Teach for Australia Associates' Blog

2010-01-05T22:52:00.000-08:00

Peter Lewis from our DSP subject areas shared this with us today,

Awesome:

an excerpt from 'The Prophet' by Kahlil Gibran =)

2009-12-05T20:33:00.000-08:00

Teaching XVIII
Then said a teacher, "Speak to us of Teaching."

And he said:
No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of our knowledge.

The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.

If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.

The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding.
The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.
And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct you thither.

For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.
And even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and in his understanding of the earth.

The Canberra Times ..

2009-11-27T16:32:00.001-08:00

I thought other TFA Associates might be interested in this letter to the editor from ACT AEU President, Philip Rasmus, published in the Canberra Times following an article on TFA, and my response. The Canberra Times didn't publish my response, but I found that writing it concreted my belief in what we were doing.

See you all tomorrow ..

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Your article ''Program puts pressure on to learn to be teachers in just six weeks'' (September 10, p5) correctly identifies the Australian Education Union as a vehement critic of the Rudd Government's ''Teach for Australia'' program.

The notion that one could successfully operate in any other profession, eg medicine, law, plumbing, after six weeks training, not including any on-the-job experience, is patently preposterous.

Why, then, does anyone imagine that it's OK for their children to be taught by untrained teachers?

Curiously, the two pictured graduates seem unnervingly naive.

One is quoted as saying, ''Any new teacher would surely feel [challenged and somewhat terrified] fronting up to thirty kids, no matter how much preparation they have had.'' Absolutely wrong. During conventional teacher training, a potential teacher has many classroom opportunities to confront their fears. If these fears prove disabling and incurable, they seek a different profession.

They thus avoid burdening a class of students with their inadequacies.

The other graduate, an arts/science student, seems to have finished uni without being challenged to substantiate claims. How else could she make a statement like ''I see the program has had success in other countries''? Evidence, please?

I wish these people all the best.

They are merely the victims of our Government's persistent refusal to implement successful strategies to address teacher shortages. However, ''lambs to the slaughter'' is among the 1thoughts which come to mind.

Philip Rasmus, Australian Education Union, ACT Branch President.

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And my response -

As a 2010 Teach for Australia Associate, I’d like to respond to the opinion of AEU ACT Branch president, Phillip Rasmus, published on September 12.

In deciding to apply, I of course put some research into the views of various stakeholders in education – the AEU inclusive. I read the study of Teach for America by Professor Linda Darling-Hammond, on which the AEU founds its concern, just as I read criticisms of this study which note, among other things, its questionably localised data sampling. I also read the report of a study commissioned by Mathematica Policy Research, which paints a decidedly different picture of Teach for America’s success and indeed recommends that schools, given the chance, should hire its Associates.

I say this to substantiate my colleague's statement and, moreover, to impress the fact that I’m aware of what I applied for and I’m aware of dialogue pertaining to comparable programmes overseas. This should go some way to diffusing claims of unnerving naivety.

Correlatedly, and as to my own suggestion that all new teachers entering a classroom for the first time would feel challenged, a recent statement of the Federal President of the AEU, Angelo Gavrielatos, is of note: “repeated surveys of beginning teachers tell us that they do not feel properly prepared for the reality of teaching when they enter the profession”. My parents and brother share similar sentiment, as do many of my friends who are also teachers. And, despite my TEFL training, I too felt the same way when beginning work as an English teacher in China.

For this reason, I am grateful that the Teach for Australia programme not only offers preliminary training in partnership with the University of Melbourne (of comparable coursework contact hours to a Graduate Diploma of Education from the University of Melbourne), but ongoing in-school and external mentoring for the full two years of the programme.

Lastly, the programme appeals to me for both its objective, and the means through which it aims to meet it. Educational disadvantage is a real issue, and one that most of the Teach for Australia Associates will not yet have directly experienced. I don’t see how a programme that attracts graduates to the teaching profession, places them in schools where this disadvantage is most palpable, and then, working with these schools, provides continuing tutelage and professional development, is at all a bad thing; I’m excited to have found a career opportunity I can believe in.

This does not make me a victim, perhaps just hopeful -- just as I hope, after the programme has established itself, the AEU will lend its support to Teach for Australia as a new voice in the shared call for improved Australian education. I think hope is something worth injecting into disadvantaged educational environments. And I look forward to trying, through the framework of Teach for Australia and the experience of other teachers I’ll be working alongside, to make some contribution toward doing so.

