Re: Mind as Action

Eva Ekeblad (eva.ekeblad who-is-at ped.gu.se)
Mon, 16 Nov 1998 20:21:52 +0100 (MET)

At 05.41 -0500 98-11-16, Peter Smagorinsky wrote:
>And so, to use Leont'ev's term, the *motive* that
>obtains in the student teaching arena is often one that results in
>confusion on the part of the developing teacher. Furthermore, the *role*
>of the student teacher shifts between the two settings of university and
>school: at the university the role is that of student, while in the school
>the role is that of teacher, each of which suggests the pursuit of
>different goals and, as a consequence, the adoption of different sets of
>practices.
>
>There's an additional set of variables that I'd like to add to Honorine's
>attention to mediating agents, and that's the nested set of social arenas
>in which teaching is practiced.

Yes, isn't the confusion so often experienced by student teachers due to an
overlap of the two activities of classroom teaching and preservice teacher
education, so that there are actually TWO *motives* in play, that do not
always agree. And, as Peter also notes (and which ties to Honorine's
questions) the clash between motives is accentuated when university
supervisors come to visit (gee, this sounds SO much like my own confusions
as a student teacher 13-14 years ago) so that SOME of the other persons
present are "in" one activity (oriented towards one motive) and SOME
persons "in" the other (oriented towards the other motive). I realize this
needs fleshing out as to WHAT the motives are, and I also realize that
everybody in the classroom in such a moment is to some extent in BOTH the
activities (my experience is that kids did their best to help the student
teacher who was being evaluated) -- but I'm certainly convinced that it is
in the person of the student teacher that the pull in two different
directions is the strongest.

Eva