From Tribulation to Triumph: A Student Teaching Experience Shelton Jim On

Sometime during the last two years of his program as an educational major at the University of Hawaii, a student is expected to spend a semester as a student teacher at an assigned school in the state of Hawaii. My opportunity came during the spring semester of 1972, at Kawananakoa Intermediate School, following a semester of observation and participation (OP) at the same school.

As a student teacher, I had an extenuated period of assuming a dual role as a teacher and as a student with Mrs. Ellen Hakoda and her ninth grade World History class. In a sense, I felt that my designated purpose was two-fold: that of applying what I had learned at the university to the classroom, and that of learning more about teaching methods from my cooperating teacher.

Halcyon Days: The Calm During my first f cw days I felt rather elated. I was

filled with enthusiasm and brimming with all the poten­tial activities and lessons I would base on the educational methods and historical data I had learned from various courses at the university. I had dreams of getting the students involved in group discussions, helping them fulfill their desire for learning. I had formulated pre­conceptions of the students and their academic attitude and achievement, and what I as their teacher would accomplish. I anxiously awaited the prospect of having the students under my guidance. I was eager to test myself in the conducting of a class (without having to resort too often to asking my cooperating teacher for help during difficult moments) in a way that the students would accept me as a teacher.

I was given the opportunity two weeks later. I had spent the previous days and nights (before the given moment) laboriously planning what I would be doing with my students for that week. In anticipation of any

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potentially difficult questions they might ask, I was armed to respond with little tidbits of knowledge. How­ever, even though I had gone over the material with my cooperating teacher and felt well-versed with the lessons to be taught, somehow, when explaining the easiest of instructions, I became tongue-tied and used a compli­cated rather than simple vocabulary, replacing sum­mari:e with rernpit11late; using reconcile in place of settle, and regurgitate for throw up--apparently trying to cover up for my embarrassment. My handouts, too, contained vocabulary which must have seemed foreign, or at least difficult, to the 15-year-old mind. As one higher-level student confided to my cooperating teacher, "ls he really going to be with us for the rest of the year?" Obviously, I had somewhat overwhelmed them, though unintentionally, and made it difficult for them to under­stand me.

Halcyon Days Ended: The Storm With the average-ability-level students I had a more

involved problem to face: classroom management and discipline. Whenever my cooperating teacher was pres­ent in the classroom, these students were docile, posing no serious problem or threat; however, as soon as she left me on my own, the situation turned to catastrophe! Some of the students began talking with their neighbors, others were falling asleep, and still others would vocally disrupt the class and pay no attention to the activities I had provided for my debut as a teacher. Later I dis­covered, from my cooperating teacher, that some of these students had come from an extremely disadvantaged social environment, and were transferring their frustra­tions to me, and problems to the rest of their classmates, and that in order to insure classroom management, I would have to assume a more domineering role. As badly as I felt, I was to feel even worse whenever I had

to resort to scolding them, and chiding their behavior, much as I would little five-year-olds. This "domineering role" was not what I wanted to portray in the classroom because I felt that it would only provoke their hostilities -although the "good guy" attitude, I found, did have some positive effects upon the well-mannered and con­siderate students, the others sought every chance to take advantage of or belittle my presence in the classroom. I found it difficult to gauge the amount of friendship and firmness it would take to win the students' respect for, and my personal confidence as, a teacher.

I thought that their friendship and respect would come as a matter of course. I thought that making lesson plans was primarily a question of knowing subject matter and organizing it. I thought that my academic background would provide sufficient inspiration for classroom crea­tivity. Perhaps my class discipline stemmed from these preconceptions. I did not adapt to the hard work and difficulty of classroom management as easily as I thought I would have, for with the challenge staring me in the face, all I could do was divert my attention because I did not know how to cope with a classroomful of chil­dren that age. I had learned much about education in theory, but essentially I needed to modify these theories and methods to the actual classroom situation.

Adaptation: The Storm Continues Adaptation to the total classroom environment, then,

was not easy. I needed all the help, criticism, and guid­ance I could get in directing me to that goal. A great deal of my learning experience came from listening to my cooperating teacher, and experimenting with sugges­tions that she provided. Everyday, or whenever I felt I had a problem to discuss, she would sit down and evaluate the situation with me. Yet, though I was a student in the process of becoming a teacher, she gave me full respect, confidence, and acceptance-much as she would to a peer. As she once told me, "I am learn­ing from you as much as you are from me-maybe more." With her guidance I had become more indepen­dent, and possibly more innovative. She was willing to let me try new ideas in teaching which had been intro­duced to me by my methods professor at the university.

