Always enjoy reading your posts, particularly for the push they provide to keep challenging ourselves as English teachers to go further, and imagine further!
I do think that the stubbornness we see from those who do not want to change (*raises hand* at times, too!) comes from a lack of confidence in how they see themselves in that "changed capacity" of the English classroom.
To offer a personal example, while I brought poetry into my classroom from Year 1 onward as a teacher, I never felt comfortable with it and therefore limited our exploration of it pretty considerably—until 2020 hit, schools closed, and for those initial months I had time to take a MOOC (those things can work!) on Modern and Post-Modern American Poetry, literally watching the professor facilitate small-group conversations on every single poem with this class on video. 20+ hours of my own learning later, I felt reborn as a teacher of poetry—and there has been TONS of poetry in our classroom ever since.
My point in sharing that example: we need to create more "onboarding" experiences for teachers to situate themselves as learners, I think, and to experience what it is like to immerse different media/technologies into the classroom to make the most of their affordances (love that term) without also falling prey to their constraints.
And I always appreciate your thoughtful replies! I 100% agree with your assessment. It makes total sense that that teachers might not be comfortable teaching differently if they've never been given a chance to learn differently. Educators need more opportunities to immerse (love your use of that word) themselves in ecologies of learning that further develop their understanding of content, pedagogy, and technology. I've have similar formative experiences with MOOCs, courses, professional learning, etc. that massively shifted what I thought was possible in the classroom. It was also a key recommendation from my dissertation and something I hope to advocate for in my future research and writing.
That said, I've yet to have an experience like you describe with poetry. I need to check out that MOOC you mentioned. Between that and Brett's "Poetry Pauses," maybe next year will be the year I finally step up my poetry game. To your broader point, it's vital that teachers try to hold onto the curiosity and passion for learning that brought them into the field. Easier said than done, but a necessary ingredient for a fulfilling career. This quote from Maxine Greene is actually the opening section of my Substack About page.
“A teacher in search of his/her own freedom may be the only kind of teacher who can arouse young persons to go in search of their own.”
Always enjoy reading your posts, particularly for the push they provide to keep challenging ourselves as English teachers to go further, and imagine further!
I do think that the stubbornness we see from those who do not want to change (*raises hand* at times, too!) comes from a lack of confidence in how they see themselves in that "changed capacity" of the English classroom.
To offer a personal example, while I brought poetry into my classroom from Year 1 onward as a teacher, I never felt comfortable with it and therefore limited our exploration of it pretty considerably—until 2020 hit, schools closed, and for those initial months I had time to take a MOOC (those things can work!) on Modern and Post-Modern American Poetry, literally watching the professor facilitate small-group conversations on every single poem with this class on video. 20+ hours of my own learning later, I felt reborn as a teacher of poetry—and there has been TONS of poetry in our classroom ever since.
My point in sharing that example: we need to create more "onboarding" experiences for teachers to situate themselves as learners, I think, and to experience what it is like to immerse different media/technologies into the classroom to make the most of their affordances (love that term) without also falling prey to their constraints.
And I always appreciate your thoughtful replies! I 100% agree with your assessment. It makes total sense that that teachers might not be comfortable teaching differently if they've never been given a chance to learn differently. Educators need more opportunities to immerse (love your use of that word) themselves in ecologies of learning that further develop their understanding of content, pedagogy, and technology. I've have similar formative experiences with MOOCs, courses, professional learning, etc. that massively shifted what I thought was possible in the classroom. It was also a key recommendation from my dissertation and something I hope to advocate for in my future research and writing.
That said, I've yet to have an experience like you describe with poetry. I need to check out that MOOC you mentioned. Between that and Brett's "Poetry Pauses," maybe next year will be the year I finally step up my poetry game. To your broader point, it's vital that teachers try to hold onto the curiosity and passion for learning that brought them into the field. Easier said than done, but a necessary ingredient for a fulfilling career. This quote from Maxine Greene is actually the opening section of my Substack About page.
“A teacher in search of his/her own freedom may be the only kind of teacher who can arouse young persons to go in search of their own.”