Student Investment Club instructional strategy I have developed with my colleague Teresa Yohon.

I am curious to see who will show up to this session and what kinds of questions they will ask.

Pre-interns, schools, tomorrow and reasons

Last Wednesday was the first day of my students' pre-internship experience. As part of their semester's work they spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week and all of this week in a high school attached to a Business Education department. Next week is our midterm break. They will come back to classes for a few weeks and then they will return to these schools for two full weeks.

This experience is integrated with the courses they are taking this semester and is intended to prepare them for their full semester of student teaching which for most of them will happen next fall.

They are placed with a cooperating teacher and I regularly go to the schools to visit and see how they are doing with this first experience.

Today I went to two schools and saw 4 of the pre-interns.

There is something invigorating for me when I enter a school. In most cases I feel the optimism in the place. I can sense 'future.' These are places where adults work with the young to prepare them for tomorrow. No matter what that tomorrow is, in our society, tomorrow begins with today in a school.

The pre-interns often see schools as large, confusing institutions, filled with bodies, long hallways, classrooms and other 'stuff.' And in some ways all of this is scary - who are all these people? which ones are teachers? caretakers? principals? secretaries? parents? students? What if I go into the wrong classroom? What if I sit on the wrong chair in the staffroom? What if I use the wrong coffee cup?

And this is in spite of their own experiences as students in just such an institution.

But it is explainable - they are here in a new role - they are about to be teachers - they will be judged - by the students, by their cooperating teachers, by themselves and by me. They are like anyone else in a new, confusing circumstance - some fit in immediately and others have to take their time.

But I also think that they recognize the responsibilities they are about to assume - and that is scary.

I think they recognize they are dealing with 'tomorrow' - a tomorrow that is shifting and changing - a tomorrow that is unknown in some ways.

And probably more importantly they recognize the responsibility they have to individual students. They just aren't doing a job that may or may not work out. They are dealing with human beings, tomorrow's adults, individuals - some of whom live lives that my students can barely imagine.

I recognize these responsibilities, I recognize the tomorrows we deal with in schools - and that reminds me of what my job is about.

Somehow, in the things that I do, I have to make a difference for teachers who are dealing with their students' tomorrows

I am going to visit my other pre-interns tomorrow. That means I will be in more schools. I am looking forward to tomorrow