..——__k _,_,

PLACE N RETURN BOX to roman this checkout horn your record.
TO AVOID FINES Mum on or bdoro duo duo.

DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MSU In An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Imam
WM!

     
    

  

L {BRA R y
Michigan State
University ..

.'" Ar.

' ‘ 5%. :3 o. This is to certify that the
f, 3‘ {Eiw ".p‘ .: .
‘ thesis entitled

LEARNING TO TEACH: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF STUDENT
TEACHERS' PERSPECTIVES

presented by

Sherry Dann Ralston

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the {egnegnents for

(Pa '9; Idegreein 9W

 

HMCJG ’ ‘

Major professor

Detewo

0-7639

LEARNING TO TEACH:
AN ETHNOGRAPHY
OF STUDENT TEACHERS' PERSPECTIVES

By

Sherry Dann Ralston

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Division of Student Teaching and Professional Development

1980

.’.4

II‘

b..! ...

“J 3v:

' 4“".

 

I. 'Q.
J .
1"

1‘. .4
o“,

. v.

 

. ‘i.
‘ hi
. .3
I
.l
I "‘.A
I

The research questions which guided data collection and analysis
were:

1) What do student teachers do during the college semester
designated as student teaching which contributes to their
perspectives on classrooms, students, and schools?

' 2) Hhat do student teachers learn from one another and from
their supervisors about students, teachers, and the school
administration that influence their perspective toward
teaching?

3) How does the student teacher define himself, the students,
the teachers, the schools, the supervisors, and the
university within contextual variables? How do these
variables contribute to perspective?

4) How do definitions formulated, interpretated, and acted
upon during student teaching support perspective?

The study group consisted of secondary teachers from a middle
size state university that had a professional semester program which
included Student Teaching, Fundamentals, and subject matter Methods.
Eight students in a methods class were considered major participants;
four of the eight were followed into their practicum. Other student
teachers were used to validate perspective.

The duration of the study was seven months with data collected
from daily observations on site for five months. Structured and
non-structured interviewing was conducted with informants. Documents,
handouts, and some journal entries were also used as data. The data
on the practicum was conducted in both a laboratory and a public school.

The process of analysis followed the work of Denzin (l970); Schatzman

and Strauss (1973); McCall and Simmons (l969), and Becker et al. (l961).

The analytical framework is depicted and described.

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

The study concluded that:

Student teachers set aside their initial perspectives
on teaching relative to the control of their status as
a student teacher.

Initial perspectives of student teachers incorporate
the ideal image of a “good" teacher; these give way to
"I'm not sure what I am,“ develop to "I'm not the
teacher," and evolve into "When I am the teacher . . ."
Student teachers learn to student teach.

Student teachers have no real group, and control this
by establishing pseudo-personal relationships with
students and/or a confidante.

Student teachers have no legitimate authority as a
teacher and control this paradox by accepting their
present status and looking toward a future teaching
position.

Devices such as questioning patterns, grades, dress,
types of assignments, use of psychomotor movements, cues,
and appropriate closeness to students are demonstrated
by student teachers as control mechanisms.

From interactions with each other, other teachers and
students outside formal contexts, student teachers
discover how to control feelings, alter values, and
postpone ideals. The controls learned in the informal
setting are manifested in the formal one.

© Copyright by

SHERRY DANN RALSTON
l 980

To John, Mary, Jean, Paul, Teresa, Betty, Linda, Jim,

and all others learning to teach.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A work of this type and scope is not possible without the
encouragement and support of others. In particular a field study can
neither be initiated nor carried to its conclusion without the
consideration and permission of the participating groups. With this
thought, I'd like to particularly thank the administrators, super-
visors, and supervising teachers at the participating university and
schools. A very special thanks goes to the students in these
schools and to the student teachers. The anonymity of such a work does
not permit me to thank them individually, but they will never be
forgotten.

Several persons provided useful comments and helps throughout
the duration of the fieldwork and the writing of the final product. To
my committee, Dr. Philip Cusick, Dr. Peggy Reithmiller, and Dr. Kenneth
Harding, I am appreciative of the patience they have exhibited during
the long period of analysis and writing. To my chairman, Dr. Robert
Hatfield, I am especially indebted. His time, patience, and seemingly
undying faith in me over the last four years can not easily be described.
A simple "Thank you Bob," says it all.

Further without the patient understanding and gentle prodding of
my husband, Jim, and my son, Clay, the long months of fieldwork and

writing could not have been accomplished. For them I am eternally thankful.

iv

As I pondered over the answers to the questions, there were
times when I seriously considered laying the project aside. It is to
my sister, Carolyn Brian, that I owe gratitude since she provided the
impetus and encouragement to finish the final writing.

And finally, I am particularly grateful to Mrs. Sharon Goble,
who typed the field notes and interviews, and who worked long hours

typing the drafts of the text. She was and is my special friend.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES . . . . .....................

CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM ..... . .............

Introduction ......... . ......... _ . . . . . .
Background ........... . .............
Pr0b18m State'nentg/‘K ....... o ooooooo o o .....

 

Exploratory Questions ......... . ...........
The Purpose and Need for the Study . - - ,/.u“. . . .
Definition of Terms .....................
Procedures and Methodology ------------------
Assumptions . . ........................

Limitations of the Study ------
Overview of the Study --------

CHAPTER II THE REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Introduction --------- . . .

Studies to Student Teaching and Teacher Development - -----

Studies Using Ethnography in Education

General Themes in Participant Observation -----------

Participant Observation Studies

The Theory of Symbolic Interactionism
History and Assumptions ......

Perspective ............

Summary ...............

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY .....

Introduction . . .

Overall Conceptual Framework . . . . .

Method and Design . . . . ......
The Study Group ....... . . .
Data Collection ..........
Analysis and Validity ........
Summary ..............

vi

I
Pi.»

.I

a».

I‘d~‘

II..

CHAPTER IV PRESENTATION OF DATA .............. 70
Introduction ........... . ........... . 70
Genera] Background ..................... 71
History of Selected State ------ . - . - - » - . - . . . 74
The Teacher Education Program - . -------------- 75
The Schoo] Settings ........ o ............ 80
General Background of the Participants ............ 96
The Professional Semester .................. 161

Methods .......................... 161
The Practicun ....................... 181
Sumnary - ...... . . . . . . ................ 257

CHAPTER V PERSPECTIVE, ANSWERS. AND CONCLUSIONS ..... 260
Introduction ................. . ...... 260
The Problem . . . . ....... . ............ 261
The Explanation ....................... 262
The Analysis ......................... 275
The Reduction . ....................... 281
Conclusions ......................... 282
Research Implications . . . . . ........... . . . . 283
Summary ........................... 285

BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................... 286

APPENDICES

Appendix A First Interview Set - Student Teachers . . . . . . 293
Appendix 8 Second Interview Set - Student Teachers . . . . . 294

Appendix C Third Interview Set - Student Teachers ...... 295
Appendix D Interview Schedule for Supervising Teachers. . . . 297
Appendix E Role of the Fieldworker ............. 298

vii

LIST OF FIGURES

gggg
Figure I Analytical Conceptual Scheme ........... 66
Figure 11 Percentages in Occupational Areas ......... 73
Figure III List of Places and Participants ......... 82
Figure IV Analytical Conceptual Scheme

The Reduction . . . . ....... . . . . . . 281

viii

CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM
Introduction

For a long time.it has been assumed and accepted that the
full time practicum of teachers-in-training known as student teaching
is the most essential component of a teacher education program.
Generally this assumption has been held not only by teacher educators,
but by public school administrators, by teachers, and by students
preparing to teach. In fact, every state in the United States requires
proof of some form of practice teaching for state certification, and
until recently this practice has virtually been unquestioned. 'However
within the past few years, several teacher educators have raised
serious questions regarding the necessity of student teaching as it
presently exists.1 These same critics have also questioned the research
done in the area of student teaching, and they have raised two questions:
what occurs over time to the student during the process of student
teaching, and how within this context, do teachers learning to teach
make sense of the situations and events they encounter? It is to these

general questions that this study addresses itself.

 

1Kenneth M. Zeichner, "The Student Teaching Experience,
Action in Teacher Education 1 (Summer l978): 60.

The purpose of this chapter is to provide background for
the research, to establish the problem, to state the purpose of the
study, to show a need for the research, to define the terms used by
the researcher, and to caution the reader to any limitations in the

study.

MM

Learning to teach is a difficult and complex process which
at the present time is neither well understood nor well researched.
A myriad of research on teaching employing psychological themes and
statistical analysis exists. However little of this research has
produced substantive knowledge or formal theory for teacher education.
Most conversations about teacher education deal with the
formal routinized, institutional instruction provided by
colleges and continued by school districts after employment
. . . learning experiences encountered outside such formal
contexts escapes our view.2
As this quote implies learning occurs in both formal and infbrmal
contexts, and although researchers tend to examine formal contexts
closely, learning which contributes to actions and perspective are
learned in both settings.
It seems likely then that the process of learning to teach
may not be limited to education courses taken by prospective teachers,

and continuing education courses taken by inservice teachers. A

perspective on teaching may be influenced by early school experiences;

 

2Alanson, Van Fleet, “Learning to Teach: The Cultural
Transmission Analogy," Paper presented to Michigan State University's
Institute of Research on Teaching, East Lansing, Michigan, 2 June 1978.
(Mimeographed)

 

up! In ‘I
l I U} ‘
“1:1?"

 

I. ""

 

1h

\.
v)

u . ‘
1' I :
"" but

 

Cb. '
,3}! o:
1.. .3

‘
,;;P A.
‘I. ,

o
‘-
‘l‘
‘-
I
“."
.I
N
.; , .,
U 'E‘
' N
I
n-‘
'-
i 5
I’d-f.
i‘:
p
I.
d l
‘I
N.
(“I
I
P U‘
’-
'L:.
\.3

(Lortie 1966; Eddy 1969; Ryan 1970; Gibson 1973) by experiences
gathered over time through direct classroom teaching, (Jackson 1968)
and by cultural transmission.3 If this is the case, limitation of
research to the study of competencies needed in teaching, evaluation
of teacher education programs, teacher effectiveness, and teacher
characteristics seems to be far too simplistic a viewpoint on how a
teacher learns to teach. 1::n? .

Several researchers have noted that studies on these other
important aspects of teacher training are seriously lacking. For
instance Kevin Ryan (1970) states in the preface to his book on first
year teachers that, "There is such a paucity of research on the first
year of teaching, I was forced to draw heavily on my own six years of
work with beginning teachers."4 Elizabeth Eddy (1969) comments that
it is not empirically known what circumstances ease the transition
from student to teacher.5 She has looked at learning to teach as
“rites of passage" in the van Gennep and Warner tradition.6 Dan Lortie
(1985) also found that "empirical studies of teaching work--and the

outlook of those who staff the schools--remain rare."7

 

31bid.

4Kevin Ryan, Don't Smile Until Christmas (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1970), p. xii.

5Elizabeth Eddy, Becoming a Teacher (N.Y.: Columbia University
Press, 1969), p. 14.

5Ibid., p. 20-21.

7Dan C. Lortie, Schoolteacher (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1975), p. vii.

.. . d-
:1: .U
.n...

no...

it!-

’1‘»

n
to.

' .n.~-
‘ .
a“, -

V
V’ 'In
'-
in.
A‘- -
I'd-u
re s“
u. ':“
z.‘ ‘A.
I n
u“
.
p.
n
‘ \
en.
t '1
NH
vi
‘q
W
..
. '5,
' w.
‘
ll ’flq
O 1,.
'0.
I. ‘
... "

U‘ I

Two sociological researchers (Lortie 1966 and Jackson 1968)
have done intensive interviewing of teachers, and their conclusions
suggest curious questions for educators. Lortie (1966, 1975) has asked
how and why teachers seem to have no technical language that they use,
why they have little contact with one another, and why they show such
"resistance to giving up 'equality' in their ranks."8 Philip Jackson
(1968) also expresses similar themes. His study of classroom teachers
indicates that teachers are informal in their ways of working with
children; exist and act in the "here and now" with little real concern
for learning per_se_or for overall educational goals; feel their
autonomy threatened by superiors; are very opinionated; are interested
in the well being of individual students as opposed to the “class
group," and use language that is uncomplicated by complex conceptuality

9 In connection with conceptual simplicity

and technical vocabulary.
and technical language, Jackson states:

The absence of technical terms is related to another

characteristic of teacher talk: its conceptual simplicity.

Not only do teachers avoia elaborate words they also seem

to shun elaborate ideas.
Although Jackson attempts to recover from these indictments of teachers
by indicating that he may have misread his data, he is forced to conclude
that perhaps teaching needs no technical language or complex conceptu-

ality because the classroom situation does not require it.11 These

 

8Dan C. Lortie, "Teacher Socialization,“ in The Real World of
the BeginningeTeacher (Washington, D.C.: NEA, 1966), pp. 54-66.

9Philip Jackson, Life in Classrooms (N.Y.: Holt, Rinehart
Winston, 1968), p. 142-150.

101bid., p. 144.
llIbid., p. 151.

. 0“!
u‘ ‘ 9“
‘I n' v

i

n ,A
u

u
.\ I'I'

.
an ‘AI
. P .

.. J"

 

.u‘vc I .1

«u 0..
.. ,r ,

III. fl,

'(e--A.P
‘ \
" v to:

u ._,.
I

win. .'

“u
I
'I 1"

4-4

0.

q
A‘!

'I. p

 

indictments of teachers seem to ask where and how did teachers already
employed arrive at common perspectives regarding their classrooms and
their jobs.

A cursory review of student teaching research substantiates
the need for substantive research and theory generation in teacher
education. Much of the research in this area has been designed to
ascertain what a student teacher or a teacher should be. This research
consists mainly of survey studies and questionnaires on attitudes of
student teachers, what makes a good student teacher, and what programs
are available to student teachers. Other themes are also evident,
and these themes include teacher and student teacher role, teacher
development, and teacher status.

The literature concerning the role of student teachers makes
up some of the research. A student teacher's role has been said to be
one of expectations, "of an organized sequence of ascribed and learned
actions performed by a person in an interaction situation."12 ‘Some
research has been linked to Cottrells, "The Adjustment of the Individual
to His Age and Sex Roles.“ Sam Wiggins in The Student Teacher in Action
suggests that role and responsibilities of the supervising teacher
should aid the student teacher in defining his role as teacher.13 Cra-
gun and Moon suggest that the student teaching role is in relationship

to all the various preceptions the student teacher hasof hissupervising

 

12John J. Cragun and Arden Moon, "The Role of the Student
Teacher," in Toward Excellence in Student Teaching, edited by Hugo
David (Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 1973), pp. 11-12.

135am Wiggins, The Student Teacher in Action (Boston: Allyn
and Bacon, Inc., 1957).

Ola-Dflf
u up
nu “

 

 

 

“Ml.
‘ ‘
l.:. .

 

h.

 

 

teacher, his coordinator, his school principal, the pupils, and their
parents.14 They conclude that the student teaching experience is:
to provide teachers with concrete experiences in the public
school system. These are experiences by which student teachers
can develop an acceptable and realistic perception of their
roles and relationships with persons in other positions in the
school.

In an interesting recent study on the kinds of influences
which are important to student teachers, it was found the "student
teachers have strong needs for social and emotional support from
significant others."16 The data from this study gives some evidence
that supervising teachers have the most significant influence on the
student teacher, and that personal support is the most significant
reason for naming the supervisor as the most important influence.17

Some other books and articles in this area center on programs
for student teaching, results of program evaluation, systems for how
to fermulate programs, and treatises explaining to the would-be-student
teacher how he can with great effort survive the upcoming ordeal.

Two examples are Charles D. Neal, The Student Teacher at Work18 and

Hicks and Walker, Full Time Student Teaching.19

 

14Cragun and Moon, "The Role of the Student Teacher," pp. 11—12.

151bid.

16Ann H. Karmos and Carol M. Jacko, "The Role of Significant
Others During the Student Teaching Experience," Journal of Teacher
Education, 28 (Sept./Oct. 1977): 54.

17Ib1d. p. 53.

18Charles D. Neal, The Student Teacher at Work (Minneapolis,
Minn.: Burgess Publishing Co.,F1959).

19William v. Hicks and Clare c. Walker, Full Time Student
Teaching (East Lansing, Mi., MSU Press, 1957).

 

1..

0..

p...

 

-
l
O

 

.
I“
.

 

 

 

More recent literature deals with some similar themes, but
it often concerns itself with the new dimensions of competency teacher
education and protocols. These articles and monographs emphasize the
level of skill competence that is necessary before entry into the
profession of teaching or before entering the public school. None
have established exactly what happens in student teaching to the student
as he defines and interprets his situation.

Perhaps the lack of empirical research conducted on student
teachers and on the process of student teaching provides some insight.
For as well as being considered the “most essential" aspect of teacher
preparation, student teaching is also considered to be a time when,

"a student undergoes greater personality change than at any other
equivalent period of time in his life."20 However since documentation
through observation over time of the student teaching process has not
existed, there is no way to understand "this change." It has only

been since 1974 that there has been an increased interest and an appeal
by teacher educators for more substantive research on student teaching.21
(Sorenson 1974; Sanders 1974; Salzillo and Van Fleet 1977; and Zeichner
1978).

 

20Marvin A. Henry and W. Wayne Beasley, SupervisinggStudent
Teachers the ProfessionalgWgy (Terre Haute, Indiana: Sycamore Press,
974 , p. vii.

21Zeichner, "The Student Teaching Experience," p. 59.

av.-

 

\
III.

UP‘
a

o.-

O..-

I...‘

v.‘

.
:eo.
'-

.
\:" I
i I

4;-
11

(4

:PI

 

Problem Statement

Although the preceding was a brief summary of present findings on
student teaching, it does seem quite clear that the present state of
the research on preservice teachers is in need of further exploration
and development. It further seems clear that a new approach to
studying teacher education is in order. This study's methodology--
participant observation, its underlying theory-symbolic interaction,
and its problemblearning to teach--is a response to these current
conditions.

The sociological theory underlying this research is that of
symbolic interaction, and it provides the research method and the
basic framework from which to ask questions and gather data. This
theory espouses that both stability and change in the individual and
society are understood through interaction rather than through
personality or social structure. It is also assumed that the condition
of humanness may be conceptualized by perspectives which are always
dynamic, and that these perspectives are guiding influences in making
sense of the social world. Individuals do not simply respond to
social stimuli, but rather they actively interpret and guide their
social situations. These perspectives are learned through interaction,
and the individual can take one or many perspectives since each one
may be associated with a reference group or a society.22 Society,

which has its beginnings in every interaction situation, can be

 

22Joel H. Charon, Symbolic Interactionism (Englewood Cliffs,
N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1979), p. 31.

 

.~

I"

sq
.r'
lo

r. n

u.‘

.
‘r.

 

I
\

‘I

conceptualized by the individual in “interaction, communicating, and
developing a common shared perspective."23
In the same vein, Howard Becker has also defined perspective
as,
. . . a coordinated set of ideas and actions a person uses in
dealing with some problematic situation . . . a person's
ordinary way of thinking and feeling about and acting in such
a situation. These thoughts and actions are coordinated in
the sense that the actions flow reasonably, from the actor's
perspective, from the ideas contained in the perspective.
Similarly the ideas can be seen by an observer to be one of
the possible sets of ideas which might form the underlying
rationale for the person's actions and are seen by the actor
as providing a justification for acting as he does. 4
From these definitions then it may be seen that the individual's
part in developing his society is an active one rather than a passive
one. Since the human being is active and “in process,"25 he participates
in determining his own truth about reality, and these truths are under-
going constant change. In this process the individual develops
perspectives toward his situation by defining and interpreting the
social events and phenomena he encounters in various contexts over a
period of time.
When perspective as it is defined in symbolic interaction is
employed as a thesis, it may be seen that learning to teach is more
than role and "rites of passage" since the learning teacher actively

constructs his reality through establishing perspectives toward his

 

23Ibid.

24Howard Becker, Blanche Beer, Everett Hughes, and Anselm
Strgzss, Boys in White (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961),
p. .

25Arnold M. Rose, Human Behavior and Social Processes
(Boston: Hobghton-Mifflin, 1962), p. ix.

 

.0 Al!‘
I

I
”a. I

a‘!

-I 0..
~-

b’b

.IIA"
‘50 U

..,...
I N
I. .I.

“I.

' ’V

 

 

t!-
‘V
o.

" I.

a
I. "l

1‘”

.5;
'e

 

 

 

10

students, his university professors, his supervisors, and himself.

These perspectives are changing ones, and although they may be altered

in the future over time, they are not forgotten and therefore very
important. It could be said then that learning to teach is learning
perspectives of one's world which gives it order and organization. It
can further be hypothesized that the student teaching period is the

time when perspectives are more clearly formulated and brought into focus.
This first period of actively participating in the profession of teaching
provides new perspectives to student teachers which are derived from the
acts and actions or interactions of student teachers with their teaching
environment. It follows logically that perspectives learned in student
teaching will be carried to the school and the classroom of the first
year teacher, and that the acts of the first year teacher will initially
be based on these perspectives.

The emergent problem then is two fold. First, what interactions
with students, university professors and supervisors, public school
administrators, other teachers, and other student teachers, do student
teachers have during the term designated as student teaching that
create their perspectives about classrooms, students and schools; and
second, what meanings, definitions and interpretations (k) the student

teachers give to these interactions?
Exploratory Questions

Given the empirical nature of this study and the theory of
symbolic interaction, the study was guided by several exploratory

questions. These questions were ones that gave the research direction

 

I
.0
I
I
50
q
t
J.
i
.I
-:-;4
"U.-
.32 :-
1. .

   

 

 

 

a
‘s
. .
‘0
‘o
"
D I

 

11

and were designed to guide data collection. They include:

1. What do student teachers do during the college semester
designated as student teaching which contributes to
their perspectives on classrooms, students and schools?
(This semester includes classes in methods, and
fundamentals and the student teaching practicun.)

2. What do student teachers learn from one another and
from their supervisors about students, teachers, and
the school administration that influence their
perspectives toward teaching?

3. How does the student teacher define himself, the students,
the teachers, the school, the supervisors, and the
university within contextual variables? How do these
contextual variables contribute to perspective?

4. How do definitions formulated, interpreted and acted
upon during student teaching support perspective?

Based upon these questions the methodology of participant observation

was chosen to serve as the best approach to the study.
The Purpose and Need for the Study

The purpose of this study, which employs the methodology of
participant observation, is to describe and explain student teachers'
perspectives on learning to teach as they are developed from inter-
actions with others in fermal and informal contexts encountered
during the student teaching experience.

For many years teacher education has been floundering in its
attempts to establish a knowledge base. Because this study is
substantive and generates both description and substantive theory,
it has potential use for both practitioners and for professionals.

Already established in the literature is the recognition

that substantive research and grounded theory are needed in teacher

 

 

-Ivv1

 

   

.,. ‘
' 1
o . I
I
I . ‘
VI I
i...
I
I..
I
I
I. I,
V‘ 't
l
.01.
‘
Q‘.‘
.‘ 9‘-
u. .‘r
..
H.
\
d
u.
r F
V-‘
q
/
h
't
1 I
II“:
n
i
U
I
I Q
O
I .‘t
‘1‘

 

 

12

education, and this study is one answer to that appeal. The

documentation and analysis of data in this study should fully contribute

to the development of theory in teacher education; the ultimate

outcomes seek refinement, revision and extension of existing research.
The methodology of participant observation that is employed

is relatively new to teacher education, but its use in generating

hypotheses for further research cannot be overlooked. The study may

therefbre serve as a model for other exploratory studies of classroom

and school social life. The study's conceptual nature may also be

built upon by other researchers. Given these circumstances, it appears

that an academic need exists for this study in teacher education.
Definition of Terms

Terms and phrases used in this study are defined as follows:

1. Student teaching: That period of consecutive weeks designed
to be preparation for field experience, (subject matter methods and
fundamentals classes) and the actual field experience in the cooperating
school under the direct guidance of a classroom supervising teacher.
This definition describes the semester program at the university where
the research was conducted.

2. Student teacher: That individual who participates in the
student teaching process.

3. Supervising;teacher: A regular classroom teacher in whose
class students do student teaching, and who is responsible for guiding
the field experience part of student teaching. Also called a cooperating

teacher or critic teacher by participants.

13

4. University supervisor: That person responsible for teaching
subject matter methods to student teachers and preparing them to enter
their field experience. This individual is also responsible for
evaluating student teachers and "supervising" them in their field sites.

5. Laboratory school: That field site which is affiliated, but
not operated by the university training the student teachers.

6. The public school: That institution or field site where student
teachers do their practicum under the supervision of a supervising
teacher.

7. Methods class: That course in the university curriculum in
the teaching of methods in a particular subject matter area (i.e.
English Methods).

(ie:) Course description: Study of effective methods of

introducing composition, language, and literature to the

secondary school students with special emphasis on

programing, lesson planning, and evaluation.

8. Fundamentals class: That course in the university curriculum
designed to expose student teachers to the practices and procedures of
the public school.

(ie:) Course description: Graduated approach to responsible

classroom teaching through experience in study and discussion,

organizing materials, directed observation, laboratory work

and other pre-student teaching experiences.

9. Perspective: A set of assumptions, values, and ideas which

form an individual's conceptual framework and influence his perceptions

 

26From "Syllabus for Teaching of English in the Secondary
School.", Fall 1971, p. l.

Z7From “Syllabus for Fundamentals in Secondary Education."
(Spring 1978) p. 1. (To give further information, would be to reduce

anonymity.)

.e.\. .l..

14

and actions in situations.28 Perspectives are used by the individual
I to organize his activities, but they are a cultural phenomenon which
comes into being when a culture shares comnon goals in comon situations.
(i.e.: The student culture of Becker.) It is the perspectives of the
individual within the student teaching group that this study explores.

10. The Director of Field Esperience: That individual whose
responsibility it is to "place" student teachers in field sites.

11. The students: Those individuals in the student teacher's
classes in the field site.

12. A Context: Contexts are constituted by what people are doing
and where and when they are doing it. (Erickson and Schultz 1977)29
People in interaction become environments for each other, (McDermott
1976)30 and ultimately, social contexts consist of mutually shared
and ratified definitions of situations in which the social actions
persons take are on the basis of those definitions. (Mehan gnggs
1976)31 Formal contexts can be determined somewhat easily, but informal

contexts are more difficult.

 

28Charon, Symbolic Interactionism, p. 7.

29Frederick Erickson and Jeffrey Schultz, "When is a Context?
Some Issues and Methods in Analysis of Social Competence,“ Quarterly
Newsletter of the Institute for Comparative Human Development
(Dec. 1, 1977): 5-10.

30R. P. McDermott, Kids Make Sense: An Ethnographic Account
of the Interactional Management of Success and Failure in One First
Grade C assroom, *Ph.D dissertation, Stanford University, 1976.

 

31H. Mehan, S. Fisher, and N. Manoules, Social Organization
of Classroom Lessons, Technical Report, submitted to the Ford
oun ation, 7 .

15

Procedures and Methodology

The methodology used in the study was closely tied to its
purpose. In fact a study of social life employing symbolic interaction
necessitates the use of direct observation. Herbert Blumer has been
explicit in his discussion of methodology:

Symbolic interactionism recognizes that the genuine mark of
an empirical science is to respect the nature of its empirical
world--to fit its problems, its guiding conceptions, its
procedures of inquiry, its techniques of study, its concepts,
and its theories to that world. It believes that this
determination of problems, concepts, research techniques,

and theoretical schemes should be done by the direct
examination of the actual empirical social world rather than
by working with a simulation of thgt world, or with a

preset model of that world . . . 3

The interactionist's conception of human behavior assumes
that behavior is self-directed and observable at two 1evels--the
symbolic and the behavioral. Self-directed refers to how humans act
toward themselves as they would toward another object. If human
behavior is self-directed and observable at two levels then central
to understanding such behavior is the scope and variety of symbols
and meanings which have consensus. These can be seen as patterns
showing how meanings are attached to a social object and therefore
manifest themselves in patterns of interaction. Also since symbols,
meanings, and definitions are made into self-definitions and attitudes,
the "self-hood“ must be observed and recorded by the researcher. In

other words, the researcher can see how the shifting definitions of

 

32Herbert Blumer, Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and
Method (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall Co., T969), p. 49.

16 ‘

self are reflected in ongoing patterns of behavior only by direct
observation.33 These ongoing patterns can be predicted when perspective
is known.

Since the desired outcome of this study was to identify student
teachers' perspectives on learning to teach, it was necessary for the
researcher to act in the role of a participant. More correctly this
researcher acted in the role of a "participant-as-observer." (Gold 1958)
The participant-as-observer is a quietly overt role which allows the
researcher the freedom to participate when called upon, and to record
data as field notes and on tapes. The researcher attended methods and
fundamentals classes with the student teachers and followed them into
their school classrooms. Although data from observations and interviews
was collected dgily for five months, the total length of the study was

seven months.
Assumptions

This study made two assumptions. First, it was assumed that
student teachers like all human beings do develop perspectives toward
their lives which allow them to operate and function in a particular
way. Implicit in this assumption is that persons in the act of learning
to teach create a perspective about that reality which colors their
verbal and non-verbal interactions. Second, it was assumed that through
careful routine daily observation over time of that reality, perspective

could be uncovered, documented, and predicted. These assumptions are

 

33Norman Denzin, The Research Act (New York: McGraw Hill,
1970). p. 18.

, u
~qo. ‘

\n ‘
"p.11 5|

on.
C"

’ .
Mn.“-
an.“
v‘

‘DO.

NI”! .1 e

I
O

b

'3
;
O
' a.»
u.‘.
‘
.
1“ A .
'

«'4 .

‘ n
a

I

l.‘
.‘ ‘ ‘
‘v~-'.
\
.-

a

‘-

u

a

17

implicit in the theory of symbolic interactionism and in its correspond-

ing methodology.
Limitations of the Study

This study has both strengths and limitations. Often participant
observation is criticized for its non-standardization of method. In
other words how does the researcher know what happened really did and was
not his own bias. This question can be answered by the method itself
since it provides for the researcher to see how the individual infbrmants
handle their daily lives in a variety of situations and activities. In
finding perspectives this seems essential. Participant observation and
interviewing are considered the most appropriate methods for studying a
substantive problem. Dean, Eichorn, and Dean have said, that "a major
characteristic of participant observation and interviewing in the field
is its non-standardization of method"34 which allows the researcher to
elicit data from the informant's viewpoint. This lack of standardization
gives the researcher flexibility to gather data in many different sites
over as long a period of time as needed, and to provide constant checks
on the validity of data. Therefore, the combination of methods and
subsequently, its internal checks on validity can be considered a strength
of method rather than a weakness.

Another criticism of participant observation is that the method

has only a small sample and therefore may not be generalizable. While

 

34John P. Dean, Robert L. Eichorn, Lois R. Dean, "Limitations
and Advantages of Unstructured Methods,“ in An Introduction to Social
Research. (2nd).edited by John T. Doty, Appleton-Century-Crofts Co.,
1967), p. 274-275.

.o- J” A!

1"“) O:

. . u
l.‘ ‘1‘ 1'
' .

o I l

 

"n; F
:2 “Eu

'
B“! O-
1 v-i w-

"- Ile-

"‘ 0'5;

 

P-b
‘.

1
ti.

18

the small sample may not be arguable, it can be debated whether any
study dealing with social phenomena is universally generalizable.

The vivid description provided through careful, intelligent collection
of data can make the perspectives of student teachers in the act of
learning to teach understandable and provide a knowledge base from
which to do further research. It is hoped that the propositions
generated from this study will provide content for teacher education

courses and be further tested and researched by others.

Overview of the Study

The succeeding chapters of this study are organized in the
following way. In Chapter Two the relevant literature concerning the

research problem is reviewed with particular emphasis given to teacher

and classroom studies which have employed the methodology of participant

observation and interviewing. This chapter also presents a discussion
of symbolic interactionism, its background, assumptions, philosophical
outlooks and premises. A brief commentary on the way enthnography has
been used in educational research is included, and conclusions on the

present state of the literature in teacher education.

Chapter Three includes a summary of the theory, and a description

of how this study used participant observation and interviewing. Also
included is the description of the study group, an explanation of

perspective, the "design" of the study, the data analysis procedures,

and a discussion of validity and reliability as it applies to participant

observation methodology. The fourth chapter presents the descriptive

data which has been analyzed from a contextual framework.

19

The final chapter includes theoretical explanations, final
answers to the research questions, and the implications of this research

for teacher education.

CHAPTER II
THE REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction

One small and two large bodies of literature combine to
provide support and fOundation for this research and its corresponding
methodology. The literature describing and explaining participant
observation as a research method is large and well defined. This
literature will be summarized thematically and only those studies
relating to this research problem and purpose will be reviewed. A
substantial theoretical base has been established in the sociological
area for-the theory of sumbolic interactionism. The theoretical
content of this literature will be examined in some detail.

As was noted in Chapter I, little research on the problem of
learning to teach exists, and the literature in the area of student
teaching which has employed participant observation and interviewing
is unfortunately very small. There is however a growing interest in
education for this methodology and several ethnographies have been
presented. It is then the primary purpose of this chapter to review,
comment,and synthesize the literature in the field of teacher education
*which concerns student teachers in formal and non-formal contexts, and
other pertinent literature on teaching which has either produced

ethnography and/or employed participant observation.

20

I
DIR-(IA
. 'I
I' la!

u, 6':

QMC,‘

I Id.

.', .,_
'5

one!
o
tw'b

:a-r

.1:

‘cn-F
'iop

o. a,

\
div-I:

LII)

C) (‘9 __’

I"!

ll,
‘1!

(I.
O

21

Studies in Student Teaching
and” eacher DeveTOpment

 

Possibly the body of literature on "learning to teach" in

schools, university settings, and classrooms remains small because
in the past the literature on student teaching has tended to be
prescriptive and authors chose to define and assess the student teacher
in terms of an ideal teacher role model. Generally these researches
tend to be prescriptive, condescending, non-theoretical, and at times
even compromising. It is not unusual to find passages which ask the
neophyte teacher to compromise himself while participating in the
student teaching practicum. Sometimes an author in an attempt to help
the student teacher know how to act when he reaches his student teaching
site offers advice. For instance John Devor in his book The Experience
of Student Teaching; collected reports and "unsolicited comments“ from
supervising teachers that suggested what demeanor student teachers
should present to the school. In the chapter entitled, “0n Observing
Proper Relations with the Supervising Teachers," Devor suggests the
following decorum should be observed.

Respect the opinion of the supervising teacher. Adhere to a

neutral policy in school relations. Assist the supervising

teacher in every way. Consult your supervisor on all matters

ggcpglieyzregarding class management, discipline, and other

The author then provided the neophyte a model of a teacher in positive

language and suggested that if he followed this prescription there

 

1John N. Devor, The Experience of Student Teaching. (N.Y.:
MacMillan Co., 1964.)

21bid., p. 18.

22

could be no failure. What seems to occur inadvertently in this book
and others like it is that the student teacher although assessed and
evaluated as a teacher is in fact forced into the position of a
teacher's aide or the status of "not quite a teacher." This advice,
although perhaps practical, also may be seen as an extension of the
student role rather than the role of the teacher.

In a similar vein publications dealing with secondary student
teachers also evolved into manuals. For instance in Thomas J. Brown's
Student Teaching in a Secondary School,3 the author addressed his book
to the student teacher, and through the use of excerpts from other
students' experiences attempted to help the prospective student teacher
feel better about himself and to know what kinds of things could be
expected from him in a school setting. Although this purpose was
accomplished, the balance of the book became a manual for supervising
teachers. It is unfortunate that the position of the student teacher
in the school is such that his supervising teacher receives more space
than he does in a book designed and addressed to him. Although
neither of the authors cited above would lay claim to participant
observation, both used records from student teachers to advance their
positions in an attempt to help neophytes through a most difficult
and trying time.

More recently the theme of teacher development has appeared
in the teacher education literature. This perspective toward "learning

to teach" has a growing audience and therefore necessarily must be

 

3Thomas J. Brown, Student Teaching in a Secondary School,
(N.Y.: Harper and Brothers, 1960.)

 

 

‘.
'- d
o

 

 

23

reviewed. Frances Fuller was instrumental in encouraging and
proposing this viewpoint. In a 1969 study,4 she examined intensively
the concerns of prospective teachers and re-examined the findings
of other investigators in hopes of conceptualizing teacher development.
She divided teachers into three stages--the pre-teaching stage,
the beginning teacher stage, and the impact of teaching or experienced
teacher stage. It was found that in the earliest stage prospective
teachers showed "non-concern" or a lack of interest in teaching. She
indicated that this stage occurred prior to student teaching and that
the characteristics of individuals in Stage One were the concerns of
adolescents in general. In Stage Two students exhibited overt and
covert concerns about the self as teacher. Covertly, preservice teachers
wanted to know, "Where do I stand?" and overtly they sought information
as to "How adequate am I?" The final state occurs only in experienced
teachers and is demonstrated by interest in student learning gain and
self-evaluation. Here teachers understand student capabilities, specify
objectives, and access self in terms of pupil gain and pupil need.
Fuller then concluded that prospective teacher attitudes toward
preparation are non-enthusiastic since young people are probably too
young to benefit from traditional teacher education programs. Her
conclusions supported the research findings of Adlering (1963), Deriulio

(1961), and Shrunk (1959).

 

4Frances Fuller, "Concerns of Teachers: A Development
Conceptualization," [USOE Grant No. 6-10-108 of the Research and
Development Center for Teacher Education. Co. Directors, Robert F.
Rack and Oliver H. Brown and USOE 3-10-032 in the Personality,
Teacher Education and Teaching Behavior Project] American Education
Research Journal 6 (March 1969): 207-226.

.0 A
:ud-

..o.

'$"

sp-a

Ihu‘
I

a a
If
I‘-
(II

I. I
‘33

‘O
‘ .Al

'vvu

tn

.
I...

\
'hd

.AF.
.
I 1.

‘." I
("It

I
a(‘
"I u

1"

ll‘

 

24

In contrast to Fuller's research Thompson (1963), found that
student teachers have concerns about expectations of supervising
teachers, job placement, low SES students, and parents, subject matter
adequacy, pupil reaction, desired teacher conduct, answering students'
questions, and discipline. No attempt at conceptualization however
was made by Thompson.5

Sally Glassberg in a well conducted and supervised study
attempted to bridge the gap between theory and practice through the
use of peer supervision for student teachers. Her purpose was to
design, implement, and evaluate a curriculum which promoted the develop-
ment of student teachers in the area of moral and ego conceptualization.6
She asked the question, "What curriculum for teachers in-training
best promotes development?" Using this question she then designed a
curriculum experiment which emphasized role-taking, empathetic
responses, and personal reflection. Students acquired skills in
analyzing interactions at appropriate levels of responding, in non-
verbal behaviors, in direct vs. indirect teaching skills, and in
behavioral contracting. Student teachers were also provided skills
in giving positive and negative feedback to group members and in
facilitating a discusion of video-tapes. She concluded that
developmental concepts promote ego development in pre-service teachers,
that the balancing of role taking and reflection promote both
professional and psychological growth, and that higher stage (cognitive

 

51pm.

6Sally Glassberg, "Student Teaching Supervision Designed,
Implemented and Evaluated From a Developmental Perspective," paper
presented at AERA, Toronto, Canada, March 1978, p. l.

 

25

and affective) teachers produce higher stage students.7 She also
concluded that "The study suggested a framework different from
competency-based teacher education programs to promOte student
teacher development."8

Another study that explored the effects of student teaching
on ego and the self was an experimental study which used a pre/post
test design between student teachers in the Project Interaction Early
Field Experience Program, and traditional student teachers.9 The study
concluded that more conflict in self concept existed in students in
the early field experiences program near the beginning of student
teaching than in the traditional student teachers, and less conflict
occurred near the end of the program for early field experience people.
Traditional student teachers experienced more problems near the end
of this experience but were more comfortable at the beginning. The
experiment's results however found no differences in their teaching
performance.

Still another study employing the conceptualization of
teacher development was conducted by Mary Kelly in 1978-1979.10

 

71bid.. p. 15.
81bid., p. 16.

9Charlotte Scherer, "Effects of Early Field Experiences on
Student Teacher's Self-Concepts and Performances," Journal of
Experiential Education 47 (Spring 1979): 208-214.

10Mary K. Kelly, “A Study to Determine the Effects of Structured
Reflective Writing on the Professional and Personal Development of
Teachers," Ph.D. dissertation, Michigan State University, 1979, p. 1-2.

26

Kelly combined Fuller's framework, the developmental conceptual
systems of Harvey, Hunt, and Schroeder (1961), and Loevinger's

(1970, 1977) theory of ego development with an adaption of Glassburg's
(1978) and Benham's (1978) intervention of journal writing as an
effective tool for self awareness and integration. The study was
designed to ascertain if "structured reflective writing, followed by
supportive and challenging feedback,"11 had any effect on the
professional and personal development of teachers. The results of
the study indicated that while the intervention did not greatly
affect development on a short-term basis, it did provide a "time
efficient" way of establishing an environment where development could
occur. Although Kelly did not do participant observation, she did
employ "on site" feedback techniques, and she did semi-participate
with her subjects through direct structured feedback.

.The idea of learning to teach as the influence of significant
others (see explanation on Mead, Chapter 2) was explored by Ann Karmos
and Carol Jacko in "The Role of Significant Others During the Student
Teaching Experience.“ This study explored the kinds of influences
which were important to student teachers. These researchers found that
“student teachers have strong needs for social and emotional support
from significant others."12 This study lends credence to the fact that

supervising teachers have the most significant influence on the student

 

111b1d., p. 1.

12Ann H. Karmos and Carol M. Jacko, "The Role of Significant
Others During the Student Teaching Experience," Journal of Teacher
Education 28 (Sept./Oct. 1977): 54.

 

27

teacher and that personal support is the most significant reason for
naming the supervisor as the most important influence on the student
teacher while he is in the field. However as the authors freely
adnit, they cannot establish cause and effect from their results since
their study was a survey.13
Although inconclusive, the above survey does have merit and
may even be important since Karmos and Jacko acknowledge that student
teachers do have diverse groups of people with which they must form
relationships in school/university situations. Tamotsu Shibutani (1959,
1961) has established that perspectives are formed by definitions made in
social situations with reference groups.14 Assuming this is true, it can
be inferred that reference groups are formed by perspectives toward
significant others. Therefore in determining perspective the role of
others in specific interactional settings is important.
Several researchers have attempted studies which employ the
use of some form of observation and collection of journal entries.
The earliest available study which used a combination of student teacher
logs, very limited observation and informal interviewing was conducted
by Iannaccone and Button in 1964.15 They collected logs and interviewed

twenty-five elementary female student teachers. The nature of their

 

13Ibid., p. 53.

14Tamotsu Shkbutani, "Reference Groups as Perspective," Journal
of Sociology 30 (May 1955): 564.

15L. Iannaccone and W. Button, Functions of Student Teaching
(St. Louis, Mo.: Washington University OfficelPFoject, No. 1026, 1964).

28

problem was: do student teachers change their ideas and actions
toward the specific problematical situations arising from the
classroom context?
Their conceptual framework utilizated three major positions.
First, they looked for elements of "rites of passage" as in the
context of Arnold van Gennep's work. Second, they attempted to
identify “interaction sets" using the previous work by Arensberg and
Chapples, and third, they attempted to determine perspectives from
work done by Becker, e_t__§_l_.
In identifying "rites of passage" Iannaccone and Botton
found evidence of separation and incorporation.16 They also found
transition from one superordinate organization--the university --to
another superordinate organization--the public school. In effect
the university was saying to the student teacher, we are through with
you, and we are giving you to the public school which we cannot control.
. . . the superordinate at the university . . . says to the
beginning student teacher, 'we' the University, are turning
13.3.fiiiitifinaii121’.2‘*§.°§.$321331'31?“ "" “me" 5°“
Iannaccone and Button used three interaction sets in presenting
their data. These sets are sequential in nature and varied in start
time with each of the student teachers. The first set is the observer
set, the second the dyad of superordinate/subordinate, and third, the

teaching set. In the sixteen week program they researched--mostly

from logs, some participants remained in the observer set for as long

 

15Ibid., p. 32.
17Ibid., p. 36.

29

as six weeks even though they may have had experience teaching
elsewhere.18

This research team also tried to uncover perspectives from
journals. They determined that student teachers' Perspectives
involved teacher work not student learning,19 that the involvement
of children in chores was necessary; that there was a need for a
tight classroom schedule; that there was reliance on the use of the
textbook; and the control of deviant students reduced the magnitude
of work in an elementary classroom; that moving through the schedule
leads to pupil learning; that disciplining students is necessary for
the maintenance of progress through the lesson; and that the criteria
of success is that "it works" if it is "keeping the teaching activity
going."20 Overall the perspectives which are stated in a later
publication summarize perspective as,

1. Eliminate disruptive behavior by increasing doses of.
institutional pressures and sanctions to make the child
conform to the organizational pattern in the room.

2. Redefine the learning goals by operationalization of
these in terms of a few precise and predetermined types
of pupil behavior to be fed back to the teacher, and
classify as "irrelevant" all pupil discussion which does
not move the class toward such goals.

3. Reclassify as slow and not belonging in the room those

pupils who are not primarily discipline cases, but who do
not feed back as expected.

 

181bid., p. 38.
19Ibid., p. 57.
2°1bid., p. 58.
21Laurence Iannaccone, "Student Teaching: A Transitional

Stage in the Making of a Teacher," Theory Into Practice 2 (April 1963):
80.

It was these three perspectives that led Iannaccone and Button to
the conclusion that the solution of immediate problems based on
“Does it work?“ is ultimately what student teachers learn in their
practicum.

Although this research was done more than fifteen years ago,
it is meritous, and one of the tug_studies which has analyzed in
depth the perspectives of student teachers. However the study used
elementary women, and observation was ggt_the focus of the study.

One other study available which has established that student
teachers develop perspectives during student teaching was conducted
by Joan Bernstein for a dissertation. She attempted to uncover
perspectives in ten Home Economics student teachers.22 Her study
used "the panel technique" and she collected journal entries in an
attempt to document a "step-by-step" process through which students
gain professional status. She determined that socialization to
teaching is anticipatory, that the individual develops perspectives
on problem solving, and that student teachers were reluctant to
practice risk-taking behaviors. She also concluded that student
teaching was rites of passage and which, if dealt with successfully,
enable the student teachers to make the transition from preservice
teacher to professional; that students do develop perspectives in
response to situational pressures which persist throughout the

student teaching period, and that these students moved through seven

 

22Joan D. Bernstein, "Perspectives: An Interpretive View
of the Student Teaching Experiences of Ten Preservice Teachers
Preparing to Teach Home Economics," Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia
University, 1978.

31

identifiable stages in the developmental task of preparing for an
occupation. Her study is the only available one on secondary student
teachers at the present time. Again a good study, but the researcher
did not verify with observation.

Louis Smith has employed participant observation in two
studies. The first was with the 2 x 2 apprentice program at Colunbia
University, and the second was in collaboration with a teacher. In
the first study William Connor and Louis Smith (1957)23 conducted a
participant observation study using twelve informants both female and
male from the 2 x 2 Elementary Apprentice Program at Columbia Teachers
College. The apprentices were not student teachers per;se_since they
had already participated in that program previously. They were
however beginning teachers in an experimental university program
which was utilizing the public school as a "field site."

The purpose of Connor's and Smith's study was to “gain a
preliminary understanding of some of the different kinds of consequences
that occur in the education of teachers as a result of different patterns
in the organization of the student teaching experience . . . to
describe carefully an ongoing pattern and to develop modes of its
functioning."24

The study used participant observation, interviewing of

participants, and the analysis of daily logs kept by the twelve

 

23William H. Connor, and Louis M. Smith, Analysis of Patterns
of Student Teachin (Washington, D.C.: USOE, Co-op Resp. Report
No. 5-8204, 1967).

24Ibid., p. 20.

pup

.
C I
(1

‘IA -.

>Id

(O

I
..’ PP
”
"b

Eu";
‘16

p
‘ Fa.

32

apprentices. The three investigators spent twenty weeks during the
fall semester in the fifteen elementary schools cooperating with the
2 x 2 program. Each of the three researchers was responsible for
four apprentices.
Connor and Smith using Merton's Functional Analysis found
that manifest and latent functions existed in the apprentice programs,
and they suggested that role playing was a very important way of
viewing the apprenticeship since it was the apprenticeship that
provided opportunities for that role play.25 They also built an
inquiry model and a psychomotor model of teaching. They did not find
all the elements of rites of passage since they found "ritualistic
or ceremonial aspects“ as implied in the van Genneps's conception,
"did not loom large in their data."26 The researchers maintained that
functional analysis was a proper way to analyze and build models of
teaching.
In the second study Louis Smith and William Geoffrey collaborated

to investigate the urban classroom.27 Smith has stated,

. . we think . . . (this study) is probably the most

intensive analysis that has been made of a single classroom.

It is most likely the first time a college professor has

spent all day everyday within a slum classroom as an observer.

It is probably the most intensive cooperative effort between

an elementary school teacher and an educational psychologist

to bring their varying Bgints of view to bear on the day-to-
day issues of teaching.

 

25Ibid., p. 286.
26Ibid., p. 291.

27Louis M. Smith and William Geoffrey, The Complexities of
An Urban Classroom (N.Y.: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968).

28Ibid.

.0.-
'

nioyi

‘1.

...
1—
v5.

I“i- .

'II
.P’
\ Tl":

.|i
. .
a 4..
a E- '
hr“

LI’ "3 (I .3 [U

.7‘! .

/

‘5‘. ’

33

These men produced a microethnography of teaching. Smith participated

as a participant observer and collected field notes on his classroom
observations. Geoffrey, the teacher, kept notes of his perceptions of
the classroom and its functioning. In this way they employed an "inside-
outside“ phenomenon in their research. The notes were a composite of
their viewpoints, and they put the notes together for their analysis.29

The purpose of the Geoffrey/Smith research then was to build a
model of classroom functioning at the system's level, and to see how a
middle class teacher coped with lower class children. They employed
the model of Homans (1950) for substantive concepts and used Zetterberg's
(1965) conception of social science theory for building their theory.
From their observations they abstracted operational definitions which
were in effect stated phenomenon. As the list of concepts grew, they
became more and more complex and were relevant to and related to other
concepts. It was from these complex concepts that they produced their
theory. It can also be said that this study was cyclical since it began
at the first of the school year and extended to its conclusion.

Smith and Geoffrey freely explain the problems they encountered
with the method and in building their theory. In effect what became
central to their discussion of the process of teaching was that it was
a decision making process. They state:

Rationality . . . means that one's goals and their accompanying
high probable means are in control of one's behavior. While the
broad and more ultimate goals of public education have been

formalized by committees and commissions, we have been impressed

by the degree to which means have become ends in the urban class-
room.30

 

291bid., p. 1.

3OIbid., p. 232.

34

In other words “proximate“ goals have replaced "distal“ goals.31 One
feels that they are saddened by this turn of events.

In a synthesis article, Smith32

attempts conceptualization from
the results of three other studies. Here he synthesizes a classroom
social system from other studies on teaching. One of these, which has
previously been cited, is germane. He has determined that the school
classroom is a very complex place and that there are phases and emphasis
in teacher training which need more analysis and explanation. He
outlines six strands of teacher training and maintains that these need
to be viewed in the larger context of a lifetime career.