Through suggestions from my cooperating teacher, specific help on activities from my former methods professor, and a lot of study on how best to stimulate student interest, I went about my problem.

I had learned from one of my students that he was simply not interested in studying about other countries.

As he put it, "How will learning about Africa and Latin America help or change my life? I come to school be­cause I'm forced to, but I learn about things I feel are not really that important." The problem, then, was not only how to attract this student's attention through crea­tive activities, but also, how to teach a subject which would add more significance and meaning to his learn­ing experience.

From a former history teacher came the suggestion that students today should study about their own family background, nationality, racial characteristics, and cul­tural heritage; which would, perhaps, provide them with a feeling for ethnic self-identity. If they learned more about their families and immigrant ancestors, and the social, economic, political and cultural problems they faced; the reasons prompting immigration; the differ­ences in the observances of customs between each race's generations, and the type of society we in Hawaii live in today, perhaps the students would then be inspired to do independent projects or research on Hawaii's immigration history, or their ancestor's native lands. The objective was to further involve them in the learn­ing process. The ideas for activities came from major publications on ethnic studies, self-created projects, and ideas from my cooperating teacher and former methods professor. The model used for teaching was inquiry, with studies involving the use of personal questionnaires, slides, statistical and original research (on my part), simulative games, classroom projects, individual stu­dent research, and the sharing of articles, ideas and thoughts among students.

As an initiatory exercise and introduction to the unit, the students were asked to fill out personal question­naires concerning their parents and grandparents. Some of the questions asked were: What arc some of the cus­toms they practiced? Where were they born? What type of religion do they practice? Those interviewed were also to supply synopses of their lives. The desig­nated purpose was to have the students inquire into their own ethnic group, understand the various prob­lems that have confronted, and still confront, each generation between and within cultural-racial groups, and provide them with enough data and research which they could apply to later activities. For some students, it gave them an opportunity to know their parents a little better-thus gaining some insight on the idea of "ethnic generation gaps."

The statistical and research information I provided gave them a little basis for knowing the history of im-

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migrant groups in Hawaii. The objective was for them to receive the information and formulate hypotheses after analyzing and interpreting the material. For exam­ple, I provided a table on intermarriage statistics and asked the students to hypothesize about each ethnic group's probable social attitude. Another activity in­volved asking them to examine statements made by one ethnic group directed to another, and hypothesize as to which racial group would have been more likely to exhibit that attitude, why, and which group would it have been directed to. The "hypothesis experience" in which the student would formulate his own concept, and have his answers compared with those of his fellow pupils, contributed much to the success of the activities because they provoked the student's curiosity, as well as challenged his ability to think.

After introducing a reading or activity related to the concepts discussed, I would then introduce a simulative game which would personally involve the student in role-playing. The games provided a fun as well as learn­ing experience for the students. For example, to rein­force the idea that when immigrant groups were brought to the plantations they experienced various conflicts with the tunas (foremen) and plantation owners over wages, labor mistreatment, and living conditions, I modified an originally published game in which students would take roles either as plantation owners or im­migrant workers and attempt to resolve differences over objectives. This role-playing introduced them to the concepts of socio-economic conflicts, competition, and group bargaining, as well as let them experience the process. Thus, simulative games helped me to reinforce particular concepts and ideas related to the information I had provided.

Halcyon Days Revisited: A Summary The unit with its many activities, however, did not

solve all my problems as a student teacher. The primary drawback in the development of lesson plans was the vast amount of time and effort it took, on my part, to create newer and increasingly interesting activities-­leaving me little time to attempt the development of personal relationships in the classroom. Not all the activ­ities were successful either, for they were still in the experimental phase, yet the very planning of the unit helped my overall student teaching experience. Because I had to work more closely with my students, I gained much valuable practical experience in the selection of subject matter and approaches to the modification of

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my former preconceptions of teaching. Because these activities generated more student interest than any of my other activities, my discipline problems became less acute, and I became more confident of my ability to teach, and manage a classroom. Both from my coop­erating teacher and the students I learned something of not only what to teach but how to teach. I was now pro­vided with the challenge and satisfaction I needed before contemplating entering the profession as a full-fledged teacher.

Sire/ton Jim On, a graduate of LL'ilelwa High Sdwol, Wahiawa, Oa/111, Hawaii, is II se11ior i11 the Colh•ge of Eilrir:a1io11, U11frer, sily of Hawaii. Mr. Jim (),r's interest is ill leaching al the secondary level.

Clurrh-111• Iida, student teacher, Hokulani Elementary School

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