{"id":746,"date":"2021-07-19T15:10:52","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T13:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sari.piittinen.name\/?p=746"},"modified":"2021-07-19T15:10:53","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T13:10:53","slug":"becoming-a-teacher-for-real","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sari.piittinen.name\/?p=746","title":{"rendered":"Becoming a teacher for real"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This year I was (finally) able to join pedagogical studies which I shall refer to as teacher studies between friends. Completing these studies means I’ll be qualified to apply to English teacher positions at different levels of education (although I can’t say that teaching children has ever been my calling). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo by Diego PH<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I’ve applied to similar studies before first after completing my master’s degree and more recently after completing my PhD. However, these study positions are competitive and I lacked teaching work experience to be accepted. I also couldn’t apply to teacher studies intended for uni staff because by the time the application deadlines closed, I still didn’t know whether I was going to be employed at my university again and therefore able to, you know, participate in the studies. Now I’m a student at the JAMK University of Applied Sciences and aim to complete my studies as quickly as possible – after all, I’ve waited for this opportunity for a long time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s really great about this is that a lot of my teaching so far has been mostly survival and trying to do justice to existing teaching materials. Basically, I haven’t had the time or opportunity to really reflect on myself or my goals as a teacher, or critically assess what I’m teaching and how, or create something truly mine (based on theory and knowledge of pedagogy). I expect the studies to not only give me some tools to use as a teacher, but also a chance to really think about what I’m doing and why, and who I want to become as a teacher. Of course all this time I’ve been genuinely trying my best and directly and indirectly learning from my colleagues, but dedicating oneself to improve a specific skillet while receiving support from others is different. The support part is especially significant – teaching is pretty independent work, in the end. You can’t ask a colleague every single time something unexpected happens, and nobody is there to watch and judge how you teach, or to give advice. I’ve been figuring out a lot of (practical) things on my own. The studies are possibly a once-in-a-lifetime chance to really have a group of people helping each other progress and become the best teachers they can be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m also returning to teach at uni in the fall, this time as an hourly paid teacher, which is a little different. (I truly need to manage my time well so that I’m not doing too much “free work” – without any reduction in quality.) I’m returning to two classes I’ve taught before and picking up two new ones, which are both exciting prospects. However, as I haven’t signed the work contract yet, I don’t want to think about this TOO much right now. But it’s pretty awesome I’m teaching while undergoing my teacher studies so that I can have an active process of simultaneous learning and putting what I’ve learned to practice… To the extent that is possible\/realistic!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year I was (finally) able to join pedagogical studies which I shall refer to as teacher studies between friends. Completing these studies means I’ll be qualified to apply to English teacher positions at different levels of education (although I can’t say that teaching children has ever been my calling). I’ve applied to similar studies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[40,70],"tags":[67],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sari.piittinen.name\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sari.piittinen.name\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sari.piittinen.name\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sari.piittinen.name\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sari.piittinen.name\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sari.piittinen.name\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":748,"href":"https:\/\/sari.piittinen.name\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746\/revisions\/748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sari.piittinen.name\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sari.piittinen.name\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sari.piittinen.name\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}