Notes about Paula

Schooling:
Context (nation, locale, culture(s), language, time, etc.)

 Living in a suburb of a large Canadian city with her parents, about to begin her teaching
career in a neighbouring district
 New teacher in her mid-20s
 Time: around 1994-1995?
 Language: English (I assume?)
Previous experiences (positive, neutral, negative, dominant, minority)

 Experience as a student moving to a new school in a new area: found it difficult to fit in, not
being part of a group
 Positive: “one of the best parts of my life in school was finally getting involved with the
social aspect, and being in the in-crowd and doing those kinds of things as well as worrying
about school”
 Knew what it was like to be both an outsider and insider in school
 Master’s degree in psychology, took business and psychology courses during undergrad
 “Had a wonderful year” during her professional education at the faulty of education (p. 139
in coursepack)
 Most positive experience at the faculty: her major instructor who used a cooperative
learning approach
What schooling means/is/could be for Paula (how does Paula identify with schooling? What is her
assumptions/understandings/desires?)

 She wanted to eventually become a school psychologist (combines a love of children with
her interest in psychology)
 “get into the school system first as a teacher and then start working with special needs kids
as a special educator”
 How does Paula identify with schooling?
 What are her assumptions/understandings/desires?
 She had unrealistic academic expectations for her class: “they’re a lot lower than I expected
in general” (p. 143 coursepack)
Society:
Context (nation, dominant culture(s) – race/ethnicity/gender/language and others)

 Living in a suburb of a large Canadian city, about to begin her teaching career in a
neighbouring district
 English/French
Histories (dominant, silenced/minority, tensions)

 ???
Her previous experiences (teaching, schooling, personal)

 Schooling: see previous section

 Teaching: see next section
 Personal: ???
How and where Paula positions herself (privileges, exclusions, in relation to schooling and
teaching)

 ???
Teachers:
Context (culture, locale, school(s), boards, history/ies, etc.)

 Living in a suburb of a large Canadian city, about to begin her teaching career in a
neighbouring district

Previous experiences (of other teachers and her own teaching)

 Positive experience with placement and support from other teachers (p. 140-141)
o Helped each other, cooperated with lesson planning
o Always had someone else in the class with her
 Challenging experience in her first classroom (p. 142-147)
o Difficulty with class management
o She had unrealistic academic expectations for her class
o Alone in the classroom (without other teachers or assistants to help)
o Constant fatigue, lack of time to be alone
o Felt isolated in her portable from other staff
o Staff often communicated with Paula if her students and their behaviour created
problems for them
o Vice-principal didn’t visit Paula’s classroom for routine observation, and she got a
critical valuation from the principal
o By January, her classroom management got better (she sought resources and had
some time for herself over the break)
Philosophical and ethical assumptions/understandings (what are Paula’s philosophy/ies about
teaching, teachers, and their duties/goals/responsibilities?)

 Cooperative learning approach (her major instructor in faculty of education was an expert
in this approach)
o Learning by doing
 Held 5 images of teaching (p. 140 in coursepack)
o Cooperation and coherence
o Support
o Respect
o Teaching
o Learning as hard work and involvement
 Cooperation and coherence
 o Teacher as the creator of cooperation and cohesion in the classroom setting
o Wanted to design a classroom environment in which both she and the students
would cooperate together in the business of learning
o Hoped students would appreciate their differences while maintaining an
appreciation of the group
o Feeling part of a team
o Enjoyed working with other teachers in her practice teaching school (valued
working cooperatively with co-workers)
 Support
o The teacher as a giver and receiver of support
o Saw teachers as belonging to a community which cared for and supported one
another, in addition to caring for and supporting students
o Ideal teacher: “just being there for all the different needs of the student, from the
academic to the social… and having a little bit of an influence on everything for
every student” (p. 141 coursepack)
 Examples in classroom: posters with saying such as: I believe in you, I trust in you, I know
you can handle life’s situation, you are listened to; you are cared for, you are very important
to me (p. 142)
 Her first experiences teaching in her own classroom:
o Had to adapt
o Involved her students in seeking solutions to class problems