Professional Development Response #6b: Post Pre-Internship Question Reflections

I feel that going into pre-internship I had a fairly good idea of what to expect, with that said I still was blown away by some aspects of teaching. I also learned some things that I didn’t expect and could not have foreseen.

1. What, do you think, are the main purposes of (reasons for) field experience (i.e. pre-internship practicum, internship, etc.)?

Initially my answer was mainly about applying skills we have learned and and seeing how programs are run. I feel this is still partially true, however, there are still multiple other reasons for the field experiences. Some of which include determining if teaching really is a career we want to do. We don’t really see or understand what the real world school is like from our university classrooms. In fact until about third year I feel that most education students have a very naive view of what the education system is and how it is run.

2. What role does (or, should) a university teacher education program play in the process of becoming a teacher?

The role of the education program is to give us skills necessary for planning, teaching, and relationship buildings. However, it is also their responsibility to prepare perspective teachers for the real world of teaching. I may have left this last part out in my others answer because I had not yet experienced it through the real world experience of pre-internship or internship yet.

3. What do you already know now about being a mathematics teacher that is unlikely to change through your upcoming field experiences (i.e. fundamental beliefs, values, commitments, etc.)?

I would say that this question has changed the most. While my original answer is a big part of what being a math teacher is about. I have also come to realize that not everyone values school the same. Really, some people don’t particularly care about school. A math teaches role is to meet the needs of all students within the mathematics  classes supplied by the government. We must challenge the students who want to do well and push themselves and also motivate the students who don’t value school the same enough to graduate.