179
E8θ
I remember two things, one was that I felt
verylost in knowing what I was doing so that
you had a class that operated towards a
certain teacher and you didn’t really under-
stand how they worked in themselves so you
weren’t understanding how the class was going
to react to you asking them to go into groups
or something like that and Ijust remember
feeling I wasn’t quite certain whether I
was the kid or the teacher. In that role
it was definitely floating between - because
you had to do things that were teacher-like
and yet you were also learning so much watching
the class and watching other teachers and
you were uncertain about that power stuff.
But I also remember that later on I found
that people who I hadn’t thought had been
watching were watching me
very very closely
of space
then not
in which
to
mistakes
and
saying - they wouldn’t come down
hard on me
whereas at the moment if I make
a mistake
people
down quite hard on
me
- even when
supposed to be
being
trained (probationary year induction). Then
they would just give you all the freedom
that you wanted when it became apparent that
you needed help in just shaping your classroom
control, your methodology they gave it and
it was great because you had the confidence
of knowing a class better and knowing the
teacher better and knowing what resources
you could use and you could then begin to
build a way of teaching round it.
Here E8θ shows the uncertainties that underlie what the student does.
Too frequently the complexities that he alludes to are apparently
simplified by focussing on limited elements of the situation - all
too often control which may have unproductive consequences. The
learner-teacher role as E8θ experienced it was continually demanding
and responsive to the total teaching and learning situation and more-
this stance has continued into his probationary year in a school
where conditions are quite different is shown in the next extract.
over was one that enabled hiι
Il
to be reflective about his work.
That