From the study of the 2 x 2 Apprentice Program, Smith concludes
that the substantive context which develops a general conception of
teaching drops off at the end of the preservice and probationary period,
and that there is a development of concrete images that begins before
apprenticeship and reaches a maximum in the student teaching practicum.
He also concluded that interpersonal survival skills are important in
the first year of teaching, and that idiosyncratic styles develop over
time. Therefore the analysis and conceptualization of teaching is not
accented by apprentices, and it was never reflected in their curriculum.
It would be safe to say that Smith is looking for the teacher scholar,
but doesn't find him.

This conceptualization of the classroom as a social system is

especially helpful in studying student teacher perspective since it has

 

31Ibid., p. 232.

32Louis M. Smith, "The Classroom Social Systems in Elementary
Education," in Reform of Teacher Education, edited by Bruce Joyce and
Marsha Neil (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1972), p. 159.

35

essentially established that "each classroom is a complex fascinating

and perhaps even a tractable set of issues."33

This being accurate,
the novice teacher then develops a definition and a perspective to
provide action in these situations.

In sum, the articles on student teaching are far more numerous
than can be explored here, but two outstanding facts remain clear.
First, the research which employs on site observation is very limited,

and second, theory built on other research seems to be lacking.
Studies UsingiEthnography in Education

As mentioned in an earlier part of this paper educators are
slowly coming to realize the potential importance of field research
and its possibilities for education. It is the purpose of this part
of the review to discuss ethnography, and to add caution about the use
of "ethnographic“ techniques as some have employed them.

The term ethnography is one that belongs to anthropology and
has a long tradition. An ethnography provides basic description or

34

"picture“ of the way of life of some interacting human group. It

may also be viewed as an,
. . . inquiry process guided by a viewpoint, rather than as a

reporting process guided by a standard technique or set of
techniques.3

 

33Ibid., p. 162.

34Harry Holcott, "Criteria For an Ethnographic A proach to
Research in Schools," Human Organization 34 (Summer 1975 : ll2.

35Frederick David Erickson, "What Makes School Ethnography
"Ethnographic?" Council on Anthropology and Education Newsletter 4
(Sumner l973): T6.

36

It is the record of field inquiry which has asked situationally specific
questions about a group of human beings and which has used situationally
specific and varying techniques to gather data on those questions; this
in turn leads to new questions. The concept of "culture" as process is
recognized as "ongoing, elusive and always being modified"36 and the
anthropologist asks that "culture" to remain static long enough to get a
picture of it. Holcott says,
in viewing "culture" as process there is a nexus between

the ethereal notion of culture and the very practical and

immediate business of learning what one needs to know to be a

member of a particular social system . . .
In other words the anthropologist is interested in the broad cultural
context, and his frame of reference is holistic. .Therefore the
contexts refer to a commitment to look at people and events in a total
milieu rather than only at bits and pieces. People are viewed not
just as "teachers" but as people who have many aspects to their lives
and therefore learn, not just in one situation, but in many.‘ It is
the researcher's responsibility to see and actually live from a
distance the lives of others as they are taught formally and learn both
what was intended and what was not intended. Education therefore must
be careful to use ethnography as it was intended.

A study which employed "ethnographic" techniques was the
"California Beginning Teacher Evaluation Study."37 Berliner and

 

11 35Holcott. "Criteria for an Ethnographic Approach . . ..“
p. 2.

37David 0. Berliner, and William J. Tikunoff, "The California
Beginning Teacher Evaluation Study," Journal of Teacher Education 26
(Sept. 1976): 24-30.

1
up
(‘D

I

II
‘11
to

new
i rid

‘9.

‘p‘ 9
“H

37

Tikunoff have described their purpose as two fold. First, they wished
to see if descriptive anthropological approaches to research would
reveal insights to the teaching and learning process and to provide
protocols of the classroom written by observers unaware that the
effectiveness of the teacher had already been measureed. The data was
collected in five protocols in which the observer observed a week in
math and a week in language arts in grades two and five. It was found
that within two weeks, raters had two hundred concepts and sixty-one
variables that could be defined. Twenty-one of these variables were
generic and therefore could be used to discriminate between effective
and less effective teachers. It was therefore concluded that ethno-
graphic procedures gave a rich descriptive data base and generate
variables for further study.

Although §I§§ is a good study, it is not an ethnography since
it lacks the daily rigors of the method. Observation was used, but
ongoing participant observation was not employed. The observers did
not see teachers in a variety of contexts and therefore did not give
a complete description and explanation of the group of new and
beginning teachers. In other words they did not live the culture
of the new teachers. This study also violates traditional fieldwork
since the etic (observer) categories were presumed before data was
collected, and the emic (participant) categories were not considered
in the analysis. Using similar methods others in educational
research are calling their studies ethnographies or “ethnographic“
based more on the interpretation of method than on the description
of "culture," and perspectives of "natives" in that culture. §I§§

is a good observational study, but it is not ethnography.

poo III- A

~- ~‘

‘eoq'

O
O. .
.F .
0“! .
d: I
\
."
'b:
'9
. I
I ,..
. l
- 'rr-
9 w 2‘
I

I'.
.Fl-

;"

38

General Themes in Participant Observation

A large body of literature exists on the methodology and
methodological position of participant observation.' This literature
centers on three main themes. First, the method itself and how the
researcher might go about employing it. (Schatzman and Strauss 1973),
(McCall and Simmons 1969), (Lutz and Iannaccone 1969), (Erickson
1977), (Pelto and Pelto 1970), (Spindler 1970), (Powdermaker 1966),
(Denzin 1970). Second, the reasons--phi1050phical and theoretical--
for the use of the method over other methods have been established in
the literature. (Blumer 1969), (Bruyn 1966), (Shibutani 1970),
(Johnson 1975). The third theme centers on the problems associated
with the method, and how they may be minimized. (Becker 1970), (Dean,
Eichhorn, and Dean 1967), (Zelditch 1962), (Denzin 1970), (McCall and
Simmons 1969), (Glaser and Strauss 1967), (Lofland 1971).

Participant Observation Studies

Participant observation as a research method in education has
not been widely used. However there is at the present time a growing
body of research employing this method. Some of the more notable
studies using participant observation can be reviewed.

In a nine month study of a classroom teacher in an urban

k,38 employing participant observa-

elementary school, Valerie Janesic
tion, concluded that "the teacher's perspective was defined as one

of creating and maintaining a stable cohesive group in order to achieve

 

38Valerie Janesick, "An Ethnography of a Teacher's Classroom
Perspective," Ph.D. dissertation, Michigan State University, 1977.

I
-:::"
. .iv*‘
on}. ‘I
l:~' '
pan‘h.‘
.‘i-‘W:

v‘bl

.591 S‘

u :o.'nl

'JIIH

.
'A
;:‘r
'b-yi

In”.

H“ G';

39

classroom goals in respect and cooperation."39

Essentially she found
that this classroom was a "gemeinschaft" as typified in Tonnies
typology. Even though the class was part of a larger institution,
the teacher was able to isolate himself and the class's participants
from the more secular and distracting surroundings. Janesick's study
used symbolic interaction as a theoretical base.

One widely cited study using participant observation and
interviewing in an educational setting is Harry Wolcott's The Man in
the Principal's Office40 (1973) which looks at the daily life and
routine of an elementary school principal. Wolcott's purpose was to
“describe and analyze the elementary school principalship from a
cultural perspective."41 Although his study deals with a principal
and his perspectives, Wolcott has observed how the principal operates
in the socialization of new teachers, and the amount of time spent in
this task. He concluded that "Ed“ did not spend or want to spend
much time here, but rather left socialization to his other teachers.
Wolcott's product is an ethnography.

Philip Cusick's Inside High School was the result of a six
month long study on student groups in the high school. Cusick states
that his book is an attempt to,

. . . describe the way a number of students behave in high

school and to explain the way their behavior affects themselves, 42
the teachers, administrators, and the entire school organization.

 

391bid., p. 5.

40Harry E. Wolcott, The Man in the Principal's Office (N.Y.:
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973).

41Ibid., p. xi.

42Phiiip A. Cusick, Inside High School (N.Y.: Holt, Rinehart
and Winston, Inc., 1973), p. v. .

40

In the study Cusick unearths and reveals that it is the
"perspective" of groupness that allows students to make sense of this
daily school routine. Students come to school to be with their
friends, and not to have friends is to be isolated and miserable.
Cusick's study also looked at perspectives and employed the theory
of symbolic interactionism.

In two studies of student life, perspective was determined.
In Making the Grade,43 by Becker, Geer, Hughes, and Strauss, the
perspectives of students toward academic life at the University of
Kansas was researched. It was determined in this study that "GPA"
was the way in which students look at their academic life. In another
study which is now a classic, Becker, et al., determined that medical
students adopt perspectives toward their life in terms of definitions
and ways of acting in "problematic situations."44 Perspective and
problematic situations are related to one another in the following way,
Becker has stated:

A person develops and maintains a perspective when he faces

a situation calling for action which is not given by his prior
beliefs or by situational implications . . . in other words,
perspectives arise when people face choice points . . . (and)
where the individual is called on to act, and his choices are

not constrained, he will begin to develop a perspective. If

a particular kind of situation recurs frequently, the perspective

will probably become an established part of a person's way of
dealing with the world.45

 

43Howard Becker, Blanche Geer, and Everett Hughes, Making the
Grade (N.Y.: John Wiley and Son, 1968), p. 138.

44Howard 5. Becker, Blanche P. Geer, Everett Hughes, and
Anselm Strggss, Boys in White (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
96 , p. .

45Ibid., p. 35.

41

It is further established that a situation does not present
the same problem for everyone, or that the same situation is not even
a problem for everyone. Some individuals will have.prior perspectives
which allow for them to perceive situations differently, and some will
have a way to act in the situation so that it calls for no thought at
all. "In short, the immediate situation is problematic only in terms
of the perspective the individual brings to bear upon it."46

Among other interviewing and/or journal researches on learning
to teach, three studies are particularly germane. Kevin Ryan, compiled
interviews with new teachers throughout their first year of teaching.47
He concluded that "a precise description of how teachers learn to teach

“48

is lacking . . . but that four sequential categories exist that

beginning teachers may draw from. Ryan states these are:

. . . our human tendencies to teach others; second, the

example of former teachers; third, formal education courses

and student teaching, and the actual experience of the first

year of teaching.49

Dan Lortie in analyzing interview data has compared attempts

to gain control of the classroom with “Robinson Crusoe's" fight for
survival. He states in Schoolteacher:

The beginning teacher may find that prior experience supplies

him with some alternatives for action, but his crucial learning

comes from his personal errors; he fits together special
solutions and specific problems into some kind of whole and

 

46

47Kevin Ryan, Don't Smile Til Christmas (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1975): p. i.

481bid., p. 166.
49Ibid., p. 166.

Ibid., p. 35.

42

at times finds leeway for the expression of personal taste.
Working largely alone, he cannot make the specifics of his
working knowledge base explicit, nor need he, as his
victories are private.50
Tony Gibson's interview study of English school teachers
acknowledges that classrooms and schools are little societies. Teachers
therefore learn to teach through their interpretation of order. Gibson

"51 He

states, "Everything depends on how a teacher interprets order.
does not however include an adequate explanation of what he means by
order.
The Theory of Symbolic Interactionism
History and Assumptions

Symbolic Interactionism has its roots in the work of George
Herbert Mead (1863-1931) who was a philosophy professor at the
University of Chicago in the early third of this century. Although
Mead wrote several articles, the bulk of his influence on the symbolic
interactionists came from the printing and publishing of his lectures
by his students, especially a sociologist named Herbert Blumer.

Herbert Blumer, writing during the 1950's and 1960's, is
probably the most important integrator and interpreter of symbolic
interaction, since he, like Mead, drew concepts from the earlier works
of John Dewey, William James, W. I. Thomas, and Charles Cooley.
Manford Kuhn, Arnold Rose, Norman Denzin, Gregory Stone, Alfred

Lindesmith, Anselm Strauss, Jerome Manis, Bernard Meltzer, and Tamotso

 

50Dan C. Lortie, Schoolteacher (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1975), p. vii.

5116ny Gibson, Teacher's Talking (London: Allen Lane. 1973).
p. 273.

43

Shibutani all contributed to this theoretical approach by integrating
the work of earlier writers and explaining some of their theoretical
and empirical applications.

The aforementioned writers and researchers have all contributed
to the overall perspective of symbolic interactionism which in turn has
influenced the development of labeling theory in the study of deviance,
Goffman's dramaturgical perspective, and the development of Garfinkel's
ethnomethodology. Symbolic interaction has also influenced the main-
stream of sociology, and social psychology especially the study of
socialization and collective behavior.

In understanding the general position in symbolic interaction-
ism that this study adopted, it seems necessary to outline the major
influences. George Herbert Mead was influenced by the philosophy of
pragmatism, the writings of Charles Darwin, and what he termed "social
behaviorism."52

I For G. H. Mead and the interactionist's reality is always
focused in the present, but there is a recognition of the past and a
preparation for the future. The actions of people bridge these

"53 and are ever in the "ongoing present." To

"categories of time
Mead there was a continuity between facts and values. In other words

it was arbitrary to distinguish between what was objectively real,

 

52James H. Schellenberg, Masters of Social Psychology (N.Y.:
Oxford University Press, 1978), p. 45.

53Ibid., p. 55.

44

apart from any human purposes, and what was involved in human ends.
James Schellenberg summarizes this as: .
The former ("objective reality“) is not factually perceived
unless it relates to human values facilitating its perception;
and the latter ("values“) require a physical reality of some
sort in order to carry any meaning. 4
Therefore there is a continuity of action over time in context and a
continuity of facts and values.

Central also to Mead's philosophy is that individual selves
require a society for their emergence and are created out of elements
of social interaction. Society too requires the conscious participa-
tion of individual men and women, and it can be said then that there
is continuity between the individual and society.

The pragmatic aspects of symbolic interaction are best
summarized by Joel Charon (1979). He states that four general
principles of pragmatism recur again and again in symbolic interaction.
They are:55 3

1. Truth is possible for the human bein s only through the
individual's own intervention . . . perspective).56

2. Knowledge for the human being is based on its usefulness
. . . (perspective in situations).

3. Objects we encounter are defined accordin to their use
for us . . . (meanings are defined by use).

4. Understanding about the human being must be inferred
from what he or she does. (These are empirically
derived and observed in context--inc1udes overt/covert
behavior.)

 

54Ibid.. p. 55

55Joel M. Charon, Symbolic Interactionism (Englewood Cliffs,
N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1979), p. 29.

56The parentheses are mine, and are intended to paraphrase
the longer quotation.

45

Mead's influences from Darwin are visible in his belief that
man is "emergent“ in nature and that his qualities have been developed
and isolated as unique. Man is not simply the sum of the individual
traits from earlier species, rather he is a combination of those traits
in ways that bring out new qualities. Human uniqueness includes the
ability to reason and communicate symbolically with oneself and with
others. Man is the only animal in nature which cannot be explained by
isolation forces: he is independent and actively structuring and
planning the actions he carries out.

From Darwin, Mead adopted the concept of a dynamic universe,
and to Mead and to symbolic interactionists "everything about the
human being is considered as 'process', rather than as stable and
fixed."57 A long quote from Charon's book on symbolic interaction
as it reflects Mead's interpretation of Darwin and his effect on
symbolic interactionism seems appropriate here.

1. The individual is not a consistent, structured personality
as much as a dynamic, changing actor, never "becoming
anything," but always "in the state of becoming," unfold-
ing, acting. The individual is not socialized, but is
always in the process of socialization; the individual is
not set or fixed, but constantly undergoing change in
the process of interaction.

2. Society and the group is conceptualized not as something
static "out there," influencing us, but entirely an
interaction, dynamic, with patterns emerging and constantly
being changed or reaffirmed over time. What people call
"society" and "the group" are patterns we infer from the
interaction process.

3. The individual is characterized as possessing a mind and

a self, but both are conceptualized as process, not as
static entities. The person does not possess a mind so

 

57Ibid., p. 30.

46

much as a minding process, meaning an ability to
converse with self, an ability to pull out stimuli
selectively from the environment, assess their
significance, interpret the situation, judge the
action of others and self, and so on. All of this
means an active, dynamic conversation is taking
place within the organism in interaction with others.

4. The human has many selves, each related to the inter-
action one is involved with, and each constantly being
changed in the process of interaction. When the symbolic
interactionist argues that the individual possesses a
self, he or she is really saying that the individual has
selfhood, that one treats oneself as an object, and that,
as with other objects, there is a constant redefinition
that takes place in interaction with others.

5. Truths, ideas, attitudes, perceptions, and perspectives
are all conceptualized as process, being judged and
changed dynamically by the organism in relation to what
is being observed. People are not brainwashed and
conditioned so much as constantly testing and reassess-
ing their truths. Truth is arrived at through interaction
and it is also transformed in the process of interaction.Sé

The third influence on Mead was that of "social" behaviorism.

Social behaviorism refers to both the covert (minded) and overt
behaviors of man. Since man is emergent in nature and can reason and
use symbols it is not enough to simply measure overt behavior. To
simply measure overt behavior is to ignore the essence of man, and if
one is to understand man's behavior he must infer from the overt
behavior in context what is meant by the actor's action.

The social act is not explained by building it up out of

stimilus plus response: it must be taken as a dynamic

whole--as something going on--no part of which can be

understood by itself--a complex organic process implied 59
by each individual stimulus and response involved in it.

 

58Ibid., p. 30-31.

59George Herbert Mead, Mind, Self, and Society, edited by
Charles W. Morris (Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 1934), p. 7.

47

These acts may then be seen in context and observed by others in the
group.

The foundations of Mead's philosophy and symbolic interaction-
ism are therefore rooted in the philosophy of pragmatism, the writings
of Charles Darwin, and "social" behaviorism. It is Herbert Blumer who
has interpreted and integrated these writings in terms of symbolic
interaction.

Blumer has outlined the three premises on which symbolic
interaction rests. "The first premise is that human beings act toward
things on the basis of the meanings that the things have for them."60
This premise has been interpreted to mean that ignoring individual
meanings is to falsify the behavior that is under study. The second
premise is "that the meaning of such things is derived from, or
occurs out of, the social interaction that one has with one's fellows."61
In other words, the object or thing does not have meaning because of a
combination or a coming together of psychological elements in a person,
but rather its meaning arises in the process of interaction between
persons. Also the meaning of a thing for the individual grows out of
the way others act toward the person with regard toward the thing in
question. Symbolic interactionism sees meanings as social products
formed and defined through activities of people in interaction. The
first two premises are contingent upon the third.

Blumer continues, "the third premise is that these meanings

are handled in, and modified through, an interpretive process used by

 

60Herbert Blumer, Symbolic Interaction: Perspective and Method
(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1969), p. 2.

61Ibid., p. 2.

48

the person in dealing with the things he encounters."62

This process

of interpretation has two steps. In the first step, the actor

indicates to himself the things that he is acting toward which have

meaning. This is a social process of "self interaction." The

second step occurs when the actor interprets the meanings in terms

of the social context or situation in which the interaction arose.

Here the actor may recheck, select and regroup his meanings through

self interaction before he acts. It is necessary to see that

interpretation is not automatic, but rather a "formative process,"63

which allows the actor to check his data before he acts.
According to Blumer symbolic interaction is grounded in a

series of "root images." These root images establish the framework

from which human society and behavior may be analyzed. Blumer has

outlined these root images as:

Nature of human society or human group life.

Nature of social interaction.

Nature of objects.

The human being as an acting organism.
Interlinkages of action.54

01¢me
O O O O 0

Human groups are seen as being made up of human beings engaging
in action, and society consists of these groups in action and must be
seen in terms of action. Society is also seen as individuals inter-
acting with one another, and its members' activities occur either in

response to one another or in relation to one another. Social interaction

 

62
63

Ibid., p. 2.
Ibid., p. 5.
64Ibid.. pp. 6-21.

49
is of two types "non-symbolic interaction“ and "symbolic interaction.“65
Non-symbolic interaction occurs without interpretation as in a reflex
action, but symbolic interaction requires interpretation of action.
For instance gestures are symbolic since they indicate what the person
making the gesture intends to do; indicate a meaning to the individual
the gesture is directed to; and indicate the joint action of both
persons or groups. In order for the gesture to be understood however
it requires the "taking of the other's role." Mutual role taking is
understood here, and it is mutual role taking that formulates the
common meanings in a society or culture.

Objects also exist for human beings and for their groups.
These objects are products of symbolic interaction since their nature
is the meaning that a person has for that object. Objects also are
social creations since they arise out of the process of definition and
interpretation between the interactions of people. These objects in
group life are always in the process of being "created, affirmed,
transformed and cast aside."66 Necessarily then, peoples' lives and
actions change according to this newly created definition.

Symbolic interaction acknowledges that the human being has a
"self," and that this social “self" can and does communicate and make
indications with itself; it also can make itself an object. Like
other objects, the self object arises from symbolic interaction with
significant others. Mead has traced this process through his discussion

of role taking. In order to be seen as an object to himself the person

 

651bid., p. 8.
66Ibid., p. 12.

50

has to see himself from the outside. This is done by placing oneself
in the position of others and viewing oneself and acting towards oneself
from that position.

The roles the person takes range from that of discrete

individuals (the "play" stage) (Mead), through that of

discrete organized groups (the “game" stage) to that of

the abstract community (the "generalized other").57
In other words the self arises in childhood from symbolic interaction
with significant others, develops and matures with interaction of
groups (the generalized other), and in adulthood is influenced in
different situations by different reference groups each representing
a different object that has developed from the ability of the self
to take various roles from others.

Since the human being does self interact, he therefore confronts
his own world which he must interpret in order to act. Man is therefore
directing his own action in terms of his meanings in situations with
others. It is necessary for the individual to understand and interpret
other actions as he sees them. This interpretative process takes place
when participants make indications to one another in a joint or

collective way. As these lines of action are fitted together joint

action becomes possible, and in this way human group life is sustained.

Perspective

 

Given this brief explanation of symbolic interactionism and

the dynamics of human nature, it is now necessary to examine the

 

67Ihid.. p. 13.

51

meaning of perspective as it applies to both the theory and the purpose
of this study.

Perspectives have already been defined as: a set of assumptions,
values, and ideas which form an individual's conceptual framework and
influence his perceptions and actions in situations. These perspectives
arise in interaction with others and are dynamic and changing guides to
interpretation and action. They are not necessarily consistent Within
the same person.68

Following Joel Charon's interpretation of symbolic interaction-
ism, perspectives are then sets of learned symbols which become guides
to what man sees, how he interprets what he sees, and how he misses
some of what he sees. These lead to interpretation and definitions of

situations and ultimately to action. It is from this position that

perSpectives are researched in this study.

Summary

From this review of literature, it may be seen that although
learning to teach is an elemental problem in teacher education, it is
595 one which has been much researched or which is much understood.
When the question how do teachers learn to teach, has been asked, its
answers have been at best tentative. There also seems to have been
little building upon researches of others and long interims between

researches on similar themes.

 

68Charon, Symbolic Interactionism, p. 27.

52

Six themes appear to emerge from the bodies of literature.
First, research using participant observation as a method to study
student teachers is noticeably small, and virtually absent on
secondary student teachers. Second, research using field methodology
exists but is limited to experienced teachers. What researches and
documentation there is comes from studies conducted in urban classrooms
and on teachers in low SES elementary schools. Several studies deal
with the problems of middle class teachers in dealing with lower class
children. Third, there is a growing emergence in education of the use
of "ethnographic techniques," and on occasion the term ethnography has
been misemployed. Fourth, there is growth of research using the frame-
work of teacher development. Much of this work has been based on
Frances Fuller, and her observations of how teachers move through
various phases of concern. Fifth, the past literature on student
teachers in the process of learning to learn has been mainly prescrip-
tive in an attempt to prepare student teachers for the future
relationship with their supervising teacher. Finally, symbolic
interaction is a well established theoretical position which gives
this research a strong base from which to gather data and analyze

results.

CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY

Introduction

We can, and I think we must, look upon human life as a vast

interpretive process in which people, singly and collectively,

guide themselves by defining objects, events, and situations

which they encounter . . . Any scheme designed to analyze

human group life in its general character has to fit this

process of interpretation.1

Herbert Blumer's quote epitomizes the underlying assumption

of this research in that the study's theoretical base of symbolic
interactionism demands the corresponding methodology of some form of
participant observation, and a design which fits both the method and
the theory. Here the theoretical perspective and the method go hand
in hand as they must do if student teachers' perspectives are to be
described and explained in terms of the formal and informal contexts
encountered by student teachers in the process of learning to teach.
It is the purpose of this chapter to discuss symbolic interaction as
used in this research, to describe the study's use of the methods--
participant observation and interviewing; to describe the research

settings and study group; and to present the conceptual framework

used to analyze the data.

 

1Herbert Blumer, "Sociological Analysis and the Variable,"
American Sociological Review 21 (December 1956): 686.

53

54

Overall Conceptual Framework

Since this study deals with the process of learning to teach
and since the literature establishes that learning to teach may be
influenced by culture (Van Fleet 1977), developmental elements
(Fuller 1969), (Kelly 1979), (Glassberg 1977), (Harvey, Hunt, and
Schroeder 1961), immediacy of the situation (Iannaccone and Button
1964), gaining control and order (Gibson 1973), and the influence of
significant others (Karmos and Jacko 1977), it is likely that student
teaching is the time when formerly learned perspectives are altered
and compounded, and that situations encountered are redefined and
interpreted in light of new interactions with new others.

To demonstrate this point, Charon's framework, which has
integrated the work of Mead, Blumer, Strauss, Shibutani, and others,
is instructive.

1. The child from interaction establishes a self, social
objects, symbols, language and perspective.

2. As he grows and has additional interaction, he develops
significant others who become a generalized other and
whose perpsective he uses to see himself as object.

3. This early generalized other is then supplemented by
various reference groups each having a perspective which
offers additional views of the self as object.2

Since human beings are social they form groups which interact, and

they operate within them from the perspectives brought, formed, and

 

2Joel H. Charon, Symbolic Interactionism (Englewood Cliffs,
N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1979), p. 80.

55

altered by them. This is done to promote cooperation and problem-

solving._

Charon has conceptualized these thoughts as follows:3

Interaction

+
Human with Minds
Selves, Roletaking Abilities

.1.

 

Symbolic Interaction
, aligning acts
Society. (communication)
cooperative handling of situations)

 

 

 

it.
Perspective

Generalized Other
Therefore it can be concluded that,
all organized life, what we are here calling 'societies' or
'groups' are defined as individuals who symbolically interact
and c00perate in problem solving. Symbolic interaction and
cooperation are made possibly by three human qualities: role-
taking ability, self and mind. And as a result of interaction,
a shared reality emerges called a generalized other, and
perspective, which serves to promote further symbolic inter-
action and cooperative problem-solving.4
It is then the process of symbolic interaction which produces
perspective, and the formulation of the shared perspective of classrooms,
and schools that student teachers must formulate while learning to teach.
Perspective viewed from this position constitutes the framework from

which data was analyzed and contexts were isolated.

 

3Ibid., p. 168.
4Ihid.. p. 68.

56

Method and Design

 

The study of social life which employs the theory of symbolic
interaction necessitates the use of direct observation. Blumer has
been explicit in his discussions of the theory.

Symbolic interactionism recognizes that the genuine mark
of an empirical science is to respect the nature of its
empirical world--to fit its problems, its guiding
conceptions, its procedures of inquiry, its techniques
of study, its concepts, and its theories to that world.
It believes that this determination of problems,
concepts, research techniques, and theoretical schemes
should be done by the direct examination of the actual
empirical social world rather than by working with a
simulation of that world, or with a preset model of the
world . . .

The interactionist's conception of human behavior assumes
that behavior is self directed and observable at two levels--the
symbolic and the behavioral. (Interactional) Self-directed refers
to how humans act toward themselves as they would toward another
object. If human behavior is self-directed and observable at two
levels then central to understanding such behavior is the scope and
variety of symbols and meanings which have consensus. These can be
seen as patterns showing how meanings are attached to a social
object and therefore manifest themselves in patterns of interaction.
Also since symbols, meanings, and definitions are made into self-
definitions and attitudes, the "self-hood" must be observed and

recorded by the researcher. In other words, it can be seen how the

 

5Herbert Blumer, Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and
Method (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: ’Prentice-Hall, 1969), p. 49.

57

shifting definitions of self are reflected in ongoing patterns of
behavior only by direct observation.6 These ongoing patterns can
usually be predicted when perspective is known.

Since the desired outcome of this study was perspective of
student teachers, it was necessary for the researcher to act in the
role of a participant observer. More correctly this researcher acted
in the role of a "participant-as-observer." (Gold 1958) As a
participant-as-observer the researcher had a quietly overt role which
allowed the freedom to participate when called upon, and to record
data as field notes and on tapes. This role was necessary since the
research questions center on the process of learning to teach. These
questions are directed to a "process" phenomenon which involves
asking: What are its properties? Who is involved and with whom?
What do these people do, and have done to them? How does the process
affect other things or is affected by them? How did it come to be?
What is it becoming? More specifically these questions have come to be:

1. What do student teachers do during the college semester
designated as student teaching which contributes to their
perspectives on classrooms, students and schools? (This
semester includes classes in methods, and fundamentals and
the student teaching practicum.) '

2. What do student teachers learn from one another and from
their supervisors about students, teachers, and the school

administration that influence their perspectives toward
teaching?

 

6Raymond L. 661d, "Roles in Sociological Field Observation,"
Social Forces 36 (March 1958): 217.

1 7Norman Denzin, The Research Act (N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, 1970),
p. 8.

58

3. How does the student teacher define himself, the
students, the teachers, the school, the supervisors,
and the university within contextual variables?

How do these contextual variables contribute to
perspective? .

4. How do definitions formulated, interpreted and acted
upon during student teaching support perspective?

It is these questions that the study answers and that guided its data
collection and analytical procedures.

8 this study

Like Becker, et al. classic study, Boys in White,
originally had no "design," that is to say it had no "traditional
research design." Becker, et al. states:

In one sense, our study had no design. That is, we had

no well worked out set of hypotheses to be tested, no data

gathering instruments purposely designed to secure

information relevant to these hypotheses, no set of

analytic procedures specified in advance. Insofar as the

term "design" implies these features of elaborate prior

planning, our study had none.9
If however design may be considered in the larger sense of order, a
research-problem. specific data gathering procedures, a particular
theoretical and methodological orientation, and a general framework
for analysis, then this study had a "design."

It was acknowledged and accepted in the initial proposal that
the study was to remain open ended since it was impossible to determine
what questions might arise from the data, and what circumstances might
transform the plan of the study. It is generally accepted among field

workers that studies designed with hypotheses and rigid statistical

 

8HOward 5. Becker, Blanche Geer, Everett C. Hughes, and Anselm
L. Strauss, Boys in White (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1961),
p. 7.

9Ibid., p. 17.

59

analyses will be impractical in a day-to-day association with a small
study group or "acting unit." That field studies often change early
in the field work's process of data collection, and that these changes
may be significant are expressed by Blanche Geer.

If early field work reaches few conclusions, it may never-

theless have far-reaching effects on the rest of the study.

Hemoranda written after the previews indicate that the idea

of dealing only with premedical students in the fall has

gone by the board . . . Our proposal to investigate only the

academic aspects of college no longer seems feasible . . .

One must conclude that the first days of field work may

transform a study rightly or wrongly, almost out of

recognition.10

Although this study was not completely transformed in its

initial days, it did change once the researcher was in the field site.
Initially the proposal called for "three student teachers" who would
act as chiefinformants in the English methods and fundamentals
classes and then be followed to their respective practicum sites in
the university's laboratory school. Other student teachers in the
laboratory school setting would also be included in the study.
However, two of the major informants decided not to student teach,
and the main site of the student teaching part of the professional
semester was moved from the Laboratory School to County High School."‘11
The laboratory school of Selected State remains an important site, but
two of the four major student teacher participants in this study

engaged in their student teaching experience at County High.

 

10Blanche Geer, et al., "First Days in the Field," Issues in
Participant Observatigp, edited by George McColland, J. L. Simmons
(Reading, MESs.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1969), p. 161-162.

11"*To ensure anonymity, all_names in this study are fictitious.

60

The Study Group

 

Since this study was not statistical in nature, no attempt at
random sampling of subjects was made. Rather, the selection of a study
group was made based on a second attempt at negotiation with a State
University which had a teacher education program and NCATE accredita-
tion. The study had the agreement of the Dean of Education, the
Director of Field Experience and all the members of the Secondary
Education faculty at Selected State. The instructor of English methods,
and the instructors of Educational Fundamentals particularly agreed to
cooperate. The selection of students who would participate was some-
what more difficult, but by the fourth day in the field four major
English student teachers agreed to act as chief informants and all
student teachers in two fundamental classes, and the six other English
student teachers agreed to participate.

Since the assignment and placement of student teachers is
diverse throughout the local area, it was determined that the researcher
would act as a participant observer with three English student teachers
at County High and one at the Laboratory School. However, it was
understood by student teachers that they were a part of the study during
this term.

In final analysis it can be said that there were four major
informants, all of which were to be student teaching in English and one
Social Studies student teacher. The other students which came into
contact with the researcher were either students in fundamentals, and

methods who sought out the observer, or who volunteered validating

61

infbrmation and additional data. Validating data was also collected
from another group of four student teachers from a small sectarian
liberal arts college who happened to be student teaching in County

High School at the same time as the chief informants.
Data Collection

Data was collected over five months on a daily basis and over
seven months in total. Much data was collected from field notes made
both on site and/or reconstructed at the earliest opportunity after
the occurrence of the significant interaction. Field notes were made
in many diverse sites both for ascertaining perspective and for
validating propositions derived from the data. A sampling of sites
where data was gathered include methods and fundamentals classrooms
before, during and after regular classes, supervisor's offices,
stairways and stairwells in the education building, ladies rooms,
teachers lounges, a bar, a private party, the public and lab school's
classrooms, automobile trips, cafeterias, a local hamburger restaurant,
and the student union at the university. It was from these diverse
settings that contexts were identified, and categories arose.

Data was also gathered from both structured and non-structured
(informal) interviews with participants. Structured interviews (see
interview schedules in appendix) were conducted three times with
student teachers and once with supervising teachers. These were taped
and transcribed. The chief purpose of structured interviews was to

12

triangulate method and thus help ensure validation. The structured

 

12Norman Denzin, The Research Act. PP. 185-218.

 

62

13 14

interviews followed procedures established by Gordon and Payne.
Informal interviews were held daily with students while they were
together and when there were points of data which needed elaboration

or clarity. Informal interviews were conducted with all participants
and were generally found to be very helpful to the researcher.

Records and documents were also collected in the form of class
handouts and class assignments. Although lesson plans were shared with
the researcher, only the unit plans were significant to this study and
therefore daily plans were not kept. Journals proved to be a small
part of this study since they were not kept regularly by the student
teachers and would have been considered by them to be an additional,
duty. Often data from a journal entry could not be sustained by
observation or by daily conversation.

Video-tapes proved to be interfering and impractical in many
of the research sites since they were not used in the methods or
fundamentals classes observed and therefore students were unfamiliar
with them. To have collected data from this source would have been
to jeOpardize the study.

As already mentioned, field notes served as the bulk of the
data. These notes were initially written in longhand, then reviewed,

coded and typed. The notes contain both descriptive data and notations.

 

13Raymond Gordon, Interviewing; Strate ies, Techniques and
Tactics (Homewood, Illinois: Dorsey Press, 1975 , p. 85-101.

14S. L. Payne, The Art of Asking Questions (N.Y.: Holt,
Rinehart, and Winston, 1962).

 

63

Three main kinds of notations adapted from Schatzman and

Strauss15

were made throughout the field work. MN's or methodological
notes were recorded to keep track of the participant observer's role.
These proved valuable since they gave insight into how the researcher
was reacting to a particular situation and how this reaction was

either interpreted by the informant or perceived by others. MN's also
provided instructions to the researcher and suggested additional
research strategies. ON's or observational notes supported descriptive
data and anecdotes from which indicants arose and eventually categories
emerged. TN's or theoretical notes were kept and elaborated upon so
that the next directions in data collection could be carried out.' TN's
were significant in encouraging inferences and in organizing descriptive
data. These notes essentially gave control to the study and provided

linkage between concepts. The use of notations proceeded throughout all

stages of the research.
Analysis and Validity

In participant observation analysis is a continuing process.
Some important parts of the analysis were made while still gathering
data in the field since it is the field which allows for checks and
proofs of concrete cases which have led to abstractions. It is also
necessary to gather negative cases to disprove existing concepts or to
provide a basis for revision; time out of the field in additional

analysis is also imperative. Wolcott has indicated that as a rule of

 

15Leonard Schatzman and Anselm L. Strauss, Field Research:
Strate ies for a Natural Sociolo ogy (Englewood Cliffs, N. J. Prentice-
Hall, 973), pp. 994101.

64

thumb a researcher should allow as much time out of the field for
analysis as he did in the field for data collection. (Wolcott 1975)

Although field researchers suggest differing numbers of stages
in the process of field work analysis, this study employed an adaption
of models presented by Schatzman and Strauss (1973),16 Becker (1958)17
and Denzin (1970).18 In preparing the analysis it was necessary to
move through the process of “analytic induction." Lindesmith has
described this process as:

The principle which governs the selection of cases to test
a theory is that the chances of discovering a decisive
negative case should be maximized. The investigator who
has a working hypothesis concerning his data becomes aware
of certain areas of critical importance. If his theory

is falso or inadequate, he knows that its weaknesses will
be most clearly and quickly exposed if he proceeds to the
investigation of those critical areas. This involves
going out of one's way to look for negating evidence.

The object of the analysis then was to establish analytic
procedures which would lead to recognizing negative cases and
reorganizing and altering propositions until these negative cases
could be integrated into the final set of theoretical propositions.
Ideally in analytic induction all cases of the phenomenon have been

considered in the analysis.

 

16Anselm Strauss, et al., "The Process of Field Work," in
Issues in Participant Observation, edited by George McCall and J. L.
Simmons (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1969), pp. 24-26.

17Howard S. Becker, "Problems of Inference and Proof in
Participant Observations," American Sociological Review 23, (Dec. 1958):
652-657.

18Denzin, The Research Act. PP. 185-218.

19Alfred R. Lindesmith, "Comment on the Logical Structure of
Analytic Induction," American Sociological Review 17 (August 1952): 492.

65

The stages used in this study may be outlined as follows:

Steps:
1. Preliminary Analysis:

The first stage of analysis was continuous and chiefly took
place while the researcher was in the field. During this stage cases
were collected on the phenomenon from the informants in diverse contexts.
Cases became classes and emerged into categories. Early descriptive
propositions were formulated and recorded as theoretical notes. As
linkages between classes and categories became evident descriptive state-
ments were reworded, negative cases collected and propositions were
stated in theoretical terms. The new theoretical propositions were then
tested and verified in the field through further collection of cases and
interviews. By working back and forth between the collection of data
and the analysis, the data can be said to be grounded. (For a discussion
of grounded theory see Glaser and Strauss, The Discovery of Grounded
Hie—cry, (1967) .

2. Secondary Analysis:

The second stage of analysis took place chiefly after leaving
the field, but some simple frequency counts were made earlier. This
stage involved two steps. First, the reworking of theoretical proposi-
tions in light of the data, and data controls; and second, the
formulation of theoretical links so that data could be proven grounded
in hopes of producing substantive theory. Early in this stage the
following pattern of analysis emerged and was used as a design or

framework for analysis.

(See Figure I)

CONTEXTS
orma

(ie classroom)

(object, link>

people,
properties)

Context
link;
Context

Ilflk\
I

Context

66

FIGURE 1
Analytical Conceptual Scheme

 

C3585

link

Classes

  

Propositions
or
Theory

CBSES

 

 

\/

 

link\
/'

CONTEXTS
(Informal)

Context
link)
Context

link)

 

 

 

Context

 

 

 

linkg_
/

Context

link)

 

Integrate
Into
Perspective
cases z/A~\\
link Classes
"'—_""”;:>>——————fi\\\\glheoretical
v Propositions
cases r
Theory
link Classes J////////
-———_"’ffl’;:>_____-_\\\\\Theoretical
categories
_____. ‘\-

 

67

3. Final Analysis:

The final stage of analysis was an attempt to produce theory
from an integration of theoretical propositions. This stage included
the write-up of both the descriptive and explanatory data.

Studies employing participant observation are often charged
with accusations of non-generalizability, invalidity, and contamination.
The charge of non-generalizability stems from the traditional researcher
who views participant observation as having a non-representative sample
and a small "n". In fact this might be true if all that is considered
in the "n" is the number of chief informants. However a well conducted
field study which employs several methods and collects data over a long
time period from a variety of individuals in the field site is general-
izable to the larger population. Often when "n" is viewed as the number
of cases collected from participants on a particular phenomenon, it may
become larger than the "n" in many small scale surveys where "n" equals
persons responding to specific questions. When the "n" of cases is
large within a category, the separate cases may be sampled for quality
of data. It should however be remembered that the vividness of
descriptive data is as important in understanding human behavior in
social and cultural contexts as statistical proportions and "means"
(i). It is also a purpose of research and particularly educational
research that the results of studies are disseminated to the practitioner.
Practitioners find data presented logically and understandably more
significant and beneficial to them than traditional statistical probability.

Validity in a participant observation study is sometimes

difficult, but it is necessary and can be accomplished. The methods

68

of control used in this study to produce validity are several and
have been adapted and compiled from work done by prominent sociologists
(McCall 1969),20 (Denzin 1970),21 (Becker, g_t___gi_1_._1961).22

External Validity:

1. The testing of propositions in the field and the
reformulation of propositions based on negative cases
and case analysis. (Analytic induction)

Internal Validity:

1. The triangulation of methods as participant observation
conducted over time in diverse contexts. (Controls for
subject bias and reactive effects of observation)

2. The proportion of useable observational data to useable
interview data. (Controls for contamination of data,
and credibility of informants. This is done by assessing
means (x) and formulating a ratio.)

3. Collection of documents and informants' backgrounds.
(Controls for history)

4. The recording of methodological notes. (Controls for
observer changes as in "going native," and in subject
maturation)

5. Collection of documents, maps, field notes, descriptions
of situations (contexts) and interviews. (Controls for
behavior and meanings in context)

6. Field notes (A record of mortality was kept and reactions
and comments made on it).

In these ways then the study was controlled so that validity could be

assumed.

 

20George McCall, "Data Quality Control in Participant Observation,"
Issues in Participant Observation, edited by George McCall and J. L.
Simmons (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1969), pp. 128-
141.

21Denzin, The Research Act, pp. 194-205.

22Becker, "Inference and Proof," pp. 245-251.

69

Summary

This chapter has presented the theory of symbolic interaction-
ism, and the text has described and explained how the theory's assump-
tions and bases are applicable to perspective. These assumptions also
make it clear that theory and method must go hand in hand if perspec-
tive is to be known. Participant observation has been defined as a
non-standardization of method which as used in this study has triangu-
lated methods for purposes of validity. The analytical framework has
been depicted and explained. In Chapter Four the descriptive data

amassed from cases collected in context will be presented.

CHAPTER IV
PRESENTATION OF DATA
Introduction

In this chapter there are three major divisions and several
sub-headings which have been designated as guides in presenting the
data. Within these divisions the data is presented chronologically
and in context. Reference dates have been included in parentheses
to provide the reader with a sense of time lapse. The major divisions
of the chapter include: 1) a description and background of the various
research settings, the teacher education program at Selected State,
and general information on the student teachers, instructors, and
supervising teachers who participated in the study; 2) specific
descriptions of the student teachers and their interactions with peers,
other teachers and supervisors; 3) a description of the methods and
the practicum; and 4) a summary of data as it relates to perspective
in learning to teach.

This presentation of data has been compiled from 967 pages of
raw field notes, transcriptions from twenty-three formal interviews,
many pamphlets, booklets, guidebooks, newspapers, some journal entries,
planning units, and 218 separate multipaged handouts from methods and
several handouts from each of the fundamentals classes. No attempt was

made to keep the informants' daily lesson plans, but unit plans were

70

71

collected and kept on file by the researcher. The data was collected
during the spring semester of 1979.
The questions that guided this study were:_

1. What do student teachers do during the college semester
designated as student teaching which contributes to
their perspectives on classrooms, students, and schools?

2. What do student teachers learn from one another and
from their supervisors about students, teachers, and the
school administration that influences their perspective
toward teaching?

3. How does the student teacher define himself, the students,
the teachers, the schools, the supervisors, and the
university within contextual variables? How do these
variables contribute to perspective?

4. How do definitions formulated, interpretated, and acted
upon during student teaching support perspective?

Given these questions the purpose of this study is to describe
and explain student teachers' perspectives on learning to teach as they
are developed from interactions with others in formal and informal

contexts encountered during the student teaching experience.
General Background

The geographical setting is important to this study since the
majority of the student teachers, professors, supervising teachers,
and administrators not only reside in the area, but are native to it.
The public school students also lived within the county. The small
city of Centertown is the county seat of Fillmore County;* approximately

20,000 people live in Centertown, and the community describes itself

 

*Any name used in this study is fictitious.

72

as "expanding.” In fact it is estimated that since 1970, Fillmore
County has grown by more than 5,670 residents.1
Fillmore County has an area of 446 square miles, a population
of 48,400,2 and is on the western edge of Appalachia. The county is
characterized by a rolling terrain, and its eastern edge is semi-
mountainous. Overall, the geographical location is richly historic
and the birthplace of the state. In fact it is located within twenty
miles of some of the richest and most prosperous horse raising country
in the United States. However, Fillmore County only abuts on the
horse country, and therefore neither retains the reputation or the
wealth of those counties to its north.
Centertown, where Selected State is located, is classified as
a third class city with a population in 1976 of 19,928. The city is
served by a network of highways which makes it accessible from all
parts of the state. The city is situated twenty-six miles southeast
of the second largest city in the state and 110 miles east of the
state's largest city. One hundred twelve miles to the north there is
a large metropolitan area whose city is in another state. The principal
Interstate route which connects Centertown with points north and south
is only two miles from the university. On occasion this route is called
the "carrot and cabbage“ path since individuals living to the north

often returned to the hills for vegetables on the weekends. To the east

and southeast of Centertown the mountains of the state begin and a large

 

1James M. Brockway, and Thomas J. Sager, Population: Disaggre-
gations of 1977 Estimates ( : Urban Studies Center, 1978), p. 29.

2Ibid., p. 241.

\

 

73

percentage of students at Selected State come from these mountain
areas. To the west of Centertown the terrain is rolling and dotted
by numerous small towns and villages.

Recent demographic data reveals that the residents of the

3

county are 92.6% white and 7.4% non-white. There is a civilian labor

force of 28,072, of which 27,0164 are employed in various occupational

areas .

Figure 11
Percentages in Occupational Areas (1978)
5.3% Agricultural (Mostly tobacco)
94.7% Non-agricultural (Manufacturing, Wholesale,
Retail Trade, and Services make up 92.2%
of this area.)
3.8% Unemployed
It should further be noted that 11,509 individuals have incomes below
the poverty level which is approximately 24.74% of the county's
population.5 The Median Income in December of 19786 is $12,100.

The people of Fillmore County are "served by fine churches
representing most Christian faiths . . ." In fact the vast majority
of churches are of a fundamentalist nature and for many, religion
and "being a good Christian" is one of the most important things in
their lives. The influence of these churches is ever present as

evidenced by the influence of local ministers on the temporal as well

 

3Ibid., (Calculated from data)

4 Deskbook of Economic Statistics ( : Department
of Commerce, l97§-1980), p. 30-31.

5Ibid., p. 50-51.
6Ibid., p. 52.

dS

”pr

5‘

A.

ncgJ

74

as spiritual lives of the community. Therefore Fillmore County is
"dry," but a former president of Selected State influenced the city
government many years ago to make Centertown "wet." The "wet/dry“

controversy still exists as a local political issue.
History of Selected State

Selected State is part of a regional university system in this
state. Selected came into being by legislation signed into law in the
early 1900's. Like other state universities it was originally a normal
school whose mission was to train teachers, and it was a two year
institution. TWenty years later, Selected became a four year institu-
tion and added Teacherk College to its official name. The first degrees
were awarded in the mid-twenties and by the end of this decade Selected
was accredited by the regional accrediting agency. Later the state
legislature renamed the school, and it became known as Selected State
Teacher's College until about thirty years ago when "Teachers" was
dropped, giving the university the right to grant non-professional
degrees as well as degrees in education.

Although principally an undergraduate institution, Selected
State initiated a graduate program in education in the mid-thirties.
According to the catalog, "The most significant day" in Selected State's
history was when the institution was granted University status and
the sanction to award graduate degrees in academic fields other than
education. Since the 1960's Selected State University has rapidly
grown to its present size of 15,000 students distributed over nine

colleges. The curricular choices are vast with more than 160 programs

75

leading to BA degrees and some fifty programs leading to Associate of

Arts degrees. It has an expanding graduate program in all fields, and
offers an Education Specialist degree, and like other regional univer-
sities in the state, it participates in a doctoral program with the
state's major university.

In understanding Selected State's students and curriculum it
is necessary to remember that the university's mission is one of service
to its regional area. Selected's Mission Statement reads:

Selected State University shall serve as a residential, regional
University offering a broad range of traditional programs to the
people of central, eastern, and southeastern (State). Recognizing
the needs of its region, the University shall provide programs at
the associate and baccalaurate degree levels, especially programs
of a technological nature . . .
The University should continue to meet the needs of teacher
education in its primary service region and should provide
research, service, and continuing education programs directly
related to the needs of its primary service region . . .
(Mission Statement)
Although individuals at Selected State do not necessarily uSe the word
primary, they do in fact often refer to their "service region" in
conversation with an outsider.

Often this regional area may be used to explain circumstances
of both academic deprivation on the part of some students and pride in
being an individual. The students and instructors took pride in their
university. An example of this pride may be seen from the following
quote and from eighteen separate bits of conversation recorded during
the first weeks of this study;

Mrs. Smith: We're (Selected State) the best, but we aren't

recognized. We had methods courses before anyone else.
(1-18 Interview)

‘U

r)

r'

rt-

(‘1

”(J

1'

I11

I

76

and;
Over in (name of major city). it's our student

teachers they want. They won't take English student teachers
from anywhere else. (1-18 Field Notes)

The Teacher Education Program

Generally the requirements of Selected State's Secondary Teacher
Education Program are similar to those throughout the United States.
The program is accredited by the regional agency and NCATE, and the
university is a member of AACTE. The state stipulates certification
requirements and students completing approved teacher education programs
will upon graduation receive a baccalaurate degree and a teaching
certificate which must be updated within ten years of its issuance.

Secondary teacher candidates must complete degree requirements
of fifty-six hours in the General Education curriculum, be admitted
to the College of Education, and to the Teacher Education Program.
Although requirements vary slightly between teaching majors, generally
students must have a minimum of thirty hours in their major areas for
certification. Secondary candidates are, after admission to the Teacher
Education program, required to take twenty-three to twenty-six hours of
professional education course work.

Admission to the College of Education and the Teacher Education
Program are not synonymous. Admission to the College of Education occurs
after completion of general education requirements and necessitates a
GPA of 1.8 on a 4.0 scale. Requirements for entrance into Teacher

Education Programs include:

I...

n ‘6
I'll
. $ 1
F1
1 ~
5 \. U 1‘
0“
u
at a
I I . .
v
At
no .1
A.
E I h
i n u
U
I! k l K
61 A Mad”
a
o
O Fli-
P?)

I n
I ll
ill

77

1. An application review.

2. A GPA of 2.0.

3. A grade of C in Professional Orientation. (This is a
course which analyzes the nature of the teaching
profession, and one's personal fitness for the job.
This course follows an early one hour orientation
course.)

