Blog Post 2- Kumar Chapter 1

Lauren Watters

Kumar- Chapter 1

September 3, 2012

Blog Post 2

“Teaching is both an art and a science.” (Kumar 5) Teaching is an art because teachers have to use the materials they are given and their creativity in order to teach their students without having them falling asleep in class due to boredom. It is also scientific because it needs to be carried out in a certain fashion. For example, I know that most southern state middle schools and high schools have a strict curriculum that has to be followed by all teachers. However, the Midwest may be more flexible with how the teachers go about their lessons and what books they use in the classroom. I am hoping that when I become a teacher in a high school classroom that I can have some flexibility with what novels I am allowed to teach in the classroom. I feel that students become bored with constantly learning about Romeo and Juliet in their freshman English classes and beyond. I understand some novels are classics and need to be taught in the classroom but I believe that throwing in a new novel, like The Hunger Games, could keep students interested in reading. Kumar says, “Teaching lacks a unified or commonly shared set of rules.” Teachers may think this statement is true because not all teachers believe in the same teaching methods. Some think that lecturing is the best idea for their students while others believe hands-on activities will help motivate their students.

I love that Kumar includes the difference between a job, vocation, work, career, occupation and profession. When someone tells me they have a job, I think of something that is maybe part-time or is not in the field that they want to be in. They are just working there to make ends meet and pay bills, but it is not actually something they want to do with the rest of their life. For example, I work at Outback Steakhouse as a server but that is my job, not a career. A vocation is what I will have after I graduate and get a teaching job with my college education. I am not going to be a teacher for the salary, but it will give me personal satisfaction to be able to teach my students and mold their minds while they are in high school. I always thought I would call my future teacher job a career, but a career has no personal fulfillment and I plan on feeling fulfilled when I am a teacher. If you don’t like what your profession is, working there would be a complete bore. I want to be a teacher because I want to help my students learn in a way they haven’t before.

The role of the teacher is so important because teachers have more than one job; they have been referred to as an artist, architect, scientist, psychologist, manager, mentor, controller, counselor, etc. (Kumar 7) Teachers have to work together with co-workers as well as administrators to help their students receive the best education possible. Teachers have been put under three categories: teachers as passive technicians, teachers as reflective practicioners, and teachers as transformative intellectuals. Are teachers all of these things or can an individual teacher only fall under one category? Which of these theories makes the most sense? The technician method is known as traditional and safe in many parts of the world. The practitioner method wants teachers to be routine with their students so they can reflect on their actions before, during and after learning. There are five roles that are involved with this method that says that teachers have to overall take responsibility for their professional development. I like this method because I think it is necessary to reflect on what is being taught and what students have learned from what you are teaching them. Teachers also need to be professional and take responsibility for their actions because only they can help further themselves as an educator. The last theory ties in with critical pedagogy. I enjoyed reading about this theory as well because the summary of what transformative intellectuals are makes more sense in this way. These theories are constantly changing over time and seem to continue to overlap each other so it may be hard to distinguish which theory is which in the future.