Yesterday, I started my classes at Cal State San Marcos. I had three classes, yet I was in class from 10 am to 7 pm. What did I get out of it? Unfortunately, not much. Just a lot of fluff with about 10% content. I gleaned a few ideas for lesson plans and activities, learned some new acronyms, and became more aware of the struggles EL (English Language) learners go through at school. I don't think I needed to be there all day for that. Oh, well. Veteran teachers have all echoed my same sentiments. Too bad they haven't changed the system in eons. There's definitely some hypocrisy about the program. For instance, teachers tell us never to lecture for more than 10 minutes before engaging the students in discussion (the 10:2 rule). After telling us not to do that, the teacher then lectured for about 40 minutes. Maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but you get the point. The thing that bothers me the most is probably the utopian attitude you are expected to adopt. I'm not going to be able to save the world. I think being aware of the disconnect between teaching and the pedagogy of teaching will help me face reality when it comes time for me to run my own classroom. My master teacher advised me, "Aim to reach most of the students, most of the time."
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