4. Proficiency in communication skills, and satisfactory
speech and speaking effectiveness.

5. Recommendations from four faculty members including the
Orientation Instructor.

6. Evidence of physical and psychological well-being.

7. Test results as required.

8. Satisfactory record of social behavior in the community.

(No criminal record.)
After admission to the Teacher Education Program, secondary education
candidates are required to complete one three-credit course in Human
Growth and Development. A grade of "C" must be attained in this course
before application for the professional semester may be made.

The requirements for Student Teaching include:

Admission to Teacher Education Program.

. Evidence of no T8 or venereal disease.

TWelve hours of residence prior to admission to
Student Teaching.

2.25 GPA in Major/Minor Teaching area.
Recommendation of Advisor.

. Evidence of "C“ in Human Growth and Development.
Completion of all other pre-requisites.

“mm-p “NH
0 o o o 0

Secondary students at this point should be seniors and may apply
for student teaching, methods,and fundamentals which will be taken
during the student's final school semester. Subject matter methods,
which until a few years ago was taught in the subject area department,
is required of all secondary student teachers. Fundamentals is designed
then to help orient the candidate to other classroom responsibilities.
These courses are taken during the first five weeks of the professional

semester leaving the last twelve weeks to student teaching. During this

78

last semester English majors also take a reading course. Other students
may take this course, but English majors are required to take it.

All in all it may be said that the general requirements of the
program fit the survey done for Improving Teacher Education (Joyce and
Harvey, 1978) in that Selected State's program requirements and students
are typical of other teacher education programs across the country.
Specifically in an interview with Dr. Emily Johnson, one of the
professors who developed the sequence of undergraduate classes and their
content, each student teacher at the time of this study should have
already completed the sequence of classes described earlier.

That program's been going on . . . I guess four years.
first graduates are coming through now. (1-24 Interview)

These classes have a field component designed to introduce prospective
teachers to the profession. Two of the courses have heavy doses of
field experience which are carried out at Laboratory School. The
following describes this program: 7

Question: When do they do this?

Dr. Johnson: We like them to do it (the first field experience
of twenty hours at Laboratory School. This is done during
regular university class periods.), in their freshman year if
they think they want to teach. Now some of them (students)

go two years into something else and decide its not for them

so they come in and try it . . . But if we can get them when
they're freshmen, then you see they'd waste no time at all,

and after they've had this experience . . . I ask them to come
back and have a chat with me on this participation (also during
seminar's time).

From this we get a greater testing program . . . we want to

find out where their weaknesses are. We now give them a (test)

. . . on a personality and a rigidity scale, we give them an
English Basics Test: we have them write a paragraph on why they
want to be a teacher; get them mapped (cognitive), and we give
them . . . anyway we now give them five and if we find they are
weak in any area . . . we have them take advantage of our develop-
ment center . . . many of them do go on to tutor . . . then by

79

the time they take which we used to call history
and philosophy, that beginning basic course, they go for
fifteen hours, (of field experience) and that's more
concentrated. We like for them to stay three hours at a
time if they can do so; they begin to see then what the
sequence is and how kids react at different periods of the
ay.

Then when they get to human growth and development, they
begin observing at schools for the characteristics (human)
. . . and so it used to be eighteen hours, but different
professors do it differently.

Question: So all of these student teaching now, should
have had this?

Dr. Johnson: Yes, yes! And then I ask mine when they come
back, to (Introductory Class) they get a slip that
says-~uh, if you wish to be admitted into the College of
Education, then fill this out and you have to ask for a
recommendation. Now we give them a recommendation out of

class. (Introduction for transfer) So, I'm their
first recommendation. All that's laid out with the Rec from
over there, and the teacher over there makes a recommendation
. . . and then the third year, when they get to Human Growth
and Development, and get a good grade there--"C"--then their
name goes before the Teacher Education Committee and they
will have full recommendation. If at that time a student
says, "Yes, I want to teach," we feel we have at least .
conquered that hassle and they are admitted into Teacher
Education . . . then the next year, in the junior and the
senior years, they do their basic professional kinds of
things--specialist kinds of things--they go out and do their
six weeks of methods and fundamentals. Then they're right
out in the school.

Question: How much teaching do students do before student
teaching other than in college classes?

Dr. Johnson: I'd say they get to do a good bit, because

most of the people get over there and really make themselves
known. The teachers give them opportunity even at

level (earliest), and see that's where they (student teachers)
get the feeling, I can help a kid learn! (She hits her desk
dramatically) So they get . . . Oh, not every one of them . . .
it's almost impossible to get every 'er to work . . . I
would say they don't always get to do a lot, but in the other
classes I think most of them get to do it and in some ways a
good bit . . .

.H.‘

80

Question: Would you say the secondary people get to

participate as much as elementary?

Dr. Johnson: I'd say the secondary kids probably don't get

to participate as much, from my observation. Now in the

science classes where they are doing individual projects, I'd

say Yes! In typing . . . you see it would be very difficult

because they (students) would be sitting at the typewriter

and there is very little a teacher can do, but sit down . . .

little they can do to help with the development of that skill

. . . in social science, if they were into the class doing

the performing in a group there'd be very little a

person could do unless he could get in on the group. 50 I'd

say . . . (1-24 Interview)
It is interesting that student teachers in the study except to say that
they had been "over there" (Laboratory School) never mentioned what they

did in early field experience classes.
The School Settings
General Background on the Laboratory School

The Laboratory School, which is part of the College of Education
at Selected State, but administered separately from it, was established
in the 1950's as a part of teacher education. Three of its chief
purposes are: 1) to provide a quality program of instruction for its
own students; 2) to provide a center for professional laboratory
experiences for teacher candidates; and 3) to provide opportunities for
research and experimental programs. These purposes are placed in
different priorities according to the perspective of individuals that
are interviewed.

Laboratory School has approximately 750 pupils enrolled from
pre-school through grade twelve. Enrollment is limited to about sixty
students per grade, and in the high school where this study was

conducted, there were approximately 240 students.

81

Although Laboratory School has been housed in its present
building since the early 1960's the appearance inside and out of the
school is one of careful maintenance. Forty-two full time faculty
members are on the staff of Laboratory School.- These individuals are
also on the faculty of the university. Most hold the rank of instructor,
and some have assistant or associate professor ranks; all are eligible
for tenure.

The pre-school and lower (elementary) is housed in the west end
of the building, the middle school on the north end of the building, and
the high school on two floors on the south side. The two cafeterias and
the gymnasium separate the high school from the lower school. The lower
school is connected by two breezeways with the cafeterias and the gym.
The library, which is large, is in the center of the complex. Every
classroom in Laboratory School has a television set which is on a closed
circuit directly patched to the College of Education. However, it was
not used by those observed, and when asked why not, no one could remember.
Concerning TV Mrs. Smith* said to me:

They (Laboratory teachers) just won't use it, it has to be
initiated by the student teacher. I'll make mine do it three
times so you'll see it. You know they are in a position to
do this, but they don't. (1-12 Informal Interview) (None of
the student teachers observed by me used the TV.)

Laboratory School is well known throughout the community, and
its facilities are admired if not envied by the local public schools.
Recorded in the field notes is the following request made by the

principal at County High School when entry was made there. "You're not

gonna compare us with them, (Laboratory School) we don't get the same

 

*For a list of characters see Figure III.

82

FIGURE III

List of Places and Participants

 

SELECTED STATE - The university where this study was conducted.

SMALL COLLEGE - A small Liberal Arts College that had student teachers
at County High School. These student teachers were used only for veri-
fication. No names have been included.

FILLMORE COUNTY - County where Selected State University is located
and where students live.

CENTERTOWN - The town where Selected State University is located and
the county seat of Fillmore County.

COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL - The public high school where Paul, Jean, Mary and
Mark did their student teaching. The largest high school in Fillmore
County.

LABORATORY SCHOOL - Selected State's laboratory school which has pre-
school to high school levels. John did his teaching here.

WASHINGTON IRVING HIGH SCHOOL - A large high school in an urban area
twenty-six miles north of Selected State where Jim, Betty, Teresa,

and Carol did their student teaching. This high school is only referred
to in the study. No on site observation took place there.

Student Teachers

JOHN - A twenty-one year old single white male from Centertown who did
his student teaching at Laboratory School in English. He taught Short
Story, Advanced Composition, and 9th and 10th grade English in a Phase-
Elective Program.

PAUL - A twenty-four year old married white male from a large metropoli-
tan area north of Centertown who did his student teaching at County

High School in English. He taught twelfth grade English and some
eleventh grade English in a traditional program.

MARY - A twenty-one vear old white. single woman from a small town north
west of Centertown. She taught the tenth and eleventh grade English
Classes at County High School.

JEAN - A twenty-one year old white, engaged woman from another state

who came to Selected State because her father lived in a small town to
the east of Centertown. She taught eleventh grade EngliSh at County High
School.

83

STEVE, BETTY, TERESA, LINDA - All taught secondary English at Washing-
ton Irving High School. All are white and with the exception of Linda,
all are single.

MARK - A twenty-one year old white single male from a small town twenty
miles east of Centertown. He taught Government and Civics at County
High School.

OTHER STUDENT TEACHERS - There are many student teachers whose comments
have been used in determining perspective. They will be referred to in-
dividually in the text.

University People

MRS. CONSTANCE SMITH - The English University Supervisor. She also
taught the English Methods Class. She is from a small town twenty-
five miles southwest of Centertown.

DR. DAVID MORGAN - Mark's University Supervisor and Chairman of the
Secondary Education Department.

DR. BENJAMIN STUMP - The Director of Field Experiences at Selected
State University.

DR. EMILY JOHNSON - A Professor of Education who taught Fundamentals
classes. She also helped to develop the sequence of undergraduate
field experience courses.

DR. JOSEPH CLARK - A Professor of Education who taught Fundamentals.
He was in the Department of Educational Administration.

School Supervisors
at County High School

MR. MORRIS DAVIS - The Principal of County High School.

MRS. EDITH JONES - A supervising or critic teacher who taught English.
She was Mary's supervisor.

MRS. LISA EVANS - A supervising teacher in the English Department.
She was Paul's supervising teacher.

MRS. DIANE CAMPBELL - A supervising teacher in the English Department.
She was Jean's supervising teacher.

MR. TOM FOSTER - A supervising teacher in the Social Studies Depart-
ment. He was Mark's critic teacher.

84

At Laboratory School

 

DR. HENRY CROSS - The Director of Laboratory School.
DR. SIMON LLOYD - The Assistant Director of Laboratory School.

MRS. PATRICIA OAKWOOD - A supervising teacher in English who was
John's critic teacher.

MRS. MELODY TAYLOR - A substitute teacher for Mrs. Oakwood during her
illness. She was originally in charge of Mrs. Oakwood's classes when
John began student teaching. She also substituted at County High.

85

kind of students or money." (1-17 Field Notes) There has been no
attempt made to compare schools or facilities in this study.

Students at Laboratory theoretically represent a “cross
section" of the community; however even cursory observation would
indicate that although Laboratory tries to be representative, it is
in fact predominantly white, well dressed, and very bright. Some
faculty members at the university and at County High School send their
children to Laboratory, and most children in the high school have come
up through the lower grades. The high school students have over the
years received a great deal of attention on a small group and individual
basis. They expect this treatment, and are exceedingly demanding if it
is not forthcoming. The surrounding community views the students at
Laboratory School as "snobbish, spoiled, and undisciplined." Mrs.
Taylor (a substitute for Mrs. Oakwood) said of Lab students, "These kids
have no self-discipline . . . frankly, I've never seen anything like it."
(2-23 Field Notes) A County High School senior said, "Laboratory people
are 50 mean!" An eighth grade student at Laboratory who was changing
to County said, "I'm coming here in the ninth grade . . ." I asked
why? She replied, "The kids (at Laboratory) are mean, and the teachers
don't care about the students." (3-2 Field Notes) County High School
students disliked Laboratory School students for this reason.

Student teachers at the university sometimes asked not to be
placed at Laboratory School since it was considered by them to be "a
playtime.“ For instance in a conversation with three student teachers
ggt assigned to Laboratory for their student teaching, the following

statements were made;

86

Mary: They (Laboratory students) don't do anything, but
play! .
Paul: Yeah, when I was there (all teacher-candidates doing
early field experience in the form of observation at
Laboratory School) I saw , (an English teacher
at Laboratory School who will be John's supervising
teacher) and she didn't have control.
Mary: That's why I told 'em not to put me over there! (1-15
Field Notes)
Another student teacher in Music states that Laboratory School students
were:
William: (to me in the hall at Laboratory) You see that in
the second-third grade here, they (Laboratory School
students) do and act like fifth-sixth graders. The
Middle School too, see the lipstick . . . the way they
dress? It's like high school elsewhere! (4-3 Field
Notes)
The directors and faculty at Laboratory School are well educated
with faculty members having at least a second degree certificate and a
Master's Degree. Some, like the high school math teacher, had a
doctorate. Both of the school's directors, Henry Cross and Simon Lloyd,
have doctoral degrees. Both directors and some other members on the
faculty received their degrees from out of state universities. This fact
makes Laboratory School different from County High School. Although
occasionally teachers were hired without top certification, they had to
obtain this within a reasonable and specified time in order to retain
their jobs. One of the student teachers said that an English instructor
who was viewed by others as "the best one over there, “and Ohhh-Ohhh
she's good!" was asked not.to return for the following year for this
reason. Dr. Cross also evaluated his teachers formally, something which

is not necessarily done in other schools in the area.

The school calendar at Laboratory School follows that of the

university, and during the winter months these students missed only an

' 87

occasional day of school for snow as opposed to the public school which
missed more than fifteen days. Laboratory's students are not bussed,
but rather their transportation to and from school is the responsibility
of their families.

The school day is six periods long and begins at 8:00 A.M. and
ends at 2:40 P.M. Each teacher has five classes and a conference period.
Lunch in the high school was from 12:05 P.M. to 12:50 P.M. Many of the
instructors have a student teacher, but during the term observed no
secondary instructor in an academic area had more than one full time
student assigned to him. Occasionally however this might occur. English
teachers at Laboratory teach five classes which Mrs. Smith, the methods
instructor at the university, thinks is too many. She claimed to have
convinced County High that four classes of English was plenty. (County
teachers did only have four.) She said, "English teachers at Laboratory
have five classes; that's too many. Laboratory ought to be laboratory
enough to do this." (1-12 Field Notes)

The student discipline at Laboratory School was often discussed
by the student teachers since they viewed it as very "permissive."
However a more accurate term may be relaxed. Students here had freedom
to come and go, and they did. Although the intercom rarely interrupted
the classroom, constant messages between teachers, administrators and
students very frequently interrupted the classroom. Observers from the
early field experience courses also came into and left classrooms
regularly. Often students went to see other student friends during
classes either on business or on a personal basis. Although not a

general rule, observations were made of students talking freely to

88

teachers and occasionally a student called a teacher by his first name.
The classroom I watched was very relaxed, and it was obvious that the
students were permitted to use this mode of operation and had done so
for a long time. Occasionally the administration would call a student
to the office fOr discipline, but it usually was not known what penalty
had been administered. Although the "paddle" was referred to by students,
it is unlikely that it was used often if at all in the upper school. I
never heard anyone say it had been used.

In sum, it can be said that Laboratory School has an educated
faculty and a fine updated, well-keptfacility. Its elementary program
has local acclaim, and there is a waiting list "from birth" for acceptance
to it. The students who attend Laboratory are generally regarded as
bright and affluent, and the school makes an attempt to be representative
of the community, but it falls short. The atmosphere is relaxed, and
both students and faculty are used to the disruption of observers,
visitors, and student teachers. The daily schedule and routine of the
school is typical of other secondary schools, and although it carries
the title Laboratory or ideal school, it is with the exception of its
facility probably more typical than jgggg,

Background of County High School

Of the two public high schools in Fillmore County, County High
is by far the larger and is the result of consolidating several smaller
high schools over four decades. At present all high school age students
living outside the city limits of Centertown are eligible to attend

County High. The building is situated on a large piece of ground near

89

the northeast edge of Centertown. County's origin and its oldest
building dates from the mid-1930's; its history is one of continual
growth from slightly over one hundred students in the late 1930's
to 1,750 students at the time of this study.

The original structure, built on eight acres, still stands,
and the school was financed with monies from the Works Progress
Administration and local school bonds. Beginning in September,l937
the first classes were held with about 175 pupils attending in grades
9-12. The original faculty consisted of eight teachers and a principal.
By about 1950 County High had increased its enrollment to more than 300
by adding seventh and eighth grade students from Fillmore County's
northern section. (These grades are no longer included in the school's
population.) With the growing school population of the early fifties
the Fillmore County Board of Education purchased additional acreage for
expansion. A federal grant a few years later helped to finance an
addition to the school, and by 1955 high school age students from all
over Fillmore County were transported to the High School.

Since that time County High has grown to its present size. In
1965 a new addition to the old school added 42 classrooms, a library,
an industrial arts building and a cafeteria. A nursery and greenhouse
were added to the Agricultural Department in the late 1960's. Also
the football stadium was completed. This stadium seats 2,000 people
and is equipped with a large scoreboard, a loudspeaker system, an asphalt
track, pressbox, and concession stands.

The new Physical Education building includes a gymnasium which

has a "tartan" (plastic-rubberized) floor and seats 4,000. This building

Scieni
'1 18 Si
SEl‘YBE

01 F1'

also houses the vocal and instrumental music department, the driver
training and locker room facilities, a weight lifting room and several
standard classrooms. The sports facilities at County High School are
very adequate and the school participates in male/female interscholastic
programs. The school has even stated in several places in the student
handbook that it complies with Title IX.

In the last decade County has added to its buildings a six room
Science Building and a completed Vocational School which is located on
the southeastern end of the school campus. The Vocational School
serves the entire county including Centertown and the county to the east
of Fillmore.

County High according to its faculty, is “one of the best
equipped schools in the state." It is proud of the comprehensive high
school standing, and it is considered to have sound traditional programs.
According to one university supervisor, County is "very traditional/
English 1, 2, 3, 4."

At the time of this study County High maintained a faculty of
sixty-nine teachers, two Vice-Principals and one Principal. The
Principal, Mr. Morris Davis, has been the chief administrator for more
than twenty years. John, one of the major participants and student
teachers in the study and who attended County as a high school student
told me that,

Mr. Davis hires people on what others recommend. You know,
who you know. He's a nice man, but rumor has it that if he gets
asked to be president of the bank downtown, he will leave.
He's been principal since the school was built, and that's a
long time. (2-23 Field Notes)
In fact there have been two principals of the school, but Mr. Davis has

been there the longest.

91

The teachers are white and all have baccalaurate degrees and
most have or are in the process of attaining their Master's and/or
second degree certificates. Several have obtained top rank certificates.
The sixty-nine teachers are distributed into twelve subject area
departments with the largest department being English and Language Arts.
This department has seventeen staff members. The next department in
size is Social Science with twelve instructors. Faculty members
generally teach five classes, have a planning period, and one period
of assigned time such as a study hall, coaching, or office work. The
exception to this are English teachers who have only four classes and
two study halls.

The school day is divided into seven class periods of fifty-five
minutes, except on Tuesday when the morning classes are shortened, and
the fourth period is two hours and five minutes long. This change is to
accommodate clubs and other student activities since virtually all
students at County High School are eligible to ride the bus, and most do.
Others drive their automobiles and park in the two school lots which
are to the northeast of the Health Building and to the east of the
Agricultural area.

The students at County High are 97% white and 3% black. In the
classes observed there were only three black students. The students
here do not usually dress formally, but rather they dress casually in
jeans. The students are expected and generally do comply with the many
rules and regulations of the school. These rules are published for
them in the handbook for students. Infractions are dealt with regularly

and quickly. If it is known what penalty has been administered, it may

Il‘

92

be talked about by the staff. The use of the paddle was not unheard
of at County High, but it was not used often either. An example of
its use follows:

On one occasion in the lounge, a secretary was telling

the group about a young man who had been "paddled good"

that morning. Apparently the student had a long record

of offenses and "had it coming." The student had been

paddled in the office earlier that day and was eventually

sent back to class. When he arrived in art class, he

”shot the finger,“ and was summarily reported to Mr. Davis.

Mr. Davis again paddled him. The secretary reported that,

"Me (Mr. Davis) really blistered him . . . (then) he

paddled him again in the hall, . . ." (2-28 Field Notes)
Often students were given essays or "verses" to write when they were
tardy or in trouble over a minor infraction. There are four verses
all of which are variations of "Good Nature, Good Sense." They are
written in longhand, the verse is,

Good nature, good sense, must ever be employed, to err is

human, to forgive is divine: it is most unfortunate that

the principal of this school is not divine, but perhaps I

should not have erred. (2-28 Field Notes from a student)
Students were also suspended for major or repetitious infractions.

The general atmosphere of the school was however one of

compliance. Students were expected to behave and usually they did.
Although not uncommon to see students in the hall during the class
period, there usually were not too many milling around. During the
lunch hour, teachers sat in assigned seats with their students or in
close proximity to them, and teachers were to supervise their classes.
Observation of teachers indicated that they did these duties somewhat
begrudgingly, and some few did not supervise at all. One supervising
teacher said of this policy: "We're probably the only school in the

nation that still does this!" (2-5 Field Notes) However, other than

93

an occasional raisin tossing or teasing between boys and girls,
there were never any lunchroom problems that the teachers had to deal
with.

Probably the area of least compliance with students was in
the attendance area. Students often missed school, and in Fillmore
County one out of three students never finishes high school. The
problem of attendance was a difficult one for student teachers who were
unaware of the reality of these facts until they were well into student
teaching.

The general tenor of the classrooms observed indicated that
students attended a very traditional school. The classrooms were self-
contained with one teacher for every twenty-eight to thirty students.
Students either listened to informal lectures, participated in
recitations of the question/answer variety, or did seat work. Small
group instruction existed on occasion, but it was definitely not the
usual practice in the classrooms observed. Students also did not
expect this mode of instruction, and in student teachers' classes where
it was used, it was generally not very successful. Mark, a social
studies student teacher who liked activities, explained the structure
in this way:

.(I' d like to try) maybe more participation activities
with the freshmen than I did. But once I did try or rather
a coupla times I did try. . . the (students) did not take
the challenge up. It seemed like they had to be guided by
the hand in everything they do . . . I think its the structure
they've been used to for nine years. I really do! The
creativity's been beaten out of us by the time . . . (5-4
Formal Interview)

Room arrangements in academic classes were in traditional rows, and

when student teachers changed these arrangements, they were eventually

(.11

U9

ill

1

94

_ returned to rows of some variety. Jean, a student teacher at County,
changed the room from rows to a semi-circle or a three sided square,
right after she began teaching the class alone. '(2-27 Field Notes)
She however was away for a few days in March and when she returned the
seats were rearranged in rows. Jean never moved them again. Paul
also changed his seating arrangement from a semi-circle to rows. Once
in rows he never changed them back. Also Jean experienced a similar
kind of response when she asked questions which were different from
those asked by the regular classroom teacher. Jean found that the
students generally would not respond to the questions she asked unless
they required little or no real thought. (3-5 Field Notes)

The classroom routines however were very frequently broken by
interruptions. For instance within the first day and a half of
observation the classroom routine was disturbed twenty-eight times by
the intercom, and fifty-six times in the first three days.' On
occasion as many as twenty-two separate interruptions occurred over
the intercom within one class period. In an interview with Mrs. Lisa
Evans, she comented on the nunber of interruptions. She said of
these:

It is very bad. We've (teachers at County High School) had
problems with it in this school before and we've taken it
before the school board . . . and the board came down, and
it got so quiet that they (administration) never operated
it except once a day . . . that 33; fine! Now, see it's
just getting worse and worse aga1n . . . so we'll have to
go back to the board and say we were interrupted this many
times during one class period or something.

Me: Once we were interrupted twenty-two times.

Mrs. Evans: I believe it! (She laughs) It's horrible!
And some days are worse than others . . . and that day we

“in...-

Mrs.

95

were taking pictures . . . there's always some excuse . . .
but I think it's horrible! Sometimes I almost lose my temper
and I seldom lose my cool and cuss . . . I'm not that kind

of person. I feel it's an extremely difficult situation for
himh(Paul, her student teacher) to have. Think what it does
to im!

Me: It bothers you then?

Mrs. Evans: Yeah, sometimes I can shut it off, but I can
understand . . . (We were interrupted by the intercom) We.
laugh . . . (3-16 Interview)

Mrs. Evans' student teacher, Paul, said of these interruptions:
Well . . . the first day they broke up my train of thought!
Especially in the fourth hour when she had to remind me what
I was doing . . . It still bothers me; I don't think we
should be interrupted. It doesn't bother me like it did
though, I can come right back to where I was, but I don't
like the fact I'm being interrupted. Especially the way
they call one name and ONE NAME--two minutes later they
call ONE MORE NAME . . . ONE NAME! They could've waited
five minutes and called three names at once! (We are
interrupted by intercom and giggle)

Me: Then they bother you don't they?

Paul: Well yeah, but I don't think they affect the way I
teach too much . . . at least I try not to let it! (3-14
Interview)

These are only intercom interruptions and do not include the comings

and goings of the classroom.

In sum, it may be said that County High School is a typical
high school, and one where student teachers themselves often requested
to go for their practicum. Its proximity to the university allowed
for the student teachers to share rides if need be, and its make-up
was not perceived to be different from their own high school experiences

until they had been there awhile.

96

General Background of the Participants

 

The Student Teachers

During the spring semester, January 11 through May 11, 1979,
at Selected State there were secondary student teachers representing
almost all subject matter areas. All of these student teachers had
either senior or graduate student status, and those with senior status
expected to graduate either in June,l979 or in August,l979. A large
percentage were state students, and upon completion of the professional
semester and graduation from the university, they would receive a state
provisional teaching certificate.

The observer came into contact with many university student
teachers, but the particular students studied came from the English
methods class. There were eight English student teachers. Of those
students, three were followed into their student teaching Sites (two
at County High and one at Laboratory). An additional participant/
informant was met in fundamentals class during the early part of the
term and followed into his site at County High. He was from the
social studies (political science) area and wished to be included in
the study. Other student teachers from other subject matter areas
who were a part of this study were met by the observer either in
fundamentals class or while participating at the practicum sites.
Often the researcher was asked by student teachers to visit classes
or to talk with them. Another group of student teachers from a small
liberal arts college in the southern section of Fillmore County also

agreed to be included.

97

(Some general background on the major student participants is
needed so that those participating in the student teaching experience
may be better understood. Also since the supervising teachers and
the university supervisors and professors were instrumental in
contributing to perspective, their backgrounds also need some intro-

duction.
The English Student Teachers

The eight student teachers in English methods had the standard
preparation for English teachers except one who was a speech major.
All had thirty semester hours in their major, which included a special
course in grammar for teachers, forty-nine hours of course work from
general education courses, twelve hours of foreign language, the early
field experience courses, and Human Growth and Development. Several
were taking the Teaching of Reading in the Secondary School class
concurrently with their student teaching.

Of the eight student teachers, six were from the state and of
the other two, one was from a city about one hundred miles north of
the university and the other had decided to come to Selected State
because her father had lived in a neighboring county. These students
knew one another fairly well from other classes, but until methods
class they had not participated as a group. Six of the eight lived
on campus, and the other two lived out in Centertown. Five of the
eight were women, the other three men. They ranged in ages from
twenty-one to twenty-five and all but two were single. The two married

student teachers had children. None of the English student teachers

98

were graduate students. At the beginning of the term all told me that
they intended to teach school. Also all but one had received his high
school education in a public school. The student who had not, had
graduated from a Catholic high school. At one time or another, every
student teacher in this group admitted that he or she did not like
grammar and didn't know how to teach it. One the whole they initially
considered student teaching to be an easy term. One male student
teacher told me laughingly in May that he had told his wife that past
December,

Well . . . this semester, I'm just student teaching--so I

won't be busy. I'll have time to spend with you! And . . .

I haven't had a minute to! (5-1 Interview)
As a matter of fact, his wife returned home to her mother early in the
practicum. Another expressed her conception of the term this way.
"I thought it would be a snap, you know . . . a piece of cake! I was
wrong!“ (4-22 Field Notes)

V In order to ascertain perspective it was necessary to get to
know the student teachers well. In effect we did student teaching
together for one complete semester. Since these individuals are the
focus of the study, it is necessary to understand some of the background

they brought with them to student teaching.

John Theodore Clarke

John Clarke, who became one of the major participants in this
study and a chief informant, was white, single, twenty-one years old
and a native of Fillmore County. In fact, John lived in Centertown
and often commented that he knew many of the students he was teaching.

He said of this situation:

99

. . . I know some of these kids from my neighborhood and

I find that difficult. Because they (students) had a

preconceived notion that I was a crazy guy who (stayed)

up late at night; who played a slow game of kick the can,

and who doesn't cut his grass the way everyone else does.

You know . . . (5-3 Interview)
John had also attended the public schools of Fillmore County from first
to twelfth grade. He had gone eight years to the Elijah Johnson
Elementary School and three years to County High School. John had early
in his high school career decided to graduate from County before the
traditional four years. He said in an informal interview,

. . . after being in high school for about a week, I went to

see the guidance counselor, his name was Mr. Phillips. (He is

now vice-principal at County High School.) I said, 'Mr.

Phillips, uh--Mr. Davis--uh . . . is it possible for a person

to graduate from here a year earlier? I'd like for you to

tell me about that.’ I graduated then a year earlier. (5-10
Informal Interview)

John's high school experience had not been a pleasant one for him and
although he had gotten good grades he had not enjoyed his high school
career. He said, "In high school I had a religious and a sexual crisis."
(1-26 Field Notes) He indicated on several occasions that he had been
very nervous in high school and often had felt physically threatened by
other students. He described this situation this way:

When I was a freshman (at County High School) I got in a

fight with another guy, and made enemies . . . I heard . . .

(Paul Harvey) one in five high school students are afraid

of physical harm. I feel this way now . . . (3-1 Field Notes)
On the same subject, John went on to explain that from that time on he
"protected“ himself. He also had a friend who wore a "cup" to protect
his groin. .At a later time in the term John explained the racial

tensions of County High School by telling his experience at graduation.

Apparently he had in a moment of happiness at the conclusion of the

lOO

commencement exercises, hugged the black girl next to him. Within a
short time after this, a large bully informed him that he would be in
great danger should there be any evidence of this occurring again.
These incidents are important since John will have a more difficult
time in coping with student teaching than the others.

John's family was white and middle class. He had one sister
and his father was a salesman. John described his mother's side of
the family as “poor white trash," and he was the first in his immediate
family to receive a college education.

John started college in 1974 and probably due to his shortened
career as a high school student, eXperienceoafew problems his first two
years at Selected State. Presently he told me his grade point average
was a 3.4, and he perceived himself as a "good student." He enjoyed
English literature and had high respect for his professors and for
"content“ in courses. The semester before student teaching he had had
to read more than two thousand pages and write 200 pages on this
reading. He said to Mrs. Smith, "I burned out last semester when I
read 2,000 pages and wrote 200! I got an incomplete which I had to
make up!" (5-10 Field Notes) As a result he received an incomplete
which he made up during the methods and fundamentals part of the
professional semester.

His perception of a good student is described as:

. . . now a student will stay up late in the wee hours of

the night doing his homework . . . like a good student will
have good study habits. And will be doing . . . you know
like my old routine of going into the library every night and

then going home and doing some more. A good student does
that . . . I was a very good student. (5-3 Interview)

101

John was convinced that some of the problems he had in student teaching
were due to his orientation as a "good student."

John also brought to student teaching some previous work and
teaching experience. He had worked on Mackinac Island one summer as a
waiter, and he'd had experiences as a camp counsellor and as a Sunday
school teacher. During the professional semester term he interviewed
for and received a job teaching English in Hong Kong. This job was with
Southern Baptist Conference, and he was to teach at the small Baptist
college there. John had initially interviewed for his job in late
January, and he received it in mid-March. He told me that he would
attend a six week briefing in June and July before he left for Hong Kong.

It was from his religion that John received his strength. He
was a devout Christian and attended the Baptist church. Although his
church was fundamentalist in nature and John accepted its teachings, he
had not done so without much reading and reflection. Throughout the
study, although John frequently quoted Biblical texts, he never preached
or tried to convert those around him. He mentioned on several occasions
that he had as a "kid“ a problem with "role models." He said, "It's
been a problem for me, you know . . . Good teacher, good student and
good church kid." (2-22 Field Notes)

During his student teaching, which was at Laboratory High School,
he kept a personal journal and at one time in the term, he said to a
group of student teachers and me in the lounge,

My journal: . . . I'm trying to keep a journal at the same

time (and student teach). It's more or less becoming a
prayer book to be perfectly honest! During the last two
weeks I've suffered a lot of tension and my prayer life has
greatly increased. It's (the prayer life) a great prepara-
tion for Hong Kong . . . I guess! (4-6 Informal Interview)

102

Although John did not refer to himself as a missionary, his
peers sometimes referred to him in this way. For instance, early in
the methods and fundamentals part of the professional semester, Betty,
the only speech major, said, "Oh John, he wants to be a missionary.“
She hoped he would since she didn't think he'd be a good teacher.
(1-31 Field Notes) Once I asked him if he wanted to go to seminary
and become a minister. He answered, "No!" but admitted that he had
thought about the possibility. He continued saying, "I don't know where
I can go to learn Greek . . ." Another example of John's abiding concern
with his religion is reflected in the topics he likes to discuss. For
instance in one conversation with him near the beginning of student

teaching, he discussed the following:

 

 

1. St. Paul

2. Gemeinschaft vs. the Gesellschaft

3. Differences between the Greek, Hebrew and Latin versions
of the Bible

4. His aspirations and disappointments

5. His love problems and Puritan Ethic

6 Christianity and the Baptist church

(2-22 Field Notes)
It is interesting to note that the field notes give no indication that
John was asked to discuss any of these things.

John's student teaching situation was more complicated than the
other ones. As has been stated, he was assigned to Laboratory even
though he had asked to be assigned to a local junior high. He expressed
his concern about the discipline at Laboratory High School to Mrs. Smith
prior to his professional semester. She had told him he was strong and
could handle it. Early in the professional semester, it was learned
that Mrs. Oakwood, who was to be John's critic teacher, had fallen ill

and had an operation. Thus it was anticipated that she would not

103

return to Laboratory until February 26th, which was one week after
student teaching began. Until February 26th the students in Mrs.
Oakwood's classes would have a substitute teacher. -This was the situa-
tion that John was to inherit.

Although John received a job before the end of his professional
semester, he was not sure it was exactly what he wanted to do with his
life. A member of the literary magazine staff, he on occasion told me
that he either wanted to be a college professor or a writer, and that
he dreamed of writing and spending his life in the library. He did say
before he started student teaching that he wasn't sure he wanted to
teach high school boys and girls; and by the end of student teaching he
was certain he would never teach high school again. He said to me:

John: . . . Point Two! If at all possible, do not send
your kids to a public school. (John was talking about
Laboratory School which in fact was private, but which he
considered public.)

Me: 'Don't?

John: Don't ever, never! I don't know . . . look for
something better. Do not! From what I've seen . . . I'm
not sure high school is morally defensible. (He continues
about his high school career.) I suspect your own high
school experience somehow reflects itself in your own student
teaching experience. I hated high school; I sincerely hated
it. I shouldn't be a high school teacher. NEVER! EVER!
It's not for me. I've taken abuses from people . . . (5-10
Formal Interview)

John, who was approximately 5' 10" tall, enjoyed "running"
since it helped him to relax. During the early part of the semester
he wore typical student attire. From the field notes during the days
when he was not teaching, he wore jeans, tan work shoes and a plaid
shirt. While student teaching, he was always observed wearing a tie,

and even in methods when teaching a mini-lesson he dressed more formally

104

than at other times. For instance he might wear a dress shirt with a
sweater over it, oxfords, and corduroy trousers. Although trimmed,

his hair, which was light brown and parted on the left side, was not

as neatly groomed during methods as it was during the student teaching
practicum. He was near-sighted and wore wire-rimmed glasses. He had
sideburns which stretched to the bottom of his earlobes, and his bangs
draped over his forehead. John had had some acne in his adolescent
years and a few ravages still remained. He did not wear a moustache or
a beard. His voice was deep, and when he smiled, his grin was broad and
boxy.

John had a distinctive laugh which some of his peers did not
like. The laugh was occasionally loud and raucous. He tended to laugh
this way when he was sarcastic or nervous. For instance, once in
fundamentals class when his group was outlining topics for the course,
I asked if the list corresponded with the book and if these were the
instructor's objectives. He said, "That's not clear. (laugh) I must
be hard of hearing!" Betty once said that his laugh irritated her.

She said, “I can't stand that laugh!" Another student agreed. Another
example of his dry humor came from a student at Laboratory High School.
The student asked John where he got his drugs and John replied, with a
shrug, "From Dempsey's (a local drug store), where do you get yours?“
(1-23 Field Notes)

Often John's humor had an underlying meaning and made sense in
context. For instance, once in a discussion group in fundamentals in
which other students and he were participating, he turned and commented

to me:

105

It's like us (student teachers) against them! (students)

We're lining up . . . does this permeate education? It's

like, you can't let them (students) think you are one of

them. There's a fine line between us and them. (1-16

Field Notes) '
Although the context and tone here was a joking one, John was in fact
making a point for the content of the class often reflected an alignment
of teachers vs. students.

In sum it may be said that John was a sensitive, perceptive
individual who was native to the region. He perceived himself as a good
student; and although he didn't take his education courses seriously
because he felt they lacked "content," he did take his student teaching
seriously and he had a difficult time. He was an inquiring religious
young man who often due to his own set of values, appeared to the others

as different.

Paul David Merrick

Paul Merrick was an English and Spanish major, twenty-four years
old, married, and had a son one year old. He was 5' 10" tall and of
slight build. His light brown hair was thinning, and he parted it in
the middle.. He wore a moustache which his wife didn't like, and his
hair in the back fell to the base of his neck. He had sideburns approxi-
mately one inch thick which grew to the end of his earlobe, and his skin
was fair.

Paul's appearance was important to him; and although he usually
dressed as a student for methods and fundamentals classes, he did wear
dress slacks, a sweater vest, dress shirts, oxfords, and occasionally a
shirt and tie when he was student teaching and presenting mini-lessons.

He particularly wore the color brown. Paul once said when he was

106

dressed up to present a lesson, "If I'm gonna be a teacher, I guess I
better dress like one." He was always well groomed.

Like all people, Paul had some quirks or idiosyncracies. He
was good-natured about them, but they tended to embarrass him as well.
For instance, since his skin was fair, he tended to blush: or if he
made an error, he blushed. He also talked with his hands all the time.
His gestures were routine; and when he talked, he would motion with the
forefinger of his right hand. The students at County High School teased
him about his "sign language." Paul thought this amusing and laughed
with them.

The students as well as his peer group liked him very much. One
of his fellow student teachers said of him to a group, "Smith will get
him another (critic) teacher. I think it's awful to treat Paul that way.
He's so nice." The others agreed. (2-15 Field Notes) Mary said to the
group in a bar, "I just love him, he's so sweet." (2-23 Field Notes)

At County High School, students asked him to "bull" with them and were
not afraid to ask him questions. For instance, in class one day after
Paul had concluded his lesson in second hour:

10:05 A.M.

Someone enters and talks about graduation invitations with

Mrs. Evans.

Paul: Okay, we'll stop here and you go ahead and read for

tomorrow.

Dick (a student sitting in the back to my left): "Mr. Merrick,

you come on back and bull with us?"

Paul comes back and kneels. He says, "You all, all right?

What ya doing? You all sit right in front of me and I can't

help notice you."

Dick: "We're still listenin', Mr. Merrick. We just wanna
talk to ya!"

107

Paul blushes . . . now he talks to them

Dick: What kind of grades you get?

Paul didn't answer at first, but then says, "3.7!"
Dick: I thought so! (3-7 Field Notes)

And another time, Paul, while he was teaching "The Ode for St.
Cecilia's Day" (a seventeenth century poem by John Dryden), was asked
about "sacred lays." The student who asked the question seriously
wanted to know, "What's so sacred about lay's?" Calmly and without
arrogance, Paul explained that Dryden was referring to music, not to
sexual intercourse. (3-8 Field Notes) Paul later reported that he had
mentioned this to Mrs. Evans, who said, "He wouldn't have asked me that."
She meant that Dick wouldn't have asked her anything of a sexual nature.
Paul's family was important to him, and he was constantly

concerned about them. During the professional semester his wife and
year-old son had to return to their home in a city north of Centertown
due to finances, the difficulties of student teaching, and the problems
of living in a small apartment for married students. Paul said of this:

. . . There were times (during the early part of this semester)

when I . . . well, the apartment was very, very small and my

wife didn't have anything to do to the house except Billy (his

son). And she didn't!! She didn't know anybody down here: I

did, but she didn't. There was no place to go. Our neighbors

wouldn't talk to us; they didn't know us. So she was cramped

in a very small place. At one point she told me she was going

crazy, and I think she was. Although I was with my wife, I at

least was at Jumbo Burger. I was working. I was actively

seeing people. She made the comment, 'How much can you say to

an eleven month old baby?‘ At that point it was the worse.

With her being cooped up . . . frustration . . . that was the

worse for her. That's when I came here (to County).

Question: When, exactly?

Paul: Remember that second hour that went so bad? It's right

before then that we decided--well maybe you better go back to

your mother's. (The time of this situation corresponds with
Paul's loss of a job and his early student teaching experiences.)

108

Also, well, financially . . . it was a bind! You can't
imagine how much difference ninety bucks a week makes!
(5-1 Formal Interview)

As a result, Paul was lonely. He wrote in a note to me on
March 8th:

Sherry, my son is walking! He started last night along with
getting himself off the bottle! He really is something and
I sure do miss him and my wife. (3-8 Note)

In order to see his family he went north every weekend, leaving Friday
evening and returning on Sunday. His wife, Jane, had obtained a job and
was working as a secretary in an office situation. Billy, therefore,
was under the care of Paul's mother-in-law. Paul, who took his obliga-
tions and responsibilities very seriously, was deeply concerned about
this state of affairs. He said,

I don't want my wife to work . . . she should be and wants
to be . . . a housewife! Her mother is not (his emphasis)
the mother of our child. Jane is the mothEr, and should be
the mother. Oh well . . . so much for my worry. God has
done a pretty good job so far of guiding our way . . . I'm
pretty sure he will continue to do so. (3-30 Journal)

Paul, like John, was strong in his faith. He was a Catholic and
placed God first in his order of priorities. It is important to see how
strongly Paul feels about his religion and the obligations he feels he
has to it. For instance, he said in answer to a question concerning how
busy he was during student teaching:

First in my life is God and then comes my wife and my son
and then teaching. Now, if teaching deprives me of any of
those three--of any of them--then I can't say too much for
teaching. I sometimes feel I can rationalize my obligation
to God through teaching, but I cannot sacrifice my wife to
teaching. (He continued on his marriage.) It was a serious
obligation his marriage) and I realized it at the time.
Even if she weren't Catholic, (divorce) is not an option. A
promise to a person . . . well, it's wrong to break it when
you break it, but when you promise God something, you don't
break it. (5-1 Interview)

109

Paul was the only student teacher who had been employed in a
lot of different jobs and he had a job during the student teaching
semester. Before coming to Selected State and during the summers, he
had worked at a large theme amusement park; he had waited tables,
worked in a mattress company, and ad infinitum. For two years prior
to February 27 Paul had worked at Jumbo Burger on the by-pass near the
university. He went to work at 5:00 P.M. and worked until closing
during the week and until 1:00 A.M. on the weekends. On the weekends
he also worked during the day when the opportunity arose for him to do
so. However on the evening of February 26, Paul quit his job. He
reported to me that the following situation had occurred.

I've worked there for two years. You know how it is . .
when things build up. So now, it's a real tight budget.

He explained that he had been told to take a break, but he didn't get
paid for breaks so he continued working. The employer told him to take
a "break“ and Paul asked, "Why?" The boss replied, "Because I said so.“
Paul reported that he said he had quit or at least he thought so.
"Maybe, Sherry, I got fired." Paul was never sure, but the fact that
he had acted in a way he considered foreign to his personality and
against what he perceived to be his responsibilities and obligations
plagued him. For instance, he wrote on March 1 that he had talked with
his wife about the restaurant dismissal and:

Sherry, I want feedback on this question . . . I've never

quit a job before and I've allowed it to affect me more than

I should have . . . Do you think the students realized? A

teacher hasn't a right to let personal affairs affect his
teaching; do you think I did? (2-27 Journal)

110

And:

She (his wife) says she's not upset with me leaving
Jumbo, but I'm pretty sure she is. I hope that my life
away from County doesn't affect my performance here in
a bad way. (3-1 Journal)

And:

If I still had my job . . . I really would be in trouble!
(refers to the amount of time student teaching takes) In
that respect, I'm glad I lost it, or I quit.

Question: You quit?

Paul: I think I did. I was just fed up with him (his

boss). I know they're saying . . . I was fired. (Later

he would be afraid to use them as a reference.) That's

the one thing on my mind about it. (3-14 Interview)

Paul Merrick had looked forward to the time when he would finish

college and begin to teach.

I'm so anxious to get started I can taste it . . . It

sure is going to be a fast paced, exciting semester. I'm

lookin' forward to it! (2-25 Journal)
His overall objective in teaching was to "make something understood . . .
no matter what!" and during methods and fundamentals he became more and
more excited and confused about teaching. He said to a group of three
on the Friday before the practicum was to begin that he couldn't really
express his feelings on student teaching. He said,

It's like not . . . I can't put it into words. I mentioned

roles . . : but . . . it's a changing. I just don't know!

(2-16 Field Notes)
Aside from his inability to put his feelings into words, the problem of
' money and teacher's salaries began to focus. Some examples:
1; Several entries in field notes about job interviews.
2 (From 3-1 Journal): I'm lookin' forward to a teaching
career with one reservation . . . will it provide an adequate
income? I think it can if I have a decent job during the

summer. At any rate . . . I do want to teach. (Underline is
Paul's)

And:

And:

And:

And:

And:

111

Yesterday I had an interview in County, which

is up near . They tell me they have fifteen jobs
in English (where the others are saying no jobs). Oh,
Sherry, I haveta get a job . . . (3-27 Field Notes)

My only worry, and I'm thinking about it more and more,
is the money. There is nothing I'd rather do (teach), but
I don't know if I can support a family. (3-30 Note)

Sherry, tell me truthfully, you've been a teacher. Can
I support a family on $9,000 to $10,000 a year? (4-16
Field Notes)

Paul went home from the party earlier to await a call from
a job at (amusement park). (4-23 Field Notes)

Question: Have you resolved some things that bothered you
at the beginning of the term?

Paul: Not all . . . Can I support a family on a teacher's
salary? And that would be forever! I have a job at
County, but it's $8,900 . . . and I just cannot afford it.
There's another possibility, (school name), in
which case $10,300 to start. I could take that because it's
as much as I would make in the full time job I have this
sunner . . . Maybe it's security, I don't know. You see,
I'm in a different position from Jean or John or Jim. Jim
would not be the same person if he had any responsibilities.
Thatgs why I felt bad when he asked me if I still wanted to
teac .

Question: Doesn't he want to?

Paul: He's not sure.

Question: Would you teach if there was more money?

Paul: If there were more money involved, I would. That's
just it. I have to work with people . . . some people

cannot stand responsibility, I can't stand to be without it.
I really cannot. (5-1 Interview)

112

There were other references to the same items, and almost all the
student teachers were concerned about obtaining a job, but Paul was
extremely concerned.
All in all it may be said that Paul was a bright young man who
wanted to teach, but felt confused about what he thought the profession
of education might bring him. He viewed himself as "somewhat egotistical"
but in a human way. He was interested in his students and in actually
learning how to teach them and make himself more effective. Paul was
the one chief informant in the study to ask me,
Sherry, one point . . . In your study, don't leave out the
human element. Teaching would be drastically changed . . .
I feel for the worst . . . if humanism was forbade from the
classroom. (3-6 Journal)

Mary Louise Wilson

Mary, who was white, single and twenty-two years old, was from
a small town some seventy-five miles northwest of Centertown. She came
from an affluent background, had one younger sister, and her parents
were divorced. She was an English major and French minor and from the
beginning of student teaching, was looking forward to a graduation trip
to France during the summer. At the time the professional semester
began, Mary was living in a trailer and rooming with a French foreign
exchange student. This French roommate was a source of aggravation to
her and on more than one occasion, Mary would exclaim, "She's driving me
crazy!" (From Field Notes - several dates) Once at an afternoon
gathering of student teachers and their friends at a local pub, Mary
brought her roommate along. The girl promptly drank too much and was
a source of embarrassment to Mary. It was as if Mary had taken on a

responsibility that she didn't want or need. (2-23 Field Notes)

113

Also at the time the professional semester began, Mary was
somewhat more "blase" about her upcoming experience than the other
student teachers. For instance, she said of the upcoming experience,

I heard some things about it (student teaching). Some of

my friends have done it. They had good things to sa about

it; all of 'em, good things. (1-23 Formal Interview)
In many ways Mary wanted to teach, but she didn't express any real
desperation or need to get a job until the end of the term. She said
in answer to a question, "Any ideas on jobs?"

. um, not really. I'm going to Europe in May and I

thought if I found a job over there, I might stay there

awhile for the heck of it. But probably I will come back

here . . . and I do wanna teach. (l- 23 Formal Interview)
And in a discussion at County with another student teacher, a teacher,
and me, she said to the other student teacher concerning a job they
both were to interview for:

I've never had to worry about money. But now I have to .

start. It'll be hard because this (meaning college is

ending). . . is it. (5- 2 Field Notes)
Up until April 24th Mary had never had a job interview, and she had
never written a resume. She freely admitted she was afraid of an
interview that was coming up, and admitted to us in a group:

. . I've never had an interview before . . . as a matter

of fact, I' ve never worked, only in my uncle's KFC, and

that wasn't a full time job. (4-24 Field Notes)

Mary's physical appearance may be summarized as very attractive.
She was 5' 2" tall and very slim. I asked her once what she weighed,
but she wasn't sure. At the beginning of the term her straight light
brown hair was long (halfway down her back); but before she went for
her first day-long visit at County, she told me she was going to get it

cut. She discussed her apprehension at doing this with me. She said

114

she had not had a haircut in a long time and was afraid. When she did
get it cut, her hair was still straight, but "fluffier,“ and approxi-
mately three and one-half inches shorter in the back.

Even though Mary always wore slacks, she dressed extremely well.
The field notes reflect that even if Mary was in jeans, she still wore
a blazer or a dress sweater. Some examples from field notes include:

Today, (Mary) has on pleated tan slacks with a narrow matching
tan belt. Her shoes are also brown and padded for protection
against the weather (Bass). Her blouse is a knitted pattern
(plaid blue and brown) and the blouse has two small pockets.
On her hands are two rings. She wears a gold watch with a tan
leather band. Her corduroy coat is a sharp orangish brown.
Her purse is oxblood brown. She is coordinated in her colors.
(1-15 Field Notes)
Another example shows how others in the student teaching group looked
at her attire.
Today Mary has on a gabardine pant suit. It is light green.
Jean (another student teacher who had just arrived to methods),
who has come to class in bibs, said to Mary, 'I hate these
people with money who can afford all these clothes.' Both
laughed at the teasing remark. (2-6 Field Notes)

According to Mary, she had changed dramatically from the time
she was a freshman in high school. She referred to herself as a "hippie"
in that period of her life. She said in an interview:

I was kinda . . . of a hippie . . . you might call it. I was

a hippie, kinda, well . . . not a full-fledged hippie, but

. . . you know, I wore those Mansfield jeans, with patches,

zipped pockets, you know, the fatigue jacket . . . (1-23 Interview)
Once at lunch when Jim, Jean, Mary and I were eating and discussing high
school, Mary revealed that sometimes she had worn "jeans with sewed-in
patches and an army jacket two sizes too bit. I was a cool hippie.
(2-1 Field Notes)

Although like the others, Mary dressed up more for the student

‘ teaching part of the professional semester, she really was always well

115

dressed. Many times during the student teaching practicum all she did
differently from her normal dress was to add a coordinate scarf.