Emlyn Cruickshank, 2010 Teach for Australia Associate

The Joys of Teaching

2009-11-23T20:41:00.000-08:00

Then Jesus took his desciples up the mountain and gathering them around him,
He taught them saying:
Blessed are thge poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek,
Blessed are they that mourn,
Blessed are the merciful,
Blessed are they that thirst for justice,
Blessed are you when persecuted,
Blessed are you when you suffer.
Be glad and rejoice for your reward is great in heaven.
Then Simon Peter said, "Are we supposed to know this?"
And Andrew said, "Do we have to write this down?"
And James said, "Will we have a test on this?"
And Phillip Said, "I don't have any paper."
And Bartholomew said, "Do we have to turn this in?"
And John said, "The other disciples don't have to learn this!"
And Matthew said, "May I go to the toilet?"
Then one of the Pharisees who was present asked to see Jesus's lesson plan and inquired of Jesus, "Where is your anticipatory set and objectives in the cognitive domain?"
And Jesus wept.

- Anon

Backgrounds and motivations

2009-11-05T19:12:00.000-08:00

After catchup drinks last night it was evident that most of the associates seemed at least a little nervous about what the initial intensive will be like. Some were looking forward to it, while others were less enthusiastic and were just eager to hop straight into classrooms.

A possible contributing factor, and something which I found surprising, was the breadth of backgrounds and motivations behind why the associates joined the program. Ranging from x-bankers, accountants, consultants, lawyers - who decided the corporate world wasn't for them, to fresh university graduates - who were looking for the next step to enhance their career opportunities, network and do something good at the same time, to people who were considering teaching as a career and this just happened to be at the right place at the right time, or other's like myself - who have no idea what they want to do and just going with the flow.

It would be interesting to see how this affects the dynamics in the intensive and over the two years ahead. One thing which gives me great confidence though, is the vibrant energy and warm sincerity which all the associates carried with them.

Looking forward to meeting the rest of the gang in a few weeks!

Hi Everyone

2009-10-22T02:06:00.001-07:00

Hey Guys,

I'm kind of new to the blogging scene, and I don't think status updates on Facebook count! I just thought I'd post something to see how it all works and help get the ball rolling.

I think this is a fantastic medium with which we can keep in contact, not only during the intensive (though we'll be living with each other and no doubt doing cool stuff like going to the beach after class), but during the next 2 years. After talking with Arthur over the phone and at breakfast (his enthusiasm is contagious!) my awe of the TFA team has just gone even higher. They are incredibly professional and enthusiastic, and there'll definitely be a lot to share on blogs like this during our associate experience.

I think as the word gets out more (so many people now are nodding their heads when, after asking what I'm doing next year, I ask them if they've heard of TFA) I think many more opinions are also formulated. I had a bit of a heated 'discussion' over dinner at Newman College last week, when a postgrad student was having a dig at the associates and how incompetent we'll be. I unfortunately did take this as a personal attack and was quite offended by some of her comments. Are you starting to feel this way too? When criticism pops up in the media, people don't realise that it's actually us, as well as the initiative, that they're attacking. Personally I don't think we'll do too bad a job!

Hope to read some of your blog entries soon, despite being a busy time at uni!

Cheers, James

Intensive Anticipation

2009-10-19T19:42:00.000-07:00

So it's just over a month before the "intensive academy" starts and things are starting to come together. After meeting with some of the associates for breakfast the other day, we all agreed that it would be great to meet for drinks regularly coming up to the academy so we would have more of an opportunity to discuss thoughts, questions and sentiments with others in the same boat.

I'm not sure how other people feel about preparing themselves for the initial intensive but I've been trying to read as much as I can - mainly through books, such as
- "Work Hard, Be Nice" by Jay Mathews which is the story of two Teach for America alums who started the famous KIPP (knowledge is power program) charter schools in the States.

- " Relentless Pursuit" by journalist Donna Foote, a heavier account following a few TFA'ers in of one of the rougher schools in the States, - I'm still on a few chapters in but I'd reccomend it. Well written, loads of background info but rather intense.

In terms of the use of this blog, I don't know which direction it will go, but in anycase I think it's a good thing to record some of the mind chatter that's going on and find out what other people are thinking too. Feel free to post any resources, blog about anything, ask questions, thoughts about media articles, whatever.

There's been mention of the staff setting up an IT framework including forums, and resource centers where we could blog and add attachments but I guess we'll see. I think they're trying to go with Yammer. Any comments?

I hear the next group of TFA'ers are having their two day intro this Thursday and Friday. I think it'd be good to arrange something either that Friday evening for drinks or Sunday arvo for a BBQ somewhere. Thoughts?

Example Post

2009-08-04T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

The blog is ready