Teaching Perspectives

In leadership we do many personality tests and have quite a few instruments based on various leadership theories; each assessment showing where you fall on the grid or categorization of leadership or personality types. So, I enjoyed the teaching perspectives inventory. As with many leadership assessments that I tend to be pretty balanced with one or two categories that just do not fit at all, such was the case for the teaching perspectives inventory. Apprenticeship was my top area, with Developmental and Nurturing not far behind; Transmission was a little lower and Social Reform was my bottom score.

I definitely related to the Apprenticeship area - and quite appropriately being in the agriculture and leadership fields where experiential learning is a key component of education. As a teacher in this area, it is crucial to know the students and their abilities to be able to adapt lessons to their skill levels. It is my duty to guide and direct them along the journey of developing skills through various experiences. I see this come through in a current class I am teaching - Introduction to Leadership and Service - as we utilize a service-learning project for students to apply leadership concepts in a service capacity. And, when a true experience is not possible, we utilize multi-media to offer a common situation for all to discuss a particular topic.

Developmental and Nurturing perspectives also are easy to relate to for me, as leadership is a continuous process of development. In the classroom, I find reflective questions and discussion among the students to be a great asset in challenging assumptions and promoting further reflection and deeper thoughts on processes and human interactions relating to leadership. Sharing experiences is also helpful for all students to gain a broader perspective and tool box of scenarios. As an instructor, adaptability is key to roll with the experiences and stories that students share, finding ways to connect them back to course content. Along the journey, I can not help but be encouraging and supportive of the students' efforts, as that is simply a part of who I am. I believe that positivity is an important ingredient in the leadership classroom, as creating a space that is safe and trustworthy for students to share their experiences is of critical importance!

Overall, I feel like my teaching perspective focuses primarily on the student or learner, then how to connect their experiences with content and finally how can I share an experience that may tie all together around the ideals and context of the particular topic we are discussing. Throughout the educational journey in the leadership classroom, I think it is so important for educators to have feedback and give feedback to students. I think this was a great instrument and summary article to provide a spring board of ideas to think about which perspective or combination of perspectives each has when approaching the classroom.

"You don't know what you don't know..."

This saying was mentioned in our first class together, and I must admit it is one of my favorite sayings. It is a saying that rings true to life; until you experience something you truly can not know the pros and cons or what you need to learn. We see this play out so often over the course of a lifetime, such as the questions of 'what do you want to do when you grow up?': I knew I was going to be an artist...until I began cooking with my mom and grandma in the kitchen...then I knew I wanted to be a chef...until I had a few amazing teachers, on in particular was my high school agriculture teacher and FFA advisor...then I knew I wanted to be a high school agriculture teacher...until I had my first leadership course in college...leading me to my current career path, which I know is to teach leadership and organizational development to college students. Along the path, I simply did not know what the future had in store until I experienced it. Likewise with technology, we simply are not able to ask questions or know which direction to go until we know a little bit about the newest tech trend. I am excited to explore the seemingly foreign area of technology innovations that may be an asset to the classroom learning environment! I can remember being 'the computer girl' in 3-5th grades who all of the teachers came to with questions, as my mom worked with computers so I knew how to work them pretty well. However, after that initial knowledge of computers was quickly surpassed by the rapid pace of technology, I became simply the technology user, able to manage to 'figure it out' but probably not the best or most effective way of using that technology. And, when it comes to using technology in the classroom...especially when 'my' students are more tech savvy than I...I feel it is of utmost importance to be prepared and utilize technology tools EFFECTIVELY! Thus, the journey begins, or rather continues...