Week 5: Teaching Self

How would you describe your teaching self? Share a teaching experience which illustrates this.

I interpreted the first three descriptions of teaching self as levels of motivation and emotional engagement.

Teaching as work: the teaching self of survival mode

This would be my teaching self at 8:55 am (first class is at 9) when I am feeling overwhelmed at school and at home. It is the day it should have snowed so I could have had a day to catch up on projects and work in my robe. 

Teaching as profession: the teaching self of lesson planning

When writing lessons and planning activities, I am, in part, serving "established practices and norms." I am choosing what I think are the right tools for the right students, but in the language of instructional planning that I think fit the activities. The way I present a lesson to 28 students requires pedagogical guidance and some system of progression.

Teaching as vocation: the teaching self engaged directly with students

This is the self brought forth when the students are in the room. I call it bringing my A game, which I assume is a sports analogy. The only way I can motivate the students to meet the challenges I present them is to talk with them and be flexible in regards to their concerns.

I don't understand how the authors called activist teaching and the teacher's inner self as types of teaching selves. I would have categorized them under a different subheading, perhaps as definitions of vocational motivations.