Mary's pastime and hobby was photography: 'she was extremely good
at it. Once for a mini-lesson in methods she displayed a photograph she
had taken of the traffic behind her. She had taken this picture from a
moving car, using its outside mirror. She also enjoyed poetry, and
Emily Dickinson was one of her favorite poets. She once admitted that
the best book she ever read was Mommie Dearest and that John Barth's
The End of the Road had really explained existentialism to her. She said
throughout the term that she didn't like grammar, but she would learn to
teach it. Some examples indicate these feelings.

Mary said at break . . . 'I don't like to admit it, but I
don't want to teach grammar. I want to teach literature.
I think grammar is the most boring!' (1-15 Field Notes)
At the end of the semester she said,
Everything was positive (on the evaluation). Only one
hint of anything being negative, which is true, it's about
grammar. I'm still not confident about it . . . She (Mrs.
Jones) said I was enjoying it more; which I am . . .

Coming from a small town, Mary had many opportunities to know
her former teachers on a different basis from the traditional one. She
said of these experiences:

. . . When I was in high school, I knew five teachers on a
social basis. I was always down to their house and having
them over to my house for dinner and we'd drink a coupla
beers. But we could do that. You know . . . I think that's
a very rare thing and it's a risk, too . . . but they're
still some of my best friends . . . When I go home, I call
the school. (1-23 Interview)
Another time, Mary told me on the Friday before she went home that she

and a teacher friend of hers were going to go out drinking together.

116

Her favorite teacher had been her ninth grade English teacher,.
and this was the reason she had decided to become an English instructor.
She said in an interview,

My English teacher, when I was a freshman in high school,

she was a great big lady and this was her first time teaching.
She walked through the room like she meant business, but she
was a good person, and like I got in trouble when I was a
freshman in high school . . .

Well . . . you know, I was going through kinda a funny stage,
but she kinda turned me around. Because like I say, I got in
trouble. What happened was she walked outta the room. You
know . . . for about twenty minutes, you know, she was gone
for a long time. Well, we tried to think, what can we do?

You know, what can we do that's really bad . . . to get in
trouble! So one of my friends says, 'Let's light a cigarette!‘
and I said, 'NO!' So anyway . . . I struck the match and he
smoked the cigarette, and this other girl took a few drags off
the cigarette. Well . . . anyway, she found out about it and
what she had us do was uh . . . was an 'etymology of words,‘
you know . . . millions of 'em, and I really got into it. So
since then, I decided then . . . that's what I wanted to do
was be an English teacher. (1-23 Formal Interview)

Mary had also teachers she disliked and she particularly disliked

English teachers who were coaches. It was her opinion that coaches
“ . . . tried to teach, but couldn't!" Once in a fundamentals class
when she was giving her "little bit" on English and how it fit into the
school curriculum, she said to the group of would-be student teachers:

English is the most important subject . . . the English

teacher's job is the most important. If you can't read, you

can't learn. We need to get the coaches out of the English

department since they don't put as much time in as is needed.

(1-15 Field Notes)
Paul, who was in her class, added:

I want to emphasize what Mary said. English is real important

. . writing is also . . . the people who complain that English

is too much required will need it the most. They'll be the
first in line to say, 'I don't need no!" (1-15 Field Notes)

117

Mary then continued:

It's not the student's fault . . . it's the teachers! I

went to (name of) County High School, I didn't

have grammar or writing. Fortunately I had literature, and

then I came up here, and now I write pretty well . . . I'd

(make students) let a child read anything . . . even

pornography . . . My job is to try to make it interesting

enough for them (students) to read . . . (1-15 Field Notes)
It is also instructive to know that Mary believes a person's “oral and
written language" labels them. It is intersting to note at this point
Mary believes that when a student doesn't learn, it is his "teacher's
fault.“‘

As has been stated, Mary did not like or know grammar particularly
well, yet when she first met with her would-be supervising teacher in
January, the field notes reveal that:

Mrs. Jones had prepared a schedule of classes for Mary. She
is to teach American Literature and some grammar. Mrs. Jones
explained the necessity for grammar and asked Mary, '00 you
like rammar?‘ Mary replied, 'Oh, yes Ma'am!' (1-15 Field
Notes .
Until she and Mrs. Jones knew each other fairly well, Mary pretended to
like grammar.

Mary also perceived herself as a "hard head." By this she meant
that when she wanted something or started out to do something, she got
it or did it. Once during the student teaching term when she needed a
1965 record from the Sounds of Silence album by Simon and Garfunkel she
went to extremes to find it. Earlier in the morning she had said that
she had stayed up late hunting for something. She later told another
County teacher and me the following story.

Well, I got off (from County) too late to see Mrs. Smith and

when I got there she wasn't there. So I went around to all
the stores. It was a 1965 album . . . no place had it; so I

118

went back to my place (her trailer) and called all the radio
stations. No place had it! So . . . I called John and told
him my story, and he had the album. So at one o'clock last
night I went over to John's and picked up the album. I'm a
hardhead when I want to do something, I do it! ~(3-7 Field
Notes)

During the early part of the professional semester Mary indicated
that she didn't have a steady boyfriend, and she confided to me that "at
the present, there's no man in my life." (2-23 Field Notes) Later in
the term there still was no steady man, but one of the male teachers at
County, who taught business classes and was in charge of distributive
education, asked Mary for several dates. She did go out with him but
thought at one time that he was getting "too close." She seemed to
cool their personal relationship, but he was friendly and a source both
of information and confidence throughout the term. His name is George
McNicholas, and he usually spent one or two hours a day in the lounge
with Mary, me and sometimes Jean.

Mary was very fond of Mrs. Smith, the university supervisor and
methods instructor. She thought Mrs. Smith was a terrific teacher, and
she said,

Question: What do you think of methods? (class)
Mary: I like it . . . I love (her emphasis) Mrs. Smith.
(then with joy) She's a bird; someday I wish I could be
halfway like her. She's something!
Question: What else do you like about the class?
Mary: I just like Mrs. Smith. You know, it's her (Mrs.
Smith). They (the other students) aren't that great.
She is the class! (meaning content) She really makes it.
I could sit and listen to her for days. I wish I could
of had her for a teacher. (1-23 Interview)
At the time Mary made these statements she really meant them. She
continued to admire Mrs. Smith almost until the end of the term, when

she felt that Mrs. Smith hadn't watched her teach. She said to two

119

other teachers and me during the lunch period on the last day of the
professional semester:

Mary: You know, she really snowed me! I really believed

her (all the things she said about teaching), but she

never even came and saw me! (teach)

Another teacher said: She's (Mrs. Smith) . . . the biggest

phoney I've ever seen!

Mary: Yeah, I guess she is (a phoney). (5-11 Field Notes)

The establishment of personal relationships with others was very
important to Mary. She truly believed the “key" to being a successful
teacher was in "being liked" by the students and in liking and loving
them back. On February 15th at lunch, Mary said, "I hope they (students)
like me, that's the key." There are many other examples in the data
that support this fact. In a seminar for student teachers in March, Mary
said to the group that she had a student who was talented in poetry and
that she was going to get it published. She said she had a personal
relationship with the student. There were several others she was also
close to.

In all, it may be said that Mary was an attractive girl who
liked English, admired former teachers whom she "looked up to," and
although not desperate about securing a job, genuinely wanted to teach.
She felt being liked by students was important, and she believed that
personal relationships were necessary if the teacher was to be successful

and effective. Mary's student teaching experience will indicate that she

overcame fear and anxiety, and that at occasional times she felt successful.

Jean Ellen Thompson
Jean Thompson was a bright, perceptive young woman of twenty-one.

She was engaged and she, like Mary, was an English major and French minor.

120

Although she wished to be a full participant in the study, she in fact
was used primarily to help verify perspectives and to provide additional
information on the student teaching process. She was interviewed
formally only twice rather than three times and her supervising teacher
only once. Jean was a full participant only until April 1st. Thereafter
she is included in group discussions with other student teachers, but
what is known about her classroom after March 30th is based solely on
what she said to me or to another student teacher about her classroom.
Jean considered her family background to be poor. Jean said the

following to the group after they had shown their visuals in methods:

Like the Jonestown Massacre; like when I was growing up we

didn't have radio, television, newspapers, so we wouldn't

have known about it (if the teacher didn't tell us). (1-15

Field Notes)
She had been born in the deep south, had moved many times as a child,
and she once explained to me that where she came from, people didn't say
"you all," but rather "y'll.'I Her mother had been married several times,
and her father had left the family and moved north to a county east of
Centertown in the mountains. The fact that her father lived close by was
the determining factor in her choice of Selected State. He had died
since she had been in Centertown.* Jean was also the youngest child in
her family, and she had grown brothers and sisters. She mentioned in
her autobiography that school and her school teachers had been a very
positive force in her life, and she even hinted that without their

interest in her, she probably would not have been in college at all.

She said in an interview situation with Betty and me:

 

*I was permitted to read the student teachers' autobiographical
sketches that they wrote for Mrs. Smith in January. Jean's was the most
specific about her past.

121

Question: Are you looking forward to student teaching?

Jean: Yeah, in a way I am; in a way I'm not . . . some
people don't succeed. I'm putting so much importance on
it. Maybe in a way I' m putting too much importance on it

. because I know a lot of people in the classroom
(methods), Jim, and Mary, well they majored in English
because they liked English and because that's what they
were interested in. Then when it came time to do something
with it, they said, 'Well I guess I' ll teach.‘ But .
I've wanted to teach (her emphasis).

If they fail in teaching, well that's no big deal, you
know. I' ve talked to them. They're ready to get up and
go do something else; but if I fail to teach (a long pause)

. well . . that's it! I wouldn't know what to do

because that's what I've wanted to do since I was little.
I care a lot . . . (1-26 Interview)

And from the field notes, Jean said in methods class:
One time when I was in the sixth grade, I didn't have any
friends. The teacher just let me do the bulletin boards
and I felt good about myself. And pretty soon, the other
kids thought so too. (1-21 Field Notes)

Jean was engaged to be married in August, and she also had
planned to go to France in May. She was concerned that sometimes her.
fiance' didn't put very much importance on what she was doing. She asked
me in a group,

Jean: Does your husband think what you do is important?

Me: No!

Jean: Neither does . I come home with so much to

tell, but he won't listen . . .
She considered throwing the ring back to him, but did not. I received
an invitation to their wedding in August. Because she was getting
married, she, like Larry, was constantly concerned about finding a job.
She said to Mary and me that her fiance' was waiting on his job until
she found one. The lack of money really worried Jean: she said,

I've always been worried about money; (fiance')
is waiting on me. (5-3 Field Notes)

122 '

Early in methods Jean indicated that perhaps student teaching
was a fearful situation not only for the student teacher, but also for
the supervising teacher. She said to the methods class on one occasion:

I really admire a teacher who would allow a student teacher

to come in and maybe let me outdo her. It's pretty scary!

(1-21 Field Notes)
In this statement Jean shows the same sensitivity that she shows throughout
the professional semester, but her idealism about teachers and teaching
was revealed in an article she shared with the group in the cafeteria one
morning. Noted in the Field Notes is an article from the English Journal
called “Teaching." This article was extremely idealistic and written for
a person who wanted stories of "How I Did My Thing" in the classroom.
This seems to again point up Jean's idealism about the classroom and her
desire to "knock 'em dead . . ." (1-31 Field Notes) She will however
become somewhat disillusioned about both teachers and students.

(All in all, Jean was the one English student teacher who initially
felt she must succeed in student teaching at all costs. She was a good
student, but neither considered herself a scholar, or wished to be one--
only a teacher. Although she dressed somewhat more formally for the
practicum, she was not as well dressed as Mary. She was however appro-
priately dressed. She was sensitive and interested in helping students

as she had been helped by her teachers.

The Other English Student Teachers

Besides John, Mary, Paul, and Jean, there were four other English
student teachers who were interviewed and observed. They did their
student teaching at Washington Irving High School, which is in an urban

area. These individuals participated with the primary subjects in methods

123

class, and the researcher had frequent contact with them in the
fundamentals classes that were a part of this study. They also partici-
pated in the student teaching seminars and attended the party in April.
They shall be introduced somewhat more briefly than the others since

they were not observed at anytime in their practicum sites.

gjm.

Jim was a senior from the largest town in the state, and he was
considered by the other student teachers to be the scholar of the group.
Jean mentioned many times that Jim was always interested in "criticism"
and academic subjects. Paul refers to him as "a good student" who took
up teaching as a “safeguard.“ (5-1 Interview) Jim, like John, was on
the staff of the literary magazine, and he organized and carried out
the French Club play.

Jim was 5' 8“ tall and very slim. He had curly black hair and
a nicely trimmed beard. His voice was deep, and he gestured with his
hands for emphasis. When giving mini-lessons in methods class he
generally sat on his left leg in a chair. In conversations with him in
the cafeteria, he would often bring the talk back to Shakespeare or
to something in literature that he liked. During the term I was there
he wrote a letter to the editor of the university paper regarding the
editor's use of sexual innuendo.

Jim had written a letter to (John Doe) about the
use of words and language thEh_WS§"intended to shock the
students. Jim's objection was to the phrase, 'the mere
mention of that three-letter word 'sex' is enough to excite
most people into an aroused state.‘ (Selected State

Newspaper 2-1) Jim's letter and point was well taken,
however he used a pseudonym, Bobby G. Simmons.

124

And the group discussed his letter at lunch:
Jim: That John Doe is sophomoric, he really doesn't
want to write for a newspaper.
Mary: Yeah, he always finds something bad!
Jean: He once wrote an article on 'Deep Throat." I
don't see how he keeps from being sued. I'm glad you
told him. (Jim) (2-1 Field Notes)

Jim was the only student teacher in English that had gone to a
Catholic high school. This high school was in a large urban area and
therefore he wanted to teach in a metropolitan area. He said:

One reason I chose (name of city) is I felt it

might be more like my high school if I went to a metro-

politan area. (1-25 Interview)
However his high school was all male and had only 500 students. The one
he was assigned to for student teaching was much larger, integrated and
coed. Although he recognized this difference, on his first visit to
Washington Irving High School he was still surprised at the noise and
number of students in the halls. He believed like John, that your high
school experiences and the approaches of your high school teachers would
be the student teacher's model. He said:

. . . Your high school experience maybe even more than

your college experience is what you look to when you teach.

Well if you're in secondary education . . . so some of my

approaches are based on that. (1-25 Interview)
Because of his experiences in an all male school, he believed that boy/
girl schools helped students to act more mature. He related one day at
lunch some incidents that had occurred during his junior high school
days. He said:

Jim: We once had a teacher we thought didn't wear a bra.

So one guy unzipped the back of her dress to see if there

were bra straps.
Mary: Oh, if that happened to me, I'd run out crying.

125

And:
Jim: Also one time we gave this math teacher a bottle of
Sco e. She was so happy with the gift, and so unhappy with
t e Sco e: she ran out! (of the room) (He used his hand to
show ow her face fell.) (2-1 Field Notes)

Jim did believe what some of his friends had told him and that
was that teachers had resigned themselves to keeping order and that they
really had little control in the classroom. Jim discussed his concerns
at the seminars with the group, and near the end of the term he reported

that he didn't think he would teach.

1913.52

Teresa was from a suburban area of the largest city in the state.
She was an exuberant young woman, who was blond, had a loud voice, and
who initially seemed very enthusiastic about teaching. She once described
herself as a loudmouth. (1-31 Field Notes) She said that she would have
liked to have visited the schools more and that she was anxious to begin
teaching.

I think we should of gone more than two weeks ago . . .
I want to teach my second day! (1-31 Field Notes)

The field notes reveal that even after she was in the public school, she
believed education and teaching to be easy. She had planned to go to
graduate school at Selected State in English education. She said to me:

Teresa: I'm not going to sign with placement. I'll
probably go to graduate school next year.

Question: Will it be in English?

Teresa: Yes, but probably English education; it will be

easier. But they (the English Department) know what kind
of student I am. They may want me to remain over there.

(1-31 Interview)

There is nothing in the field notes to indicate that the other students

considered her a particularly outstanding student.

.4.-
A!»

126

She did regard her classes in education as easy, and initially
like the others, thought this term to be "fun." She said to the group
in methods and Mrs. Smith:

Boy, she (Mrs. Smith) gives us a lot to do. But it's

like partying this term. Everyone comes in my room and

gives me ideas. The whole dormitory! (1-17 Field Notes)
Teresa also admired and liked Mrs. Smith very much and referred to her
as the best "education teacher I've had." (1-30 Field Notes) And
"I've learned a lot (from her), I didn't learn a thing from the others."
However, the latter part of the term changed her attitude toward Mrs.
Smith. Quotes from field notes are instructive in that they show the
contrast between Mrs. Smith perceived as an instructor and Mrs. Smi 11‘

1"ij

perceived as a supervisor.

During break, Teresa was angry and said that one of her

concerns . . . (at this seminar we discussed concerns of

student teachers) was that Smith didn't come to see her.

Betty: She didn't come to see me either, what does she

get paid for? Both girls were angry.

Teresa said, "I wanted her to come during my unit when I

was prepared.“ (3-19 Field Notes)
And Paul told me a week before the second seminar that Teresa was really
mad and that this seminar would be "explosive." (4-18 Field Notes)
It was reported by Paul that Teresa was angry because Mrs. Smith was
"telling personal stuff." This was confirmed on 4-23 when Teresa said
to me in the hall before the seminar,

I better not talk too loud. Mrs. Smith and I had a run in!

She's telling personal things. She told me John was the

worse teacher she ever saw! (4-23 Field Notes)
At the party later that day Teresa explained very loudly to all that
the "run in" was over a party she was having in class when Mrs. Smith

came to observe. This rent in their relationship was never mended.

Unl

Hag

Hrs

Vlg

HES

127

Teresa's biggest concern about student teaching initially was
that Washington Irving was integrated. She said after visiting it once
that she was surprised that it was a "naturally integrated school," and
that although she had been told the "blacks had big mouths,“ they were
"friendly." (1-31 Field Notes) She did confide that once she had
returned to her old high school in (city). She said,

I cried when I went back to my old high school, (and) when

I saw all the blacks on the basketball team. Washington

Irving will be good for me. (1-31 Informal Interview)
She concluded by indicating that violence scared her. She said that in
her old school there were police around the cage, and that the kids said
nobody taught or learned anything.

Teresa on the whole then was initially an enthusiastic student
teacher, and she was not afraid to verbalize what she was thinking.

She considered herself a good student and a person with many friends.
She asked many questions of Mrs. Smith, and she liked methods class very

well. Her attitude like some of the others, changed after she was out

in the field.

Betty
Betty was a tall, attractive blond girl in her early twenties.

Unlike the other student teachers in the English methods class, she

was a speech major. It was a constant source of irritation to her that
Mrs. Smith did not orient the class to speech at all. In methods Betty
did the same assignments that the others did. For instance, she taught
a five-minute grammar mini-lesson (2-1), and she discussed her six
visuals (1-15). The only speech related activity she did in methods

was her unit.

F5

128

Betty collected matchboxes and she wanted to go "someplace warm"
(1-31) to teach. She occasionally mentioned that she would particularly
like to go to Florida. Betty lived in Centertown, had an older sister,
and a boyfriend. She was not however engaged during the term of this
study.

She believed teaching was “getting through to somebody . . ."
(4-23 Field Notes) But she was not sure how to do this. She admitted
to the group in a seminar that she thought teachers were born. She said:

I've always thought I was born with it. (the ability to teach)

The classes I've had in college didn't teach me . . . but I've

watched teachers. (4-23 Interview)
Like the others, she reflected on the differences between her classes in
high school and the classes at Washington Irving High School. She felt
the classes at Washington Irving were interrupted too much. For instance,
she related that the principal was "funny." "He interrupted class to
say, 'Bus #25 is now Bus #27.’ Then he was wrong and had to do it again!"
She was assigned classes in Drama For Enjoyment which was a "low phase"
class, and she mentioned that she was to write down her supervising
teacher's objectives. When she mentioned these objectives to Mrs. Smith,
Mrs. Smith told Betty, "That's good teaching." (1-31 Field Notes) Betty
did not altogether agree with this statement.

Although Betty was often irritated with posters, bulletin boards
and visual assignments. she did them and did not make waves. She fussed
to us about the work, but not to Mrs. Smith. She said that in her
education classes all she ever gave was "bullshit“ answers . . .

(4-23 Field Notes)

thi
Sh
CO!

he.

311C

51'.

129

Linda
Linda was the other married student teacher. She was in her
late twenties and had two children ages seven and five. She also had
babysitting problems which caused her to be late to methods class.
According to Mrs. Smith, Linda had explained the problem to her; and
although Mrs. Smith didn't like it, she did allow Linda a few minutes
late time when she needed it. Since between methods and fundamentals.
there was an hour and a half, Linda went home to fix her children lunch.
She maintained that she was always tired. Her husband was an electrical
contractor who worked out of town most of the time, and this added to
her difficulties in babysitting.
She told me near the end of January that she had already secured
a job for fall teaching eighth grade in her husband's hometown. She was
looking forward to her job and to her student teaching. During a visit
to Washington Irving Junior High, she had met her supervising teacher
and reported that she was nice, and that she was "very excited" about
student teaching.
However toward the end of methods, Linda seemed to slow down
and become later and on February 16th the field notes read this way:
9:15 A.M. Mrs. Smith tells the class what she had told me
earlier that Linda is ill, and that she had talked with her
on the phone. Linda told Mrs. Smith that 'There is something
wrong in my head.‘ Mrs. Smith reported that Linda had been
sick all term and taking Valium which had been prescribed by
the doctor. Mrs. Smith continued by indicating that Linda
could student teach 'if she can get back by the end of next
week; she may teach this term extended.‘ If Linda doesn't
get back she must wait one year. Mrs. Smith said she was sure
Linda knew 'her stuff,' but . . . 'You must be well to teach;'
and 'You can't be sick and teach.’ Mrs. Smith also indicated

that kinda had been crying when she talked to her. (2-16 Field
Notes

130

Linda did come back, and she did teach the "term extended." It was
possible to do this since the public schools had a longer term than

the university. Betty told me later that she knew Linda had been taking
the Valium and had warned her about it.

Essentially Linda believed that teaching was "student knowledge,"
and she admitted that she didn't understand the process of learning, but:
she felt she knew when the students had learned something. (4-23 Field
Notes) In an early seminar, Linda indicated that she had discipline
problems and that she didn't exactly know what to do about them. She
reported a similar thing at the next seminar.

On the whole Linda was quiet and really did not add a lot to
any conversation with the other student teachers. She did ask me
specifically in early February if I'd come and see her, and she was

interested in helping students; she did want to teach.
Other Student Teacher Participants

Mark Henry Clay

Mark Clay was initially a contingent participant in this study.
I met him in fundamentals where I saw between Paul and him. He was
fascinated by what I was doing, and he asked if I'd include him and
observe him after he went to County High. I agreed and he became an
important part of this study.

Mark was a native of the region, and his hometown was only
twenty miles east of Centertown. Like most of the individuals in the
study, he had been educated in the public schools, was single, white and

twenty-one years old. He had one sister who was a teacher of eighth

131

grade science, and he said it was she who influenced him to be a teacher.
He said in an interview:
My sister is a school teacher and when I was a freshman in
high school, she was doing her student teaching . . . and
she had graduated from the high school I was going to (she
was student teaching there) . . . and I had her as a teacher
in the ninth grade. And I think she's probably my idea of
a good teacher. Not so much from my personal experience of
her classes, but from what I know she is doing in her classes.
now) . . . She's dedicated and is conscientious . . .
3-21 Interview)

However Mark was not without some reservations about teaching.
He was a political science major and sociology minor. He had considered
becoming a lawyer and said so on my first meeting with him. (l-ll Field
Notes) Later in the term, he explained that he was still considering
law but:

I didn't apply to law school this year, but I'm definitely
thinking of applying next year. But right now I don't want
to go to school three more years. (3-21 Interview)

However, he was interested in teaching and by March had applied
in his hometown for a job; he further considered applying in two other
places. By the end of the professional semester Mark was definitely
going to teach or to try something that involved teaching, like the
Peace Corps. He answered the question, "Are you going to teach?" this
way:

Yes, I am! . . . or the Peace Corps or maybe Italy. I think
Africa's a new frontier . . . (5-4 Interview)

He believed that teaching had to "relate to people's lives," and that
teaching without transfer of learning was wasted. He wanted to be the
"kind of teacher" he never had. He stated:

I want to be the kind of teacher I never had in class . .

I want to motivate them. I know that sounds trite, (but) I
do want to try to motivate them since I think everybody's

132

got a value and has interests. Whether their (students')
interests relate to the civics or the American government
classes I teach, I don't know. Sometimes that's difficult

for a subject area teacher to understand . . . (3-21 Interview)

One of the concerns Mark had about his own teachers and the
teachers at County was that they worked directly from the textbook.
He explained:

That's the main criticism I've had of the teachers I've had.

Like they . . . I don't consider the classes just books . . .
You (the teacher) need to relate it to people's lives! (3-21
Interview)

Mark was also perceptive about his own teaching in that he felt
there was an inherent danger in using the textbook too much. He recog-
nized that a style of teaching develops, and if the developing style
was one which directly used the textbook or was unchanging, then the
teacher tended to use this style. He said,

. . . I think anyone could fall into the mold and stay
there (using the book). If it's always the same thing.
from one chapter to another . . . but I like to be changing
all the time. (3-21 Interview)

Mark had some previous experience teaching. From the field
notes taken during a break in fundamentals, he said, "I substituted a
coupla times; I didn't like it." (1-15 Field Notes) Later in March
he explained that he had substituted for two full weeks during spring
break 1978 and during Christmas 1979. He said that this experience
had not endeared him to teaching, but:

I didn't just go in and babysit . . . I tried to do what
the teacher wanted me to do . . . I got a little experience.
(3-21 Interview)

Physically, Mark was an attractive blue-eyed young man, very

slender with a "curly." He was very enthusiastic about the things he

did. ‘Like the others, he dressed well for the practicum part of the

133

semester. He occasionally wore a three-piece suit or a vest sweater
with a tie. He did not, however, wear a tie everyday. Mark was liked
by both his peers and by his students because he was interested in them.
For instance, there was a very obese girl in one of his classes and he
went to the guidance counselor to see if he might be able to obtain

help for the girl. He was told that the counselors did not do "personal
counseling." The field notes reveal Mark's feelings about this incident:

Yesterday I went to see the counselors about this girl . . .
One counselor told me, 'We change schedules." Another said,
'We don't change schedules!‘ . . . and the third said, 'We
only change schedules after school begins.’ Sherry, can you
believe that? Then they told me that they don't do any
personal counseling . . . So I asked, 'What about dru s?'
They said, 'Oh, we don't have a problem!‘ (with drugs . . .
You know, Sherry, I know they have families and can't afford
to lose their jobs . . .that' s the only way a person could
stand it. Maybe I am a dreamer . . . (3-19 Field Notes)

Later Mark would call the counselors “buffoons.” (3-24 and 5-4
Interviews)

Mark had a different experience in his practicum from the others.
Towards the end of student teaching, his supervising teacher who had a
small heart seizure in March, had a severe heart attack in late April.
The result was that during the last two weeks of student teaching, Mark
' taught all the classes. He said of this:

(Mr. Foster's absence) It solved some problems! He' d been
absent for like three days before they (administration) got
a substitute and I'd had full control of the classes and I
enjoyed it. I liked being there by myself. I didn't really
feel insecure when he (Mr. Foster) was in the classroom, but
I felt like I was censured from saying certain things, but I
guess anybody would feel a little bit inhibited when another
teacher is in the classroom with them regardless of whether
they'd taught twenty years or was just starting out! Anyway,

. . I enjoyed having full control of the classes and at
times, Mr. Foster would be ca arrylng on his extra- curricular
activities, and it would be sort of disruptive to me . . .
(5-4 Interview)

134

In all these last few days of student teaching changed his perspective

on the process.

Other Student Teachers

As was mentioned earlier in the text, the researcher met and
talked with many of the student teachers at different times. Information r1
from these individuals was used to help validate inferences and to help

form categories. As these characters are mentioned in the second part r4

 

of Chapter Four they will be explained.
The University Supervisor

Mrs. Constance V. Smith

Mrs. Smith was both the supervisor and the English methods
instructor for the student teachers in English. She was proud to be
a teacher, and she wished to instill that in her student teachers as
well. She said, "I'm proud to be a teacher and I want them to be proud
too." (1-11 Informal Interview) At times she would even say that
"teaching is the only profession.“ (1-31 Field Notes) Above all Mrs.
Smith believed that teachers had to be models and that more particularly,
English teachers had to be models.

Her background reveals that she obtained her undergraduate
degree from Selected State and her graduate degree from the major
university in the state in English and guidance and counseling. She
would have secured a doctorate, but her committee and the other university
tried to dictate her thesis subject. She commented that,

They (professors) would only allow me to research medieval

. . . they put the subject down on a piece of paper and said
this was what I had to do. I told them . . . if they didn't

135

know what to do with it, I'd tell them . . . and put it
in writing!

Then she added:

After all . . . I'm secure and if I couldn't do something
interesting and worthwhile . . . (l-ll Field Notes)

She had taught public school English for many years before
coming to Selected State as an instructor in the English department in
the early 1960's. A few years after in a reorganization of the colleges,
she moved to the College of Education. Mrs. Smith was fond of mention-
ing that back in the 1960's “there were forty" or more students in an
English methods class. She was very sorry that the numbers of teachers
had dropped so significantly since she "didn't like small classes."

(1-11 Field Notes)

Essentially Mrs. Smith believed that the number one person in
the school was the child, then the teacher, and finally the administrator
whom she I'believed should be paid the same as the teacher." “If a
teacher can't teach, then get them out of there and put someone else in."
(1-11 Field Notes) Also she didn't approve of the state education
association because they had become too radical, and the state department
of education. l'Nhen you can't do anything else, you retire down there."
(1-11 Field Notes)

About herself, Mrs. Smith was fond of saying to the class of
English students:

I'll be blunt. Perhaps I'm the most honest person in the

world. If you can't do it (teach), I'll not recommend you.

The most important thing is our children. (1-11 Field Notes)
She viewed herself as getting "old," and if there was one thing she

really seemed to dislike it was old women. On occasion when using an

(r

'11

136

example of a teacher or a person she felt needed to be put in his place,
she would preface her comment with, “ . . . and I just told that old
woman . . (1-11 Field Notes) Mrs. Smith viewed methods as something
special. She said, "I hope by now you have realized this is not a
subject matter class!" (1-17 Field Notes)

In fact, Mrs. Smith was an extremely attractive woman who told
the student teachers that she was sixty-one years old. None of the
students could believe that she was. Betty said of Mrs. Smith to a
friend of hers, "I couldn't believe she (Mrs. Smith) was that old!"
(1-12 Field Notes) The field notes show the following description of
Mrs. Smith:

Description of Mrs. Smith: She is sixty-one years old, has
dark eyes covered during class by large fashionable round
horn-rimmed glasses. She was probably very attractive as a
young woman since she has retained the facial features of
youth. There are only a few crow's feet and some wrinkles

in the forehead. Her face had been square. Her figure is
intact and she probably wears a size ten or twelve; she wears
up-to-date, very becoming clothes. Today she has on a pant
suit of turquoise. There is embroidered stitching around the
shoulders . . . she is animated and not afraid that others
will imitate her . . . Her hair is black with only an occasional
streak of gray. On her hand she has rings--four on the left
hand and three on the right hand. When talking in private or
in her office I found her to smoke a great deal. Her voice ,
is low, but not excessively harsh. She refers to losing her
voice . . . (l-ll Field Notes on methods class)

Mrs. Smith was also very fond of Selected State and very loyal
about its name. She had known a prominent professor in teacher education
at Selected, and she often “bragged on" the school. Since she had been
associated with Selected for such a long time, she also knew state
senators, the president and past president of the university, and many

of the older professors.

137

It is extremely important to this study of perspective that

the reader understand some of the emphasis and clarity with which Mrs.

Smith indicated to the would-be student teachers the necessity of

becoming a "good English teacher“ and the importance of teaching. Quotes

from the field notes taken during class are instructive.

1.

10.

11.

. . . Let's be prompt. Set a good example as young
English teachers (l-ll)

I'm saddened the English Department here had deleted
speech. If you get in a good English Department,
encourage speech! (1-11)

She put some sources on the board from the English
Journal. '00 it like an English teacher . . . whatever

you 30, do it like an English teacher!‘ (1-11)

. . . Whether you know it or not, you are teachers
now and I hope you're beginning to think that way. (1-16)

Well . . . as teachers we can't make too many mistakes!
Oh my God, is teaching the most important thing in the
world! Some people say . . . Oh, I just teach school

. . . I feel sorry for them. (1-16)

Mrs. Smith projecting to the class: 'You have to be
human. You have to be humanistic . . .' (in your
teaching) (1-17)

Prediction to Paul: ' . . . the kind of teacher I predict
you will be: You won't have any trouble with the kids
closing their eyes . . . You are demanding, but fair;
humanistic, but firm.‘ (1-17)

If there's a strike, you come home! I just see in the
future, teachers being treated as public servants.
When you walk out, you leave your students. If you
sign a contract, you ought to honor it . . . (1-19)

Young people have high morals. (1-21)

.-. . and English teachers are all guidance counselors.

They have to be; they know the kids better. If I had my

ng ggidance counselors would all be English teachers.
-2

You plan what you can, but good English teachers don't
run out of time. (1-30)

t.

t!-

(Ur

138

12. Teaching is the only profession! (1-31)

13. You're more important than you think . . . you are
teachers! (2-6)

14. You must love those kids, no matter how hateful they

are. When you see a mean little kid, use him . . .

(2-16)

These are only some of the comments regarding teaching and good English
teachers.
Mrs. Smith also had a sense of humor which during methods helped
endear her to many of the students. As cited previously, Mary says,
“She's a bird . . . I could just listen to her for days . . ." (1-23
Interview) The things she said often referenced some experiences she'd
had of a successful nature. For instance some examples from field notes
taken during methods classes:
Mrs. Smith said, " . . . so when Robert called me, he thanked
me for being the first one to get Barbara up in front of a
class." (1-17 Field Notes)

And another time Mrs. Smith explained about a student named Billy:
. . . who had to write a phrase 1,000 times for a teacher,
'I shall not talk when I should be studying.‘ Mrs. Smith
had her class write these for Billy and present them to
the teacher. Teresa said, 'You can't do that?’ Mrs. Smith
replied, 'Well . . . I did!‘ (She said this in such a way
that indicated lgu can, too.) (1-21 Field Notes)

Mrs. Smith also believed that when a teacher was in his classroom
that classroom was his. Again some quotes from the field notes taken
during methods class reveal how strongly she felt about this.

Mrs. Smith: You look at the kids in your classroom . . .
you take care of them . . . (1-17)

Mrs. Smith: Any teacher with any sense knows her classroom
is hers! (1-25)

139

On subject of substituting teachers Mrs. Smith said:

'You (student teachers) decide if you want her to teach
or just sit . . . (1-25)

(At the seminar) If you don't want them (subStitute
teachers) to stay . . . You don't have to . . . (3-19)

Mrs. Smith: You're in charge of your class . . . You

make the decisions . . . You are free to grade your

students (2-6)
In a conversation with me regarding one of the supervising teachers at
County, Mrs. Smith said to me:

I told Mrs. that it was her decision and she is

the master of'hEF-Elassroom . . . in her class she can do

anything she wants! (4-2 Field Notes)

From the above quotes it is possible to see that Mrs. Smith was
very serious about the importance of a teacher, and the importance of
teachers teaching and protecting their students. The difficulties
that Teresa and John both had.with Mrs. Smith were directly related to
their treatment of the classroom situation which she felt was neither
proper nor effective.

The incident with Teresa was reported to me by Mrs. Smith in a
long informal interview in her office. She said that she had gone to
Washington Irving to observe Teresa's class and that the class was
having a party. She told me that Teresa said to the class upon Mrs.
Smith's arrival, " . . . Since my supervisor is here, let's read a
play." Whereby she got a magazine and had the students read the play
aloud. According to Mrs. Smith, Teresa told her that the students
she was watching were "low phase,“ and Mrs. Smith then told Teresa,

"Just because a class is low phased doesn't mean that the students don't

deserve an hour of instruction!" She continued relaying the incident

140

and explaining that "a little.student" came back to her in the room
and asked her if she wanted a piece of the cake he had made. She took
the cake and then told the student that, "His teacher owed him an hour
of instruction" for today. (4-10 Field Notes)

There were several incidents with John because Mrs. Smith had
observed his classes and watched the lack of discipline. She told him
after his first observation which had not gone well . . . (from the field
notes taken shortly after the debriefing on the lesson):

We went to the lounge and Mrs. Smith asked John how he thought
the class went . . .

John: I thought it went pretty well today.

Mrs. Smith: It was chaos! It's probably one of the worst
classes I've seen at Laboratory. What was your objective?
John: To have them (students) write a paper.

Mrs. Smith: Well, what gig_you plan for today?

John: To have 'em write a paper.

Mrs. Smith told me later that John 'plans well,‘ . . .

'is strong' and that 'she knew he didn't have a plan for
today. but . . . 'He must have one!‘ She mentioned that
she liked his idea of students writing in a journal and
that was the only time they were writing. She asked him
why he wanted them to write in the journal? He said, 'To
keep their experiences!‘ This was about the only positive
thing Mrs. Smith said.

She asked John why he moved around the class talking to
the students?

John: I was hel ing them.

She (Mrs. Smith wanted to know why he didn't have them
come to him, and he tried to explain why talking to them
(students) disrupted the class. Mrs. Smith gave an example
of the word 'psychological' which he spelled for a student
aloud. She then went on to tell John that he was doing the
very thing he had complained about at Laboratory and that
he Sad 'a right' to demand and expect results from the

stu ents . . .

Mrs. Smith told John, "There was only one little boy with
blond straight hair, who was working, and finally he gave
up . . . If it had been me, I'd have left."

141

Because Mrs. Smith was so hard on John, she apologized for
being negative and later said to me, "I hope you don't think
I'm a ."

She then told John, he was a "strong" person and could do it.
She also told him he had a "really difficult situation," but
she also intimated that this was no excuse.

John then admitted he had problems. What he said was: “Hell,
compared to Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Oakwood . . . and I'm doing
as well as them.“ Mrs. Smith didn't accept this. She told me
again that "Mrs. Oakwood's a lovely person . . . but . . ."

Then John told Mrs. Smith, “If you think this is bad, wait
until fourth and fifth hours!" He then told her that some of
not knowing what to do was "pure ignorance" and that he had
never thought of "sitting and waiting for them" since all
other teaching experiences had been with voluntary groups.
This is a "captive audience."

Mrs. Smith gave him many suggestions . . .

Mrs. Smith was mad (her eyes blazed) . . . that sutdents were
given a whole week to write a theme. "Eleventh and twelfth
graders can do it in a day!“ (The process theme . . . also

she was mad because Mrs. Oakwood was talking with the students)
"You can tell anyone to be quiet in your class!" She also
thought John was talking about something other than the material.

John was visibly disturbed about the session. He took off his
glasses and looked like he would cry, but did not. Mrs. Smith
was visibly aware of this . . . and then she backed off, and
when he looked the worst she backed off a little . . . and
apologized for her "talking too much" and being negative. He
looked like he would cry any minute and then he would laugh
and say he was okay . . . and shrug his shoulders like he
didn't care. He did though. She told him, she "loved him"
and she was sure he didn't want his classes this way. John
agreed he "did not!"

After talking with him for a long period of time, he asked her
(Mrs. Smith) to please stay for the fourth and fifth periods,
because " . . . I don't know what to do!“ (3-22 Field Notes)
Concerning this debriefing, John said of her the next week,
"She eats student teachers for breakfast, and she just had one raw!"
Then he added, "The truth hurt and the fact is she (Mrs. Smith) gave

the bitter truth." (3-29 Field Notes)

142

Mrs. Smith's background as a teacher and the fact that she and
the students both considered her idealistic is important. Mrs. Smith
genuinely enjoyed teaching, thought it the most important profession,

and believed the student teachers should too.
The Supervising Teachers

The supervising teachers were not the focus of this study, but
they too became important to perspective since without an understanding
of the part supervision plays in the process of teachers learning to
teach the picture is not complete.

The relationship between the student teacher and his supervisor
is important since this relationship had an effect on student teacher
perspective. As established in the literature, the student teacher is
in need of personal suport from significant others and the supervising
teacher is the individual that student teachers name as the most
important influence while in the field.7 Although this answer is
limited, it is in fact true that supervisors are important influences
on student teachers and what they come to believe about schools and
students. It is further important to note that the critic or cooperating
teacher is a teacher first and a supervisor of student teachers second.
In this study that fact is almost alyays_present.

Since the supervising teacher was not the focus of this study,
only his/her relationships with the student teachers were duly recorded,
and they were recorded from the observations and formal and informal
interviews with them. Much of the information collected on them was

supplied from notes taken in the classroom while they or the student

tea

tea

hr;
in:
Eng

nir

out

143

teacher was teaching. Other data was obtained from what the student

teachers said about them. Their backgrounds follow:

Mrs. Patricia Oakwood
Mrs. Oakwood was John's supervising teacher, and she was an

instructor at Laboratory High School. She taught five classes of
English in a phase elective program. Her schedule varied somewhat every
nine weeks since some of the eleventh and twelfth grade classes changed
courses on a nine-week basis. John taught the same schedule which is
outlined below.

First Hour: Sports Literature (Until March 9 -- John did not

fully teach this 6155s except for a very short period of time.)

Short Story (John and Mrs. Oakwood divided this class and "team"

taught it.)

Second Hour: Advanced Composition (John taught this eleventh
and twelfth grade class from the middle of March to May.)

Third Hour: Journalism - The Newspaper (Mrs. Oakwood kept this
''class" which rarely met as a class since their responsibility
was to put out a newspaper. Students from this class however
were in and out of Mrs. Oakwood's classroom all day long.)

Fourth Hour: Tenth Grade English (This was a year-long course
anleohn taught it solely from ebruary 26th to about April 27th,
when Mrs. Oakwood took it back.)

Lunch

Fifth Hour: Ninth Grade English (Another year-long course which
John taught from Fébruary 26th until the end of student teaching.)

Sixth Hour: This was a preparation period when John and Mrs.
Oakwood might have had conferences. However from observation
John and Mrs. Oakwood did not usually have formal conferences.

 

John reports that he "needs sixth hour to rest." This is not
to say that Mrs. Oakwood and John didn't talk: they did, but according
to John her general evaluation of him when he asked her, was "that he

was doing 'fine'."

144

Me: John, does Mrs. Oakwood ever write an evaluation?

John: Of me? . . . No, I've never seen her.

Me: What kinds of things does she tell you when you talk?
John: annm . . . When I ask her how I'm doing, she

says "fine.“ Uh . . . She has these last two days encouraged
me to get angry, with them . . . to get firm with 'em . . .
Yes, firm's a better word.

Me: So you don't have any specific questions . . . like
questioning?

John: No.

Me: How you plan? Or anything like that?
John: No, she's given me a lot of freedom.

Me: Do you ever wonder exactly how you're doing?

John: Yeah, all the time! I know I've . . . uh . . . my
teaching experience has been confined to Sunday school‘
classes and small (camp sessions) . . . and there you
expected a small amount of conversation . . . and it's only
five or six people, so if people talk that's great . . .

so this is an adjustment. (3-19 Interview)

Mrs. Oakwood did not have a pleasant semester in her own personal
life while John was teaching. She had had an operation early in the term
and she continued having health difficulties throughout the remaining
months of the year. John reported that she wasn't well and that she
maybe had "gallstones."

John: She (Mrs. Oakwood) thinks she might have gallstones

. . . or something. That too . . . has added to my difficulties.

The kids have had Mrs. Oakwood and Mrs. Taylor.
John later reported that Mrs. Oakwood's daughter was having some other
personal problems. Mrs. Oakwood was still absent when John began his
practicum, and he felt that he should start teaching as soon as
possible to "help" her out. He really liked Mrs. Oakwood, but he also
really liked her substitute, Mrs. Taylor, with whom he felt he had
good rapport. He actually started teaching in three classes before Mrs.

Oakwood returned from her operation.

145

John stated: . . .Mrs. Oakwood (as a supervisor).

ah . . . she's helpful. We don't really have a deep friendship
and talking friendship . . . I think I established more of

a friendship with Mrs. Taylor in two days than I have with Mrs.
Oakwood so far. (3-8 Interview)

Mrs. Smith viewed Mrs. Oakwood as the "sweetest person in the
world," but she rarely gave her credit for being the best teacher.
Mrs. Smith mentioned more than once that she knew John had a "difficult
situation," but that she felt he could handle it. Mrs. Smith had also
indicated that Mrs. Oakwood's earlier discipline problems at Laboratory
had been solved and that her discipline was better now.

John reported that Mrs. Oakwood had talked with him about
discipline in that she said:

John: Well--Mrs. Oakwood said, and I agree with her, they
(students) don't mean to be disrespectful and like that . . .
It's just that they're teenagers and teenagers need holds.

Question: Do they?

John: Generally, ah . . . so I'm sure if I started screaming
and shouting and sending people to the office I could establish
a reign of terror. BUT, I'm not sure I want that! I wouldn't
like it if I were a student, but Mrs. Oakwood is encouraging

me to get a little mad at 'em (students). I might haveta do
that, but I don't really feel mad at the kids. (3-8 Informal
Interview)

He continued later that same day on the discipline in his classroom.
In this sequence of conversation he mentions both Mrs. Oakwood and Mrs.
Taylor.

John: Generally with the confusion (in his classes) I don't
have too much time to pay attention to that one! (The kid

who just gets up and walks out of class when he feels like it.)
I know that I could have them stay for five or ten minutes,

but it goes on all over the school and I at no control . . .
It's kinda the way things are . . . They students) do it to
Mrs. Oakwood and did it to Mrs. Taylor and they do it to me!

Question: Did it bother Mrs. Taylor?
John: Yes!

146

Question: Does it bother Mrs. Oakwood?
John: Not as much, I think. (3-8 Interview)

Mrs. Oakwood's interests were much the same as those of the
students. She really liked sports and it had been her idea to have a
class in sports literature. John says of her interests in an interview
that, "Well, Mrs. Oakwood is a basketball fanatic . . ." John on the
other hand liked sports, but he wasn't very worried or concerned about
them either--especially team sports.

As far as evaluation in student teachers, John reported at the
end of the term that he had not seen an evaluation of himself and that
he was curious. He said:

(I've not seen my evaluation.) No! I'm curious to see! You
now, Mrs. Smith dropped a hint that even Mrs. Oakwood wasn't
satisfied (with my performance). But . . . Mrs. Oakwood herself
has led me to believe that she was. Oh well . . . (pause - sigh)
(5-10 Informal Interview)
The above comment was in response to the news from Mrs. Smith that
John's student teaching might be extended a week after he was to graduate.
It may be said that except for Mrs. Smith's evaluation of him, he really
didn't know what kind of a job he was doing, but he glyays wanted to
know.

Like the other supervising teachers, Mrs. Oakwood was a teacher
first, and she looked after the concerns of students before the.concerns
of her student teachers. She discussed grades with her students while
John was teaching, and she went to students when they raised their hands.
On occasion she would even have a conference with a student in the back
of the room while John was teaching. Students came and went from the

classroom regularly while John was teaching,and often the reason for

these disruptions was that Mrs. Oakwood needed something or someone had

147

come to see her. After all, it was her classroom and "any teacher

with any sense knows her classroom is hers." (Mrs. Smith 1-25)

Mrs. Lisa Evans

Mrs. Evans was the supervising teacher for Paul Merrick. She
unlike Mrs. Oakwood, who had graduated and received her BA and MA
Degrees from a different regional university, had received her degree
from Selected State in the 1960's. She was presently working on a
second degree from Selected in guidance and counseling. During the term
Paul was her student teacher, she was working on her practicum in
counseling and taking a course in educational research which is required
at Selected State of candidates in her field. She was married, had one
daughter and her husband was also a teacher at County High School. She
also had been one of John's high school English teachers, and he had said
of her that she was "all right--a pretty good teacher."

Mrs. Evans like others in this study was proud of Selected. She
said of its teacher education program and the student teachers from
Selected that they were "fairly well" prepared to teach.

Evans: I find that most of the time the students who come
from Selected are fairly well prepared. But I have friends,
close friends, that get them . . . (student teachers) . . .
they come from (major university in the state) and
they're horriblETTT__They complain, 'I'm not taking them any
more! These students, they don't know what's coming off.‘
(3-16 Interview)

The schedule of classes that Paul would follow included four
classes and two study halls. Mrs. Evans' schedule was:

First Hour: Study Hall (Paul and Mrs. Evans supervised about

twenty-five students dUring this first hour. The study hall
was held in their regular classroom.)

148

Second Hour: English 11 (Paul taught this class of seniors
English literature, grammar and writing from March 5th

through May 9th.)

Third Hour: Study Hall (Paul and Mrs. Evans shared this
study hill which was small and only met when driver's training
was not in session. This study hall met in the cafeteria.)

Fourth Hour: English 12 (Paul taught this group the same

length of time and the same subject matter as the second hour.
He however had some discipline problems in this group that
bothered him. This class was also the one which was broken

for lunch. The class met ten minutes, went to lunch for twenty-
five minutes and returned for the remainder of the class.)

Fifth Hour: En lish 11 (This was American literature and Paul
only taught t 15 c ass two weeks total time.)

 

Sixth Hour: English 11 (Same as fifth hour.)

Paul said in May of his total teaching time . . .
. . . American literature around two weeks total time because
I helped her (Mrs. Evans) teach for a while one part, and then
I went ahead and taught the other. That was about a week's
time and we kinda shared the unit. So it was about two weeks.

The other classes (two) I've had practically from the beginning.
(5-1 Interview)

Mrs. Evans believed that a supervising teacher should be a
"helper," and she also felt that the student teacher was in a very
difficult position. She reflected on this in an interview when she said:

. . . I have all the sympathy in the world for a student teacher.
You see mine was so difficult. If.I (I disliked) . . . I did
mine at Laboratory and I had the—Best critic teacher that ever
was. She was so hard; she was there at six o'clock every
morning and stayed until five or six o'clock at night. She was
a dedicated teacher . . . it was good for me! (3-16 Interview)

Mrs. Evans indicated that it was "hard to be young," (3-16
Field Notes) and from this she was implying that young people are
idealistic. She once mentioned that usually students didn't care about

the subject matter since they weren't English majors. Within this

149

context she believed that this was one of the things new teachers had
to learn. She said:

Mrs. Evans: A new teacher must, because he/she is going

to be unfamiliar with that textbook, he/she is going to have
to learn subject matter first. He should also learn to
realize that sometimes the subject matter isn't always the
most important thing . . . In teaching there's lots of
other thin s more important than subject matter . . . That's
what they (student teachers) did in college, was go into
depth . . . and you can't go into depth with high school
students. They are not English majors. What they (student
teachers) are gonna teach is more general . . . (3-16
Interview)

She continued that the student teacher must also learn . . .

