Anticipation: Friend or Foe?
By Lisa Pratt
EDI 600 Psychological Foundation of Education
School of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
I approached my first graduate class in education with the type of anticipation usually reserved for husbands of expectant wives who are past their due date. Technically, the tough times were behind me: I was a returning adult student who had recently received an undergraduate degree. I mastered commuting for early morning classes, fetal pig dissections and group projects with AWOL participants. Why, at this juncture, was I crippling myself with worry when I had arrived at the last leg of the race?
In reality, I was finally in a class where everyone was focused and motivated; eager to do well. However, I was convinced that I was the only student who had never set foot into an education class, let alone one at a graduate level. Surely everyone had already written lesson plans, discussed the pros and cons of inclusion, and written several papers on educational pedagogy, while all I had to contribute was information I had gleaned as a class parent and a participant in endless parent/teacher conferences.
In short: I was anticipating being revealed as a fraud. I conjured up meetings with my counselor who would tell me, regretfully, that I belonged in another field of study. The more I tried to focus on the positive – I was in a classroom with people who had the same goals as I did and were focused on learning – the more active the butterflies in my stomach became. It actually began to feel more like a dream from high school: my best friend agrees to meet me outside the cafeteria on the first day of school but she never appears and I have to slink over to a vacant table and sit by myself.
By the time class began and Dr. Boyanton began explaining the “Name Game,” I realized that I can not eliminate “first day of school” feelings entirely but I can use them to understand life in front of and behind the teacher’s desk. As an educator I will be meeting a new group of students every year and we will all be anticipating similar feelings of inadequacy. However, I will reflect on what I learned when I walked into the classroom on Monday night. Time spent memorizing my student’s names, monitoring my references to make sure they are not dated, emphasizing the belief that teachers and students want to do well and be thought of as a reliable part of a team. I will strive to observe body language by placing students in a non-threatening environment (e.g. sitting in a circle, facing one another) to better facilitate learning.
Experiential learning broadens the ways a teacher can learn to connect with their class. Forcing oneself to think “outside of the box” even if it heightens feelings of anticipation, allows an educator to focus on learning rather than theory. Instead of crippling me, anticipation can be used to fuel the enthusiasm I hope to have every fall when I step into a classroom with a new set of faces. In fact, I am happily anticipating returning to the classroom on Wednesday with a group who were strangers 36 hours ago but now feel like part of an extended family.
Long Island University, C. W. Post
May 19, 2009
I approached my first graduate class in education with the type of anticipation usually reserved for husbands of expectant wives who are past their due date. Technically, the tough times were behind me: I was a returning adult student who had recently received an undergraduate degree. I mastered commuting for early morning classes, fetal pig dissections and group projects with AWOL participants. Why, at this juncture, was I crippling myself with worry when I had arrived at the last leg of the race?
In reality, I was finally in a class where everyone was focused and motivated; eager to do well. However, I was convinced that I was the only student who had never set foot into an education class, let alone one at a graduate level. Surely everyone had already written lesson plans, discussed the pros and cons of inclusion, and written several papers on educational pedagogy, while all I had to contribute was information I had gleaned as a class parent and a participant in endless parent/teacher conferences.
In short: I was anticipating being revealed as a fraud. I conjured up meetings with my counselor who would tell me, regretfully, that I belonged in another field of study. The more I tried to focus on the positive – I was in a classroom with people who had the same goals as I did and were focused on learning – the more active the butterflies in my stomach became. It actually began to feel more like a dream from high school: my best friend agrees to meet me outside the cafeteria on the first day of school but she never appears and I have to slink over to a vacant table and sit by myself.
By the time class began and Dr. Boyanton began explaining the “Name Game,” I realized that I can not eliminate “first day of school” feelings entirely but I can use them to understand life in front of and behind the teacher’s desk. As an educator I will be meeting a new group of students every year and we will all be anticipating similar feelings of inadequacy. However, I will reflect on what I learned when I walked into the classroom on Monday night. Time spent memorizing my student’s names, monitoring my references to make sure they are not dated, emphasizing the belief that teachers and students want to do well and be thought of as a reliable part of a team. I will strive to observe body language by placing students in a non-threatening environment (e.g. sitting in a circle, facing one another) to better facilitate learning.
Experiential learning broadens the ways a teacher can learn to connect with their class. Forcing oneself to think “outside of the box” even if it heightens feelings of anticipation, allows an educator to focus on learning rather than theory. Instead of crippling me, anticipation can be used to fuel the enthusiasm I hope to have every fall when I step into a classroom with a new set of faces. In fact, I am happily anticipating returning to the classroom on Wednesday with a group who were strangers 36 hours ago but now feel like part of an extended family.
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