Testing Teachers

[Joseph41]

Is anybody watching this at the moment?

I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend it.

[Aaron]

Is anybody watching this at the moment?

I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend it.

I am drowning in an essay at the moment - but I do intend on watching it on catch up later tonight or tomorrow. I watched the promo for it and it looks really good (*inner teacher nerd speaking here*)

I am glad that those who are not teachers start to understand the demands of the job. Even if the schools are 'some of the worst', many of the challenges are reflected throughout every type of school. A lot of comments about the teaching profession are misinformed.

[www]

Crap, forgot it started today. Will probably get around to it sometime next week (linguistics assignment due this Sunday, fun).

Professional placements happen in less than a month and it could probably give me a couple of things to keep in mind.

[Coffee]

Absolutely! I love these sort of documentaries.

I'd highly recommend Excluded: Kicked out of School and Tough Young Teachers as well.

[Joseph41]

So for context, this was a show (I think a three-part series?) that premiered last night on SBS.

It follows a number of new teachers who are part of Teach For Australia. I recommend reading up on the program if you're interested; it's been in the back of my mind for a good five years haha). They're placed in some underrepresented schools across Australia. The episode last night provided some fantastic insights.

I don't know much about technology, but I think you can find the episodes on SBS on Demand (or something similar - somebody please confirm or deny haha).

[Calebark]

So for context, this was a show (I think a three-part series?) that premiered last night on SBS.

It follows a number of new teachers who are part of Teach For Australia. I recommend reading up on the program if you're interested; it's been in the back of my mind for a good five years haha). They're placed in some underrepresented schools across Australia. The episode last night provided some fantastic insights.

I don't know much about technology, but I think you can find the episodes on SBS on Demand (or something similar - somebody please confirm or deny haha).

Haven't seen the show myself, but I can attest to the quality of Teach for Australia; all my best teachers are from that program.

[Joseph41]

Haven't seen the show myself, but I can attest to the quality of Teach for Australia; all my best teachers are from that program.

Really interesting feedback! What are the biggest differences you notice?

[Calebark]

Really interesting feedback! What are the biggest differences you notice?

Ahh, good question. Probably:

-They're more patient with their classes' sometimes unruly behaviour. Rather than just yelling, they all find other methods of regaining control. I'd guess they expected to have a lot of students like this in underrepresented schools, whereas fresh teachers may expect something more when they start.
-Their teaching styles tend to be variable and adjust to the feel of the class. So, they might recognise that on last period on a Friday, the class is pretty lazy, so they might put questions up on the board and have the class go through them in stages, so we're constantly doing something rather than being left to our own devices.
-They have different methods of teaching, Rather than read-off-the-board-then-rinse-then-repeat, the structure is fluid; sometimes just doing questions, sometimes class discussions on topics, sometimes demonstrations, sometimes pracs, sometimes blahbalhblah (the list goes on).
-They're always happy to teach non-VCE topics after class. This is pretty self-evident - encouraging learning and curiosity is fantastic.

I actually cannot be sure if this is due to Teach for Australia itself, or just that they happen to enlist really great people.

I should also note that these teachers can also give advice and experiences on, say, using Chemistry or Physics in their old jobs (given that teaching is obviously not their first career), which can help shape a student's planned pathway.

[Joseph41]

Ahh, good question. Probably:

-They're more patient with their classes' sometimes unruly behaviour. Rather than just yelling, they all find other methods of regaining control. I'd guess they expected to have a lot of students like this in underrepresented schools, whereas fresh teachers may expect something more when they start.
-Their teaching styles tend to be variable and adjust to the feel of the class. So, they might recognise that on last period on a Friday, the class is pretty lazy, so they might put questions up on the board and have the class go through them in stages, so we're constantly doing something rather than being left to our own devices.
-They have different methods of teaching, Rather than read-off-the-board-then-rinse-then-repeat, the structure is fluid; sometimes just doing questions, sometimes class discussions on topics, sometimes demonstrations, sometimes pracs, sometimes blahbalhblah (the list goes on).
-They're always happy to teach non-VCE topics after class. This is pretty self-evident - encouraging learning and curiosity is fantastic.

I actually cannot be sure if this is due to Teach for Australia itself, or just that they happen to enlist really great people.

I should also note that these teachers can also give advice and experiences on, say, using Chemistry or Physics in their old jobs (given that teaching is obviously not their first career), which can help shape a student's planned pathway.

Great insights, Calebark! How many of your teachers are involved with the program?

[Calebark]

Great insights, Calebark! How many of your teachers are involved with the program?

I've had three involved -- one from my old school (Bellarine Secondary. If you've seen any articles about the school, you'll see that they really need good people like him), one from Yr 11 (she's now doing her Master's at King's College + teaching in England), and my Physics teacher (I finished his subject last year).

All great people

[Aaron]

I watched it on SBS Catch Up (it was right on the frontpage of the SBS site). You have to create an account to watch their on demand content but it's quick.

A lot of that resonated with me to be honest - the difficulty to control classroom behaviour being the biggest one. I have not had a placement in a regional or remote area of Australia so I cannot really claim that I know what it's like out there... but like I said in my previous post, A LOT of elements from that in particular are common across all schools. Behaviour/classroom management is something that is not specifically taught in my course (don't know if it is in any other course either), and the reason they gave was the fact that every class and student is different so the approaches will be class or student specific (e.g. one approach will not work for everyone).. which is fair enough, but it doesn't really help me 6 weeks out from completing my Masters haha.

I really like the fact that they spend an extended period of time in schools, teaching on their own with a dedicated consultant. This is how teaching courses should be. Majority of the content learnt in an Education course these days is quite outdated and does not reflect the current school situation. I know last year when I was in the first year of my MTeach, there were resources that were being used from 3-4 years ago. I really got a lot out of my four placements and learnt probably 90-95% of what I know today through them, and not much from my actual theory course. My placements only go for three weeks at a time with pretty much zero support from the university, so to go into a brand new school and try to get to know students and build that trust so they actually listen to you is very difficult to achieve.

It gave a very good insight - something those who usually comment on teacher-related media or politics do not fully grasp. For most, the only perception they have is from when they were a student in a single school, which does not reveal the full picture.

[Joseph41]

This is on rn.

Again, highly recommend.

EDIT: It just made me cry in the first five minutes lol.

[www]

Watching episode two on the SBS demand service (I once again forgot it airs on Wednesdays).

Five minutes in and I started to physically sweat and tense up. The roles teachers play outside the classroom - outside of teaching content - is so unpredictable and broad. Even reflecting on the teachers I had, they did way more than just teach their subject. I mean it's not like I didn't consider it before, I guess just seeing something this real and extreme brought it to the forefront.

This series is emotionally draining. It's probably the same feeling I'm going to have when I really get into teaching on placements. Finishing off the rest of the episode now!

[Joseph41]

A great finish to the series last night.

Has Testing Teachers influenced anybody's career aspirations one way or another?

[Coffee]

A great finish to the series last night.

Has Testing Teachers influenced anybody's career aspirations one way or another?

Sad its over.

As far as aspirations go, I'm still toying with the idea of being a teacher, and have been since Year 10. The only thing I realised is that if I do go down that path, I think I'd like to work in Indigenous communities as opposed to the city.