Mrs. Evans: I think, I don't know if they (student teachers)
if they're already aware, but they are watched by the students
all the time. (Laugh) You know . . . little (things) and
when Paul says to me before, 'Well, how can you eat with that
devilly, ou know, that group that stands in the hall (fourth
hour) . . . lhey watch every bite you take . . . How do you
stand it?‘ It doesn't bother me! When I know they're doing
that . . . they (student teachers) have to learn to ggt_1et
that bother them, the little things . . . I think one thing
that they have to learn . . . is dealing with the administration.
And that, I think is the hardest lesson because the philosophy
they had in college is idealistic and they wanta try new things
and in some situations you can't . . . and you can't even
understand that! That's a hard lesson to learn! (3-16
Interview)

In fact Mrs. Evans tried to shelter Paul from.many of the
administrative duties in the school. County High had all kinds of forms,
elections, attendance requirements, et cetera, and she really tried.

She said she felt that student teachers were surprised at the amount
of administrative duties and that it was a fault of hers that she didn't
require him to do these things. She said:

Mrs. Evans: No, I think that's probably a fault of mine.

I don't try to give him any administrative duties because

I think . . . his thing is to learn to teach!

Me: To learn to teach?

Mrs. Evans: Yes, I don't think we should do it because
he's going to do that too much as it is! (3-16 Interview)

15o

The above was a volunteered statement by a supervising teacher
who believed she did the administrative tasks and from observation it
can be proven than she did most of them except take the roll and Paul's
classes' grades. Paul was asked in one interview if Mrs. Evans did
the non-teaching or administrative duties for him; he replied:

Paul: No.

Question: Well, did she or you do the state register?

Paul: She did it. I've seen the register and she explained
it to me, but I did not . . . she did all the homeroom.

(5-1 Interview) f

It is interesting here to see the differences in belief and to
see that Mrs. Evans separates administrative duties from "learning to
teach,“ and also Paul does this too. In fact, all the student teachers
and the supervisors seemed to separate these two aspects of being a
teacher. In the fundamentals class at the university, the state
register and how to fill it out accurately was part of the prescribed
content. This was not separated from teaching.

Mrs. Evans was the only supervising teacher observed who wrote
evaluations, and she did these frequently. She, over the course of the
term, provided a great deal of feedback both formally and informally to
Paul. She admitted that what she looked for in his teaching was improve-
ment. She believed that over time he would learn his subject matter,
(but that it was ”essential" that he improve. She said that she looked
for the following in his presentations:

His manner, well, (the way) . . . in which he gets that material
across. He leaves his students hanging sometimes . . . at the
beginning, . . . he should learn not to do that. And his
delivery . . . I worry about those 'OK's' he uses. His question-
ing . . . he accepts (answers) too much. I've tried to get him
to (getover using those 'OK's') . . . and his tone of voice, he

always . . . continues to let his voice drop. Sometimes it's a
strain to hear him.

Mr

151

Me: So you really look at those things carefully?
Mrs. Evans: Um hum! (Affirmative) When he doesn't have
anything else to say or he thinks he has to say something.
I think he doesn't think he can just say nothing. Each time
a student asks a question, I feel he should make a response
to that and encourage some response or say well . . . could
y'll see this some way . . . because for many of 'em it's
hard to even respond, so he needs to keep thinking to keep
the line of communication open. His voice . . . he does that
with the inflection, too, all the time. I wonder why he does
:2at?N Do you know what that is?

: 0.

Mrs. Evans: I'll tell you. I told him this is what you're
saying to the student when you say 'OK' . . . 'Do you
understand?‘ A lot of the time he is asking that question
of them . . . Well, I told him that to me that's what you're
saying when you use that 'OK' . . .

Me: Do you write those (items) down for him, Lisa?

Mrs. Evans: Yes, and I give them to him at the end of the

class period. The period that he teaches, so that when he

goes into it the second time . . . he teaches approximately
the same lesson. He can try to avoid those errors. (3-16

Interview)

Mrs. Evans told me sometime later in April that the "OK's" were better;

but Paul told me that he simply changed to saying "all right"
or "yes" or "sure" instead of "OK." (4-5 Field Notes)

Paul reflected to me on Mrs. Evans' evaluations, in March:

Paul: I really don't think I'm doing all that bad. Now she's
(Mrs. Evans) still giving me pages of correction, but they're
not major. Like I told her one day after class, 'Maybe one of
these days I'm going to make a halfWay decent teacher.‘ Really
. . . I asked her how serious all these things were she was
writing down . . . and she told me that her big complaint, a
lot of times . . . is that I say 'OK' too often, and she said,
'You could say that for twenty years and it's not going to
affect you that much as a teacher.‘ But . . . she says that
since I'm here and I want you to do the best job you can, I'm
gonna pick on things . . . little like that . . . I told her,
'Fine! I didn't even notice I was doing it.‘ And you know . .
she told me yesterday, and it's true, if I say 'OK' mostly as
a question, to mean '00 ou unfierstand?‘ (How do I say it?)

. . OK? (tone of voice I know if I make a conscious attempt
not to say it, I won't! Unless I mean to. Well, at any rate,
if I don't say that, I'd say 'Do you understand?’ . . . Because
that's what I mean by that . . . and she told me that the OK

And

152

would be all right if . . . she thought the kids were going
to ask a question. She said for the most part when you're
finished they aren't going to ask any more questions. 50
there's not much reason for me to do either one.

Me: What else does she say? She writes things down for you?
Paul: She really does and I'm glad that she does. I'm really
frank with my wife, but then my wife knows. No one really has
to tell me I'm doing a good job or anything . . . I'll tell
myself that! Too much so . . . usually. But the point was
made by my wife, that all this stuff . . . is what I'm here
for! 'If I were a teacher, I wouldn't have to go through all
thisk. . .' If I didn't have anything toglearn,Twould11T ,
you now.

Me: Does it bother.you that she (Mrs. Evans) writes it down?
Paul: No, it really doesn't. Sometimes I wish she (Mrs. Evans)
would mix in a few good remarks with the bad. Most of these
sheets are mostly all bad . . . and like once in awhile she'll
say . . . like when I did the choral reading, 'That was great!’
(Mrs. Evans' comment) (3-19 Interview)

later he said, in regard to what she says about what she writes:

Paul: Yeah, she talks to me about what she writes and tells
me what she meant by it, because she offers suggestions. Like
she might say on her sheet, 'Were you looking for this word?‘
She might say do you mean, 'like Puritan?‘ . . . and I said
'formal direct' . . . and she said, 'Do you mean exact?I and

I did! It's very pointed and very direct. (3-19 Interview)

From Paul's journal he said of Mrs. Evans' evaluations:

I sure do have a lot to learn I don't have time to think
that I know it all--I'm so full of teaching errors or holes

I imagine myself a swiss cheese. Mrs. Evans is a good criti-
cizer. She is blunt and picky. BUT always right. Up til
now she has never criticized wrongly or unjustly. As I said,
I have a lot to learn! (3-6 Journal)

By May Mrs. Evans had stopped writing as many evaluations during

the class periods and Paul reflected on this. He also reflected on how

he really felt about the evaluations at the beginning of student teaching.

He said:

. . . like today, she wrote down something and she hadn't done
that in a long time. (5-3 Field Notes)

153

And in an interview when asked:

Question: What does Mrs. Evans say to you when she gives you
feedback?

Paul: Well, there are times when I question the quality of
the feedback. (He did not answer the question, but explained
that he wished he had been left alone more.) He continued,
It's like . . . well, I never realized you were there, but
Mrs. Evans, when she'd first start writing those . . .
(evaluations) I was very conscious of them, because I could
see her pen move. Then I'd get to the point where I couldn't
even see her. But then, it would come back to the point . . .
maybe I was insecure . . . but she'd write on those days and

I knew as soon as I.said something . . . something clicked in
my mind and I saw her pen move. And then . . . I guess one
day . . . I said something and I guess she knew she distracted
me. She didn't do it again, she just wrote it slower over a
longer period of time. (5-1 Interview)

In fact Mrs. Evans rarely left him alone, but this was probably
due to the fact that the principal of County wanted all teachers in the
room with their student teachers and had made such an announcement.
Whatever the reason, it was finally decided by Paul that it wasn't
because he couldn't carry on the situation. He decided it was because
the students were not his students, but hers. He said:

That's why the whole student teaching experience has bothered
me . . . and I think you know that. I am not the teacher and
no matter if you're an excellent student teacher, you're not
the teacher.

Question: How do you know this?

Paul: If Mrs. Evans is in here and I make a statement the

kids aren't sure about, they'll look to her and not to me . . .
and I'm very much aware of that fact! (He's not the teacher)
And, I'm very much aware when those teachers in that loun e get
that way . . . (nasty about student teachers and students
You're isolated, you know . . .

Question: Could you expand on the isolation?

Paul: I'm very much aware of it . . . because I'm stuck here

. . . You know, like when I went to the interview. (Mrs. Evans

had been somewhat disturbed at the day's interruptions for an
assembly and his absence for an interview) And . . . I could
understand how she felt, since they were her kids. (5-1 Interview)

154

Mrs. Edith Jones

Mrs. Edith Jones was Mary's supervising teacher, and like Mrs.
Evans she had received her undergraduate degree from Selected State,
and she had been teaching at County High for several years. She was
married and had one son who attended Laboratory School. At the time of
this study she was teaching five classes of tenth and eleventh grade
English, and she spent one hour a day doing attendance work in the
office. Her schedule which was adopted by Mary is outlined below.

First Hour: En lish 11 (An American literature class consisting
of students w 0 were juniors. Mrs. Jones taught this class until
March 23rd when Mary picked it up. Mary taught her poetry unit
and the play Our Town with this group.)

Second Hour: En lish 11 (The same as first hour except Mary
began teaching t is c ass on April 2nd.)

Third Hour: En lish 10 (A class of sophomores which Mary picked
up on March 2n an taught until May 11th. To this group Mary
taught her poetry unit, a unit of writing and granmar. She had
this class the longest.)

Fourth Hour: En lish 11 (A class of juniors taking American
literature. ry rece ved this group of students from Mrs.
Jones on March 14th. She taught them until May 11th. This
hourhwgs broken five minutes before the end of the period for
unc .

Fifth Hour: Office (Mrs. Jones went to the office to work on
attendance. Mary did not go with her, but usually spent this
period in the lounge which was directly across the hall from

her classroom. As Mary took over Mrs. Jones' schedule, Mrs.
Jones spent more and more time in the office doing extra duties.)

Sixth Hour: En lish 10 (This group was a class of sophomores who
were considere a 1tt e slower than the other groups. Mrs. Jones
did not give Mary this group of students on any permanent basis.'
Mary substituted once or twice in this class for Mrs. Jones when
she had another duty or activity to perfonm, but Mary never

really taught this class.)

Seventh Hour: Plannin Period (During this hour Mary and Mrs.
Jones had no class. Usua y they stayed for up to a half hour
discussing the events of the day.

155

As it may be noted, Mrs. Jones was the only English teacher at
County who taught five English classes. She preferred not to have study
halls and found plenty of things to do in the office although she said
sometimes they were "redundant." There were some teachers who taught
English and a foreign language with five classes, but only Mrs. Jones
taught five classes of English.

Unlike Mrs. Evans, Mrs. Jones left Mary alone very soon after
she started teaching. Mrs. Jones maintained constant contact with Mary,
but rarely observed her as she was teaching. Mary said of this situation:

Well, Mrs. Jones even though she hasn't been in the room all the
time . . . she has always known what I was doing because I have
told her. And sure . . . she's given me criticism, I've told
her on the way I've done things . . . and she's given me sugges-
tions which have been helpful, but no one has actually--no one
really knows for sure what I've done except me and my students.
(my emphasis!) (5-8 Interview)

It is curious and instructive that no other student teacher in the study
has thus far referred to the students they are teaching as "my students."
Mary continued explaining why Mrs. Jones' absence from the room was good
for her. She said:

It couldn't have been better. It really couldn't! One thing
she (Mrs. Jones) did and I'm really glad, she left and gave it
(class) to me. And from what I understand, you're not supposed
to do that . . . all the time anyway. But I think she had said
something to Mr. Davis . . . I just think that's an exception
and I can't explain how that's helped me.

Me: Try! How did it help you?

Mary: If Mrs. Jones had been in the room everyday, I wouldn't
have really been their (students) teacher in an sense. I'd
just have been this person dictating informat1on to t em. In
no way would I have been considered as a teacher. And even
though probably some of the classes don't consider me as their
teacher, some of the kids do. (5-8 Interview)

The "some of the kids" were sophomores in her third hour, the only class

Mary felt she “really had." But as Mary explains later if Mrs. Jones

156

comes into the room or if the students see her in the hall, Mrs. Jones
becomes their teacher again. Mary explains this phenomenon to me:
Well . . . it's hard to explain. That's just the way it is.
Those kids have had her for their teacher a long time . . .
and they still consider her their teacher, but like third
hour when she's (Mrs. Jones) not in the room, they forget that
Mrs. Jones exists for that hour. (But if) they see her out in
the hall; of course she's going to be their teacher again.
But right now, I am (their teacher). (5-8 Interview)

Mrs. Jpnes felt grammar was important, and she felt that this
was an area where student teachers in English were unprepared. She felt
this very strongly and believed that no matter what school system an
English teacher taught in, they would have to teach a lot of grammar.
She had supervised “twelve to fourteen" student teachers and everyone
of them had admitted eventually that they felt I'their weakest point was
grammar." (3-15 Interview)

The emphasis on grammar was obvious in the content of Mary's
classes in that all of Mrs. Jones' classes had grammar lessons and
diagramming of sentences. Mary never could understand why since
students seemed to know the grammar, they couldn't write. She said to
Jean and I regarding a group of papers she had and was checking:

You know . . . several of those students hue had Mrs. Jones
before and they know grammar, they really do . . .but, why
can't they write? (4-17 Field Notes)

In fact Mary was more unprepared to teach writing than she
was grammar. She constantly asked me how to teach it. She also was
frequently angry with herself because the assignments she gave were so
similar to the ones she had a few weeks earlier sworn she'd never

make. Some examples from field notes taken in an informal setting

reveal how she felt.

157

1. Now Mary asked me about writing. "How do you teach
writing?" I didn't tell her, but we did talk about it.
Nothing was resolved. She decided she thinks she will
start with a descriptive paragraph and then "I'll be-bop
around the class and see if I can help 'em." I want to
individualize it as much as I can. There are so many
levels." She continued today saying that she had not as
yet planned it (the unit). " . . . not too much yet, it
doesn't need to be done until Monday." (3-23 Field Notes)

2. Jean and Mary discussed how to teach writing. Nothing
was decided. (3-30 Field Notes)

3. Mary asked me: "What did you do when you taught writing?
I hate giving those assignments . . . (embarrassing moment,
autobiography, what to do on your Easter vacation) But I
don't know what else to do." (4-2 Field Notes)

4. Mary said. "I don't know how to teach it. I've read all
the books but they don't help!!"

Like the other supervising teachers, Mrs. Jones thought of her
role of supervisor as a "helpmate.“ In an interview, she described what
she meant by this:

Mrs. Jones: I think in a way, I'm still a teacher regardless
of the situation, but I'm here to be a help . . . a helping
attitude. That's what I wanna be. I want 'em not to think of
me as sitting there observing them. No matter whether I'm
sitting with them in the room or the other (out of the class)
. . . I don't want them (student teachers) to think I'm there
because of (I'm watching) . . . or that I'm sitting over there
watching every move! (every move the student teacher makes)
Because I'm not doing that. I don't want them to feel that way,
I want them to feel that this is their classroom . . . and I
want the kids (students), (to think she's their teacher) . . .
Like today, when they (students) said, "Mrs. Jones, what'd I
miss yesterday?" I said, "Ask Miss Wilson that . . . she is
your teacher.“ And you see, I want to give her all the oppor-
tunities to see it (student teaching) from every aspect, not
just giving them work. That's what I think is most important
about it (student teaching).

Like I ask her (Mary). before she leaves . . . (afternoons)
"Is there anything you want to discuss with me? ANYTHING?"

I don't care whether it's . . . whether it's a minor thing or
major, anything . . . Uh . . . Please we'll discuss it. If I
can't help ya out I can certainly find someone who can help.
Because I want it (student teaching) to be fun. Because you
know teaching should be!

158

But if you have a student teacher that has a bad student
teaching experience . . . it's horrible . . . they think that
teaching on their own . . . in the future will be just that
way. And many times it's not, it's just .'. . it's hard if
you're a first year teacher. It really is, and they (student
teachers) can do everything that a first year teacher does.

You have to teach the freshmen. You have to do all the book
work and everything. And you're the freshman in the teachers
too: you're the low man on the totem pole! I feel sorry for
'em . . . and that's the reason why I don't do the register for
them (they need to do it), even though they might never have
to do it. Anyway, they need to know every experience that will
be . . . toilet duty, cafeteria duty, anything of that nature.

For four years I watched the kids get off the bus (first hour)
and you know they were to go down to the cafeteria, I mean boy
you learned . . . and that's when you get (an ry) . . . like

. . . they're at that age when they (students don't want
punishment. You know, you want them (students) to learn without
holding a rod over their hand, or heads . . . But you have to
learn to be a little more confident (to et discipline). You
see, right now they're (student teachers? going to have to
learn to be a little bit more confident. For instance, one of
my fellow teachers asked me about the student teacher I had
(Mary). she wanted to know if she could handle it, and I said
she could and she said, "She is meek, isn't she?" Well . . .
she . . . first impressions, you understand? (3-15 Interview)

Actually Mrs. Jones did the register, but Mary marked the
attendance. There is an interesting example from the field notes which
gives light to the tendency of supervising teachers to do the non-
teaching duties. After an election for Mr. and Miss County High,

Mary wanted to go with Mrs. Jones to count the ballots. The third hour
had ended early, and the students had been dismissed for an assembly.
Mary and I went over to the lounge and a few minutes later, Mrs. Jones
entered.

Mary said, "What should I do? I don't want to stay here and

be bored. Let me help?" Mrs. Jones replied, "No, you stay

here and rest. You need the rest.“ (4-5 Field Notes)

Mary like the others did however do the grades for the classes she taught.

She used a variation of Mrs. Jones' grading scale which initially she

159

thought was too high since Mrs. Jones said she did not give A's to
anyone who didn't reach an average of ninety-five percent. Mary and
Mrs. Jones discussed this conflict and over time, decided that the
grading scale was okay with a compromised adjustment. She comments on
Mrs. Jones' scale:

I think it's too strict. I like 90-100 = A (etc.) 87-70
for a C is too broad. (2-21 Field Notes)

So Mrs. Jones and Mary discussed it.

Mrs. Jones and Mary discussed the grading scales and Mrs.
Jones asked Mary if she thought it was "too high?" Mary
eventually agreed that it was and Mrs. Jones let her
compromise some. Mrs. Jones said to Mary, "It is important
to make them work to their capacities!“ (2-23 Field Notes)

This compromise was virtually nothing, but the other teacher sitting
in the lounge who had been listening said that Mrs. Jones was more
receptive to Mary's scale than he would have been. (2-23 Field Notes)
Mrs. Jones did not write daily evaluations like Mrs. Evans did
for Paul. She of course wrote the final evaluation, but she wrote no
others. Actually as Mary told me, she was not there very often after
she started teaching. (5-8 Field Notes and verified in Interview)
However Mrs. Jones was fairly explicit in the conversations she had with
Mary on a daily basis. She said:

Mrs. Jones: I talk to her about her strengths in the class.
What she thought was the high point of that particular hour
and what she thought was wrong with it, and what should we
do to improve it . . . and anything that should come up. I
emphasize the we . . . I really try to explain and find out
what do you (student teacher) think your hour was? Do you
think we as a class can get that term? What did they (class)
accomplish and everything . . . like our operations today in
third, she said, "It was all right but they got a little outta
hand and noisy." Well, what I try to tell her (Mary) about
that class is that . . . that class is hyper! They want all
to answer . . . they all do pretty good about wanting to

160

participate, but they don't know what the idea of it is, or

of holding up the hand. They want to do it all themselves,

the think they can out talk each other (Mrs. Jones is laugh-
ing . . . and they're very hard for a practice teacher to
understand. Because they're (student teachers) used to sitting
and used to . . . if they want to ask a queStion, holding up
their hand and everybody else takes their turn . . . but when
you get a sophomore class, they just don't understand that!!

Question: How is Mary doing? _

Mrs. Jones: If I told her toda , I'd say . . . I think she
is doing “fine." hEtually Ila say I have seen an improvement
in her from the first day. The one thing that bothers me and
still does a little, and I think she'll outgrow it . . . I
should not use those terms, but mature--in her strength in
class, is to get them quiet. She does not like to say "be
quiet" or "hush“ or anything of this nature. Which I don't
really approve of it, either, but the student teacher . . .
you have to make 'em understand that sometimes you want to have
strength there. Otherwise they're (students) going to carry
you off! Especially freshmen, it's not so bad with the
sophomores and juniors. They do show a little more maturity.
but sometimes you will have a class you will absolutely have
to treat differently. (You can't) show any remorse! You
can't be compassionate, you just have to do it differehtly!
(3-15 Interview)

Mary referred to the process of getting control of discipline as
"getting mean." She would say:
I was mean today! I told Mrs. Jones I was mean. Mrs. Jones
said it was okay to be mean. Mary said, "Sherry, could you
tell I was mean?" (3-12 Field Notes)

All in all the relationship between Mrs. Jones and Mary was
good. Both respected the other, but as both Mary and Mrs. Jones
agreed, Mrs. Jones was the teacher except maybe for a few "kids" in
Mary's third hour. Mary also knew that Mrs. Jones kept her thumb on
the situation,and she commented to me after a visitor who had watched
the class during third hour had left:

I really didn't plan the lesson too much, but it went good.
(The visitor hadn't bothered her.) There wasn't anything I

could do! You know Mrs. Jones bugged us, I don't blame her.
If it were my class . . . (3-26 Field Notes)

161

The Professional Semester

Much of what has been stated already had indicated the back-
grounds, perceptions, thoughts, interactions and reactions that student
teachers had with their peers, the students they taught, and those to
whom they were responsible. These comments did not occur in isolation.
but were generally stimulated by events which happened during a class
that the student teachers were taking or one they were teaching. The
purpose of this part of Chapter Four is to describe what content was
presented in methods,and what the student teachers did during these five
weeks and to get their overall reaction to these activities. The second
part of this section is to describe how the student teachers eased into
the classroom role of the teacher, what they did in this role and how
they perceived it. Little time in this section will be devoted to the
previous background of the participants since this has already been

described.
Methods

English Methods began on January 11th and ended on February 16th.
The student teachers enrolled in this course received a letter grade in
it at the end of the semester. Methods was taken in conjunction with
Educational Fundamentals which followed a similar format, but did not
deal with subject matter areas per_se. The description of Methods may
be handled in a weekly fashion.

162

January 11-12
On the first day of class Mrs. Smith described in great detail

the requirements of the course, and the fact that "this will be the
busiest five weeks in your (student) four years." (1-11 Field Notes)
She instructed the students in what books to buy, including the handbook
she had written, mentioned jobs and their availability by stating that
"Your chances of getting a job are high." The students were introduced
to one another, and they received their student teaching placements.
Mrs. Smith emphasized that being an English teacher was important. She
said her objective was:

“Now we'll talk plainly!" She explained a behavioral objective.

"My objective not printed here . . . (on page one of syllabus)

(this one is behavioral) . . . is to help you to begin to

become a good English teacher . . . a super English teacher!

A general objective is to help you to improve your planning."

(l-ll Field Notes)
There were thirteen requirements listed in the syllabus for the students,
but they on this day expressed no ill feelings about them. The field
notes reveal that students said, “She's good." in reference to Mrs.
Smith's approach. On this day too, students filled in forms and estab-
lished a folder which would contain their documents until efter the
practicum was over.

On Friday Mrs. Smith answered questions on assignments, collected

autobiographies due, and passed out numerous handouts such as poems for
their "files" and outlines of letters for their bulletin boards. Paul

said to John as Mrs. Smith was bringing in the handouts, "That load's
for you!" John replied, "Yours is next!“ (1-12 Field Notes)

163

m:
At this point in time the would-be student teachers reacted to

the assignments in no different way from the way students in college

generally react. They wrote the assignments down and listened to the

instructor.

January 15-19 -- First Full Week
Since Mrs. Smith was a few minutes late due to the weather
difficulties, the students began class by asking me if it was all right
if they showed their pictures. Paul said, “Let's show our pictures.
Sherry, can we do this?" Teresa wants to show hers before "she" (Mrs.
Smith) arrives. Students showed their visuals,and all but John sat in
the chair where Mrs. Smith usually sat. After Mrs. Smith entered,
students stopped talking among themselves and listened to her. Topics
today included phase elective programs and bulletin boards. Students
today are told they will practice on a freshman English class. Mrs.
Smith says:
I'm going to borrow a class for our first writing demonstra-
tion. I have a stock lesson plan on the five senses in
teaching writing. Can you all brin one of your posters
depicting one of the five senses. (1-15 Field Notes)
Jean and Paul are volunteered, and Jean says, “I'm embarrassed!"
On this day too Jean, Mary and Paul decide to visit County High
School in the afternoon to get their unit assignments. They are concerned
about "levels of students." The visit is arranged.
Students also raise their first concerns about discipline, and
oral book reports. On discipline, Mrs. Smith says, " . . . today this

is an ugly word. Most teachers make their own problems . . ." (1-15)

and we received fifty-two more handouts.

164

The excursion to County brought up more concerns of the would-
be student teachers. First, it was admitted by Mary that grammar is
not for her, and Mary said to the others as she drove, “I'm scared!"
The others agreed, and the talk was nervous. Jean joked as we walked
to the front door, "It would be terrible if a teggheg fell!" To which
Mary replied as she slipped, "Don't say that!" (1-15 Field Notes)

When we entered the building, which was old, we saw Mrs. Jones
and Mrs. Evans at the end of the hall. Jean's supervising teacher had
been unable to attend. Jean and I went with Mrs. Jones and Mary
upstairs, where Mrs. Jones gave Mary a schedule of classes and told
her she would teach American literature and some grammar. She said to
Mary, "Do you like grammar?" to which Mary replied, "Oh, yes Ma'am!"
After telling us she liked student teachers because they bring "new ideas"
and explaining her grading, Mrs. Jones asked Mary if she had any
questions. Mary asked one or two about the unit. On the way home Mary
asked me in front of the others, "Sherry, do you know what I'm supposed
to teach?" When I replied, “No," Mary decided Mrs. Jones wanted her to
teach poetry. Jean said of Mary's supervisor on the way back to the
university, "She seems like she wants to help," and Mary agreed.

Paul had met with Mrs. Evans, and he said that he was to teach
seventeenth century English literature. He said to the group, "She .
(Mrs. Evans) says the kids don't understand Milton and Donne, so we
won't teach them. Who else is there?" His concern is obvious and he
also wondered why he was teaching one of the more difficult periods
in English literature. (1-15 Field Notes) Mary, Paul and Jean

discussed Laboratory School on the way back and its lack of discipline.

165

Mary said of County, "It seems like they teach a lot at County: I
thought they wouldn't." (1-15 Field Notes)

The rest of the week in methods class students presented their
short lessons on the five senses. All except John sat in the chair in
front of the class, which was in a semi-circle. On the first day of
presentations, Jim and John did not have theirs. Mrs. Smith told them
that as "teachers we can't make too many mistakes." (1-16 Field Notes)
The teaching of values was further discussed and along with these
presentations, the students prepared visuals. Mrs. Smith impressed upon
students the necessity of having students write.

Students also presented summaries of short articles they had
read from journals. and on l-17 the students were assigned their first
lesson plan. The hour plan was to have an objective, which did not need
to be behavioral. The subject of the plan was to be "loneliness.“ (1-18)
Students often said how much they had to do, but they were enjoying it.
Mrs. Smith also told me in a class to write into my notes, "Maybe you
can teach without a methods class. I never had one! (And to me) Be
sure to put that in your notes." (1-17 Field Notes)

On Thursday, students began to give their lesson plans. Again
they told the group what they would do, sat on a table or sat in achair.
But today some asked questions from their plans, and some prepared to
have students gripe an assignment. The class also received some
seventy-two handouts during this week which ranged from examples of
poetry and ways to interest students to suggestions for teaching. On
Friday, Mrs. Smith was absent due to weather and students had a library
assignment. Students quickly showed some visuals and left. I only saw

John in the library.

166

Students this week were concerned about their units and their

supervising teachers. Mary heard from Jean:

Jean: I talked to (a friend of hers) and she said

she hated Mrs. Jones.

Mary: Well . . . I talked to her last night (by phone) and

she seemed nice! (1-17 Field Notes)
And she told me during break:

Mary: She (Mrs. Jones) was nicer on the phone than she was

the other day. I told her I didn't like the book. You know,

like Edwin Arlington Robinson only had a couple of poems and

"Richard Cory" wasn't there.

Me: Is she gonna make you use the book?

Mary: Yeah, but she wants me to bring some things in (like

other poems). (1-17 Field Notes)
Comment

During this week, student teachers began to think about their

schools, but the emphasis is in finding out about the material they
will teach so they can complete the_"unit" assignment for methods.
The idea that this is to be an easy term begins to evaporate. The visit
to County is particularly interesting, not just because students were
nervous, but because it revealed that they had an image of a teacher who
was ideal. One who has enough control of his body that he doesn't slip
going into school or who really teaches meaningful content or at least
a lot of it. The statement indicating that "much teaching" is much
content explains what students feel is good teaching at this point in
time. The comment regarding Laboratory and its discipline also shows
concern for lack of discipline. The confusion regarding what to teach
and using a textbook which is unfamiliar begins to surface at this time.
There is a realization on the part of Paul that, "it is his unit," but

if he can't teach Donne and Milton then "it isn't his unit."

167

January 22-26 -- Second Full Week

During this week students finished giving the assignments on
loneliness, took the National Teacher's Examination which was given at
Selected as part of their Teacher Education Evaluation Program, began
teaching their short story plans, received fifty-five handouts, and
Paul and Jean taught the Five Senses lesson to a freshman English class.
They also were prepared for a visit to their school on 1-29. The group
discussed the reading they were to have done in the textbooks. Mrs.
Smith expounded on faculty lounges and warned against learning about
students ahead of time since that doesn't give a teacher a "clean slate"
regarding a student. (1-23 Field Notes)

Students in class occasionally asked about discipline problems.
For instance, Teresa asked, "How do you handle a class that doesn't like
you?" Mrs. Smith replied, "Sometimes you get them all to dislike you
ifyou have one faction against you, you get the other faction against
you also. She gave an example of a teacher: "He got those kids so
that they worshipped him!" because he was so involved in his teaching.

The NTE did not bother the student teachers at all. Their
comments centered on, “I didn't know what they wanted," or "I didn't
know there was a difference between learning capacity and learning
potential!" (1-24 Field Notes) It was satisfactory to charge much of
NTE up to jargon or "gobbledygook!" "There's no more gobbledygook
than in . . ." (1-24 Field Notes)

During the short story lessons which the students taught, they
began for the first time to express a consciousness of time and a

concern for it. Jim said, "How long would it take, I've no conception

168

of it?" (1-25 Field Notes) (He is referring to a poetry lesson.)

Mrs. Smith replied that it would, “Maybe take the whole time." (class
period) (1-25 Field Notes) Other fears began to follow. Some
examples from Field Notes on 1-25:

1. Jean: "1 have this fear that you get very involved in
it (teaching your lesson). That it's a long time (and I
won't know). I don't know, I'm just scared that they
(supervising teacher) won't like it . . . I wish they'd
just leave. Mary and I were talking about it last night.“
(1-25) (Their fear of time and of the length of time it
takes them to plan) Mary said at break (informal setting),
"It took me one and a half hours last night to do this
lesson plan. If it takes me that long every night, I'll
lose my mind!" (1-25 Field Notes)

2. Paul: "I don't know, that's a fear!" (He refers to
Jean's comment about becoming involved) "I like
discussion, but I'm afraid I'll lecture."

Mary: I am too.

Paul: It's all we've seen!

Mrs. Smith: “It's good (a lecture) when it's outlined. A
lecture should be when a student can't get it without a lot
of research . . ." Then she suggested Jeopardy and backed
it up with a personal experience. (1-25 Field Notes)

The lessons given this week show students still not "teaching"
in that the student teacher tells the group what is on his plan and
what he would do rather than actually demonstrating the plan. An
abbreviated example would be Mary's plan on the teaching of John Steinbeck's
"Flight":

Mary was next on "Flight" . . . Characteristics of Naturalism
. . . Mary said: And then I'd tell 'em . . . (mentions
allegory) She stated: I would . . . I would . . . I would
have them write . . . I would . . . (Paul interrupted) Mary
continued: I would encourage questions . . . I would have
them write . . . We'll do the story together . . . (material
and two handouts) I would seat them in a circle. I would
assign for the next day . . . I would . . . " (1-25 Field
Notes)

169

Mary is not the only one nor is she the most descriptive, but
her example is the easiest to abbreviate. Paul used "I" or “I'll"
seventy-five times when it was counted from a taped lesson, and Jim,
who started using "I" changed to the impersonal "You" halfway through
his demonstration.

Jim later at Break (informal) mentioned that he had noticed
the "1's" but that he couldn't change it himself. (l-25
Field Notes)

The lesson that Paul and Jean gave on the five senses is
particularly instructive since this lesson is perceived by the student
teachers as something_they can use and that will motivate the students.
Included below are the field notes from that lesson.

After break.
The lesson the students are getting ready to teach is on
writing and the five senses.

PREPARATION

First Part: Jean, Paul and Mrs. Smith set up during break.
There is an overhead projector, a tape recorder with music
by Neil Diamond - J.L.S. On the overhead is a bowl filled
with water. Various items to put on the overhead, which is
a cut-out circle of brown construction paper. There is
incense burning.

The student teachers were excited about the lesson.

LESSON

Second Part: The lights were turned out. Students (from the
English class) were asked to sit on the floor. The music was
loud. Without saying anything, Paul dropped baby oil into
the bowl of water and then yellow food coloring. Students
watched it spread. Then he added red food coloring: it mixed
with the yellow and was orange and then a green color.

The green spread slowly--Jean added red color to the other
side. The red spread quickly, mixing with other colors for a
brown effect.

Then more yellow--getting darker. Jean added blue--the coming
of the blue corresponded with the music and the light blue
eventually enveloped the entire bowl. Then more light (light)

170

was added. The dark moving across the screen was transformed
into a fetus, which disintegrated into a brown. The red and
green were added, one from the top and one from the bottom.
This created a dark red tone. This hue remained on the screen.

FOLLOW-UP 10:45 A.M.
Third Fart: Jean and Paul passed out paper and pencils. They
then lit candles, so we could see to write.

 

No noise was made during this assignment. Freshmen though
occasionally twittered. Jean lit a special candle for me.

Paul asked the group, "We've all gone through an experience
right now. We'd like your impressions." (in writing)

10:55 A.M. A student participant asked if he could leave when
he finished. The student teachers collectively said, "Shhhhhh!"

While we were writing the feelings, the music says: "Transcend,
Purify, Glorious . . ."

In creating the effect for writing, the student teachers provided
for: taste - candy: sight - images: smell - incense, candles and
matches: hearing - music of all sorts of qualities.

Some comments from the group of freshmen: "What do we do when
we are finished?“

Student teachers react: Jean asked the class, "Would anyone
like to share their impressions?"
A student says, "What was the candy for? To keep us from talking?

Student comments from the group:
"I think you should have passed out joints!"
"So, all you wanted was the five senses?"
"Are we going to do anything else in here?"

Teresa (student teacher) asks, "Sherry, is this what teaching is
ike?"

One student got up and left (quietly). (He was the one sitting
beside me.)

Stugent teacher: “You've just had an experience, what did you
f n "

Student: "It didn't make no sense to me. I don't see no
significance!"

TWO students read their experiences .

Paul quietly said, "Thank you."

Jean says: "Anyone else?"

No replies . . .

Paul: "Don't be afraid . . . 2!?!"

No answer . . .

171

Paul: "This is an experience . . . there is no right or
wrong . . . no good or bad, either. These are just feelings.
Did anyone think the music helped?"

Student: "It helped a little, the music changed the mood."

Paul: "Did the emotion of music help? Did it show emotion?“
Student: "I figured that you'all at the end were going to put
bleach in it and turn it at the last, the same as the beginning."
(color of the water)

Another student: "Maybe I didn't participate as I should have.
Things like this don't cause me to fantasize."

Jean: "Do you think there's room for fantasy?“

Student: "If you don't have brains, you can't fantasize."

Jean: "What would life be like without fantasy?"

Student: "You'd be like robots."

Jean: "Could only a robot have walked in this room with taste?"

Paul asks in a weak tone of voice: "Are you better for this
experience?"

Student: "Well, I never thought about the cold floor before."
(as a sense)

Jean asked another question . . . no answer from the students.

Paul: "Do you understand all the parts we are going through?"
There was no answer.

Paul: "Well, if you don't mind, leave your papers where you

are or on the table. You can go." . ,

Mrs. Smith debriefed the exercise. (The student teachers are

shocked at the students' reactions.)

Mrs. Smith: "You know there are people in there who have

flunked freshman English two times!" Mrs. Smith was surprised

that the students didn't like the assignment. (l-26 Field Notes)

The student teachers were truly shocked by the way the freshmen

students received the lesson. "I just don't believe someone would walk
out." They discussed the lesson and students' reaction to it. Jean
said to Paul in answer to his question, what did you think of Friday?

I get a big "E"! (For experience)

Comment:
During this week fear became very real to the student teachers.

The lesson Paul and Jean did, which was not well received, became their

172

first contact with the "real world of teaching." This lesson is also
important since John and Mary will use it in student teaching. The
student teachers when they discussed their lesson plans are still not
teaching, but rather telling. The fact that all of them do basically

the same thing is interesting because the only way to maintain control
over something that's feared is to “do it yourself." It is possible
that the "I" is simply the devise by which the student teacher in his
practice lesson is controlling his motions and subject matter in the
class. In fact in Jim's case he realizes he is doing this and can't

help himself. He has prepared a lesson plan for students, but the lesson
is really to tell him what to do and in what order. It is further
important to notice that Mrs. Smith's personal experiences are always
successful. The concept of time also appears. This is a growing concern

throughout the semester.

January 29-February 2 -- Third Full Week

This week is the third full week of methods and during this
week students assigned to Washington Irving and Laboratory visit their
schools. The students assigned to County were unable to attend due to
the cancellation of school because of weather. Students also discuss
behavioral objectives, Bloom's Taxonomy, miss a second day of methods
because of snow, and begin their five-minute grammar lessons.

The students who atttended their schools had received their
unit topics, and on l-30 Mrs. Smith instructed students in the process
of writing lesson plans. She used the overhead projector and trans-
parencies for the behavioral objectives and she discussed the taxonomy.

Teresa asked a question regarding time.

173

Teresa: How do we know how to gage, how much time to spend
. . . (on each topic)

'Mrs. Smith: You plan what you can, but English teachers
don't run out of time . . .

The question of time began a series of queStions on other
things, one of which was discipline.

Jean: Are we gonna learn how to discipline in here? (No
answer) (l-30 Field Notes)

The fears are becoming more prevalent and confusion over the
subject matter of the unit is universal. Paul comments that he isn't
sure what to teach, and Mary says Mrs. Jones wants her to use the text-
book. Mary says to Paul and me:,

Mrs. Jones says that's what the textbook is for! Can't
you find five poems in it? (l-30 Field Notes)

Mrs. Jones also wants Mary to teach poetry according to types (e.g.
narrative - lyrical) but Mary is pretty sure she wants to teach the
poetry ov various authors: she says, "Maybe that's because that's the
way I was taught." (l-3O Field Notes) .

Since due to weather methods did not meet on Thursday of this
week, the student teachers went to the Student Union for coffee. During
this outing all were present except John, who was "skipping." He also
“skipped" the next day and fundamentals the day before. This morning
was very casual and the only concerns expressed by student teachers were
those regarding the fact that they did not believe they had visited their
school often enough or soon enough. Teresa mentioned that she wanted
to teach on her second day, and Mary said she would rather put her's off.
The day before at lunch, Mary, Jim and I discussed almost exclusively
the upcoming experience. Steve said that his supervising teacher had

given him a "full rein." Again the idea of time was present, and Jim

174

expressed it this way. "How long will it take to teach a two hundred
or three hundred page novel?“ And the concern for discipline . . .

Mary said, "I'm going to be tough. I'm not going to be me. If they
(students) think I'm mean . . . well, not too mean!" Jim agreed.

Also again, they both were apprehensive over what they would teach.

Both would like the option of teaching what they want. Mary wondered
why she was told not to teach "anything sexy, religious or controversial."
(l-3O Field Notes) The thing that suddenly became a question is "How
do 1?“ Mary will say this over and over again in coming weeks. On this
day she also expressed a desire: "I wish I could take a tranquilizer
the first day, and I wish I knew the kids!" (l-30 Field Notes)

Later in the week these same concerns surfaced both in and out
of the class, and student teacher related discipline stories from their
past. Jean admitted that when she was a senior in high school, she
actually got kicked out of a class.

Student teachers in fundamentals class were also talking about
these concerns. More and more questions regarding how to handle students
are raised. One fear was the drug problem, and student teachers
commented on this.

1. One girl at (school where he/she is assigned)
talked of haVTh§_§E§, and drugs. Everyone in that class

had an analyst!

2. In ceramics, all they (students) make is pipes. They say
"Hey, look at my pipe!"

3. One told of an experience where the student said to the

teacher, " . . . so and so sleeps with married men!"
(2-l Field Notes)

Dr. Johnson answered the student teacher's questions with statements

similar to Mrs. Smith's. The student asks, "What do you do when .' . .

175

(they) . . .?" The answer became: "If you have respect, then they
(students) will . . ." or "I think the best you can do is be an example
and know where you can get help." (Z-l Field Notes)

This week ends in methods with students teaching a granmar
lesson. Essentially it is taught like the previous week, but this time
students stand for some of the presentation,and they have been instructed
to use the board. This time students mix "I'll tell them . . ." with
actually asking questions of the group. The group tries its hand at
critiqueing, but the field notes indicate it centered on "content" of
the lesson and penmanship on the board. Mrs. Smith followed up on the
"learning objective," but in regards to how students wrote on the

board she said, "I'm picky, picky, picky!" (2-2 Field Notes)

Comments

The concerns regarding the upcoming experience are more present
than they have been before. Fear is displayed by nervousness and by
comments. All students seem worried about the content of their unit,
what the schools are like, and the students. Teaching technique and
evaluation centers on performance. Student teachers are now standing

and beginning to ask questions, but these questions are simple ones.

February 5-9 -- Fourth Full Week

This week begins with a very important day. The County High
student teachers are to visit their schools. It is their first all-day
visit and as I arrived at the school, Mary called to me, "Sherry, I
can't believe how busy it is. I need to leave home earlier." (2-5

Field Notes) A synopsis of field notes follows.

176

We tried to get into the building through one of the front
doors, but it was locked. Once in the building, Mary saw
Mrs. Jones, who took us to get parking stickers. There was
in the office a long line of student teachers, all dressed

in their best clothes waiting for the viceeprincipal to issue
them a parking sticker. At County students and teachers park
in the same lot. We shall park in the back lot. I saw Mark
and Paul. Both have on suits, vests and ties . . . student
teachers standing around in the hall recognized me and one
says, "What are we getting into?" (2-5 Field Notes)

Mary went with Mrs. Jones to her room, where she sat just inside
the door. Mrs. Jones came back to us and said, “It's like starting all
over again (she is referring to the snow days). Today will be difficult."
She also mentioned that "Fourth hour is the best (class) . . . sixth
is the worst!" Today she was very formal, calling students Mr. and Mrs.

(surname). Mary was impressed at the amount of grammar the
students knew in that they could diagram verbals. She said to me, “I've
never needed to diagram verbals before: we only did simple things."

Mary was introduced to her third hour class with:
Mrs. Jones: Miss Wilson is with us today.
Student: Which one?
Mary: I am!
Mrs. Jones: The other.young lady is just observing, so be
on your good behavior.

When I first saw Paul during the latter part of the third hour,
Mrs. Evans was not talking with him. He said, "I'm disappointed. I'll
tell you later." Paul told me that Mrs. Evans had not introduced him,
had set him in the back of the class, been very formal and when he had
asked a question, she said, "Pose that question again." During the
fourth hour Mrs. Evans again neither introduced him or gave him a handout.
We did all have lunch together, but Paul was sorry to learn that neither

Jean nor Mary had lunch with him. He told me Mary was real nervous,

 

177

“but I'm not. I've come too far to let nerves get me." He didn't
however eat his lunch since the time was "too short."

After lunch I saw Jean, and she indicated that she would begin
teaching three days after she arrived. She would not really observe.
Her supervisor had introduced her and she was excited. During this
same fifth hour I met George, a teacher at County, who said of the
student teachers, "The look of anxiety was on their faces. I feel sorry
for them. They don't know this world!" (2-6 Field Notes)

The student teachers the rest of the week talked about their
schools: in fact, in the infbrmal setting when they were together, it
became the chief topic of conversation. I had not visited with John
on Monday since he was in Georgia on an interview. He did however tell
me that Mrs. Smith was mad at him. He said, "I wish they'd let me
teach the way I want to." Today John taught his grammar lesson. He
was animated and said he "enjoyed" himself. The rest of the student
teachers finished the grammar lessons in the next two days, and they
had proceeded much like the previous week.

This week student teachers in methods also took a grammar test
and we missed another day due to bad roads. On this day only Jean,

Jim and I showed: all the others had called in.

Lima}.

The truly important thing this week was the growing anticipation
of student teaching. The fears or anxieties are real now, and they may
be seen on the faces, in the dress and movement of the neophyte in the
school. They quite literally stick out like a "sore thumb.“ Mary's

statement to me that she is afraid She'll be late to sixth hour and get

178

in trouble is far from the attitude of a confident "professional,"
which she is being told she will be. "She looks like a teacher should
look:" she is told after her grammar lesson. Paul's fears are verbal-
ized when he says to his wife that his supervising teacher doesn't
accept him. But "I've waited too long. I'll have to make the best of
it." (2-6 Field Notes)

FebruaryAlZ-lG -- Last Week of Methods Class _

This final week of methods had been designed so that the student
teachers could "teach" a lesson from their units. Monday was set aside
for another visit to the schools, but if students did not go to the
schools, they were to report to the class. No one came to class except
Jim and me. (County was closed for weather, but Washington Irving was
open.) No one went to the schools, either. Most student teachers
reported that they were in fact finishing units or their assignments
for fundamentals. 7

Student teachers on February l3th, l4th and l5th taught a lesson
from their unit. This time they all gave assignments, had a starting
place, and made every attempt to "teach" the lesson. They did not,
with the exception of John, move the classroom around or truly hold a
discussion. Occasionally, as in Paul's lesson which introduced seven-
teenth century English literature through its history, the students
added subject matter to the lesson. Paul was practiced, and he had “it"
(the lesson) memorized.

The lesson Mary taught was fairly representative of the way she
taught the same lesson later during the early practicum. From field

notes :

179

10:35 A.M. Mary passes out handouts as Mrs. Smith talks.
Mary: “It's one of my favorites . . . she's one of my
favorites.“ (Dickinson) "Yesterday I gave an introduction
to Emily Dickinson and her . . ." (poems) "I think we'll
start with 'A Soul Selects Her Own Society.'" Mary reads
more from memory than words.

lO:38 A.M. Questions . . . (Mary's questions) Jim, Jean,
Mrs. Smith and Paul respond.

Lecture--explains dissonance. Lecture--no response . . .
Jim asks a question. Teacher explains.

10:40 A.M. Mary: "That's really about all I want to do with
this poem." Then students respond. Mrs. Smith asks a question.
There is a long pause.

10:42 A.M. Mary asks if there are any questions?

l0:47 A.M. Second poem. Mary says, "Now we are gonna do . . ."
Mrs. Smith: "Could we sing it?"

Mary: "I guess.“

Teresa then sings . . . to Amazin Grace.
Mary: "You're going to have to khow this . . . are you sure
you got this . . . You'll see it again . . . That's for sure."

Mary: "Questions?"
Mrs. Smith: "Who died?"
Mary: "Why don't we wait a little on this?“

ll:l4 A.M. Mary tries to allow for opinions and gets many.
Class then discusses. Mary laughs with them, then Mary says,
"I was gonna do the next poem, but we don't have time.

ll:l5 A.M. We did it anyway . . . Mary read it, Paul questioned.
Question from Mary: "00 you notice anything strange about the
first line of the last stanza?" Some response . . . Mary wrote
on the blackboard the word synesthesia. Students got loud . . .
laughing. Mrs. Smith says, "We don't know what it means" . . .
all talking out . . . we laughed . . . and discussed other points.

Mary: "Okay, I think we've covered . . . Oh well, we might as
well . . ." We went on with another poem. Mary said, "Okay,
these are good poems and I like them." Mary stood in front of
the class with arms folded, leaning on a chair. Also her feet
were crossed . . . blackboard is to her back. (2-l5 Field Notes)
Later at lunch the student teachers reflected on what they had
done. Mary said to Jean, Paul and me, "I was really scared this morning,

but after ten minutes I stopped." (2-l5 Field Notes) Paul asked what

180

word he might have used other than "inept,“ and Jean told him, "the
pits!" During these conversations, which were almost exclusively on
student teaching, we also discussed the supervisors. They said:

Paul: You know how she is (Mrs. Evans). She gets up there

and reads to them.

Mary: Does she (Mrs. Smith) know? (about Mrs. Evans reading

to students)

Paul: No, I didn't tell her.

Mary: Do her students respect her?

Paul: I don't know from one visit.

Mary: Well, Mrs. Jones' do, don't you think? (She looked at me.)

Jean said her supervisor uses a lectern. "I guess it's not hard

to use after you get used to it. " She continued, "You have to

be scared or there's no relief, like the first year I was in the

French play . . ." (2- l5 Field Notes)
Other notes also reveal confusion and indecision over what might happen
out in the school.

1. Mary asked: Will the fear of getting in front of the class
disappear?

2. Paul: Maybe she (Mrs. Evans) thought I was too self-confident?

Mary: That's the way you should be!

Paul: I don' t know what I did to make her (Mrs. Evans) mad!

(2-15 Field Notes)
And there is always a feeling of anxiousness in the students because
tomorrow is the last day of the term and many have not.yet finished their
assignments.

The last day of the five weeks there was a party in methods.
Today we had donuts and coffee and we could smoke. Mrs. Smith answered
any questions about the upcoming experience and gave us some parting

advice, all of which indicated that student teaching would be successful.

Comment

During the last week of methods the student teachers worked very

hard to finish the assignments for Mrs. Smith. The lesson they taught

181

from their units is better prepared than their former lessons, but it
was still presented more in “report" form than in teaching form.
Student teachers now comment on themselves as “looking like a teacher"
or "not looking like a teacher!" They are very excited and concerned
about what comes next and some admit to fear and others to confusion.
They discuss their fears and concerns in a group and they generally
support one another. The atmosphere becomes one of ready or not,

I'm coming. Student teachers have been told to check with Mrs.

