Exit Slip: September 5th - Frank McCourt Videos

It strikes me as unconventional that Frank McCourt would become a high school teacher without having ever attended a high school. Making Frank's career all the more confusing is the fact that my pre-conceived notions of what a teacher should be are mostly pulled from my experience as a student. It is unlikely that I would have chosen this career if not for the positive influence of my teachers. Additionally, I still have anxiety stemming from the fear that I will not be fully prepared to teach by the time I enter a classroom. Learning that Frank McCourt found success paving his own path, and with so little precedent or role models, is reassuring to me.
In the context of Teacher Education, Frank's story begs the further question: what new directions could teaching take which have yet to be discovered because we are too caught up in replicating and building on our limited lived experience? It is impossible to answer this question without going out and trying new things, but in becoming aware of it I can hopefully open myself up to possibilities that I hadn't considered. Trying to copy Frank's approach seems like a futile approach to finding personal success as a teacher. Simply having an accent and coming from a difficult or unique background are not surefire ways of connecting with students, even if they worked for him. However, there are elements of Frank's story that I believe could be applied on a more general scale and certainly in my own practice. The features of Frank's approach that stand out most to me are his humility, adaptability, and humour.
In both videos, he stated that he was timid and uncertain when he began his career, a mindset I believe is valuable as it offers room for continual growth. He also tells us in the videos that he took note when students asked about his accent and he embraced their curiousity. Or in another example, he embraced his students' disdain for the books they were reading and engaged them by asking what they hated about the books. These examples reflect his ability to gauge the interests of his classroom and adjust his course to better align with the students. Finally, though he did not express it explicitly in the videos, it was apparent listening to him that he uses humour to maintain interest from his students. While there is certainly a lot more that could be learned from someone with Frank's level of experience, those three characteristics were my greatest takeaway from the videos today.