Stuck in a Box

Without even realizing it, I had been thinking a lot about Katie’s blog Conservative Teaching. Reading the post really got me thinking about Practicum and teaching in general… I absolutely love being able to go into a classroom four times a week and honestly see what goes on in the world of teaching. However, as Katie had mentioned, this should be the time that we are experimenting with new ideas and taking risks in a safe environment.

The way I look at it, if I’m nervous already, I might as well try something new with the expectation and understanding that I may make mistakes. Working with three other group members, it is more difficult to get creative and compromise. Generally we go with the traditional ideas when teaching something new. The kids seem to enjoy our lessons, and they are successful, but they can become so regular. I am afraid that after another month, they will get bored of what we are doing and tune themselves out of the classroom.

So frequently, we fall into traps of doing things because they are common practice. We know these lessons, warm ups, songs, staged shows, etc. will be successful. This is mostly the case because several thriving teachers have used them in past years. Why do we allow ourselves to fit into molds that have already been created, instead of breaking out and executing our own ideas? Where are the experiments within lessons? Are we essentially being lazy by using other people’s ideas?