Smith once a week by giving her their schedules and by telling her if
they are to be absent. Some have listened, and some have not. In a
sense they have played pretend teacher in the artificial college roomfor

the last time, and they think they are ready for the public school.
The Practicum

f The actual student teaching began on February 19 and ran until
May ll. This was a period of twelve full weeks, but Washington Irving
students had the five-day university spring break, and the five-day
Washington Irving spring break. Laboratory student teachers missed the
university break only, and County student teachers officially had only
Thursday and Friday after Easter as their break. (The supervising
teachers however gave them more time: thus the average length of time
spent in the practicum was reduced considerably for some and not quite
as much for others.) None of the student teachers taught the same
number of days as their supervising_teacher.

This part of the student teaching experience will be described

informant by informant on a weekly basis. Since the backgrounds and

182

beliefs of the participants were described earlier, the emphasis in
this section will be on formal settings and what reactions student
teachers had to the events in these settings._ Generally reactions to

classroom and school events were discussed in informal settings.

February l9-23 -- First Week of Student Teaching

Paul, Mary, Jean and Mark missed the first two days of student
teaching since County was closed due to bad weather. Since student
teachers had been told to call Mrs. Smith when they didn't go to their
schools, Paul, Mary and Jean called her. Paul reported (laughing) that
he said:

Paul: What should I do?
Mrs. Smith: Well, go back to bed. (2-23 Field Notes)

Thus, County students really began on February 23.

Overall the first three days for these student teachers were
ones of observation. Paul sat in the front of the room at a table which
became his and either graded papers or moved into a student desk to
listen to oral book reports. One of his students said just loud enough
for me to hear, "Oh boy, we got a student teacher." There was joy in
his voice. (Z-Zl Field Notes) During the first day Paul did not really
participate in the goings on of the classroom. Mrs. Evans did introduce
him to the students in the second hour, saying:

I do want to introduce Mr. Paul Merrick. This is his fourth
year; he graduates in May. He has done some teaching of Spanish
at St. Patrick's (a small Catholic school in Centertown) . . .
so he's not really new. He's from the (large city) area.
Student: Oh . . . yeah! (2-2l Field Notes)
On this first day as Paul listened to the book reports, he either smiled,

stared at the students, or occasionally closed his eyes.

183

On Thursday of that first week Paul took roll and as he
reported it, "I really muffed it. I felt stupid!" On Friday he gave
a spelling test and he said: .

"Today I'm giving a spelling test. I graded a set of tests
last night. Only one "A", the rest failed. Oh well . . .
It's not my test." (2-23 Field Notes)
And on Friday he said to the second hour class, which was to be his,
when he called roll:

Paul: All right. I'm gonna take roll again. I hope to learn
your names . . . (He was serious) .

Student: Why don't you get name tags?

Paul: I guess that would help! (He giggled) I know a few
more (names) . . . but not too many, you'll have to help me!
(2-23 Field Notes)

During this day it was announced that there would be school on
Saturday to begin making up the bad weather days. There was also an
announcement regarding a vote to be taken on the three options for
making up "snowdays." Paul mentioned at lunch on Friday that this
process was disorganized. Mrs. Evans agreed and said, "I'd have been
mad if we were doing anything." Paul had wanted to come on Saturday,
but Mrs. Evans talked him out of it. Paul's reactions to his first day
are recorded in his journal to me:

Well, my first day is over and I can honestly say that I
wasn't nervous. I do feel a little out of place--but can't
explain why. Maybe because I don't really know my place
yet--I'm a teacher, but I'm not. At this point everything
seems a mixture of ambiguities: I'm confident, then again
I'm not: I want to teach, but then again I don't--I need to
become involved but as yet I haven't, and don't really know
how much Mrs. Evans will allow me to become involved.

My feelings after my first day . . . happy confusion. I'm

doing what I want to do, but not too sure how well I'm doin'
or what direction I'm goin'. (2-21 Journal)

184

Mary also observed this week, and on her first day she put
the spelling words on the board and Mrs. Jones said to the group of
students: .

I'm going to call the roll by the book so Miss Wilson can
. . . (learn the names) Tomorrow she can begin. (Z-Zl
Field Notes)

Mary sat in the back of the room and "observed." She and Mrs.
James made eye contact, and when they did, Mary smiled. She also
listened to book reports and on Friday she gave a spelling test and
checked the papers. She also tallied the ballots on the options for
makeup of snow days and took them to the office. When she gave the
spelling test, she sat on a stool in front of the lectern and stared at
the back of the room over the students' heads. The field notes show
that she ngxgr_looked at the students when she gave the test. (2-23
Field Notes)

Jean on the first day reported that Mary was "nervous“ and Mary
reported that Jean was “even more nervous than I am." Paul asked me if
Mary was "Okay?" He said, "She's really afraid!" (Z-Zl Field Notes)
Mary reported on this day that she didn't feel well and that she hadn't
slept "last night."

I'll be less nervous in a week or so. I'm like that: I'm
nervous at the beginning, but I'll get over it. (2-2l Field
Notes)

During this first week Mary also became very excited about the
juniors in Mrs. Jones' fourth hour class. She said, "They are really
good." (2-2l Field Notes) Like Paul, Mary was "talked out" of coming
on Saturday. Mary reported that Mrs. Jones thought, "We all ride

together, but . . . we don't, of course." Whatever Mrs. Jones was

thinking, she told Mary not to come on Saturday.

185

Jean's first week was similar: and when I saw her at lunch on
that first day, she came over and told me about her third period. She
had given an assignment and was expressing remorse. She said:

The students didn't listen at all. They said, "That's college

work!! They groaned at the reading assignment. Mrs. Smith

is idealistic . . . too idealistic. Yeah, they really want to

read! (2-2l Field Notes)
She also reported that her two classes were really different. One class
was "really noisy," the other one's “quiet." Jean also will not come on
Saturday.

John was at Laboratory School and as was already stated, his
supervisor was still ill so Mrs. Taylor was present. During this week
he checked themes and he said of this, "I checked about l,000 themes!"
and he threw them in the air . . . laughing. He told me that he would
begin teaching two classes on February 26th and two more he said, on
March l2. (Really was March 27th, after spring break) When I asked
him what he was doing today he said, "Nothing!" He had been like the
others, taking roll.

He took roll in the journalism class and explained that, "This
class does pretty much as it pleases. You know, three weeks' play,
two weeks' work." (2-22 Field Notes) He also was decorating the room
which he wanted to change around. In the fourth hour, which was to be
his, he took roll and listened to book reports and he tried to help
with the discipline. For instance, he told two girls to move off the

register when class began: they didn't, and when the class got noisy,

which they really did

 

he got up to quiet them. At one paint in
the class he took a newspaper away from Joey and Mike. He told me that

186

after he begins teaching, Joey and Mike will be separated. The fifth
hour, which will also be his class, was very similar. .
During this week John explained that he had felt that he was

wasting his time since there has not been enough for him to do. He
said his guilt was "Puritan Ethic," and he laughed, acknowledging that
he is afraid he has a poor attitude. He asked me what Mrs. Smith had
said about him.

John: Did Mrs. Smith say I was an incompetent?

Me: No!

John: Lazy?

Me: No.

John: A goof-off?

Me: No, she didn't say anything about you. (2-22 Field Notes)
John was a little put out because he had been told that due to his
absence in methods, he couldn't get an "A". He still owed Mrs. Smith

the typed copy of his unit which was written.

mm

This week has been elaborated upon to show the feelings of the
student teachers as they entered the field. They are scared, confused,
interested in finding out about the others, and they feel guilty about
"not working." They do not perceive observation as work; in fact they
really don't observe, since no one has taught them how. Further,
student teachers do not think of taking roll or giving spelling tests
as teaching. In methods and from experience, teaching is a performance.
As John has said, "Teaching is private business." It is to be admired
by others, or perhaps revered as Mrs. Smith has suggested. They feel
alienated and will later describe themselves during this first week as

"intruders" and "as being aliens . . ." The fact that the County

187

teachers are not to attend the Saturday session is a good example of
their exclusion from the teaching ranks.

Although later they will laugh or ignore the fear and anxiety
of these first days, it is indelible in their minds. Coming face to
face with the new situation, which is not the way they usually remember
high school, is instructive. During the first week they have been set

up as students and they follow their supervisor's instructions.

February 26-March 2 -- Second Week of Student Teaching
This week is characterized by the student teachers beginning
to take the whole class by themselves or at least, larger parts of the
class. Mary will begin her unit Friday: Jean begins her unit Wednesday
with a library assignment; Mark begins his unit Tuesday: and John
begins his on Monday. Only Paul must wait until the next Monday.to
Ibegin his unit.
On Monday there was no school at County due to ice. The student
teachers have now lost three days of "teaching" time due to weather.
Mark was scheduled to teach this morning so as he had requested,
I attended his class. He was dressed in a tweed three-piece suit with
a white shirt and red tie. He looked nice: but the male teachers at
County rarely wear suits and ties, and some of the teachers wear jeans
on occasion. A transcript of Mark's first day reveals the kind of
things that seemed to happen to the student teachers on or near the
first day of their teaching.
EELQaEEQQSnfiféifl 151‘; .1213.‘shi'ikhirlia'éa2°¥%21e3¥ $3.25"
room. He looks at me and smiles. He comes back and asks Mr.

Foster, "What's the best place to show a film strip . . . on
the wall?"

188

Mr. Foster: "No, usually we can get it above the board."
Mr. Foster helps Mark in setting up and putting down shades.
Mark looks apprehensive, he doesn't speak . .

8:33 A.M. Mark continues to set up his projector. It doesn't
work. He announces, "This electrical outlet isn't working!"
He and Mr. Foster hunt for another one.

8:35 A.M. Mark goes to the lectern with his notes. He
arranges them, but so far has said nothing . . . He walks back
to his desk and fiddles with the filmstrips and the cassette.
Moves to the back of the first row, near the wall, and threads
the projector.

8:36 A.M. Mark moves to the front of the room and crosses to
the lectern. Takes off his jacket and puts it on the back of
the desk chair. He moves to the overhead . . . Mr. Foster

returns. Overhead does not work.. Mark is visibl disappointed.
(Shows by his hanging head, sad eyes, pursed lips

Mark has a poster entitled "House/Senate“ on his desk. He
attached some tape to it. He looks out the door . . .

8:40 A. M. Mark pulls down a map of (state) counties
and puts it back up . . . returns to attaching tape . . .
brings his posters to the board and attaches them. There is

acaption above the poster, "The Story of the Smith-Jones
Education Bill. "

He brings his unit back to me and says, "This is a copy of my
five-day unit." He returns to his desk . . . stands there . . .
His unit is a five-day plan which explains Mark's statement,
"That now he'll have to give a test on Monday.“ The title of
the unit is "The Nature and Structure of Congress."

8:47 A.M. Mr. Foster returns to the room with a new plug end.
The overhead now works, briefly . . . Mr. Foster says to me,
"I should have warned him about these plugs!"

8:48 A.M. Mark says to the class: "I apologize for the hold
up this morning."
Student: "We don't mind."

Mark: "You have been studying the American executive system . . .

What is the American executive . . . ?"
Students: "Presidents!"
Mark:" “Today we're going to begin the study of the legislative

Mark asks questions and writes on the board, then he moves from
the front of the desk to behind it. Mark says: "OK, look on
page 28l. " (He goes over this material) Mark says, "OK, . . .
begins his sentences with this every time) Now he walks back

189

and forth to the overhead. He asks questions.
8:56 A.M. Mark continues: he is lecturing with arms folded.

8:57 A.M. "OK, you can turn around if you will." He fixes
his tie and moves to the "Constitution . . ."

8:58 A.M. Students read the Constitution, Mark stands
behind the lectern . . . "OK, we're going to see a short
film." We turned our desks around. Mr. Foster says,

"If we're going to do this, we may as well change the room
aroun . "

9:02 A.M. Visual aids are not working . . . cassette won't
work now . . . "I'm having bad luck with equipment today!"
says Mark. Mr. Foster says: "That's why I don't use them
too often. It takes forty minutes to get 'em working!"

9:04 A.M. Mark needs help. Mr. Foster helps him. Mark
says to students: “0K, while we're waiting for this film.
Turn your desks around, no leave 'em . . . where they are."
Mark had students read the overhead. Mark says: "OK, so
what is the concept of a gerrymander?“ Then he answers his
own question . . . ‘

9:07 A.M. Students laugh and he talks louder . . .

9:08 A.M. Back to the filmstrip. Mark turns it on . . .

then he tries again to get the cassette to work . . . he

walks back and forth between the two . . .

9:09 A.M. He stops the tape, "Oh, oh! It's the wrong one!"

He changes the tape . . . now it doesn't work . .'. now it
oes.

9:l0 A.M. The filmstrip begins and Mark sits officially
at the desk in the front. The filmstrip is somewhat
elementary and the students (seniors) make fun of it.
(They are polite about it however)

9:l2 A.M. Mark sits behind desk, turning his notebook pages.
While the filmstrip is on, Mark also is writing in his note-
book. Mark continues to sit turning the machine.

9:20 A.M. Mark stands and the film ends. He begins his
questions. "OK, how does a bill become law?" He goes to
his chart, he explains his chart.

9:22 A.M. "OK, we were looking at this map on gerrymanding."
He turns on the overhead, but this time no one turns around.

9:24 A.M. "OK, I have a handout on gerrymanding, we're going
to work on. It's for you to take home." "OK, let's read
these instructions." Bell rings . . . he reads on . . . "OK,
you can read the rest of it." (2-27 Field Notes)

190

At the end of the class period Mark ran quite literally to the
bathroom, where he was sick. He told me in the lounge that he had
"picked up a virus." (2-27 Field Notes) Later in the day Mark told me
he was so sick that Mr. Foster had to take over for him. (2-27 Field
Notes) Mr. Foster told George in the lounge that he thought Mark had
done a "good job" considering the situation of things not working.

Mark then missed the next two days at County for illness.

The interest in what others were doing continued. As previously
mentioned, student teachers had believed that they would be able to see
one another and observe one another teach. But once in the school, this
could only happen if the student teacher had a preparation period when
another student teacher did. The teaching situations were spread out.
For instance, Paul taught on the second floor of.the oldest building,
Mary on the third floor, and Jean over in the Athletic Building.

Except for Jean, who began to meet with George, Mary and I in the
lounge fifth period in March, the other student teachers never even
wandered off their own floors during the day. Once Mary went to the
library and stayed ten minutes. She returned saying, "Well, that
didn't take long." She was referring to the small size of the library.

An example of interest in one another occurred when Mary asked
me on 2-27:

Mary: See Paul teach?

Me: No.

Mary: Well, I'd like to see him!

Me: I've been with Mark.

Mary: Was he scared? Oh, I bet he wasn't.

Me: I don't know: why don't you ask him?
(2-27 Field Notes)

191

In May, Mark reflected on his first time teaching. He said in
an interview (5-4) that he was "sick," and that it was "inconvenient"
since that was a "bad foot“ to start off on. .

During this week Mary observed and generally prepared for
Friday, which would be her first day. She later said of this observa-
tion:

. . . I had been here a coupla times before that (beginning to
really teach) . . . to me that (observation) wasn't quite a
waste of time . . . I like it because I got a chance to see how
Mrs. Jones operated and if I'd seen her two or twenty times,
it wouldn't have mattered. (5-8 Interview)
Mary again listened to oral book reports and gave out spelling words.
One morning Mary was asked by a student if she was "scared?" She
replied, "Not exactly." Later she told me the student told her he knew
how scared he was when he had to give an oral book report. Mary
didn't tell the students how scared she really was. (2-28 Field Notes)

Jean began teaching on February 27th, and she was sending
students to the library. She has also changed the class around and
taken the rows and set up a three-corner square. She feels this way
she is removing barriers. Jean does not have a special table which
is hers, rather she has a student desk which is off to one side. It
has her belongings in it. Some of the other student teachers felt this
was "mean,“ and that Jean should have a place of her own. By the end
of the week, Jean reported that she “wasn't following her unit at all!"
(2-28 Field Notes) and that she was still having trouble with names.

By Friday Jean was to be teaching a regular class. (She only

taught two all term--both English ll.) She said she was asking many

questions but getting no responses. She will later elaborate on this

192

difficulty. In the sixth hour on Friday her supervising teacher was
not present. Her supervisor came in shortly before the end of class
and all the students:
began to push back chairs . . . Jean turns off the film
projector. Film is off; students line up. Chairs back.
Bell rings . . . Jean is still collecting money (for a
novel students will read). (3-2 Field Notes)
After this class Jean compensated for her obvious disappointment in the
lesson by saying, "They're really tired by this time; I was like that
in school too." (3-2 Field Notes)
In the second week, Paul learned all his students' names and
thereafter he never called the roll, but checked it silently. I noted
during the club hour that Paul looks at ease as he is talking to Mrs.
Evans (first time). (2-27 Field Notes) He, during this week, also
participated in the grammar lessons,but he did not participate as a
part of the student group.
During this week there was a pep rally which the student teachers
attended. Most of the teachers stood at the door of the gym, but the
student teachers sat in the stands. Paul noticed this and he reflected
on himself in his journal.
We had a pep rally today. It wasn't very well organized but
it wasn't much different from the rallies when I was in school.
When I walked into the gym it was like the last ten years of
my life were erased and I was walking into my first pep rally
at ol' (his high school). I got all excited, forgetting
for a moment that I was a teacher. Right now I'm making that
transition from student to teacher and I do run into situations
where there are conflicts between the two inside of me. (2-28
Journal)

Paul is reflecting on the fact that he really wanted to cheer with the

rest of the students.

193

Friday was to be Mary's first day of teaching and she was glad
it had finally come. She said to me earlier in the week in the lounge
fifth hour:

I'm an underdog! Taking roll and writing spelling words,

big deal! Will it change, Sherry? I don't think if I ever

teach all her classes I'll be this tired. (2-28 Field Notes)
This was Mary's first reference to tiredness since she had mentioned it
in methods when she felt she was behind, but it was the first indication
of what was to be a very usual comment about the student teaching practi-
cum.

She did teach on Friday but felt somewhat confounded when Mrs.
Jones informed her that she had to give a spelling test first. She told
Mrs. Jones that she needed the time, and she told me Mrs. Jones had not
consulted her about the spelling test. It was decided that Mrs. Jones
would take roll, and Mary would give the test, but still Mary felt it
would ruin her lesson and she needed to have the room~"all set up."
(darkened, etc., for the five senses) Mrs. Jones said the test could
be given Monday, and in fact the test was delayed until Monday. (2-28
Field Notes and 3-5 Field Notes)

When I first saw Paul and Jean on Friday, Jean indicated that
today was really her first day of teaching too, and when I went upstairs
Mary asked me ifI'd not come to the first time.

Mary: Sherry, you come on Monday, OK?
Me: Sure.

Mary: I'll tell you everything.

Me: OK! (3-2 Field Notes)

She also asked Mrs. Jones not to come, and although the rumor was out

that Mrs. Smith was coming to County that day, Mary didn't know about it.

194

When I went downstairs to see Paul, he asked immediately,
"How did Mary's thing go?" I told him it wasn't until third hour and
I wasn't going, but she would tell me. In fact she did tell me all
the details. Some examples from the field notes indicate that she said
immediately after the lesson:

l. It went really great. They really wrote a lot . . .
well, some not too much!

2. It went well, but the projection didn't really work!
3. I broke my tooth! It just broke! After the class Mrs.
Jones got an emergency call to her dentist and set up
an appointment for Mary for 2:00 P.M. (3-2) (Mary got
a temporary crown 3-5)
Mary felt exceedingly proud of herself for the rest of the day. This
pride and relief overshadowed the broken tooth. She made me read her
papers, and I helped her put up a bulletin board. She was happy.
John, when I arrived at Laboratory, told me he had not taught
yesterday due to inservice and that he wasn't teaching today until fifth
or sixth periods. Therefore he has taught two days to this point. He
explained how he felt about the teaching so far. He said:
You know I've had a lot of experience in front of people,
. . . but I felt this tension. The tension comes from
having to perform two-three times a day. I'm not sure I
want to perform two times a day for thirty years . . .
It's also because of not knowing about the job . . . I don't
know if I can wait for that registered letter (about his
Hong Kong job).
I haven't had an Alka-Selzer since Tuesday. In high
school, I practically lived on Alka-Selzer. (3-2 Field
Notes)
He had changed the room around.
He told me that his rapport with Mrs. Taylor was better than

with Mrs. Oakwood, and that if he asked her how he was doing she said

195

"fine." She also told him he expected too much, but he wasn't sure what
it was that he expected too much of. He believed that there should be
"two student teachers in every school." (He really meant two English
teachers since at Laboratory there were about twenty-five student
teachers that term.) It would "help to have someone else going
through it.“ (3-2 Field Notes)

'At this point in time the thing that is also bothering him is
the gossiping of the teachers. He said: "They're always talking about
one did this and one did that!" When Mrs. Oakwood came back they .
(students) said, “Hi, Patricia . . . welcome back, Patricia!" (3-2
Field Notes) John did not approve of either of these things. He was
also disturbed about the number of absenses, “four or five are gone
every period!“ and that each teacher has his own "domain." Teasingly
he sang, "Suicide is Painless.“

During the fifth hour I watched the class of sophomores which
were in John's words "always rowdy," and today was no exception.

Mrs. Oakwood was in and out of the room or in her office or talking
with students as she did do for most of the term. At the end of the
class John asked me, “How'd you think it was?" I replied, '1 don't
think." He then asked Mrs. Oakwood and she said, "I think you had a
good lesson." At lunch he reflected on how "anxious" he was during
the morning class. He said, "I'm the world's most nervous person!"

A bit of the field notes is helpful to explain some of what

goes on in John's classroom. The last ten minutes of his ninth grade

class on 3-2 is an example.

196

l:36 P.M. Mrs. Oakwood gives John the announcements. Mrs.
Oakwood says, "Shhhhhhh!" Some students still handing in
their papers. John says: "If ya'all are interested, I have
some poetry books for ya'all." He goes and gets them.

l:39 P.M. A girl leaves. John says, "HaVe ya'all turned in
your poems?“ Student says, "No, no!"

l:40 P.M. Mrs. Oakwood: "Mr. Clarke, here's a .“
(She showed him a diagram in a book.)

l:4l P.M. The bell rings, but this is not our bell. John
picks up book off the desk and shows it to students. John says,
"Oh, by the way, we're going to be reading The Rhyme of the
Ancient Mariner. Then to students, John says, "Hey, read—the
Highwaymen?“

John: “I suggest you get started on it!"

Student: "What page."

Students are very loud now . . . John frankly gave up and went
and stood at his chair at the front with his book open.

l:44 P.M. He closed his book and walked down the center aisle.
Student: "Hey, Mr. Clarke! She needs a handout!"

John gave her one . . . A girl student comes up and shows him
another poem. He laughed with her. She went to Mrs. Oakwood.

l:45 P.M. "Okay, you all have a good day!" John ended the
class.

After school John was happier: the class seemed to go well, he
thought. But he said to me, "Did you notice the difference
between the ninth and tenth grades?"

Me: "No, what?"

John: " . . . the decibels, I wanna get them quiet, but I
can't say it when they're excited about their poems.

His class was apparently better because a girl who had been
awful in class before didn't say anything today.

Mrs. Oakwood and John didn't debrief this day. (3-2 Field Notes)

Comment

During this second week all the student teachers observed began
teaching their units except Paul. The tension appears very evident,
and there is need on the part of the student teachers to talk with

someone, to get feedback, and to find out how the others are doing. It

197

is as though they suddenly lose their peer group and have no other group
to join.

It is an interesting coincidence that John has a constant upset
stomach, Mark has a "virus," Mary breaks a tooth, Paul loses his job,
and Jean feels very depressed, all at the same time the students begin
teaching alone. It is also an interesting coincidence that although
they want to know how the others are doing, they will not search each
other out again for a couple of weeks.

This week also marks the end of their observation, and from now
on they will begin to "get busy," "get tired,“ and "get mean." The
fact that spelling tests, roll calling and other jobs are not teaching
is still prevalent since performance is how the student teacher thinks
of teaching. The feeling of relief at having the first lesson over is
very evident, but the nervousness and anxiety will remain as student

teachers try to gain control of their place in the setting.

March 5-9 -- Third Full Week of Student Teaching

The third week of student teaching is characterized by student
teachers getting into the process of teaching everyday. They become
depressed, begin to question students more, become busier, the classes
develop discipline problems, the week seems very long, and the student
teacher is very confused.

On Monday Paul began teaching and before school I saw Mary,
who explained that she felt unprepared. She said, "I hope Mrs. Smith
doesn't come. I almost called her and told her not to. Do you think
she will?" (3-5 Field Notes) It was deicded that I would be the

lookout in case Mrs. Smith did come.

198

Paul's first teaching was different from Mary's in that Mrs.
Smith did come that first day, and Mrs. Evans wrote notes on his
perfbrmance. Just as he was beginning his lesson, Mrs. Smith arrived.
Paul's first day was the same lecture he had presented in methods class.
He was well rehearsed and told me the Friday before:

Sherry, I been over and over it until I'm tired of it. It's
just facts . . . (3-2 Field Notes)

He had felt that perhaps he might bore the students, and he did not wish
to do that.

He began his lesson with:

Paul: "Today it's going to be a lot of lecturing . . . today

it will be a lot of notes . . . so be sure you bring paper,

a lot of notes. When I make out the test, I won't look at the

book!"

”The first thing I'll bring out today is that when I'm talking,

you listen! When you're talking, I'll listen! Also . . . I'll

talk more today than ever again!" (3-5 Field Notes)
Then he proceeded to lecture on the kings and queens of England during
the seventeenth century. Once he told the students a wrong fact and
Mrs. Evans gently corrected him. He had told the students that they
~ must take notes, and they did. Paul sat on his table in the front of
the room and watched the students as he talked.

Periodically throughout this first lesson he stopped to ask the

students for feedback on what he was saying. He said to them:

1. Am I talking too fast?

2. This is a lot of material. Any questions so far?

3. At the end of the lesson (he finished a little early) he

asks the students, "Any questions about the way I teach?

(There are none.) He says, “Am I loud enough?" Students
say, "Yes." (3-5 Field Notes)

199

The debriefing was short, and Mrs. Smith's comments are far
different now from when she was the methods instructor, and student
teachers were merely playing teacher. She says, and Mrs. Evans adds:

Mrs. Smith asks Paul: "What comes up next?“ "That's a lot
of history for one time. I knew it would be." Mrs. Evans

comments on the interruptions and Mrs. Smith says, "I know

it bothers him. "

Mrs. Smith: "So you see, Paul, this is a lot to remember
at one time . . ." She continues to Paul, "You better give
them a study sheet."

Paul: "It's already prepared!"

Mrs. Smith: “I knew you'd be ahead of me!"

Mrs. Smith then reminded him that he went over too much and
that he should get a tape recorder. She asked him, "Why do
you think it's important that they know the great fire?"
(3- 5 Field Notes)

She concluded by telling Paul he could pick up his evaluation from her
office before his night class. Later at lunch Paul reflected on his
class to Jean, Mrs. Smith, and me on her presence in his class.

Mrs. Smith: "Did I frighten you?"

Paul: "Frankly, it was okay until ten minutes later when
you yawned and I thought I'd lost 'em!“

Mrs. Smith apologized to Paul. (3-5 Field Notes)

In his journal he described how he felt as he was teaching his
first class, how he felt after he had completed it, and how he was
feeling as he was describing it later. (Paul may be describing how
Mary felt too, since both felt the relief of having completed their
first day.)

Well, I've been here on a Monday and I've taught--all in
one day! I really enjoyed myself-~I was relaxed--I did
notice my hand shaking, but I don't know why. I'm glad you
smiled. I was trying to make Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Evans
smile and finally accomplished it with my Cromwell story.
Smith looked so bored. She said that she wasn't and that

I did a good job. That's okay--I'm doing what I can the
best I can. .

200

I'm really excited, Sherry. I didn't fall flat. I'm actually

going to be a teacher! I have to watch my "okay' 5, “ "you

know' 5," and "huh's;" I realized that I was doing it, but now

I'll make a conscious effort. (3-5 Journal)

After Paul's first class that morning I went upstairs to tell
Mary that she had been right; Mrs. Smith had come. Mary was bothered by
the news and told me to "take care of her." At l0:3O A.M. the bell rang
and Mary took roll orally. Mary gave the spelling test to the class and
at l0:5l A.M. Mrs. Smith arrived. Mary did not look at Mrs. Smith, and
she continued to lecture on Emily Dickinson. Mary looked to her left
towards the windows, away from Mrs. Smith. Mary also told the group to
"write it down: you might have an essay question." She never moved from
her stool in front of the lectern until she came to a word she had
decided should be written on the board since students had been stopping
for her spelling of "quatrain," and "epigram." At one point she had
forgotten her handouts, so she put down her paper in from of Mrs. Jones'
desk and moved to her desk for the handouts. She walked back to a
student's desk and gave the handouts to him. Then she returned to her
desk and began to talk again.
At ll:08 A.M. Mrs. Smith left since she had mislaid her notebook.

This seventeen minutes was the only observation Mrs. Smith made of Mary
all term. At lunch Mrs. Smith told me, she was very worried about the
"OK's." "You know I didn't hear it during methods class. You should
have heard Jim." Jean also asked Mrs. Smith, "How do I organize the
questions?“ And Mrs. Smith told Jean she wouldn't be able to watch her
class today. Jean replied, "Oh, I'm glad!"

Mrs. Smith: "Do I scare you?"

Jean: "No, not as a supervisor, I just want to impress you. "
(3-5 Field Notes)

201

I also noticed that Jean looked upset, "very distraught."
She was pale and "teary-eyed." I asked her if she had had a bad day?

Jean said, "Well, yes . . . it went all right, but it didn't.
I don't know how to organize the questions?" (3-5 Field Notes)

After Jean's class that afternoon she looked so sad that I asked her,
"Are you tired?"

Jean: Not so much today.

Me: Dejected?

Jean: No, that's not it. I'm really thinking about looking
for some other kinds of jobs. I'm just sick of school . . .
(a jot) . . . So I won't have to work at home. (3-5 Field
Notes

Then she almost forgot to take someone home who rode with her. Jean
was absent for the next two days, so perhaps she was catching a "virus.“
Whatever, she was unhappy this week.

The rest of the week Paul tried to put some questions into his
lesson and Mrs. Evans evaluated him and particularly criticized the
"okay's." A piece of his lesson from 3-7 demonstrates these "okay's."

This is a segment of review on Monday's lesson:

Paul: Okay, when was the Civil War?

Paul: Okay, what happened at the end of it?

Paul: Okay, what did they do to the king?

Paul: Okay, that's as far as I want to go with it.
Mrs. Evans commented on these much as Mrs. Smith had.

However, Mary used equally as many "okay's" as Paul did. The
following is an example from 3-7. Mary is giving the students a test:

10:2l A.M. Mary calls roll aloud and ends with "Okay, take
out a sheet of paper." Students do so . . .

l0:22 A.M. Okay, ya ready?

Okay, number one-- reads question and leaves a blank) (recluse)
Okay, number two-- reads question and asks a question) (conceit)
Okay, number three--"Define synthestha? And give an example,
two opposites like one."

Mary sits on the stool. Face and lips pursed. She watches
them carefully.

202

Okay, number four--Define an epigram (a short concise statement).
Okay, which poem that we've gone over is an epigram? (faith)
Okay, number five briefly states the theme of "Because . . .
(immortality)
Okay, nunber six, define quatrain (four-line stanza;
Okay, number seven, a quatrain . . . (ballad stanza
Okay, number eight, nine, and ten . . . List three character-
istics of Emily Dickinson's poetry.
Mrs. Jones was however present, but she did not mention these things to
Mary. Mrs. Smith also told Mary that she had a good lesson on Monday.
During this week Mary put up her bulletin board: she formed a
path between the back seats so the students could get to the board.
She was surprised at how little the students knew on the quiz she gave.
She also refused to take "hermit" in place of "recluse" as an answer to
a question on the quiz.
She said during the fifth hour in the lounge about the tests
she had checked:

What do I do with these papers? -(They were bad)
f (3—7 Field Notes)

And:

What do I do with these quizzes? (How will I count them in
the total grades?) (3-7 Field Notes)

She also asked me if I had detected that she was "mean," and then added,
"I hate to be that way!"
By the end of the week Mary is having some discipline problems

and she told her third hour class the following:

A student calls out while she is talking . . .

Mary: "Okay, did you all get all that? What speech patterns

does he use?“

Students: “Colloquial.” (From a filmstrip)

Student: "How do you spell that?"

Mary thinks and says, "C O L L (error) 0 U I A L." She smiles
and says, "I need to write words down before I can spell'em!"

203

Student: "What'd we do yesterday?"

Mary: "See me after class!" She goes on . . . "So what are
some of the characteristics of Frost's poetry?" This time.she
calls on someone. They don't know. She says, "Didn't you
write it down?"

Student: "Yeah." .

Mary: "So what are the characteristics of Frost's poetry?"

No answer from the class.

Mary: "Now I don't want to yell at ya. I don't wanta be
mean, but you have to write it down. I'm here to help a, but
you need to know it or you'll flunk!" (3-9 Field Notes

She said later in the lounge, “I want to be nice, but they (students)
won't let me, they just aren't used to me yet. They'll probably get
used to me when I leave." (3-9 Field Notes)

In his classroom situation John was having a very difficult
time. He described what he thought of it in an interview. He said:

John: The class is real noisy. But, in a way I like that.

It shows enthusiasm and interest, but then it does make
discussion difficult. I'm sure things are very cut up . . .
with people interrupting and . . . I found myself answering
the same question three and four times. This gets a little
boring. It's really difficult. I wish . . . I would . . .
I'd prefer it the other way, but as long as learning is taking
place, and it is . . . I guess it's all right!

Question: How do you know learning is taking place?

John: They have the answer, and they are showing an interest
in bringing poetry in and things of that nature. 50 that's
it, but I prefer a little bit more discipline. You know, the
teacher will be lecturing and they get up and get out of their
chairs and go over to sharpen their pencils . . . and throw
paper wads.

Question: Does that bother you, the interruptions?

John: Yes, it does! I think . . . the only time I have gotten
seriously mad . . . was because one of 'em got up out of the
chair. I talk to them and I put them down and talked with
them. And . . . I've gotten mad with them. It bothers me
particularly if I'm standing up lecturing. It causes dis-
ruption. (3-8 Interview)

204

John went on to say that he had no control and this week John had a
theory of student teaching. He called it his "Constipation Theory."
His theory is that " . . . and this too shall pass." We both started
this day telling me his theory and ended it that way.

John now feels very much like he is an outsider and he again
mentions isolation. He says:

Like a teacher's been here for like three years . . . and
before the kid even goes to class, he knows something about
the teacher. From their friends . . . and the student teacher
comes in here and is going to change the world in ten weeks.
And they think . . . who is this person? (student teacher)
It's like a whole new person, they have to judge, and besides,
you're not part of the regular faculty. So you . . . it
would be forward of you to speak up in a faculty meeting and
they (students) don't trust you . . . Like I say, there's
only a casual relationship with the other student teachers

and the teachers know each other and they ban together, and
drink coffee together, and I don't drink coffee so . . .

I'm talking about something and they're . . . (talking) Most
of the time they talk about what kid's doing what. Whose

. . . or I'm goin' to have to sit on this person . . . rally
round the flag! (3-8 Interview)

Later he explained more fully the tension that he feels very
strongly now, and has felt the entire time. He says:

Well . . . it's the tension, of not succeeding . . . and I
have to get up in front of the room in an hour and a half

. . . and talk. Um, I'm beginning to feel more like a
teacher everyday . . . but still . . . I'm subordinate to
Mrs. Oakwood and I realize it's a difficult thing to be
subordinate to someone in your own classroom. It causes
complications . . . and the kids again: a lot of them know
me from home. I live in the same neighborhood. I walk
across campus and it's refreshing to get out and stop playing
a teacher and be a student. But then again . . . I realize
I'm not there anymore . . . and things are happening. Uh

. . . it's the transition. (theirs) "A little pain, a little
pain along the way!" The responsibility of how you handle
the situation. Um, the tension . . . your being isolated
from the college environment and being tossed into almost a
hostile environment . . . You have to survive in a different
culture! (3-8 Interview)

205

Although John has not begun to count the days of student
teaching left, he is looking forward to his spring break next week. At
this point he is feeling very little success. He wonders if it will be

different when he has two new classes in the next nine weeks.

M

Thus the third week becomes a time when students really begin
to question their own abilities. They find that the best laid plans may
not work; they find they are interrupted; they find as Paul did when he
felt ill that "teaching, like the mail, must go through." There is some
discontent in the ranks now with what was learned in methods. Student
teachers are asking, "How do I?" They also ask, "Did I?" They are
finding that they must get students to work and answer questions, and
they don't quite yet know how.

In the classroom situations, student teachers with the exception
of Paul, who has been told to ask questions of individuals, are finding
that they are disarmed or it becomes chaotic when everyone answers a
question at one time. Student teachers seem to be able to do more than
one thing at a time, but much of their movement in the classroom is

still wooden. They frequently wonder if the situation will change.

March l2-l6 -- Fourth Week of Student Teaching

During this week Mary will pick up her second class, Paul will
regularize his questioning and lesson format, Jean will leave on
Wednesday for her spring break, and John will have a five-day spring

break. Discipline problems will increase for Mary, and Paul will find

206

that he has problems in one class, but not the other one. None will
know how to handle their problems.

Paul now begins his class quickly and quietly. It is routine
that he takes the roll at his desk by looking for absences around the
room and then he hangs the absences on the door. He then returns to
his table, which has become his base of operation.

An example from field notes which shows how Paul has learned to
coordinate his tasks is as follows:

After roll . . . Paul passed back the spelling tests and asked
students to get out Friday's quiz. (3-l2 Field Notes)

He is able to do more than one thing at a time. Another example:

Paul: "Okay, I have two handouts, okay". . . he talks as he
passes them back. (3-l4 Field Notes)

Paul asks many questions in the course of his lesson and over
the course of this week he regularizes his questioning pattern. He asks
a question pointedly to a student, or he simply asks a question and
everyone responds. After the question is asked, he accepts the answer
with "Okay, no," or "Okay, yes." If the question needs more explanation,
he explains, and then moves to the next question. If the answer is
wrong, he may ask it to a particular student or he may correct it himself.
The pattern is just forming. (3-l4 and 3-l5 Field Notes) Paul also
is much more direct in telling the students what they have to know for
“the test." He says:

. . . Okay, we're starting on the lyrical poets today. We'll
start with George Wither . . . I won't ever ask you when they
were born or died, but you need to know when they wrote.
(3-l3 Field Notes)
On Friday Paul got them ready for their test. He told the students that

they would have seventy-one questions, and he.reminded them:

207

"I told you from day one . . . that you'd have to know
the kings!" (3-l6 Field Notes)

Students grumbled under their breath, but none said anything directly
to Paul. Dick, the student in the back said, "And you call yourself a
student teacher, you son of a bitch." (3-l6 Field Notes)

During the week Paul's concerns about his fourth hour class
grew. They were very different from the second hour in that they were
"not as fast," "had the broken lunch period," and tended to get out of
hand. Paul reflected on these difficulties.

Paul: . . . (pause) Now . . . fourth hour we're into stuff
now, I can get their attention. Well . . . we're into the
restoration stuff. They are more interested . . . but pushing
them to recognize these things in the poetry . . . I finally
trote through in there (second hour), but in the fourth hour!?
No

Question: What's the problem in there?

Paul: I really don't know! They're not as fast . . . they
don't pick up on things as well. It's almost like “spoon
feeding" them. You know . . . compared with the second hour.

Question: Do you find a different line of questioning does better?

Paul: Yeah . . . (he is skeptical--and really backing down)

If I were as lax with them as I am with second hour . . . I
wouldn't be able to do anything. They'd be constantly talking!
(He gave an example of a Jerry who talks, gets quiet, and talks
again.) (3-l4 Interview)

Something that has bothered Paul all along and the thing that
surprises him the most were the teachers. They really bothered him.

Paul: The teachers! Their attitude . . . not all of 'em,
not Mrs. Evans, she puts on a rough exterior. But a lot of
the teachers here, they don't care at all. This one lady
that's trying to talk me out of teaching . . . ever since I
walked in the door. All she tells me is that she has to buy
staples . . . she has to do this, she has to do that!

They talk about basketball games, who's failing in the class
. . this . . . they talk bad about the kids. You know, I

208

haven't been involved that much (lounge). I know I go there
. . . just to relax. But really, I wouldn't be there other-
wise, even when I'm in the study hall downstairs, I like to

talk to them (the students).

A lot of 'em (teachers) change in the loUnge . . . they really
do! When they get in their rooms, they're Mr. and Mrs. Teacher
but when they're in the lounge they're Mr. and Mrs. Slut or
whatever! You know . . . whatever! They change! I'm the same
person to the teachers as I am to the students. But maybe
that's because I'm a student teacher. I'm an in-between-level
here: I'm not a teacher; I'm not a student.
A student said to me the other day in the hall when I asked
her, "What are you doing out here?" The student said, "I
have just as much right out here as you do!" (3-l4 Interview)
As may be noted, Paul was distressed about this. The subject will come
up in later weeks as well.

As was mentioned, Jean during this week will leave after school
on Tuesday for her spring break. Her supervising teacher encouraged her
to do this. (3-l4 Field Notes) Paul on Wednesday reflected on Jean's
absence. -He said, "She's been gone a lot. That's not good . . . when
you're a student teacher, you lose your control . . .“ (3-l4 Field
Notes)

On Monday Jean's students asked her why she was present.

Student: Aren't you all out for break?
Jean: Yeah!

Student: What you doin' here?

Jean: I love ya'll so much.

(Students look puzzled) (3-23 Field Notes)

Also during the two days Jean taught this week, her supervisor
was absent one day and Jean had a run-in with a substitute. At lunch
she reflected on the relationship between herself and this person. She
indicated that there had been discipline problems in the third hour and
that they had occurred because the substitute had tried to interrupt her

lesson. -Jean was angry because “Mrs. Campbell told me she'd never do

209

that." (3-l2 Field Notes) Also the substitute had "been mean" to the
students and had said, "It had been a long time since she had been in
high school." The students had told Jean they didn't want that "old
bitch“ to help them. Jean had been angry about the substitute's
attempts to take over the class.

Mary had a week where she experienced a growing problem with
discipline in her third hour class, and she took over the fourth hour
juniors. She reflected on Monday about the discipline in the sophomore
class. She said to George (another teacher) and to me in the lounge:

I'd get 'em quiet for five seconds, then they'd (students)
get loud . . . I'd get them quiet for another five minutes
. . then they'd get loud . . . (3-l2 Field Notes)
The third hour class continued to take advantage, and Mary decided to
"get mean." Some examples from the field notes reveal how she tried
to gain control over the students by getting "mean."
1. In the middle of class 3—l3 . . . Mary: "I dOn't want

you to groan and moan, but Friday I want you to hand

in two poems. Boy student: "How you gonna grade us on

it?" (Mary waits for quiet.) Mary: "Well, I . . .

(won't grade them) but if you don't hand 'em in, then

you'll be penalized."

Someone asks a question, Mary doesn't hear.

Mary: "I can't hear ya . . . You all talk too much.

I'm not gonna put up with this much longer. I'm

trying not to be so mean!“ (Students quiet down.)

During fifth hour in the lounge, she said:
I was mean today. I told Mrs. Jones I was mean . . . Sherry,
could you tell I was mean? . . . I was, wasn't I? (3-l3
Field Notes)
2. From the middle of class on 3-l5:
Mary: You all, I hate standing up and telling ya to be

.quiet. It's like talking to a wall, you know . . . when
I'm up here, you aren't supposed to be talking.

210

From the fifth hour lounge the field notes say:

Mary was very frank about her discipline problems in third
hour. She asks, "What am I gonna do? Tommie is the one.
He and Clark talk, but I like 'em . . .

Mary then asks another teacher, what to do? (3-l5 Field Notes)

3.

From field notes during third hour on 3-l6:

l0:56 A.M. Student: Can we use songs in our poetry
book?

Mary: (She had explained those books several times.)
YES! ‘

Tommie: The Freaks? (He moves in his seat.)

Mary: Tonlnie, can you control yourself?

Tommie: Yeah! (He moves back and forth swaying.)
Mary: Tommie, can you control yourself? (Mary is
furious, eyes blazing, but manages to keep her cool.)

The student next to me says to me: "She's mad!"
By the end of the period:

ll:l7 A.M. Mary: Let's calm down! (She is furious,
she folds her arms as she talks to them, and her teeth
are clenched.) If we do anything out of the ordinary,
you all go crazy . . . some of you all (are really loud)
. . . I have some tricks that aren't so nice. I don't
want to be mean, but . . . like we have a ten-minute
break, and I could keep you here for five minutes and
not say a word . . . Some days it's like a constant
battle between you and me . . . I won't be here Monday.
(Someone starts to clap.) Yeah, I know, but I'll be
back Tuesday, and I want you to be a littTE_more disciplined.
It's your class, but if we are going to have fun, we'll
have to listen. And you all are forcing me to do things
I don't want to. I'm not a mean person, but . . ."
(3-l6 Field Notes)

She was constantly concerned about this class through this week,

and by the end of the term she "had them." However, she didn't know

how or why. She said in an interview:

Question: How did you escape this in third period? (The
poor discipline of other classes)

Answer: Some kind of miracle happened!

Question: Miracles don't really happen. .

Answer: Well, something did! (3-8 Interview),

211

During this fourth full week of student teaching, Mary also
began teaching in a second class. She had been looking forward to her
fourth hour, which were the juniors she felt were ”so good." She was
to teach her unit again, and She began March l3th with the "Five
Senses Thing." After her third hour class on this day, she began to
set up for her first activity with this class. She appeared anxious
from the look on her face, nervous conversation and other mannerisms.
At the conclusion of the hour she told me, "It went better this time.“
Mrs. Jones confirmed that it had gone better. Mary continued:

I think I like 'em (juniors) . . . they're more mature . . .

(but) some male students nearly ruined it. ‘A_girl student

told him to shut up. (3-l4 Field Notes)
But as she also told us fifth hour, she was "tireder" now that she was
teaching two classes,.and George said, "She's (Mary) really getting
into it now," and "She really is getting busy." Apparently this exercise
went better because "1 (Mary) set it up right, and they (students) wrote
more!"

When I watched this class on 3-l5 she asked me at its conclusion,
"Tell me true, how was it? Did I look scared?" She further explained
that she felt she knew these kids better and "I did a few things
differently." For instance, she told them what was expected: she smiled
at them and she looked around the room.

Toward the end of this tiring week, Mary received a rewrite of
assignments she had given her sophomores. These character sketches
had been written so poorly the first time that Mary had assigned students

to rewrite them. The second time they weren't much better, and thus

Mary had written "about a novel" on each one. "Sherry, I wrote more

212

than they did!" It has taken her three hours to check these papers
and she wondered what it would be like when she had several sets of

papers and students wrote more than three sentences.

M

Student teachers then this week begin to get busy and find them-
selves losing control of their classes. Generally they feel better
about themselves, but they begin to realize that they aren't the teacher;
now they know that they must stop what is happening in the classroom if
it is disruptive, and they learn that they can bargain with the class
for grades. The expectation changes from assumed control to bargaining

for control. "I'll make your life easier if you'll make mine easier."

March l9-23 -- Fifth Week of Student Teaching

This week is marked by the seminar at the university, growing
responsibility for classes, marked increase in discipline problems, a
directive at County that teachers must be in rooms with student teachers,
and the realization of student teachers that they are not the teacher
and probably won't be this term.

The seminar needs elaboration since this seminar had been
designed so that student teachers could discuss their concerns. Mrs.
Smith had purposely designated the time and date so that student
teachers would meet together directly after the spring break. This
seminar was held in the same room as methods in the Education Building.
Six of the eight student teachers had been on a break of some kind.
Only Mary and Paul had taught all of the previous week. At the

beginning of the seminar all were present except John and Teresa. John

213

arrived a few minutes late and had on a tie and dress slacks. He had
already been to school. Teresa was still home in bed since she had
gotten back from Florida at 4:00 A.M. Mrs. Smith didn't accept this as
an excuse for tardiness. She said of Teresa:

In my young days, I stayed up all night and taught all day.
It's no excuse! (3-19 Field Notes)

The purpose of this seminar was to discuss concerns and after
some brief introductory comments, students were asked to list their
concerns. Jean said laughingly, "If you'd asked me before last Wednesday,
I could have . . . " (listed many concerns). Paul and Mary listed a
great many and so did John.

Concerns centered on problems of discipline in the class. A
few examples of interaction about these problems are revealing of how
the student teachers view their problems in their group, which was this
day in a circle.

Mary said: One concern I have is the third hour class. They
talk too much . . . so . . . I've got to get them calmed down.
Mrs. Smith: So what will you do?

Mary: Well on Friday, I told 'em I could be just as juvenile
as they could . . . I'm going to talk to some of 'em. I don't
know. No . . . I haven't taken action yet. It might help . . .
(to get very tough) I am going to . . .

Mrs. Smith: I'll come back to you. (She looks at Teresa.)

Teresa: I love my classes . . . (she indicates she has no
concerns).

Mrs. Smith: You (Mary) have another concern?

Mary: That damn intercom, I'm gonna pull it out!

Jean interrupts: I know . . . one day they called license
plates numbers for half an hour. How many people know their
license plate number?

Teresa: They do that at Washington Irving too!

Jim: Yeah! They'll interrupt the whole school for one person.
Jean: At County, they call Mrs. Campbell and say, 'Do you have
so and so?‘ and she'll say, 'I had him three semesters ago this
period!‘ (All agreed and laughed.). (3-l9 Field Notes)

214

And an example from John's list which was very long. He only got a
chance to mention one or two. Later he would say, "English teachers
lie," in that they didn't really tell all their concerns at this seminar.

John (on interruptions): Students come in late, tardy, and
I told 'em Friday (March 9) that they will have to get a
tardy slip. (He continued telling the group about students
running in and out to talk to other students.)

Mrs. Smith: You (meaning student teachers) have a right to
tell them (students) what to do!

John (on personal relationships): You were talking about
personal relationships with the students. I don't have any.
Maybe I offended them. I was pretty strict the first couple
of days and then I let up and the trouble started.

Mrs. Smith explained Laboratory: They've been too loose for
too long and some of them (students) think they're a select
group . . . (she continued) . . .

John: I haven't had anyone throw up their parents to me,
(but) . . . It's difficult for me to be (formal) . . . I'm
not the formal type . . . I don't know what to do!

Mrs. Smith: Well, what do you do?

John: If it's too crude, I just ignore it. I stop, etc.,
they don't care. (3-l9 Field Notes)

At break, Teresa indicated that her concern was, "She (Mrs. Smith)
didn't come and see me.) I wanted her to come during my unit, when I
was prepared." Betty added, "What does she get paid for?“ These concerns
were not isolated in Betty and Teresa, only stated more loudly by them.
Paul had similar concerns to the others, but he added one which
everyone agreed to.- He said:
Paul: I'm at an interim--I'm a student here! I'm a teacher
there! When I was at the pep assembly, a part of me wanted
to yell and part didn't. I didn't.
Mrs. Smith: Do you ever feel more like a student?
Paul: Yes, mostly! (All agreed)
Jean said the same thing as did Mary . . .
Mary: In one class I feel like a teacher and in the other

one I don't know what I feel like . . . (everyone laughed in
agreement). (She was referring to her third hour.)

