Parvin Peivandi, IB reflection, Nov. 12th, 2014
This seminar was devoted mostly to sharing the experiences of short practicum and it was great to hear what other teachers have done and have learned in their practicum. It was interesting to see what the other peers felt or observed was some how similar to my own observation.
Definitely short practicum was a very useful experience for all of us to be prepared for the long practicum, but it also was disappointing for some of the student teachers. Definitely all we read in theories do not come into real practice at schools, but I believe the real pedagogy has stemmed from those fixed theories. Contrary to some of my peers who felt upset about the difference between theories and practice, I felt there was a very natural and reasonable adjustment of the pedagogy at school. Rules are there that we learn, but there are not written on stones and we can modify our pedagogy based on the classrooms’ climate. I ask myself what I am learning as an educator for myself? How can I improve myself at first place? As educators, I believe we should learn to be flexible and tolerant and adjusting ourselves to the new situations and contexts is a great skill that we should all practice.