Why My Peers Think I Want to be a Teacher

Represented by Media

• Likes kids +
• Desire to help people +
• Love of books +
• Like Authority *
• Being around children is fun *
• Desire to shape the future +
• Desire to be looked up to and admired +
• Enjoys imparting knowledge to others +
• Likes to be in control over others, enjoys having control -
• Talent in controlling others -

Not Represented by Media

• fond of school supplies
• Skilled with Children
• Love of wearing big accessories
• Way to please mother
• Being around children is appealing because they are very accepting and don't judge
• Had good experiences with teachers and education
• Likes spending time with children
• Raised by teachers

Accuracy of the Media's Portrayal of Teachers

I think one thing that the media has right is that the quality of teachers varies from teacher to teacher. Teachers are portrayed as silly, aloof, incompetent, concerned, caring, selfless, competent, knowledgeable and influential. I have to admit, that looking back on the teachers that I have had over the years I can think of at least one that could be described by each of these words. However, I think the media portrays teachers in a negative light more often than a positive one. I don't think this is fair. I would consider the majority of teachers I have had as having been good teachers. Only a very small number of my teachers have been horrible, and some have been just 'ok.'

A surprising number of images I have found portrayed teachers in a very sexualized way. I think this is way off. I know that there are cases of sex scandals involving teachers, but these are not as prevalent as the media would like us to think. Furthermore, I don't think it is all that often that students have crushes on their teachers, especially at the elementary level. Most teachers do not resemble the teachers that are portrayed in these sexualized images. Even in high school I didn't know anyone who had a serious crush on a teacher. Most teachers looked like our parents which made people consider them as 'old.'

One thing I am left wondering about is the amount of student involvement that is common in most classrooms. I have been taught that it is not best practice to teach in a way that limits students' interaction with each other and learning activities. However, most images of teachers portray them as being up at a chalkboard, very far away from students. The students have a very passive role in these images. I wonder which best represents how the classroom is run, best practice or these images?

Interplay Between the Media and Reality

While the media seeks to emulate reality, it often does so in a slightly exaggerated sense for the sake of drama. If movies and TV shows were an exact representation of daily life, they probably wouldn't be as interesting. I think one of the great things about movies and TV is that they challenge us to think of our daily lives in a different way by highlighting things that we often miss. One of the drawbacks to TV and movies, however, is that many times people accept them for 'reality.' For some people, TV and movies can become the norm. When this happens they live out the realities that they see via the media. In this way media and reality are constantly influencing each other.

Putting it Together

The activities I did today allowed my to merge my personal experiences with images of my profession in order to gain more insight into how my profession is thought of. I have been able to construct my own knowledge by exploring the relationship between the media and my profession. I have seen my profession through many different lenses, not through any single person's perspective, and have thereby been able to construct new knowledge on this subject.

The images I saw of teachers today portrayed teachers as both men and women. The women, however, were sometimes sexualized. This was never true of the men. While these images showed an equal number of men and women teachers, the women portrayed in a demeaning way. This shows that while society accepts the fact that both men and women can be teachers, it views women teachers differently than men. This ties into feminism, in that there is not an equitable portrayal of teachers based on gender.

The images I found today represent a type of teaching that I do not want to be a part of. Most teachers were portrayed as being distant, uncaring and unconcerned in general with their students. The learning that takes place in these images is very passive learning. As I view and write about these images I am constantly wondering where the ideas the represent originated. These images also encourage me to be a teacher who changes these ideas for the better.

Major Themes

Themes that have emerged from pictures and media:

• Teachers are aloof. The stay at the front of the room and keep their distance from students. Along with this goes the idea that a main goal of a teacher is to maintain order. The teacher and student seem to be on different planes.
• Effective teachers care for their students. Many times teachers are portrayed as being silly or aloof by the media. 'Good' teachers are shown to care about their students. These teachers care about their students education as well as their lives and well-being outside of and beyond school.
• Teachers are silly/stupid. Sometimes teachers are portrayed as being an object of ridicule for their students. These teachers are not concerned with education or their students, they are just there to do their job.

Bio-Poem

School

Didactic, Distant, Good-Natured, Authoritative

Inspired by a Need for Instruction and Discipline

Lover of Quiet, Control and Space

Who Feels Comfortable when there is Order, Confident when there is Distance, and Secure when there is Obedience

Who Gives Information, Order and Knowledge

Who Fears Challenges to Authority, Discord and Student Involvement

Who Would like to See Respect, Learning and Appreciation

Who Lives in the Classroom

Teacher

How People Perceive Teachers

I received three drawings that represent how the people in my group view the profession of teaching. All three of the drawings include the teacher up at the board lecturing. Most of the students are in desks. In one drawing the students are completely passive. In another picture all of the students are out of control and oblivious to the teacher (who also seems to be oblivious to them). Although this is not how I want my future classroom to look like, I am not surprised that this is how people imagine it. I think part of the reason for this view of teaching is that this portrays many of people's personal experiences with elementary school. I also think that this type of teaching is considered the norm or 'traditional' classroom. Teachers are often showed standing in the front of the classroom in movies, shows and cartoons. The other theme present in most of these drawings is the idea of teacher control over students. A teacher's control (or lack thereof) over his/her class seems to be a common theme. Once again, I think there is much more to being a teacher than discipline, but I am not surprised that people emphasized this aspect of teaching. I think many people's memories of teachers in their younger years involve chastisement. I also think teachers are portrayed primarily as disciplinarians by the media.