215

Paul asked: Do we just have to accept that some (students)
just don't want to learn? (He got no response.) (3-l9
Field Notes)

Other concerns which were common to the group included methods,
student absences, which were approved by counselors, even though they
were unexcused, inability to get responses to questions, time in the
class, and changes in lesson plans. In reference to lesson plans Mrs.
Smith said:

Have you had any changes in your lesson plans?
Students: Have I ever! . . . Yes! . . . You bet!
Jean: What lesson plans!! (3-l9 Field Notes)

Even as student teachers worded their concerns, Mrs. Smith said
twice, "Well, you (student teachers) are not having any serious problems."
(3-19 Field Notes)

Since students had been absent on Monday, supervising teachers
had taught the classes. This essentially meant that student teachers
had to take over from supervising teachers. For instance, Paul on
Tuesday had to let Mrs. Evans finish her activity before he taught. At
County a directive had been issued that teachers must be in class with
student teachers. All but Mrs. Jones complied with this directive.

Paul during this week began teaching a unit in grammar on
sentence errors. Generally he opened these classes with an explanation
of the lesson, gave the assignment from the grammar book, and either
went over it orally or had students write the sentences. If students
wrote the sentences, he moved around the room and helped them. Then he
made a homework assignment.

His questioning or recitation pattern became very routine now

and did not change appreciably throughout the last five weeks of student

216

teaching. A sample seven minutes of a period is representative of his
pattern. The students are going over a grammar lesson from the textbook.
He begins by explaining the number of the page and says, “Okay, Dick,
do number one." (In this example Paul called a name for each question.)
His pattern is:

Paul asks a question as a command: "Okay, Ickie, do fourteen."

If the student's name is used as in this sample, the student
usually responds. If the question has no name, those listening
respond in toto. Paul accepts response with, "Okay," and if

he needs to explain the answer, he does so. If the student
response is wrong he says either, "Okay, what?" to the group

or "and what?" When the answer to the sentence is completed,
hemoves on with "Okay." (3-20 Field Notes)

This recitation pattern became deliberate over time and a way to move
through the grammar quickly. It is interesting to note that at the end
of this seven minutes Paul said as a transition:

Okay, are there any questions? I've worked out a work sheet,
it's not very hard. You can finish it quickly. When you are
finished, Mrs. Evans wants you to work on vocabulary.> (3-2l
Field Notes)

Paul in a note to me revealed how he felt about this week.

It has been a kinda a confused week. I've had reasons for
smilin' and reasons for doubt . . . (He ex lained the results
of his test that Mrs. Evans gave and . . . I just realized
one complaint of my methods class. Why was I not taught ways
of teaching grammar? Mrs. Smith's idealism may have been

true of the classes when she taught high school thirty years
ago or her college classes now, but some classes, my fourth
hour, have to be treated very strict. Granted, sometimes

being cheery and considerate works--my second hour, but this
attitude is not necessarily the rule. Every class is different
and unique . . . quite honestly I am having trouble treating
classes differently. I feel that I do alright in the other
three classes, but that fourth hour, I just don't know . . .

I try harder during that hour . . . and I seem to do worse!
Mrs. Evans told me to always keep 'em busy on an individual
basis . . . ruling out doing exercises in class. The kids

in that class have little respect for me or each other. Most
of them are vocational students and English is their only

class at County . . . so they really don't care! (3-23 Journal)

217

On Friday Paul had probably the worst day of his student teaching.
The grammar lesson he had taught hadn't gone well, and during his study
hall he and Mrs. Evans discussed the lesson. She was helping him to see
where his problems were. She explained that he must explain compound
and complex sentences, and she also complained about his sentences. She
said:

Mrs. Evans: I thought it went oka yesterday, but you were
boring (today). (3-23 Field Notes)

After she left, he told me:

I'm so disappointed in myself, I think I'll quit (but my
wife won't let me). She says, "I didn't marry a quitter!"

He continued on Mrs. Smith (note the confusion):

When I taught that lesson before (the introductory one on his first
unit), all she said (Mrs. Smith) was good. Now she says, 'you
need to teach 'em to listen and how to take notes' (refers to
seminar). I won't hand feed 'em, but I have to. Imagine
twelfth graders needing to be taught to listen! I wish she'd
taught us how to teach grammar. I hate teaching grammar.
She's so idealistic, but nobody can teach anyone how to teach.
(Sherry) I hope that doesn't make you feel bad. It's something
you hope . . . It's something you start learning at one year
eld. hi: my field, Selected has a good reputation, but I don't
now .

The reason for his dilemma:

They (students) know that I'm a student teacher. I can't
teach the way I want to. I don't know how. I just don't
know, I don't know, I don't know!

Me: It's hard?

Paul: I make it harder than it is.

Me: When did you first realize you weren't the teacher?
Paul: When I realized I had to do it her way! (Mrs. Evans)
I wanna (teach) . . . but I don't know how and I haveta
follow her. (3-23 Interview)

He continued, saying that he felt like he was "married to Mrs. Evans

and that he wished his wife was here to talk to: he also said he was

218

glad Mrs. Evans was so frank and he wished he could talk to the other
student teachers more.

Jean in this same time frame still showed much confusion when
she talked with me. She found her questions caused students not to
respond or all to respond at once. She really didn't know why,and this
caused her much consternation. Her questions are different from Paul's
but unlike him, she has not become as regular in her approach. An
example from field notes shows how this occurs. Today Jean is discussing
”The Lottery." She, just before this segment of interaction, had held
a mock lottery and isolated the winner. She had explained that actually
he lost, and she had the students stare at him. Now she begins the
questioning:

How do we isolate people in our society? (Little response from

the students)

How do we mentally isolate people? (Little response from students)
Have you ever been new in a school? (Little response from students)
How do we sometimes isolate our parents? (Some answers)

One student says: "By not speaking to them?" Jean explains
isolation of parents by students and children. She quotes Mark
TWain and talks about parents. She tries to get them to help
her, but they are restless and not too interested.

Jean gives an example: “I was the baby, and one day they didn't
want me around and I had to sit with the five-year-olds at
dinner." (hoping for response) "Is human isolation natural?"
Student: "Yeah."

Jean: “Is it the way man is made up?" (no answer) She answers
he; ewn question with “man is a social being?“ (more questions
t n .

Then Jean says: So why do they have this lottery?

Students: The corn crop?!

Jean: So why did they keep having it? (No answer, so she
answers her own question with "tradition.") We teach tradition
to our children. Have you ever caught yourself doing something
like your Mama did or your Daddy did? (no answers) Have you

. . . ? Have you ever . . .?

Now someone answers . . . (A part of the class is listening, but
most aren't.).

219

Now Jean tries to get them with fishing . . . they laugh.

Then she says, "Do any of you girls cook like your mother did?
(Some discussion among students, but not directed at Jean.)
Jean asks: Are traditions good?

Students reply: Yeah!

Jean continues with: How can traditions be bad? Okay,
traditions get in your way when they become meaningless . . .
(3-20 Field Notes)

In an interview Jean revealed that she had much personal confusion
over her classes. She had said on Monday that some students "don't like
the sun," and she feels some guilt about her role and presence in the
class. She indicated that "I'm not doing the very best I can . . . You
can't let a job be everything . . ." (3-2l Interview) This is an inter-
esting comment since in her first interview she had expressed such ideals
about her student teaching and about teachers in general. Although my
contact with Jean was becoming more and more limited, it was obvious that
she, like Paul, was in a state of confusion.

Mary during this important week, continued to have discipline
problems with her third hour sophomores. She also picked up a third
class first hour in the morning, and she also became more regularized in
her actions and questions. The fifth hour lounge time on Friday is
revealing of her week. She entered the lounge saying, "It was the best
day and the worst day!" She went on to tell me how terrible the first
hour was. "The five senses thing didn't work: it was just too early."

As a result of this, she isn't sure she will use the "five senses thing"
when she starts teaching in second hour, but added, "I probably will."

She had made out a seating chart for third hour, and she had
handed back their tests. She said that the test scores had ranged from
lOO to l5 and that "they weren't too mad" about being seated. I have

Tommie and Joey at opposite sides of the room! ‘The rest of the period

220

was okay, but then there was a fight. "I almost lost it (her temper),
but I didn't." What had occurred was that Tommie had said loudly, "I
hate student teachers!" and she had heard him and called him to talk to
her. "I was mad as hell, he was mad as hell; and I just told him, 'If
I can't make you do anything, maybe someone downstairs (the office)

can . . .'" To me Mary said, "I've just had enough, I really mean it.
That's the way it's gonna be . . ." Then she said about Tommie, "I
told him I'd have to have a long talk about him with Mrs. Jones before
I sent him" (to the office). "When I'm really the teacher, I'll . . ."
(3-23 Interview)

About this incident George, who was in the lounge, told me
after_Mary left that he had told Tommie to "Give the student teacher a
chance!" He asked me if I was as idealistic as Mary when I started
teaching. He said he was, but that now he was a "realist and pragmatic."
(3-23 Field Notes)

During the course of the conversation Mary mentioned how tired
she was, and she said about her unit and the next class she was to take
over:

Question: When will you take over the next class?

Mary: Not for a week, I hope. Sherry, what will I do with
sixth hour? I'm tired of it (the unite). It's boring me,
when you're the teacher, you can't get bored. Oh well, when
I'm really the teacher, I'll teach one grammar, one litera-
ture, and divvy it up a bit." (3-23 Interview)

John this week had more than his share of discipline problems,
and as reported in the participants' introduction, was observed by Mrs.
Smith. After their lengthy conference, Mrs. Smith stayed to watch

John's fourth hour sophomore class which he had told her was worse than

any of them. This class was quieter than they uSually were, but since

221

he had used a seating chart to seat them, the students were mad. Over
all the class was better, but John still had disturbances and some
disorder. Some edited field notes indicate that students still talk
with Mrs. Oakwood during the period, still sit and lay on the heat
register, and still call out answers.
In general, John did everything that Mrs. Smith asked him to do.

At the end of the hour she said:

Mrs. Smith: How do you feel now? I'd like to stay for an

hour of positive reinforcement, but you feel better don't ya?

John allowed that he did, but he said: "I was anxious and

scared all the time. Look at my hand." He extended his hand

to show how it shook.

Mrs. Smith: I want you to eat something!

John: I can't when I'm like this. My stomach is sick . . .

John then told Mrs. Smith that just before the end of the

period a girl student said: "It sucks!“ (the class, poetry,

etc.) and I (John) said, "So do you!" "As soon as I said it,

I knew I shouldn't have!“

Mrs. Smith: Sometimes you have to!
John had carried out the supervisor's suggestions, and they had worked;
but he had still been unable to relieve his tension. John, who I never
heard swear, had responded to the vulgar girl with a retort that he

later told me compromised his values.

EQEEEDE
This week was probably the most turbulent in the entire practicum.
It is marked by student teacher embarrassment, confusion and loneliness.
The tensions have built to a high place and somehow must be resolved.
The frustrations are exceedingly present, even if the student teacher
has felt some success. The successes are generally small personal ones
which are individual, as with Paul's student who passed his test, and

Mary's poet who will later write for her. At this point the student

222

teacher is almost out of control. He has a feeling that his personal
life is no longer his own, and he is disappointed with himself. He
states over and over again, "When I'm the real teacher, I'll . . ."

The experience is an all absorbing one.

‘March 26-31 -- Sixth Week of Student Teaching

After the tumultuous week that had just passed, this week marked
the beginning of some success, some control in classes, and a growing
tiredness due to the amassing of papers and the necessity of formulating
new lessons. With the exception of John, all the others will feel some
success. Mary, Paul and Mark get close to the students. All will talk
to their classes about either what they as student teachers have done,
or what the classes have done to them.

Paul's week did not begin well, but worked up to a successful
finish.. He continued to teach grammar all week in much the same way as
has already been described. On Monday he said to his second hour class:

On Friday I confused myself and you . . .So . . . tell me
if you don't understand . . . (3-26 Field Notes)

Paul had not officially apologized this time, but he did on occasion
apologize to his students. This was something that he disliked.

You know, I found myself apologizing to the class . . . I
had a college professor I hated for that! (3-8 Field Notes)

Also during this week Paul had a job interview in a county north
of Fillmore in another state. He felt somewhat encouraged by this
interview, except for the salary, which he felt would not support his

family.

223

Mrs. Evans continued to stay in the class for the most part.
However, one day she was out of the room for most of the period and at
the end of the hour Paul said:

I think it went pretty well today . . . I don't know what
anyone else thinks . . . I think so! (3-28 Field Notes)

He was pleased this day and had earlier indicated that, "You learn it
(grammar) when you teach it." (3-28 Field Notes)

At the end of the week and the last journal Paul wrote, he
said of this week:

Well, I'm writin' this Friday morning, almost decided not to,
then remembered some things that I wanted to say. Overall it's
been a very good week-~although I didn't think that way Monday!
You wanted to know what it was like when everythin went well?
It's like--waiting all day for a bourbon and soda halthough you
know the soda has been sitting in the refrigerator for over a
month and probably isn't any good!). Then comin' home to find
that there is so much fizz in the soda, you can hardly take the
cap off. There is a special feeling when everything goes well.
Satisfaction, I suppose, is the best word. You did what you
were supposed to do, and you did it well. (3-30 Journal)

Paul this week began to get close to the students physically.
After he made an assignment, he would move around the room to help them.
Normally he got down on his haunches and spoke quietly with the students.
Paul explained why he did this in an interview.
Paul: I get down: I kneel. I do it purposely.
Question: Why?
Paul: Because I'm not any better than he (student) is.
I'm no different from them. I feel awkward standing.
(I like being close.) If I'm talkin to Jim, I'm talking
to Jim, and it's his problems . . . 5-l Interview)
This posture continued throughout the term.
Mary's week was similar and she was left alone, although a few
times she felt Mrs. Jones "bugged" the room from the office. In this

week she began a unit on writing which she said she didn't know how to

224

teach with her sophomores and continued teaching her poetry unit in the
first and fourth hour.

On Monday Mary said to her class, since all had not brought their
books: 4

Please when I tell you to bring a certain book, 00 IT!
Eecause . . . it messes up everything.

Mary generally taught writing in the following way. She had an
introduction to the lesson, did an exercise from the textbook with the
students, and made an assignment about that lesson. For instance, she
discussed the topic sentence in paragraphing, had students decide the
topic sentence in an exercise, and had them write a paragraph with a
topic sentence. After making the assignment, she either "be-bopped"
around the class to see how students were doing or sat at the lectern and
had students line up to see her.

Like Paul, she worked for closeness in the class, but unlike him,
she had a close relationship witha few students out of class. In class
Mary also "knelt" down when she helped students. She explained her
closeness this way:

Question: Why do you get down to talk to the students?
Mary: . . . I like it down there. This way they (students)
have to look down at me. Literally down at me. I like the
closeness, and I do it on purpose. (5-8 Interview)
She almost always got down when she talked with students on an individual
basis.

Throughout the term, Mary made friends with a few students. She

had one student, Jennie, who was an excellent poet. The young lady had

been to many different schools and according to Mary, "nobody" had even

recognized her writings; but Mary did. She wanted to get it published

225

and solicited my help. During this week Jennie confided some very
important items to Mary, who had taken her for a Coke at George's
suggestion. She told me . . . "It's worse than I thought. (Jennie's
situation) It's where I can't even tell you." (Sherry) (3-27 Field
Notes) This "personal relationship" continued throughout the term, and

is significant to Mary's interpretation of the final half of the semester.
There were other students she also found friendship with, like Susan, who
came over to her trailer. Both of these students were in the sophomore
third hour, which after Mary took over fourth and fifth period, became
her favorite.

As well as developing a certain closeness with students at this
time, Mary experienced what in her estimation was the first real serious
confrontation with an individual student. When I saw her fifth hour she
was explaining the problem to Mrs. Jones, that she encountered in the
fourth hour class of juniors.

Mrs. Jones: Well, what did he say to you? Can you repeat it?

Mary: Oh yeah, he said, "She's full of shit!"

Mrs. Jones: Well, he's a smart kid, but he sometimes gets out

of hand. (3-24 Field Notes)
Mary had then gone back to him and told him he couldn't talk that way.
Mrs. Jones asked her if he had said it under his breath and Mary said,
"No, it was pretty loud." Later she told me that he said it on purpose,
and "I just couldn't let it go by, so I be-bopped back there and told
him about it." It really angered her, and she was put out by the incident.
She said, "I like to relate to the kids . . . when I was in high school,
I wasn't an angel, but I never . . ." (would do anything like that).
(3-28 Field Notes) She concluded by indicating that, "I hate to change

it around (the class). I'll give it one more day, before I seat 'em.

226

I'm just not going to put up with this." (3-28 Field Notes) A student
interrupted and Mary left for a few minutes. Mrs. Jones said that she
had stayed upstairs this hour because she felt the incident was more
important than the office. Before Mary returned though, she left. Mary
came back singing the Gloria Gainer song, "I Will Survive."

This week also marks Mary's "really getting busy." She told
Jean that she was “run to death," (3-27 Field Notes) and needed her fifth
hour to relax. At one point during the week she told me and the other
teachers, "I graded these (the paragraphs) non-stop from nine to one last
night. These are only paragraphs; what will I do when they're essays?"
(3-28 Field Notes) She also told a student, "I'm really running," and
she certainly was.

As previously indicated, John's week was no better than his
previous one: as opposed to Paul and Mary's, there was no evidence that
John felt closeness to his students. He was still teaching four classes
and like Mary, he was using his sixth hour preparation time for relaxa-
tion. He said to me and another student teacher at lunch:

Ask me any questions now, because sixth period I just rest.
I find I can't study at home. I have to rest and wait until
the other teachers leave . . . Then I stay and type or read
until about five o'clock. (3-29 Field Notes)
The other student teacher agreed that the preparation period was a
deserved rest. She equated her life at that moment to:
It's like being in a battle. We've (supervisors and student
teachers) been teaching child care, and they think they
(students) know it all. It's been awful. I need to rest,
but I can't sleep. I stay up til l:30 A.M. at night. It's
kinda like, if I go to sleep, I'll haveta get up sooner.

John added: "The time'll pass too fast!" John equated
student teaching to being in the ring . . . "You just hope

227

for the bell!" Both laughed . . . John continued, "When
I'm a real person . . . I'll . . ." and the other student
teacher agreed with, "When I'm a real teacher . . . !

You know, I need to get a job, but I'm so busy." (3-29
Field Notes)

John was still experiencing tension and anxiousness and his
classes were still being interrupted while he was teaching. An edited
example from field notes in advanced composition indicates the type of
things that are going on in John's class:

9:05 A.M. John went and closed the door. He says, “Okay,
have a seat please, get your journals out and start writing."
Students more or less comply. He calls roll aloud and says,
"You all are noisy writers, let's keep it quiet! Shhhhhhh!

Mrs. Oakwood entered and talked to me and students, then John
said, "You all are . . .“ Mrs. Oakwood leaves the room and
then returns .

Student: You gonna read these? (the journals)

John: Eventually, I was planning to read them this week,

but maybe next.

9:lO A.M. John goes to his desk in the front and writes. A
student in the back talks with Mrs. Oakwood briefly.

9:ll A.M. TWo girls are talking and John says, “Girls!"
(He used two fingers to indicate quiet.)

9:l3 A.M. Mrs. Oakwood leaves her seat and walks to the
front door to help John. As she does this, the class begins
to talk. John says, "Okay, let's keep it quiet!“ Mrs.
Oakwood goes to her office and the room quiets.

9:l4 A.M. Mrs. Oakwood leaves the classroom.
9:20 A.M. John begins: How many of you have even learned
how to take an essay test? I want a show of hands!

deay I'd like you to work on these papers silently. If you
have your rough draft, give it to your proofreader. (He has
established proofreaders for each student.)

9:22 A.M. John goes to the class office and returns to the
classroom. As he walks by a desk the girl says, “Mr. Clarke!"
John says, "Yeah, let's come up here so we're organized. Let's
write, not talk!" (to the class)

A student asks John while he is talking with another, "Can't

we talk to others about pointers?" John replies, "Yes, pointers!"
The student turns to his friend and says, "Let's talk-about
pointers." They do!!

228

9:25 A.M. A student enters and now Mrs. Oakwood is talking to
two students. John looks apprehensive, but goes back to his
book. Mrs. Oakwood continues talking. TWo girls in the front
were talking. Now Mrs. Oakwood has stopped talking to the
girls, but they are talking with each other. John looks at
them and they stop. '

9:3l A.M. Class is working and so is John at his small student
desk in the front. Mrs. Oakwood takes something to him and a
girl who had been talking leaves, but not until she stops very
momentarily before John.

9:33 A.M. The girl returns and slams the door. She goes to
her seat, but talks to her friends. Another teacher enters and
-says to Mrs. Oakwood, "You wouldn't.mind doing this to my class
would.you?" (She means keeping them quiet.) Mrs. Oakwood
replied: "Anytime you want a student teacher.“ He and Mrs.
Oakwood then talk loudly and the class begins to talk until
John says, "Shhhhhhh!" He is keeping an eye on them.

9:36 A.M. Some movement by Mrs. Oakwood and the other teacher
causes a boy to leave and some talking. John assesses the
situation with his eyes and says, “Let's keep it quiet!"

9:40 A.M. Other teacher leaves and the room becomes quiet . . .
9:4l A.M. Girl who had been talking to Mrs. Oakwood gets up to
look for her in her office, then in journalism office. She and
Mrs. Oakwood talk and when she does go back to her seat, she
talks with the girl (Annie) next to her. John says, "Let's
write, okay!" They don't, just lower their voices. ‘

9:43 A.M. Two students, one at a time, come to John and as

he helps them he says to the class which is pulling, "Okay, let's
write, okay? . . . Okay, LET'S WRITE!" Now John is helping a

girl at the board. The class is trying to pull him into letting
them talk, but he talks to the girl at the board . . . the girl

who was talking to Annie goes to Mrs. Oakwood in the office.

John says, "Hey, let's keep it down, I don't mind answering
questions, but I'll try to keep it quiet." They quiet momentarily,
but start pulling again.

9:49 A.M. Diane (a student) says, "Mrs. Oakwood, when we gonna
do that thing that's downstairs on the bulletin board? About
the most outstanding teacher!" She shouts this across the room
. . . John gets them (students) quiet once again . . .

9:5l A.M. Boys are twittering on the left side . . . John is
helping on the board.

9:52 A.M. Annie is gone, so Diane writes for the first time all
period . . . (Much left out . . .) '

229

9:55 A.M. John stands and asks, "Okay, who will read the
announcements?" A boy does. John sits. Students are quiet
until Diane goes to Mrs. Oakwood, then she returns. After
the announcements, John sits again. Diane says, "It's time to
go!" John: "I have another minute." Some students leave
and John goes to get them. Another student says, "Do we have
to leave a line between this time?" (on the themes) John
says, "Yes!" The student replies, "That' s such a waste of
paper." Then to another student he says, "Oh,

and he leaves . . John runs out the door after him, l'Hey,
turkey, come back here!" John gets him and they both return.

Bell rings at lO:OO A.M. (3-29 Field Notes)
This particular class was fairly orderly, but it was just these kinds
of interruptions that caused John to be “nervous and anxious."

This week when I was leaving Laboratory, a student teacher in
music, who had sat next to me in fundamentals, stopped me in the hall to
talk. I asked him how it was going, and he said, "Okay, NOW!" (3-29
Field Notes) He asked if we could talk the next week: I agreed.

Comment
This week marks the first change in the student teacher's

relationship with himself and his classes. He continues to "weather the
battle," or "be in the ring," but he realizes that there are certain
limitations on what he can do, given his situation. He knows now that
he isn't really the teacher, and he begins to see that in fact he may
survive. As John points out, "only thirty-one and a half days!" left
and as Mary sings:

Did I crumble; did you think I'd lay down and die,

on no, not I; I will survive.

As long as I know h5w to love

I know I' ll be alive.

I've got all my life to live,

And I've got all my love to give,
And I'll survive, I will survive.

230

April 2-6 -- Seventh Week of Student Teaching

This week is very much like the last week. The student teachers
are still very busy, and they are still working long hours at home on
their papers. One thing has disappeared from the field notes this week
and that is the tremendous highs and lows that the informants were
experiencing.

Paul during this week still does many of the things in the
classroom he was doing the previous two weeks. This week he did teach
American literature with Mrs. Evans, and one day Mrs. Evans was absent.
A substitute was present and Paul took all Mrs. Evans' classes.

On Monday Paul's classroom returned to rows. They were to stay
this way until May. Paul said of this movement a few days later at
lunch:

Question: Why did you change the room?

Paul: Mrs. Evans wanted it that way.

Question: Why don't you change it back? _

Paul: It's her room, it's not mine. I don't like it like this!
Question: Why did you ask the class if it bothered them if

you came out to them?

Paul: Mrs. Evans said it bothered them, so I asked . . .

(4-4 Field Notes)

Like the others, Paul was tired, and he told me he spent seven
to nine hours during this weekend just grading papers. He spent time
planning, but as he said, he didn't spend a great amount of time writing
the plans. He just spent a lot of time going over the material so he
didn't have to read it.

Paul also wondered where Mrs. Smith was since he hadn't seen her
in awhile. She didn't come this week, and the others wondered where

she was too. Mrs. Evans continued to evaluate Paul, and he told me he

was glad she wrote the evaluations.

231

I'm really glad Mrs. Evans is the way she is. Not like the
others, who are never there and never help. You know, I'm
‘ really glad she writes that! (4-4 Field Notes)

Once during this week a student asked Mrs. Evans at the end of
Paul's class period if she wanted the papers. Mrs. Evans pointed to
Paul, and the student said, "He's the boss, huh!" Then he smiled and
shook his head. The student never asked Paul a thing. (4-5 Field Notes)

Mary's week was fairly uneventful except that she picked up
another class, which was to become her nemesis, and she had a very
positive experience with Jennie (the poet). She comes to "like" her
third hour, and she continues to have trouble in the other classes.

On Monday of this week Mary entered the lounge fifth period and
said to me, "Four hours straight, that's a lot! I'm through for the day.
I checked papers all weekend. I'm really behind!" When Jean arrived
Mary told her that she was taking next week off. "I'm so behind . . .

I need a break!" (4-2 Field Notes) She continued to be tired the rest
of the week and on Wednesday she said, " . . . I don't have time to do
things I want to . . ."

Last night I went to sleep at 9:00 P.M. and thought I'd sleep

half an hour . . . I woke up at l:OO A.M. and checked papers

till three o'clock. I promised the students I'd have them

to ay.

George: Never promise anything!

Mary: Well, I went back to bed at 3:30 A.M. and couldn't

sleep until a half hour before the alarm went off!!

(4-4 Field Notes)
She, like John and Jean, relaxed during their planning time.

The positive experience was a poem that Mary received from Jennie
on her twenty-second birthday. After third hour Mary rushed into the

lounge to show me something. The field notes have recorded the following.

232

In the lounge: Mary came in to show me something. Jennie
had written Mary a poem for her birthday. Mary was visibly

‘ moved, since it was a poem that expressed how Jennie felt
about Mary. It emphasized her youth, her transition from
student to teacher, her sitting on a stool, and thanked her
for recognizing her and her talents. Mary told me, "I had
to get out of there, I wanna cry. You read it, Sherry."
I did and said that I too wanted to cry. Mary said, "Sherry,
don't: I'll cry!" I didn't and she didn't. Mary is very
tickled about the poem and later said, "If I've reached one
(student) . . . I guess I'm a success!"
George said to Mary, "That's very positive feedback, and
you might not get that again for three or four years!"
(4-4 Field Notes)

From this week on, Mary liked her sophomores. She reflected on
this class to Jean and me. She said:

I thought I liked those juniors, but it's those sophomores.
I'd like to have them all day. (4-2 Field Notes)

John's week had been the same as before. He still felt tension,
but this week there was only “twenty-eight and one-half days" left. He I
had given a test in his fourth hour class which he felt was hard. All
however had done well. He felt they had passed it because he had given
them a study guide. -

On this day I watched John trying to prepare some lessons for
his freshman class on Romeo and Juliet. He wanted to know how I had
taught it, and he discussed his private life. He felt perhaps that
his troubles in teaching were directly related to his personality. He
said:

It must be my personality that makes the trouble (his
discipline difficulties). (4-3 Field Notes)

After lunch I met with William, the student teacher in music.
He explained what had happened to him so far in the practicum, and how
he had finally alleviated his difficulties. The field notes are instruc-

tive.

233

l2:4O A.M. William tells me he is doing better now. He has
been very upset since he inherited a class from the second
music teacher this year. (Number one teacher had been there
fifteen years.) The discipline was incredible, and he was
going to quit, but decided to talk with his university
supervisor. He did, but the university supervisor, Mr.
Bentley, didn't really believe it was as bad as it was.

William questioned himself about how bad it was . . . “I
thought maybe it was me since I went to a Catholic school.
Was I judging from my own experiences? The only ones I have.
Well . . . Mr. Bentley came for ten minutes, and I haven't
seen him again!“ Mr. Bentley said to William, "I didn't
believe it was that bad, but there's nothing I can do (to
move William elsewhere). If you were in the other schools,

I could move you, but not here."

William said he was miserable: he came here believing he had
to work under her (the supervising teacher) . . . and "She's
the problem." If she even comes in, it's awful. "She stays
out most of the time now."

I asked William when he realized it had changed? He said,
"When my attitude changed! I realized I could do it my way.“
He continues . .-. "then I went in (class) one day and I
waited ten minutes. 'They (students) tumbled in the door:
yelled, screamed, etc. . . . Then I said to the class,
'You've used up ten minutes of this class period and you'll
have to stay ten minutes after!‘ Then I got 'em up and

moved 'em to the door, they ran . . . I brought 'em back

in and we learned how to walk in . . . sometimes I've been
downright vicious!“

William: I did some observing myself.
Me: What did you find?

William: I went to (city) and the vocal music
teacher . You know him?
Me: 0.

William: Well, he told me to go in there with two feet
planted. It helped! I also asked the art teacher (at
Laboratory), 'Are they all like this?‘ The teacher replied,
'No, come see mine!‘ 50 I did, and I also watched what
happened when she (the supervising teacher) was there and
when they (students) came in.

At this point, a class came charging down the hall and
stopped before the door. William said: "See how they come
in now!" I did. (4-3 Interview)

234

m

This week then was marked with a calmness and some sameness in
the classes. The student teachers know that's what they are, no matter
how they make sense of it. The university and the supervisors acknowl-
edge to me that they have "no control" of what happens in the schools.
The dramatic highs and lows are gone, but the total absorption in the
process remains. They are tired; they are isolated by the system, but
they have begun to gain some control of their position. They feel some
success, especially if it is personal.

A theoretical note written in the field notes (4-4) captures
the essence of the professional semester to this point:

Commentary:

Student teachers and control. The system controls these people
by in effect rendering them powerless. They are kept there by
the demands of su ervisors (university) and the physical class-
room (supervisors system which they have inherited.

The powerless man must exert himself to override the feelings
of inferiority and inaccessibility. As the demands of a job
increase, so should the power, and this doesn't happen. A
student teacher is not a part of the system, he could be
removed or failed--whatever. This fringe existence has not
at this time been overcome in any_of the cases collected.

There may be a socialization process in student teaching which
allows for socialization into isolation, which then renders
control of situation. The "Your classroom is yours" isn't
present in student teaching, but is in actual teaching. The
only control that I can have is in —"my room," "with my kids. "
If this is it, then I'll have it or at least I'll try to get
it.

The lounge is a symbol of a place where we are free from the
system's isolation which we have imposed on ourselves and where
we can be free of incredible system demands. The eventual
setting aside of paperwork during these hours is necessary.
Comradery--is human and we'll have as we need it!

(4-4 Field Notes)

235

April 9-l3 -- Eighth Week of Student Teaching.

In the eighth week of student teaching Mary was on break, but
Paul and John taught the first three days of the week. Thursday and
Friday of this week were designated as "Easter Break" and on these days
the state education association met. Thus a three-day teaching week
for student teachers.

Paul during this week continued with his grammar units in the
twelfth grade classes, and helped teach American literature in the
eleventh grade classes. He dressed as always, continued to check his
teaching methods with his classes, and show deliberate actions in
maintaining control.

For example, he says of an upcoming test:

Are there any questions on this, there will be questions like
this on the test tomorrow! (4-9 Field Notes)

And:
Some students are talking. Paul says, "Now (a
student's name), you really do need to pass a test!
(4-9 Field Notes)
The evidence of deliberate control through grades is present here.
On the day before the break is to begin, Paul and Mrs. Evans
use a values clarification activity to stimulate discussion among the

students. The field notes reveal that this was Mrs. Evans' activity.

Then Mrs. Evans took over for a values clarification exercise.
Students numbered off and got into groups of four.

lO:OO A.M. Mrs. Evans wrote characters' names on the board
for her debriefing. During the exercise Paul and Mrs. Evans
went about the room encouraging explanation. Originally

Paul watched from the front, then the side window, then he
went around the room helping. It was concluded at lO:l5 A.M.
(4-ll Field Notes)

236

During the first period at Laboratory this week, I met a
student teacher in the lounge who told me she had a friend who was still
having a difficult time. "She comes home crying every day . . . She's
even made an appointment with a counselor." I talked with the student
teacher, who said her friend thought she was losing her mind. She said:

I think she has a problem with her supervising teacher. She

keeps making appointments with her, but she doesn't show.

She thinks she's (the supervisor) talking about her behind

her back, and the teacher won't help with the discipline.

She's (student teacher) really becoming paranoid!

Question: You mean her supervisor won't talk with her?

Answer: Yeah, I'm lucky my supervising teacher will help me

with discipline, but I don't like him so well. I like teaching

though, (but) I'm going to graduate school maybe. You know

. . . You have to be a masochist to teach in the inner city . . .

(4-l0 Field Notes)
This same student teacher met me later in the term and reported that her
friend had seen the counselor and that she was better. The two student
teachers then decided that the Laboratory student teacher should observe
at her friend's school. The student teacher from Laboratory drove on
Wednesday, May 2nd, to the high school where her friend was teaching
chemistry. Below is what was reported to me. (5-4 Field Notes)

Student teacher from Laboratory said she was "embarrassed"

at (high school) yesterday, because she was told she

"could not observe." The student teacher told the school who

she was and who she was observing and that it was "okay."

She was told, "If you want to observe here, you have to have

a note from your supervisor." The Laboratory student teacher

told me it was absurd and asked why she couldn't observe

another student teacher or anybody else if she is to learn.

(5-4 Field Notes)

John during the week was not observed, but he did meet with
Mrs. Smith (in the lounge), who arrived during his third hour. She

wanted to know if he were feeling better about himself, and he again

237

explained his tension and problems. He told her he was no longer teach-
ing poetry, but the Greek theater and Julius Caesar. Their talk was

general. (4-l0 Field Notes)

we

Due to the shortness of the week, student teachers who were
present generally remained the same except that in Paul's case, he was
becoming more deliberate in his questions. He remained tired however
and still had some difficulties with his fourth hour. There is a move
to get authority along with responsibility now, but it doesn't happen.

April l6-20 -- Ninth Week of Student Teaching .

At this point in the term student teachers still consider them-
selves very busy. They remain absorbed, but student teachers, students
and supervisors begin to recognize that the end of student teaching is
nearing. The fact that student teachers are still not recognized as
teachers also remains clear. The Washington Irving student teachers
have another five-day break.

Paul during this week began to get senior students ready to
write the essay. He taught types of paragraphs, and he began by having
students pick out a topic sentence. He still follows the same procedure
as he did in grammar throughout the class period, and Mrs. Evans still
remains in the room most of the time. At one point during the week,
she reminded Paul to pass back papers. An example from the field notes:

lO:O9 A.M. A lady enters (speaks with Mrs. Evans) and then

the lady leaves; Mrs. Evans reminds Paul to pass back his
papers. (4-l6 Field Notes)

238

As indicated in the introduction to major informants, Paul
progressively became more concerned about getting a job. During this
week he discussed his two upcoming interviews and the problems of money.
He also was still taking to Sister Catherine about student teaching,
and he said:

I talk to her about teaching a lot, and I talk to her like a

regular person. I say things I shouldn't. When I get out of

here, I talk real crazy . . . (He raised his hand and made

circles.) (4-l8 Field Notes)
In a later interview, Paul elaborates on how much the nun had helped him
since he could get "philosophical" with her.

Mary, who had been out on break, returned to County Monday, and
she was tired. She is still teaching four classes, but Monday and Tuesday
of this week she didn't teach her third hour since they were still taking
State Competency Tests. Mrs. Jones was administering these tests, and
Mary throughout the day was hearing book reports in the hall.

On Tuesday she was discouraged, and depressed. I asked her, "If
she were ready to throw in the towel?" She replied, "Not yet, one or
two good things happen to keep me here." One of these good things is
Jennie, and the way she now feels about her third hour class. She feels
they are "hers,“ and says on 4-20 in the lounge after third hour.

They're mine (third hour), I know it, but not the others. I
think if I stay here forever they won't beT——They still ask
about Mrs. Jones too much. (4-20 Field Notes)

This attitude is quite different from the way she feels about
other classes. For instance, her second hour had really been giving her
troubles and shereflected on these in an interview.

They're just animals! Well . . . really they're a good bunch

of kids--they're just hyper--they like to have a good time!
They like to play, but we gotta work. They like to play . . .

239

they just don't like to work at all. That's what we're here
for though. I like to play just as much as they do. I'm a
big kid, but they're animals. But we're doing a play now;
they're getting better. Ever since I threatened with the
grade book . . . You know the check marks . . . two checks
equals a letter off and . . . (5-8 Interview)

Mary found this week that occasionally a student would ask her
when she was leaving, or how long a seating chart would be in effect.

From third hour: A student says, "When you leaving?"
(4-20 Field Notes)

From second hour: "How long this seating chart in effect,
until . . . (you leave)? (4-20 Field Notes)

From third hour to Mrs. Jones: "When's she leaving?“
(4-l7 Field Notes)

The second hour also gives her a hard time since they do not like poetry.*
This class is giving Mary the "business."

9:58 A.M. Mary is lecturing, then transition with: "So
are there any questions? Who would like to read, "Stopping
by the Woods"? A student reads . . . Mary takes over and
explains the situation of the poem . . . using the lectern.

A student disarms with: "Miss Wilson, how can you hear a
leaf fall on a horse? That's like hearing paint dry!“ (All
the class is laughing.) They (students) talk and she asks
for quiet, and she gets it.

Class is really giving the business to Mary, but she is taking
it smiling and explaining fully.

Girl student: "How can a horse ASK a question? He's not
human, what's he doing out there? (all giggling . . . some
students giving student support) Mary is answering quietly
and trying to maintain control, "Remember what we talked about
yesterday . . . it could symbolize death . . ."

l0:05 A.M. Mary in same Spot . . . same situation . . . students
still giving her the business. She is questioning. Mary says:
“I don't want to argue with you. You know when to keep quiet,

 

*In this segment of field notes, it is instructive to notice that
this class, which is the last class she has taken over, is much like the
third hour was after she had been teaching them the same length of time,
except this time she doesn't fall apart.

240

but it's like talking to a wall."
Student: "You hearing walls." "Hey . . . she's been reading
too much of her own poetry!“ (4-lO Field Notes)

Mary continues this week to comment on how tired and busy she
is, and she indicates these things to me.
1. I went to bed at two o'clock last night. I'm so tired!

2. During my break while I was home, I worked six hours
during the day and from eight to eleven at night. (She
was trying to catch up on her papers.)

3. "I know I'll never be teaching more than one writing at
a time.“ She went on to explain that "except for four or
five“ the writing was terrible. I know teachers (when
they get out) have a lot of work, but . . . (it must be
easier). “This (her work) is . . .! (These words are
missing not because I missed them, but because today
Mary is unable to verbalize them . . . she actually looks
weary.

4. I'm hearing book reports in the hall. I think it's
bullshit to do this. When I'm (the teacher) they'll
read, but no book reports.
Me: Do they read the books?
Mary: Probably not. I just heard one on Goodbye Mr. Chips.

A I never read it. (She then explained about giving one boy

a "C" on an "F" poster and an "A" on his book report.)
(4-l7 Field Notes)

Further examples of not being recognized as a teacher occurred
this week. Mary related to it this way.

While waiting in the lunch line as teachers do, she was told
by some other teacher "to go to the end of the line!" Mary
said, "But I'm a student teacher." The teacher apologized,
but Mary felt depressed she wasn't recognized. (4-l7 Field
Notes)

The grading of papers affected all the student teachers, but
for those individuals teaching writing, it was the worst. Mary
actually took some to lunch with her. Jean often mentioned how
much time she spent checking, and for John it actually began to hurt
him to see a comma splice. He felt he had taught them how to make

comma splices rather than eliminate them.

241

The only contact with Jean during the last few weeks of student
teaching was made when she came to the lounge to see Mary. Once or
twice (4-l7 and 4-20) during the week the conversation reverted from
students who they decided it was all right to dislike . . .

Jean: I like 'em all except this one girl.

Mary: I hate 'em all sometimes for a minute. (Both agreed.)

Mary: . . . hating one isn't so bad . . . that's not so bad.

(4-l7 Field Notes)
to Mrs. Smith's remaining requirements for the term. A seminar would be
held on Monday and it was to be "explosive" since it was "their seminar."
On this day however, Jean and Mary discussed what to say in an
educational philosophy and how to answer the questions about an evalua-
tion of student teaching. They said:

Mary and Jean and I also discussed the kinds of questions which

will be asked at an interview. Mary felt unsure about these

questions. The question, what is your educational philosophy,

will be difficult since both agreed that they don't really have

one . . . On the final evaluation form Jean remarked about the

questions that ask, ”Are your chairs (desks, etc.) arranged so

that there are no barriers?" She said: "How do I answer that

. suspend 'em from the ceiling?" (4-l7 Field Notes)

Mary decided I should write the educational philosophy for her and one
day later in the term met me in the lounge with pencil and paper in
hand. (4-24 Field Notes)

John's classes this week were much the same as before, but he
could now more easily verbalize his difficulties. He administered an
evaluation to his students about himself. Essentially he asked them
to evaluate him by giving him a letter grade, and he shared these with
me. In his first hour class the students said it was generally a good
class only, "occasionally boring." Most students liked the stories,
but felt John needed more discipline. This class gave him a "B-" or a

"C". His tenth graders said much the same thing except they sympathized

242

with him saying, “Student teaching was hard,“ and that his "religion
would be a comfort to him." This was the only student teacher I observed
who had students evaluate him on paper.

Like the others, John is tired and is working long hours on his
papers and trying to get his personal life in order. He feels his
personal life in influenced by student teaching and vice-versa. He
mentioned that he is staying at Laboratory until seven or eight o'clock
at night to get his work done. And like the others, he constantly asks
for new methods. He says he feels a little better since talking with
the others and finding out that they have similar problems.

M

This week student teachers are recognized as temporary people
by others who wish to know when they are leaving. It is distressing
not to be recognized and the workload is at its heaviest point for all
the student teachers. They find that they work long hours at home to
satisfy promises made to students about papers. They feel somewhat
deserted by Mrs. Smith and feel maybe she won't come to see them teach.
They are irritated by any remaining responsibilities to the university,
and they are definitely totally absorbed in the process of learning to
teach. It is interesting that they too begin at this point to discuss

students.

April 23-27 -- Tenth Week of Student Teaching
The tenth week is characterized by a growing recognition that
the term is ending, increased interest in jobs, the fulfillment of

university requirements, and the final acceptance of the place student

243

teachers have in the school. Student teachers who were beginning to
consider themselves successful also show control of classes.

The week began with a seminar which was to be "explosive,"
but in fact was totally controlled by Mrs. Smith. The format of the
seminar was one of a round table panel. All were present, but John was
late since he had taught his first hour at Laboratory. Mrs. Smith asked
a question and called on each student in the circle to answer it. All
the questions were fairly general in nature and students gave vague
answers. For instance:

Mrs. Smith: What is teaching?
Betty: Getting through to somebody. (4-23 Field Notes)

During the seminar Mrs. Smith discussed general topics or issues in
education, and she told them what she had noted from her observations
in the schools. She mentioned that she had seen them lecturing, and she
felt they might be nervous; she also was distressed at her student
teachers using “phases" to refer to students. An additional concern
was that she had noticed someone holding the textbook up and teaching
from it. Later these references will be discussed at the party by
student teachers.
The student teachers did discuss questioning during this time.

They said:

Mrs. Smith: Questioning . . . how do you feel, Betty?

Betty: I think I do pretty well sometimes I don't dig deep

enough!

John: I honestly think that questioning is my weakest

point. If I ask one question, everyone jumps out. I tend to

lose control . . .

Mrs. Smith: Did you ask questions with answers? ’

John: Yes, maybe I should move in that direction . . . (refers

to his evaluations in his classes).

Jim: I've tried to . . . sometimes it's hard to do. If you
can take a student response and work it into another question

244

. . . I've tried to let one move into another, but I find the
questions change a lot. Someone brings up a side light and
you have to discuss it . . . I have togive it some structure,
so I don't jump around too much.

Teresa: Individual. I direct toward him (the student). Some-
times if I don't, several will answer at a time, and I'll say
that's a good point.

Paul: When I first went there it was a factual question, then
I'd ask them if they could add.

Mrs. Smith: Was this deliberate?

Paul: Yes, the questioning just happened, but then it was
deliberate. I wish I had known about the factual at first
because it's limited!

Linda: I give points for class participation and people
generally want to get points . . . sometimes I call on people.

Mary: In the beginning I just threw the questions out, but I
couldn't hear . . . so usually I call on them.
(4-23 Field Notes)

At the conclusion of the seminar student teachers were angry
since they felt they had just wasted two hours. The party conversation
dealt with student teaching, the discipline problems they were having,
and their discontent with Mrs. Smith. Paul said it was he that Mrs.
Smith referred to when she mentioned using the book to teach grammar.
He said, "I never leave that book," and Mary agreed, "Me, either!"
Teresa was also verbal about her “run in" with Mrs. Smith.

The rest of the week Paul continued moving the seniors toward
their writing assignments, and he "team taught" the junior American
literature class with Mrs. Evans. His classes were well behaved for
the most part, and Mrs. Evans remained with him. He had three interviews
this week for jobs and therefore missed one complete day of classes and
part of another. Mrs. Evans at one point was somewhat distressed by

his missing. Paul explained her position and his.

She was mad at the interruptions (intercom) once and I can
understand how she felt since they were her kids. So I told

245

her about how they (Washington Irving's student teachers) got
both Selected's and Washington Irving's . . . (S-l Interview)

On the last day of the week Paul and Mrs. Evans taught the classes that
had been Paul's, together; (4-27 Field Notes) Paul told me there was
only nine and one-half days left of student teaching.

Mary was still teaching grammar in her sophomore class and
poetry in the others. She had finally stopped taking over classes, and
she did not ever "have" Mrs. Jones' sixth hour. While going over grammar
this week, she realized that she did not know verbals at all. She asked
me, "Did it show that I didn't know verbals?" and she found that at one
point in an exercise from the book she went "up and down the rows" to
have students answer the sentences.

Mary also became interested in getting a job, and she had
scheduled an interview at the university. During the early part of the
week she discussed interviews with George and me.- She had never had one
before, and she was trying to get help. She really debated whether or
not to go to the interview and finally decided she would. As it turned
out, the interview went well; she said:

The interview went real well. He liked me, I could tell . . .
(she was impressed) . . . because the school district had
department chairmen, and he will help freshmen teachers . . .
I impressed him because "I just told him that my students

will learn English. Language written and spoken English
labels you!“ (4-27 Field Notes)

In the tenth week John was observed again by Mrs. Smith in his
advanced writing class. He was giving a test so he reseated his students
in rows. This day eleven of his students were absent, and this disturbed

John since he hadn't known the baseball team would be registering during

this hour. It also meant that he would have to take another periOd to

246

give another test. As John often said, he never could figure how the
schedule might be. "This school, I never know when they change it."
(4-26 Field Notes) .

On our way to the lounge for his debriefing, John told me:

John: Put this in your notes! I hate it (teaching) with a
passion . . . Now I've said it . . . high school, at least!
(4-26 Field Notes)

He told me that Mrs. Oakwood was taking the fourth hour back over since
"that class makes me sick to my stomach!" He also ended the day with,
"It's nice to be able to admit you hate it."

John and Mrs. Smith's debriefing consisted of some announcements
dealing with responsibilities to the university and she wished to know his

planning.

Mrs. Smith asked John what he still had left to do for her?
He had the evaluation and some other rough things to give to
her. Today Mrs. Smith tried to get John to give her informa-
tion about his plans. He explained that in the last week, he
had taken students to the library, worked in groups, had
students read plays aloud . . . For this fourth hour he
explained that "yesterday, I had them in groups, each talking
about a character to this point. (Act 11, Scene I, Julius
Caesar) "They were rowdy, as always, but it was learning
noise.“

Mrs. Smith: What you gonna do today? (fourth hour)

John: Today they're (students) going to read Act II.

Mrs. Smith: What writing are they gonna do?

John: Oh . . . there are some suggestions in the back.

Mrs. Smith: How long will it take to finish the play?

John: Probably until I leave . . . two or three weeks.

Mrs. Smith then discussed his ninth grade class as
"involvement," saying, "Isn't it easier when they (students)
are involved?"

John nodded . . . but wasn't buying it! (4-26 Field Notes)

At lunch John and I spoke with another student teacher who was
bemoaning that she knew how some of the problems might be solved, but

she said, "No one listens to student teachers ideas, and my supervising

247

teacher hasn't been around for three or four weeks.“ John rounded off
the conversation with, "It's only two weeks and one day!" until student

teaching is over.

M

This this week is final recognition that student teaching is just
that . . . student teaching, and the acceptance by student teachers of
their part in the process. The push and confusion of what belongs to
whom, and who will possess students and rooms begins to soften. It is
obvious that student teachers and their supervisors are winding down.
All recognize that it is almost over and little problems that a week or
two before would have caused great consternation to the student teachers
are now taken in stride. Student teachers are teaching less and going
on interviews. Supervising teachers are taking their classesback, and

the university is collecting its final assignments.

April 30-May 4 -- Eleventh Week of Student Teaching
On Monday of this week student teachers returned to Selected for

their competency tests. There were four of these tests--a commons
(foundations of education), fundamentals, methods, and a subject area
test. These tests were all taken in the morning and the students
reported to me their thoughts on them:

Mary: The English was easy, but I didn't know anything on

two of the tests (fundamentals and commons). . . . Idealism,

existentialism, you know, that stuff!" (4-30 Field Notes)

Philip: (A fundamentals student I met and interviewed) You
know Dr. Johnson taught to that test . . . (4-30 Field Notes)

Mark: I sort of enjoyed the area (subject) test. Of course,
the other stuff, it might have been because I didn't know the.
answers, but I thought it was pretty irrelevant to anything.

248

I really didn't even know what they wanted, and I really didn't
care. I wouldn't spend any great time on any questions. (5-4
Interview)

Paul: I failed it. I thought the English part did the best
job they could. The education part was stupid. I don't know
why Selected has the good reputation that they do. Some of
that material I didn't have, and I've had two department heads!
(5-l Interview)

John: I thought there were some opinion questions in there . . .
now coming out of humanistic education classes, I know what
they wanted me to answer, and I generally did. But I thought
there were some opinion questions. The English test was very
good . . .

Question: Was the test worth the time you spent on it?

John: Sure, it got me out of here for a day!

(5- l0 Interview)

On these tests, I also talked with Dr. Bright, the editor and
director of the testing program. He gave me access to the test,
explained to me the background, the normed data, the reason for its use,
and what would be done with the results. However he also told me,
"The English test is a good test, but frankly, the methods and commons
aren'ttoo relevant!" (4-30 Field Notes)

The eleventh week in the schools was much like the last two
weeks except classes were more relaxed and student teachers and their
associates continue to look toward the end of student teaching.

In the lounge Jean, Mary, George, and I relaxed and Mary and
Jean talked about their teaching. Mary said:

Today I feel lazy, I didn't get to bed until after 2:00 P.M.
You know, I won't teach this way when I'm a real teacher . . .

