How English Teachers Get Taught

Another great book! I’ve enjoyed thinking about the preparation of future English teachers. It got me to thinking about my own preparation, which is nothing more than a few disconnected memories by now. I remember writing my philosophy of teaching, discussing multicultural education, writing lesson plans a la Madelyn Hunter, and learning transformational grammar. (I still don’t know what that was about.) The preparation is one big blur, but I remember all too well the reality of my first teaching assignment. I felt very unprepared. And I know now that I made decisions each morning (before my students arrived) that were not based on theory or reflection but rather on survival.

I appreciated Smargorinsky and Whiting’s explanations of the various approaches to teaching the methods class. It was rather obvious through their descriptions and the benefits/drawbacks that they would ultimately discourage the survey approach and suggest that the best approach is a combination of the others – “In fact, one recommendation that we would make from our review is that a ‘best’ methods course involves elements of workshop, experience-based, theoretical, and reflective courses” (p. 29). I’m still reading and look forward to more.

On a final note, I was greatly interested in the 5 syllabi provided in Appendix A. As I read through each, I tried to imagine myself as a student and how I might react to each syllabus. My first reaction was that all of them required extensive reading. I’ve lost my touch as an undergrad, so I wonder how one might respond to the lengthy lists of articles and books. My most violent reaction is reserved for syllabus 2. I am amazed by its pretentiousness. It is also a perfect example to consider as we continue our discussions of which department has a greater influence on future English teachers. For the sake of those teachers, I truly hope that their brush with the arrogant English professor is brief and that their passion for teaching is quickly rekindled by the kinder, gentler souls of the College of Ed.