(They talk about which classes they feel they have).
I have one class. I don't know how it happened, but I have
'em . . . and they love me. I don't have any of the others
. (S-l Field Notes)
Again interviews and jobs became a major concern, and both Mary

and Jean discuss whether Mrs. Smith will ever come. Goading a little

249

I mention that Mrs. Smith might come tomorrow. Both Jean and Mary
laughed and said, "Probably not!!" Jean also indicated that she had
only taught two classes and received little help. (5-l Field Notes)
In Mary's second hour class the problem of control still
remains. She and Mrs. Jones had a conference one day this week and
Mary explained that she had told second hour that "they were gonna do
speeches to see what it feels like to stand up there, and have no one
listen!" (5-2 Field Notes) On Friday the students in Mary's third hour
decided to give her a party on the last day of student teaching. One
girl in her class arranged the entire thing by having Mrs. Jones call
Mary to the office during class while I watched the students. This same
student then collected money and arranged for the party while Mary was
teaching a writing class. The student moved across the room, slipped
out the door, and passed lists. This continued throughout the next week.
Like the others, Paul began to ease Mrs. Evans back in the
classroom. In this week he taught his usual twelfth grade classes and
helped Mrs. Evans with the other two. Mrs. Evans did evaluate him on
paper once this week, and it was agreed that she would take over his
fourth hour class on Friday.
Once during this week, Paul reflected on how he felt other
teachers treated student teachers. He said:
You know something . . . I was in the teachers lounge today
and . . . I went in there to run something off . . . and there
was (biology teacher) in there talking about her
student teacher. I don't even know her, and she said that
she was very bothered by him and that he doesn't do anything.
That he doesn't plan for classes or anything . . . and she
went on and on about him . . . and I was really bothered . . .
and well then she went on to say, "When I was a student

teacher,“ (implies a long time ago) . . . "When I was a student
teacher I had seven different classeSa-each one a different

250

thing and I had to have a lesson plan every day--so these
wstudents nowadays, they don't even know what one is!" I
don't know what she's talking about! (He is indignant.) It
bothered me because she wasn't only talking about her student
teacher, but she was generalizing . . . and I was kinda
disappointed at her attitude . . . I'm just Overcome!

That's why (no authority) . . . the whole student teaching
experience has bothered me, and I think you know that! I
am not the teacher and no matter if you're an excellent
student teacher, you are not the teacher and I'm very much
aware of that fact. I'm very much aware when those teachers
in that lounge get that way (toward students and student
teachers) . . . You're isolated, you know . . . That's why
I don't think County is so good. They should pick their
supervising teachers better, or at least be more aware! I
am very much aware of it (the isolation) . . . because I'm
stuck here! (He stopped short and changed the subject.)
(S-l Interview)

He continued later inthe same vein . . .
But I'm always frustrated by a situation when I can't control
it. But then I decided I'm not gonna let it bother me. (5-l
Interview)
Mark said similar things on Friday, but his situation had changed
since Mr. Foster's heart attack. He said:

Question: Has Mr. Foster's absence created any problems
for you?

Mark: It solved some problems! He'd been absent for like
three days before they got a substitute and I'd had the full
control of classes, and I like it . . . (before) It was his
class: now it's my class . . . that's a big difference!

(5-9 Interview)

John during this week stopped coming back to Laboratory every
night, continued spending long hours checking papers since he could only
check "four or five at a time“ until he "needed a break," and admitted
to planning "haphazardly." He said:

Haphazardly . . . well . . . I generally think things through
before I go in. I have some kind of an idea in my head before
I go in. I've found that most days my organization as far as

finding the time to get things done has been poor. I've gone
about disciplining myself a little now. (5-3 Interview)

251

He also spent four hours arranging the "five senses thing," it “flopped,"
and he didn't write out his plans since they were useless, because the
schedule always changed.

Mrs. Oakwood also "took back" his tenth grade class because
"they've gotten away" from him. John said of the situation:

I'm just tired of sitting on top of the tire. I've got other
[things to do . . . and even though I'm still not teaching
that class, I'll find enough to keep me busy. I will admit
they were my hardest class, as far as controlling. . .

(5-3 Interview)

John had concluded that one of the most difficult things he had
to do was satisfy students and supervising teachers when what he was
doing didn't satisfy himself. He continued talking about himself and
his classes.

Question: Would you say at any time the class is yours?
John: Um . . . um . . . I've had the advanced composition
class, it's been mine forever and ever, and what I do with
my short story people is entirely up to me. My ninth grade
class is mine . . . and so is the tenth grade . . . So.

Question: How do you account for that?

John: Mrs. Oakwood just didn't bother coming . . . No . . .
I was the person in charge of planning for it, teaching it,
from the beginning to the end. I've been doing it pretty
much since mid-term. Since we came back from spring break.
(March 23rd)

Question: How much time teaching would you say you've had?
John: I've been here eleven weeks . . . ten weeks . . . I
would say. . . class time teaching. Eighty some hours to
lOO, (but) the other poeple . . that surprised me! I
assumed or I had been led to believe--and I took it seriously
--that we were supposed to go in and do as much as we could
as long as we could. And it freaked me out when I found out
I'd been teaching four classes for five weeks or a month and
a half . . . and some people are still teaching two!! If
anyone else had been doing it, I wouldn' t have minded, but
somehow . . You mean . . I didn't have to kill myself
this way??? (He almost breaks.)

252

Question: What do you mean?

John: A lot of work, a lot of effort . . . A lot of heartache,
a lot of pain . . . a lot of staying up nights grading papers,
a lot of planning. . . anxiety . . . You know, getting in
front of it. You know . . . instead of carrying twenty pounds
you're carrying forty, I think. ~

Question: You ever want to throw in the towel?

John: Sure (ha ha ) still do, as a matter of fact! I'm not
certain I'm going to make it for the next six and one-half
days! I'm not certain at all!!! As I've said before . . .

I've hated it, I've absolutely hated it. From the beginning

. . . well, not from the very beginning actually, I didn't

hate the first couple of weeks here. But, I've hated it. Once
I decided that I hated it . . . things have surprisingly gone
better. I think it was something I needed to admit to myself.
(5-3 Interview)

He continued talking about the term:

I think I wasn't too preared. I think I could've been better
prepared to be a teacher if we had taken that time and worked
on lesson plans solely, instead of going through the process of
sitting in class and talking about things . . . I think I was,
I . . . I was going to be a teacher . . . and I was thinking
teacher! (He compared this to a personal experience and taking
responsibility.)

Student teaching is an isolated experience. You're not a teacher
. . . you're not being paid. These people have been here forever
and ever. The teachers have been here forever and ever, the
students have been here forever and ever! You're someone new

and it's that . . . that you have to handle! You know, the
isolation! .

The teachers have already found their friends and you have to
prove yourself . . . That power over you that you're not
handling the situation! I think it helped to admit that I
hated it. Hey, I hate this thing! I wasn't in control of

the situation. Like I was riding the tiger, but I was holding
onto its belly, that type of thing! I admitted I hated it,

I got ahold of the boxes, and now I'm using folders for the
different classes . . . I think that helps a lot.

Another thing . . . I got sick Tuesday. I was throwing up

out of both ends . . . and I think what happened there is that
Monday I didn't feel like I was in control of the situation,
no doubt about it. I don't think it was a nerve problem,

just a realization that . . . you've been taking this for the
last six hours and you have a--still have this--(many) four
batches of themes to grade . . . still gotta grade . . . plus
some more. I wasn't in control of the situation!!

253

I'm not sure . . . but it's not a comfortable position . . .

to think I've learned an awful lot . . . not only about

teaching, but about myself! It's like boot camp, you don't

want to go through it twice, but you are glad you did once!

And . . . I'm not particularly looking forward to the next

six days, but . . . you know . . . (5-3 Interview)
Comment

Thus the week continued and all seem to have concluded the

same thing. Student teaching is not "real" teaching: all seem to have
accepted in one way or another their position in the school and for
some it was positive and for some it was negative, but for all it seemed

revealing.

Mary 7-ll -- Twelfth Week of Student Teaching

This was the last week of student teaching and everyone knew it.
Graduation was the next weekend and student teachers were looking forward
to it. During this week the student teachers finished up their teaching
assignments and returned the classes to the supervising teacher.

Mrs. Evans told Paul to go home on Wednesday afternoon since the
"poor guy“ had to go to work Monday and she said, "I did that last year
and . . ." (5-l Field Notes) Mrs. Jones continued working in the office
and Mary continued teaching her classes. Mary's third hour planned her
party, and the fourth hour worked on a play. Mark eased "his" substitute
into the classes, and I was selected by the teachers to tell him he
would be a "good" teacher. John was sick two days and gave his first
and last hour back to Mrs. Oakwood: he was observed again.

John's last week was no more pleasant than his others. Mrs.
Smith observed him and told him he was a "poor teacher" if she ever saw

one and threatened to extend his student teaching a week. She said she

254

would decide on Friday. She also reminded him that he owed her some
papers, and she generally laid his graduation on the line. After she
left, John, who was still ill, said:

If I weren't so tired, I'd be mad! I feel like I'm in an
absurd French play. I want to punch something . . . (5-lO
Field Notes)

We went to the library, where we talked a long time. Some of what was
said deals with his ordeal. He reflects:

A teacher is forced to make an evaluation on limited material;
on the basis of this limited material, he has to conclude what
the student has been doing. Well . . . I sometimes know the
grade I put down on a theme is not compared because some students
have worked hours and hours on a theme . . . getting it right
and haven't gotten it right yet! And then other students just
put it down, you know . . . they know how to write it down and
expertise counts for something . . . But as a teacher . . .

you have to make an evaluation, and this guy that struggled for
six hours writing this theme gets a "C" . . . and this guy who
worked four or five minutes gets an "A" . . . "There's no justice
in the world!" Put that in quotation marks . . .

Well . . . I'm a victim of such a situation. Ah . . . I think
Mrs. Smith is forced to make an evaluation of me based on

limited data that she has collected and the data she has
collected has not been the most complimentary to me! I know
where she's coming from . . . I really can't hold it against
her!! If I think about it . . . there's a lot of . . . she ah

. . . Oh, teaching another week won't hurt me. People have
servived worse, I'm told. Some people even got through Auschwitz
a ive!

But um . . . somehow or another it doesn't seem fair . . . and
of course I'm faced with like . . . you know . . . um . . .
like a Shakespearean tragic hero. I've particularly brought
on my own destruction, I suppose! I've not given this whole
thing the priority it needed . . . (He's referring to Mrs.
Smith's assignments--not student teaching) or it demanded!

Question: What part didn't you give the priority?
John: Mrs. Smith! (S-lO Interview)

At County Jean and Mary discussed jobs and the interview they
both were to have in the same county. They discussed the fact that
' Mrs. Smith had not really watched them and'they mentioned that “they

255

were in cnmpetition for the same job!” (5-3 Field Notes) On their
final evaluations they felt the supervisors had made them out to be
saints. They discussed how they on Friday would be free. Mary at lunch
told me she had a feeling about Friday: 7

I don't know what it is, but I don't like the feelin . You
know . . . Mrs. Smith is right, they (the third hour become
your kids! (5-8 Field Notes)

Mark, Jean and Mary had parties, and Paul would have had one too,
but the students didn't know he was leaving Wednesday. I attended Mary's
party and I was asked to buy film so she could take pictures. When I
returned with the film, Mary was still crying from the emotion of
the gift:

The third hour class gave her a silver tray, but it wasn't
engraved because they didn't have time to do so. Mary said,
"They were all in a tither about not having it engraved!"
Janet's choice of tray was very good . . . heavy plating from
a good jewelry store.

Mary laughed when I told her how Janet organized everything.

Mary took our pictures, but Janet's hair had gone straight,
humid) so she ran from the classroom. Mary shot her anyway
with the camera).

A student: You (meaning me) leaving us too?

I: Yes.

Student: "Well, we'll miss you. I'm pretty used to seeing
you back there. You're like one of the class." When I stood
out of the picture, the students made me join them. All
wished me goodbye and Janet hugged me.

While Mary was crying, Mrs. Jones had to leave so she wouldn't
cry. Jennie wrote Mary a special letter. Mary has the book
for her and will give it to her tonight.

Between classes in the lounge, Mary cried and "showed off"
her tray. She is tickled . . . and sad to go.

Mrs. Jones during the fourth hour gave Mary a stapler and the
school atmosphere this day was different. Mrs. Meyer, the office

.receptionist, asked "Why is it so wild today?" and Mrs. Jones replied,

256

“because the student teachers are leaving." (5-ll Field Notes) Mary
and Mark were talking later in fifth period about this day and before
Mark left he said to Mary: .

Well Mary . . . we've passed over that line from student to

teacher!

Mary replied: Yeah, I guess we have! (5-ll Field Notes)
same

This last week was in many ways anti-climactic in that except
for John, who never has controlled the student teaching situation or
accepted his part in it, the others were really biding time until the
end.

The parties are interesting because the student teachers inter-
pret these as degrees of their success. "The students like me," or
"they are mine!" In fact "real" teachers do not get engraved trays, or
cry at departure from a class. The teachers, students, and administrators
still do not look at Mark, Mary, John, Jean and the others as teachers.
It has been suggested by some surveys that students feel confident that
they can teach at the end of student teaching. This is probably true
from their perspective since they have traversed a difficult stormy path
physically, mentally, and emotionally. For most they have survived it;
at least they have controlled, protected and accepted their student
teaching part and responsibility. They have satisfied all. They have
been isolated from their student group, have not been a part of the
teacher group, and have not been able to establish a student teacher
group. They have been alone and confused; it is now ended and the gifts

.represent the victory. This feeling is a good one and maybe it's the

257

good feeling that is interpreted as confidence. In truth, the room and

students never belonged to the student teachers; they only borrowed them.

Summary

Over the course of the seventeen week professional semester,
student teachers developed perspectives toward themselves in the
position of learning to teach. From the data it may be seen that the
initial perspective is that this semester will be "fun and easy." After
all, student teachers have been to schools for sixteen years, and they
know what teaching is and what a "good" teacher does. They also believe
that teachers have their own classrooms, their own students, have a "free
rein," teach “high content" courses, and “look like a teacher." Teachers
have respect and authority.

As the five weeks of methods and fundamentals passes, student
teachers visit their schools and "practice“ teaching in their university
classes. They did "get in front" of fellow students six times in
methods class. It was a little fearsome, but really not difficult to
do. Everyone was supportive and said, "I would be fine." After the
visit to the assigned schools, student teachers become a little discon-
certed but mostly they discuss concerns like what will be put into their
units, and will I be able to teach what I know? Disciplining students
is a constant worry, but "I can get mean," and if "they (students) like
me, that's the key." Throughout the first five weeks the upcoming
practicum grows in importance and in scope. Toward the end of this time,
student teachers become excited about the practicum, are scared, but

feel they are ready to go to it.

258

The practicum initially begins with an observation period which
student teachers feel is unnecessary since that's not teaching as they
see it. They are irritated by their position and embarrassed. They
may feel guilty about this time and not having anything to do, but they
stay close to their supervisor and ask about one another. The actual
first day of teaching alone is very frightening, but when it's over,
there is elation. Student teachers feel they "made it."

During the first weeks of “solo" teaching the initial fear
becomes a kind of anxiety and problems develop which must be solved.
These problems include what to teach, discipline, interruptions, lesson
planning, paper checking, grading, and doing assignments for the
university supervisor. Some problems can be handled by "getting mean,"
some by ignoring, and some by falling back on old experiences, and some
by finding a confidante. In fact, student teachers "get busy," and they
become “tired." They long to be the "real teacher" and to “have their
own room and kids." "When I'm the real teacher, I'll do it my way and
then it will work; I'll have control. I'll bargain with students."

The middle weeks of the practicum see continuation of problems,
'but some little success for student teachers with "personal relationships.‘
The student teacher gets "close" to the students and tries to find a
special one to help who will "like" him. If he finds a student, he feels
more successful. Without some personal success to "keep him there," he
would quit since there is full realization now that the room is not his.
There is much external and inner struggle for possession.

The final weeks are acceptance of one's position and establish-

ment of some control. After all, the term will end soon, graduation is

259

appraoching, and "I'll be free." Interviews, competency tests, and

‘ university assignments are due. These must be completed before I'm a
teacher . . . The end approaches rapidly and except for knowledge that
this has been a busy term, the student teacher who feels he has "reached

one," feels confident that he can and will be a "good" teacher.

CHAPTER V
PERSPECTIVES, ANSWERS, AND CONCLUSIONS
Introduction

It is the purpose of this chapter to provide an explanation
of the data and to state conclusions made from the field work. The
explanation of data will answer the research questions in terms of
student teachers' perspectives on learning to teach as they were
developed from interactions with others in formal and informal con-
texts encountered during the student teaching experience. The conclu-
sions will be statements which reduce the data to its most general
and theoretical form. I

The chapter is divided into four sections. In section one the
nature of perspective as it has been applied in this study will be
reiterated as well as the restatement of the problem and the research
questions. Section two will provide answers to the research questions
and state the conclusions. The third section will provide the implica-
tions of the study and suggest recommendations for further research.

The fourth section is a summary of results.

260

261

The Problem

 

Perspectives as defined in this study are a set of assumptions,
values and ideas which form an individual's conceptual framework and

influence his perceptions and actions in situations.1

These perspect-
ives which arise in interaction are dynamic and may not be consistent
within the same person. Essentially they are learned symbols which
guide what an individual sees, and how he interprets what he sees. It
is from these perspectives that definitions of situations are formed
and actions arise.

Within the context of perspectives the problem of this research
then was to determine what interactions student teachers had with those
individuals encountered during the process of learning to teach that
led to actions based on individual/group definitions and interpreta-
tions of situations and events in the professional semester.

Given this definition of perspective and this prOblem, the
following questions were then asked at the beginning of this study,
and they guided the data collection and the analysis to its end.

1. What do student teachers do during the college semester
designated as studetn teaching which contributes to their
perspectives on classrooms, students, and schools?

2. What do student teachers learn from one another and from
their supervisors about students, teachers, and the school

administration that influence their perspective toward
teaching?

 

1Joel M. Charon, Symbolic Interactionism (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall, 1979), p.27.

 

262

3. How does the student teacher define himself, the students,
the teachers, the schools, the supervisors, and the university
within contextual variables? How do these variables contribute
to perspective?

4. How do definitions formulated, interpretated, and acted upon
during student teaching support perspective?

The Explanation

 

Question 1: What do student teachers do during the college
semester designated as student teaching which
contributes to their perspective on classrooms,
students, and schools?

In this study student teachers spent five weeks early in the
professional semester taking classes in subject matter Methods and
Educational Fundamentals. They attended regularly scheduled classes at
the university as students, did assignments prescribed by their pro-
fessors, and discussed what it would be like to be a teacher.

In methods classes, they "played" teacher by teaching in a
small group of their peers in the university classroom. During this
time they visited their assigned schools once or twice and received
assignments from their supervising teachers on the units they were to
devise and later teach. Each student teacher wrote a unit based on his
assignment to satisfy the requirements of both his university instruct-
or and his supervising teacher. The "playing" at teacher in the methods
class gave the student his first opportunity to stand behind a desk or
a chair before the class, and to ask formally prepared questions of
his classmates from a lesson plan he had constructed on a given piece
of subject matter.

The student teacher in methods prepared bulletin boards and

collected materials and suggestions for how to teach various bits of

263

subject matter and how to get and maintain the attention of students.
In fundamentals as in methods, the student teacher made presentations.
He did not make lesson plans for fundamentals, but rather he made
reports. .

Much time was spent during these weeks discussing what a
teacher might do in a given situation in the school or classroom.
Students practiced writing on the board. They skipped and made excuses
for late assignments. Generally these students did all the activities
that students in any college class setting would do. This part of the
term should have helped student teachers to control lesson planning
and some later motivational difficulties, but since student teachers
did these activities in answer to assignments made by their teacher,
there was little more than initial carry over to the school routine.

During the practicum which may be divided into three parts,
students observed, taught their units, and went on to teach two or
more classes. During the observation segment of the practicum, student
teachers met students, took roll, gave spelling tests, helped super-
vising teachers, ran errands and.met other teachers. Some toured their
buildings, and once Mary observed another teacher in French. This time
was spent perfecting the subject matter of the unit and practicing how
it might be presented to the students. Student teachers watched how
students acted in classes, in halls, and in pep assemblies. They
became more or less acquainted with the school schedule. They attempted
to memorize names in the classes they were assigned to, and during this
period of time they followed their supervising teachers from place to

place. Student teachers did not meet with their peers, but they did

264

ask about them. In essence they were still answering another teacher's
assignment, but the setting was different, and they were isolated.

During the second phase of the practicum, student teachers
taught their units to one or two classes. They used their prepared
lessons and stood at first awkwardly and stiffly in front of the
classroom. They did only one thing at a time, (e.g.-giving back papers
or taking roll) and expressed fear at the first teaching period: they
had a sense of relief after the class was over. Often something unfore-
seen such as a broken tooth, a loss of a job, or a sick stomach
corresponded closely with the first day of "solo" teaching. Student
teachers also changed classroom arrangements of chairs.

After the first few days of teaching, student teachers became
busy, confused, and found lesson plans that had been so carefully made
did not always fit into the school schedule. They deviated from their
units and used college notes for their lectures. Also during the first
weeks of "solo" teaching, the student teachers were visited by the
university supervisor whom they wished to "impress". She did not always
observe them, but they did turn in their schedules to her. If an
observation had been made, student teachers could pick it up from her
office at the university. Even if they were not evaluated by their
supervising teachers, they did discuss problems with them which related
to discipline in the class. If advice was given, it was tried.

Student teachers then began to feel discipline pressures, and
they made attempts to "get mean" in class. They asked the students more
questions, gave more assignments, and threatened more frequently with

. grades. At this time signs of anxiety or depression were displayed,

265

and student teachers constantly wanted to know, "What do I do . . .?"
They asked this question about subject matter, checking papers,grades,
discipline, methods, anything dealing with their problems. In the
classrooms they displayed abilities to do more than one thing at a
time, and there was evidence of more direct eye contact with students
and a more regular questioning pattern so that students responded in

a more apprOpriate fashion. Sometimes now student teachers did and
said things which they felt were against their values, and some
expressed a desire to look for jobs outside of education. They had a
spring break and attended a seminar at the university.

The middle weeks of the practicum were "very busy" and student
teachers said they were "tired." Some took over as many as four classes,
and if they were still teaching the same unit, they "became bored" with
it. If they taught something new, they no longer wrote lesson plans,
but planned in their heads or wrote down subject matter notes. Except
for John, they were not observed very often by the university super-
visor, but they still turned their weekly schedules into her. They
became angry with her because she failed to see them when they felt
they were prepared. In the classroom student teachers found some stu-
dents to help them, and again with the exception of John, they
established a "personal relationship" with an occasional student.
These relationships made them feel happy and successful.

Often now student teachers were spending a great deal of time
checking papers, and they stayed up very late at night. They felt they
needed to relax during their non-teaching period, and therefore no

longer planned at school. They did not use behavioral objectives, and

266

they were learning to use the textbook.

As problems with discipline grew, the seating arrangements that
had changed earlier in the practicum were disbanded, and the room
returned to some form of rows. Although some supervisors left the
student teachers alone, they generally specified what subject matter
would be taught and what parts of the textbook should be covered. When
supervisor's were present in the classroom, student teachers had diffi-
culty keeping student attention since students would ask the supervisor
questions or talk with him/her. As student teachers took over new
classes, they were again fearful, but not as fearful as they had been
during the first period of "solo" teaching. They wondered if it would
be different when they were a "real teacher."

In the last weeks of April student teachers returned to the
university for a seminar and for their competency tests. The student
teachers at Washington Irving received a break the week after Easter,
and Mary was given a break the week before Easter by her supervising
teacher.

During the last weeks of the practicum some student teachers
- felt a little success, and student teachers expressed relief that the
end of the semester was approaching. The participants began to count
the days until the end. County High English student teachers were not
observed again by the university supervisor, but they did turn in to
her their philosophies of education, their class schedules, and an
evaluation of student teaching.

During the last week of the semester supervising teachers wrote

final evaluations of student teachers and they took classes back. One

 

267

student teacher went home early because he had to go to work the
following Monday. Students gave their student teachers parties, and
gifts. Finally, the student teachers looked forward to their gradua-
tion at the end of the week.

Question 2: What do student teachers learn from one another and
from their supervisors about students, teachers,
and the school administration that influence their
perspective toward teaching?

During subject matter methods and fundamentals, student teach-
ers learned from each other what the jggal_teacher was supposed to be.
They discussed their past experiences in school and determined what a
"good" teacher was and what a "bad" teacher was. A good teacher was
one that didn't "go by" the textbook, but still gave a high level of
content to courses. A good teacher rarely bored students by giving a
lecture or busy work. He "looked good up there," was "well liked," and
had good discipline. This ideal image of a teacher was usually a
reflection of one that had in some way personally influenced the stu-
dent teacher. The converse image of the bad teacher was one who "didn't
care" about students. In effect what these individuals were saying was
little different from what society generally believes about teachers.
Together student teachers agreed on these images, and from the charis-
matic Mrs. Smith, the image was validated. From Mrs. Smith's statements
it may be seen that she too believed in a paragon image.

Students learned early in methods that the classroom was a
sacred place not to be corrupted by outsiders, or anyone who didn't
love his subject matter or students. They learned that students liked
to read and would read anything; that they loved to write; and that

grammar could be fun. All that was needed was a teacher presenting the

268

right subject matter in an interesting way. If not, well the teacher
shouldn't be allowed in the classroom. Students wanted to believe these
things, and Mrs. Smith encouraged them to do 50.

During this time in both formal and informal groups, student
teachers discussed discipline, drugs and absences, and they learned
that these things were problems in schools. Although they were concerned
with discipline, they were equally concerned about what subject matter
would be taught and how it would be taught. It was important to teach
content and to make it interesting.

From their supervising teachers once they were in the schools,
student teachers learned some very different things. Immediately they
learned that students did not like to write, and had to be coerced to
read, and didn't like grammar any more than they did. They learned
that they probably would not see each other very often. From super-
visors it was learned what would be taught, and what textbook work
needed to be covered. Further the student teacher learned that the
classroom was not his; it belonged to his supervisor who had the author-
ity over it. The student teacher learned early that the class would be
his responsibility, but that the real authority lay with his supervisor.

More than anything else the student teacher in this study
wanted a classroom of his own and "his kidsJ' However this did not
happen during the practicum. Even if the supervising teacher attempted
to give the classroom to the student teacher, the students in the class
and the school administration did not view the room as belonging to
the student teacher. Over this there was no control and eventually the

student teacher recognized this fact.

269

From his supervisor, he further learned that there must be
order in the classroom and that this order was all important. Since
the student teacher lacked any real experience in organizing the
classroom, he learned that changing the existing order or system only
caused problems. For instance, if in the process of trying to solve
control problems he had suggested certain changes and found that they
did not work, he simply used the existing management system. In effect
the student teacher does not teach like his supervisor, but rather
adopts his or her class system in order to maintain control of the
situation.

From other teachers the student teacher learns that it i sell
right to dislike students. This becomes reinforced in his own group.
"...must we accept that some students just don't want to learn," and
"you gotta hate a few" is what happens. Over time the student teacher
comes to realize that sheer time, energy, and sanity can only be
maintained by following the routine order of the school.

The student teacher decides some administrators are "buffoons"
who interrupt and demand foolishness which he does not consider a part
of teaching. The interruptions cause his classes to become disorganized
and he forgets what is going on; his lesson plan becomes "no good".
This adds to his confusion and even at the end of the semester he
admits to not understanding the schedule. He feels that the administra-
tion is not particularly interested in student teachers, and that they
think he/she is "lazy" or incompetent. He learns that his only contact
with them occurs when he does something wrong or when he sends a

student to the office. It's like when he was in school, and his contact

270

with the office only occurred when something went wrong. Supervising
teachers are very verbal about the administration, and the student
teacher soon adopts a perspective of "polite distance" between the
office and themselves. 4 1

One of the most shocking things to the student teacher was the
way teachers behaved when not in the classroom. It angered them to hear
how they gossiped about students and particularly about student teach-
ers. Perhaps this is because the social distance from students is not
great for the student teachers. Paul says he is the same in and out of
the classroom, but student teachers did after a time discuss these same
things among themselves in informal situations.

It may be said that during the student teaching practicum,
student teachers alter their perspectives toward students, teachers
and school administrators, and that this alteration occurs almost
immediately upon teaching classes. It sends the student teacher into
a dilemma which he must learn to control both in the classroom in the
less formal settings. After all it would be "forward" of him to say
too much to other teachers. He learns his position in both formal and
informal contexts, and he learns to put appropriate controls into act-
ion. He learns ideals may be talked about, but actions are needed.

Question 3: How does the student teacher define himself, the
students, the teachers, the school, the supervisors,
and the university within contextual variables? How
do these variables contribute to perspective?

The student teacher defines himself as an "intruder," and "an
outsider;" and as an individual who doesn't belong. More importantly

he says, "I'm not a student . . . I'm not a teacher.” He learns early

that he is not really a part of the scheme of things, but hopes it

271

will change: it does not. The student teacher also knows he is alone
in a crowd of people who do belong to the school. We on occasion will
mention that he is in a period of transition and that he is having
difficulty with this adjustment. In the school situation he learns to
recognize that he is not a “real" teacher. Often the student teachers
identified with students and sympathized with their predicament just
as many of the teachers sympathized with the student teacher's posi-
tion. Even in the classroom where the student is the "enemy" the
student teacher got close to certain students. Paul says, "I'm no
better than they are," and a student reminded him "I have as much

right here as you do)‘ He and the others tried to get close to students
in one way or another.

The teachers are defined as a separate group from students and
student teachers. John sees them as against students early in the term,
and later he sees teachers as trying to control students. Paul is
appalled by teacher attitude toward students and student teachers. He
calls the teachers in the lounge "slutsfl' As the student teacher moves
through the term he doesn't see the teachers all that differently, but
he can identify somewhat more with their difficulties. At first the
student teacher thinks the teachers will help him, but after listening
a while, he knows that helping student teachers is not a topic of
conversation. He definitely no longer feels the same idealism toward
teachers that he felt before the practicum. Teachers are no longer
idolized or feared; they become human beings.

The school is defined differently by different student teachers.

John feels high school is "morally indefensibleJ' Mark feels it is a

272

placed designed to keep students in their place and to keep them from
maturing. Paul thinks schools are places where students should learn
to appreciate and understand ideas and content. It would quite frankly
be difficult to say if Mary thought of the school as a concept or not.
I never heard her mention or discuss these concepts. She quite frankly
was very busy with trying to establish "her room" and "her kids."

The supervisors are of two kinds - the university instructor/
supervisor and the supervising teacher. The university supervisor in
this study was a teacher. She was recognized as a teacher and students
liked her as a teacher. When she became a supervisor and the contact
became less and evaluative, students teachers became disenchanted with
her. The students who had been so impressed with Mrs. Smith felt
betrayed at her inattention. Afterall their supervising teachers had
told them, "She'd (Mrs. Smith) never come." The student teachers
viewed their supervising teachers as helpful when they asked for help.
They also recognized that she/he was the "real teacher:" Student teach-
ers referred to their supervisors as Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Jones, Mrs.
Oakwood. At ng.time did I hear them call their supervisors by their
first names. The perspective of the student teacher to his supervisor
in this study was that the supervisor was his teacher and therefore
received the respect of Mr. or Mrs. This fact remains the same in all
contexts.

The students view the university as a place they have left
after the practicum begins. The longer they stay away from the univer-
sity the more disinclined they are to return to it. The seminar that
was to be "explosive" was controlled by Mrs. Smith. It is possible

that Mrs. Smith was not even aware that the seminar was to be explosive.

273

She simply took charge like a teacher takes charge and moved the
discussion along. In fact student teachers were once again her stu-
dents, and she was preparing them for the competency tests. As the
term progressed and doing teaching activities became the top priority,
students became irritated at having to comply with university
requirements. All except John complied with them, and he explained
that he had misinterpreted his priorities which were those of passing
student teaching.
Question 4: How do definitions formulated, interpreted and
acted upon during student teaching support
perspective?

The definitions which have been formulated are as stated in the
theory, interpreted and acted out. The student teacher once he recon-
ciles himself to the fact that he isn't the teacher, begins to learn
to student teach in his semi-laboratory environment. Before this recog-
nition there is a time when the student teacher is afraid he will lose
control. The fear, the anxiety, the excitement, the new situation, the
confusion: everything makes little sense until he interprets it. And
he interprets it not as a ”real" teacher would, but as a student
teacher.

This time is marked by a verbal inability to express what one
means or to know why one is in this situation or to explain how one got
there. This period is marked by extreme highs and lows, and by moment-
ary feelings that I'm the teacher, but memory that I'm not. In fact,
student teachers got teased about the lessons they sometimes did, and
the things they said. Everyone seems to know the neophythe must go

through "it" and that "it will pass.“ John says its like "boot camp"

274

you wouldn't want to do it again, but you're glad you did it once.

The movement of chairs, seating charts and other devices in
the organization and reorganization of the classroom are attempts on
the part of the student teacher to get and maintain control - to in
effect become the teacher. Once the student teacher knows he isn't
going to be the teacher, the feeling of total loss of control is
alleviated. He begins to use devices in the classroom to control stu-
dents, and he becomes more deliberate in his actions. For instance he
learns if his supervisor is present that they can more or less work
together, and he can ignore the interruptions and call them learning
noise. He learns that certain movements of the body provide certain
kinds of control over students. He adjusts his grades and uses these
to control students, and he learns to "pooh-pooh" interruptions and
shake his fist at the intercom. He even admits to becoming self-
disciplined.

The faster he learns these things the better he will feel
about the experience and the less isolated and in control he will be.
The experience may be a positive one as it was for Mark who after his
'initial difficulties learned movements, questioning, and evaluation
procedures quickly and who had his "problems solved" when his super-
visor was taken ill. It may be a positive experience as it was for
Mary who felt she had "some kids" who looked to her as "their teacher,"
and one group she felt good about. She learned control by trial and
error, and she established "personal relationships" by which she judged
herself successful. It may also be like Paul who felt it was a good

experience, but who had a difficult time finding the most positive

275

thing about the practicum. Or it may be like John who felt he had no
control of the situation or of himself, and who for all the analysis
of the situation never did realize until the end that "afterall his
priorities" were the university, not "his kids" who so abused him.
Since student teachers find little relation between course work and
practice and since these positions are also supported by the teachers,

student teachers feel a decelerating sense of loss.
The Analysis

A dichotomy exists between control and losing control in what
quite frankly is designed as a semi-controlled environment. For
instance, in methods and fundamentals the "playing" at teacher was
controlled and supported by Mrs. Smith and the small group of student
teachers. The early field experience courses like methods were "labs"
to simulate teacher work. In other words the small group teaching and
tutoring student teachers did in controlled environments, and the
learning theory espoused in education courses didn't transfer well in-
to the large public school classroom. The student teacher interprets
this lack of transfer as not having learned methods. One reason this
situation exists may be that much learning theory has been developed
from study on individuals and not on large groups. Philip Jackson has
stated:

. . . that most of what we call learning theory has been
obtained under conditions of private instruction. Rarely if

ever does the learning theorist deal with a group - a flock
of pigeons, say. He may be justified in concentrating on

276

one creature at a time, but the things he learns by doing
this are of limited usefulness to the classroom teacher . . .

2
Since student teachers find little relation between coursework and
practice and since these positions are also supported by the teachers,
student teachers feel a decelerating sense of loss.

This is the loss of idealism, and it occurs to student teach-
ers in the field. Becker has written that medical students feel a
certain loss of idealism in that they see the classwork taught bv
Ph.D's as irrelevant to the "clinical" work that M.D.'s do.3 Becker
indicates

When a man's ideals are challenged by outsiders (the lay
people) and then further strained by reality, he may salvage
them by postponing their application to.a furtHer time when
conditions are expected to be more propitious.
Similarly student teachers see their instructors as not part of the
real world. In student teachers the loss of idealism and irrelevance
may be observed as a fear of losing control of the situation.

When the practicum begins, the university relinquishes its
direct institutional control of student teachers to the public school.
The only thing the university can do is provide student teachers with
a semi-laboratory experience in the classroom of a real teacher who

has been kind enough to help the university and its students. The

university knows that they do not control the student teachers once

 

2Philip Jackson, "The Way Teaching Is", in Focus on Teaching,
ed. by Neville Bennett and David McNamara, (N.Y. : Longman, 1979),
p. 29.

3Howard S. Becker, and Blance Geer, "The Fate of Idealism in
Medical School", American Sociological Review 23 (January 1958):
50-56.

4Ibid. p. 5a.

277

they are in the public school. Iannacone and Button, (1964) have been
explicit in saying that the student teacher has been handed from one
superordinate organization to another.

. . . the superordinate at the university . . . says to the

beginning student teacher, 'we' the university, are turning

you over to another set of superordinates in another social

organization which we do not control.5

As this handing over occurs and since there is no real posi-
tion of student teacher in the organizational structure of the public
school, the student teacher feels isolated. He no longer has his
student group and as an observer he certainly isn't a teacher. "I
don't know what I am, I'm a student there (university); I'm a teacher
here . . .". In fact, he is a student teacher now controlled by his
non-member status. The student teacher feels out of control about his
identity, and what's more there's no one like himself readily avail-
able to talk. He wonders if the others feel as he does, but he doesn't
search them out. Instead he looks forward to his first teaching days
and wonders if the situation will improve.
When the student teacher begins to teach, he makes mistakes.

It is expected by others: afterall that's why he is in a laboratory
environment. But the student teacher doesn't grasp this yet. He confu-
ses teaching with student teaching. He is trying to get his life in
"order," so that his teaching will be easier for him. He is greatly
"busy“ and the stress makes him "tired." He admits to never having

worked this hard, and since he sees few real inroads that he had made

into the class, he thinks maybe he isn't trying hard enough. Again he

 

5L. Iannacone and W. Button, Functigns of Stgdent Teaching, (St.
Louis, Mo.: Washington University Office Project, No. 1026, 1964). p136.

278

feels out of control and he searches out someone to talk to. Not just
anyone will do for he must get near enough to someone who understands
because he talks "real crazy" when he leaves the school. He begins to
realize that if he gets too close to the teachers that is "forward,"
and he will be criticized. If he gets "in" with the student group, he
will lose any teacher position that he may have attained. He knows he
will be criticized for this too and perhaps taken less seriously than
he already is.

After teaching a short time his classes begin to get out of
control. He now has the responsibilities of a teacher and the authori-
ty of a student. He further knows that in schools the "division
between the weak and the powerful is carefully drawn.'.'6 Since stu-
dents are the weak and teachers are the powerful, and he is neither,
he has a dilemman. However the student teacher hasn't gone to school
for 17 years and not watched; he knows what other teachers do
(Salzillo and Van Fleet, 1977). He has a supervisor who helps him and
occasionally now he sees other student teachers,and he talks with them
about what they are doing in the classroom.

He is still isolated,but feels less so. To get good evalua-
tions from his formal contacts with supervisors, he realizes that he
must get control, and he recognizes it won't be that long until it is
over. He adopts devices which he believes he won't have to use when
he's a real teacher. For instance, he may return to his supervisor's

class system; he might also lecture and use the textbook. These devices

 

6Philip Jackson, Life In Classrooms, (N.Y. : Holt, Rinehart,
Winston, Inc. 1968), p. 11.

279

control the subject matter he doesn't yet fully know. If there is
still an expectation that he perform in the classroom, he does so, or
he may decide to individualize by giving everyone an assignment and
helping each student with it. He threatens with grades, assignments,
uses his body so that he can do several things at one time, becomes
conscious of time passing and moves his lesson along more quickly.
The student teacher questions so that there are only the types of
responses he can handle,and he bargains with his students. He is learn-
ing to teach as he sees it given his present status of not quite "real".
Thomas Marshall (1963) (1965) has indicated that competitors
often become partners.7 Supervisors, student teachers and students
have been competing for control of the class when suddenly it is
realized by the student teacher that he can get his students to behave
if he deliberately specifies terms of an agreement of cooperation.
This will also satisfy supervisors. The students in the classroom know
this procedure well, and they respond. The student teacher calls it
"getting mean."
It is interesting to further note that it is entirely possible
that students have already gone through the bargaining process with
the supervising teacher who may interpret "order"8 far differently from
the student teacher. The bargain they have struck must be in many ways
adhered to by the student teacher until new or adapted bargains can be

made with students. If bargains are struck, control is won; if not,

 

7Thomas H. Marshall, Class,,Citizenshi and Social Development:
Essays, (Garden City, N.Y. : Dodbléday, 6 . pp. 181-183.

8Tony Gibson, Teachers Talking (London: Allen Lane, 1973), p. 192.

280

chaos continues. An example of this bargaining might be,"if you will
be quiet, you may have more time for the test,"9 or if we're going to
do fun things, then you'll have to listen now.

As bargains develop and the levels of control begin to work,
the student teacher feels maybe "he has them," or that he might get
them if there were time. He begins to feel some personal success with
a few individuals. Over these few individuals there is control.

But there is still no control other than acceptance of his
position vs that of the regular teacher in the classroom. His or her
very presence in the room seems to divert the students attention away
from the student teacher. The students ask where their teacher has been,
or perhaps the supervisor participates: whatever, if the supervisor is
present, the room is her's. The difference now is that the student
teacher accepts his position,and he realizes that he "has a lot to
learn;" he repeats, "when I'm the real teacher . . .". During the rest
of the term which is rapidly coming to an end, the student teacher
diverts some of his attention to other parts of his life. For instance
he interviews for jobs and makes plans for graduation.

At the end of his practicum he is congratulated and given gifts
for having been a student teacher. He has controlled himself and others
and he has learned to student teach. For this effort he will graduate,
become certified, and if very fortunate, find employment in a "good"

school district. (See Figure IV)

 

9Blanche Geer, "Teaching" in Focus on Teachin , edited by Neville
Bennett and David McNamara (N.Y.:,[Engman, 19 , p. 192.

 

281

moo-Lu 3:03.30». mafia—aagi cumn
:2... .35.. 3.2.3 Klan #5:. 2m. % «2...
35:35.0. 33.2.5 22.3233 63 «.05.. 53. ion“
magnum
.226» .o .25...

 
  

       

  
    

85:... 3:9.
.25.... .9 sea .2. a...

 
   

L233
2.0!...“ o a. “33“ we

3:333- 95 3.2.8 .35!- uuoae: .2)... 22.3

.3.»- ..3_?.o§m a. 38

     

    
     
     

 

 

32.2.3539 . :-
sucuao. acme: a I._ I an: 3:?! 0.1.0.:- iirmkimu I «0:.
. u -
$2 .9. a... 35.393 2.52.3 5.2.
v3.38- ! «:83» “:3. 2.363
2:3“ :9... 32.2.3 5... 3:3 69.: £25 .30..

  

.8: .995 a... 52:3.
.3: c 2...! :33 2.8.32.
v... .3338 :05 uncou-
tluau. 2.0—5.3 .nuo..3nl.u..5
«no... .2 3.3.86 - u<
.3233 .53: «a ‘33“

u..._'u23.

$3.323... It.
.3533 3...: 3:... $2.333 .3950: 35:3 89.3.3-8:

        
 

 

muOEUmO—U «-
. . . to. . as... _.

  
  

3393 n. no.
a 9.2.9123

37.2....
33332 a:

   
    

    

Inf? «nu—u
aloe—tone: 9.3.33

  
      

   
   

      
      

 

. . . e233 «5 Sci... 3%..
5.35.5 3.13.3.
.o x»: a .3. .9586 a.
an: :33 a 2.5 :3! 30:89.32! .335
2...: .3 «.233 2.033 .3 33.5 .3..al.3$-
.. . . .353. a... I; 5...... 30.6 $53.2. 2:53qu a.
of ....:uu¢.&3.3.. Fina
Av 2......»8 3.2.3
.052... .33 3.5.3.3. 9:8 9.. Iii
353.. 2. 35.3.... E-
.3»... e. . end

 

£83623... Io... 73E I333...“ v5
5.35585. £2.50... «32...... 33...: we. 3.5.33.5 a... .- gnu-5

 

endgame...)

«E2...» .2... 3.5.. .3232...

 

I was:

eon—toga

51.03:: m:-
mszusz sign

rage-3

 

.238
9.. a EX... -
€9.33 .51. m

Luufi”

.2233 2.153.

   

3:35... —-I3...—

Sega“ my...
«Logo-3 2.33m

Cage-3

9.11.5...» my...
2233 .593...

«59.3.3

N523... I. :.

{Eu-.3 2.025....

319.23»
5:96.53 0..»
5:. a... .3583
€0.53» E
«was!

3:3..3 in...»

282

Conclusions

The conclusions of this study may be enumerated as follows:

1. The initial perspective of student teachers incorporates
the ideal image of "good" teacher, based on their school experiences,
and the belief that the student teaching semester will "be easy."

This gives way to the perspective, "I'm not sure what I am", develops
into "I'm not the teacher," and becomes "When I'm the real teacher..."
The final perspective may be rationalized by "I've got to learn!"
Essentially the student teacher learns to student teach.

2. Since student teachers are not a part of the organization-
al structure of the school, they do not enjoy the legitimate authority
that usually accompanies the responsibility of being the teacher. To
control this paradox they accept their present status and look forward
to a future teaching position.

3. Student teachers have no real group, but rather a fringe
association with several groups. This fringe existence is controlled
by establishing psuedo - "personal relationships" with students in the
setting or with a confidante.

4. Formal Settings: Devices such as questioning patterns,
grades, dress, types of assignments, use of psychomotor movements, cues,
and an appropriate closeness to students are demonstrated by student
teachers as control mechanisms. These develop from interactions with
supervisors and students. Student teachers bargain with supervisors and
with students for control of the classroom.

5. Informal Settings: From interactions with each other, other

teachers, and students outside of the classroom setting, student

283

teachers discover how to control feelings, alter values, and postpone
ideals. The controls learned in the infonmal setting are manifested in

the formal one.

Research nmplications

This study was intended as a cultural picture of students
involved in the process of learning to be teachers. The results indi-
cated that student teachers put aside their initial perspectives on
teaching relative to their status as a student teacher. The implica—
tions of such a conclusion are many.

First, what is the relationship between being a student
teacher and being a real teacher? What events occur to the student
teacher between the time he finishes student teaching and enters the
classroom as a teacher? Does the idealism return to new teachers as
it does to medical students,or are beginning teachers really aware of
what teaching is all about from having completed a program of "eased
entry"?

Second, does the new teacher begin his teaching career and
still student teach therefore forcing himself into a position of trying
to control in order to achieve and maintain his status as teacher?

Third, what part of teaching is control and making sense of
life in new settings? When does the feeling that "I might lose it"
disappear, or does it ever disappear? Is this what is really meant by
"teacher burnout"? Secondary school teachers meet new settings, new
students, and new crises every year. In fact every class period pre-

sents a different set of possibilities.

284

Fourth, what happens to the new teacher at the onset of the
first year when there no longer are any supports? How does this first
year of teaching affect the rest of his teaching career?

The methodology used in this study has many possibilities for
teacher education. Although it has been used limitedly in the past, it
is suggested that new researches be conducted using these methods. The
detailed descriptions obtained in this form of research are very valu-
able to teacher education,and they have several theoretical and
methodological implications.

In this study the variables isolated from informal settings
became the categories for further data collection and study in the
formal settings. In other words what is Iearned by the student teacher
informally from encounters and interactions in the less formal contexts
become the actions and values (perspectives) that are acted out in the
formal settings. Unfortunately little is still available in the litera-
ture which helps educators to understand how that part of teacher work
and belief which is constructed and carried out in isolation is reflect-
ed in the classroom. It is suspected that these informal contexts
greatly influence life in the classroom.

Additional studies also need to be conducted on student teachers
who come from competency-based programs and programs which have larger
component of early field experience than the one studied. This is neces-
sary to see if the results remain constant from group to group. Further
research questions need to be developed which look at questioning and
other classroom activities as control devices rather than as learning

tools. Still further research might be conducted to see how subject

285

matter methods and fundamentals classes really might have better trans-
fer of learning to classroom settings. Here it will be necessary to see
if education instructors can help prospective teachers control at least
planning and subject matter. The research must be done in depth and on-
site. Finally, it seems to have become imperative that field work on
becoming a teacher needs to occur over a three year period. This type
of study is urgent if teacher education is to really focus on the mak-
ing and improvement of teachers, and if teacher education is to finally

have a knowledge base from which to operate.

‘Summary

It has been the purpose of this chapter to provide the
explanation and analysis of data. The explanation included the answers
to the initial research questions which were discussed in terms of
student teacher perspective on learning to teach as it was developed
from interactions with others in formal and informal contexts encoun-
tered during the student teaching experience. The conclusions reduced
data to its most general form. The schema presented was designed to
show methodological and theoretical implications generated from the
data. From the schema and the conclusions, additional questions have

been asked.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

287

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Becker, Howard; Geer, Blanche; Hughes, Evertt; and Strauss, Anselm.
Boys in White. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961.

. "The Fate of Idealism in Medical School." American
Sociological Revieg, #23, (January 1958):50-56.

Makingthe Grade. N.Y.: John Wiley and Sons, 1968.

. "Problems of Inference and Proof in Participant Observation."
AfiErican Sociological Review 23 (December l958):642-660.

Berliner, DaVid D. and Tikunoff, William J. "The California Beginning
Teacher Evaluation Study“ Journal of Teacher Education 26
(September l976):24-30.

B1umer, Herbert. "Sociological Analysis and the Variable." American
Sociologlgal Review 21 (December l956):686-690.

. Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. Englewood
Cliffs, N.J.: ’Prentice-Hall, 1969.

Brown, Thomas J. Student Teaching In A Secondary School. N.Y.:
Harper, 1960.

Bruyn, Severyn. ‘IhggHuman Perspective in Sociology: The Methodolo
of Participant Observation. Englewood iffs, N.J.: iPrentice- all,
1966.

Charon, Joel M. S bolic Interactionism. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall, .

Connor, William H. and Smith, Louis M. .Analysis of Patterns of Student
Teachin . Washington, D.C.: USOE, Coop. Response‘Report
No. 53204. 1967.

Cragun, John J. and Moon, Arden R. "The Role of the Student Teacher."
In Toward Excellence in Student Teaching. pp. 11-19, Edited by
Hugo J. David. Dubuque, Iowa: *Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 1973.

Cusick, Philip A. Inside High School. N.Y.: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, 1973.

288

Dean, John P.; Eichorn, Robert L.; and Dean, Lois R., "Observation and
Interview" In An Introduction to Social Researgh, 2nd Ed. pp. 274-
304, Edited by John T. Doty. N.Y.: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1967.

Denzin, Norman. The Research Act. N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, 1970.

Devor, John W. The Experience of Student Teaching, N.Y.: MacMillan,
964.

Doyle, Walter. "Learning the Classroom Environment: An Ecological
Anal sis." Journal of Teacher Education 28 (November-December
977 :5 -55.

Eddyi Elizabeth. Becoming A Teacher. N.Y.: Columbia University Press,
969.

Erickson, Frederick D. "What Makes School Ethnography ‘Ethno raphic'?"
Council on Anthropolggy_and Education Newsletter 4 (1973 :10-19.

Erickson, Frederick D and Shultz, Jeffry. “When is a Context? Some .’”
Issues and Methods in Analysis of Social Competence." Quarterly
Newsletter of the Institute for Comparative Human Development
(December 19775:5-10.

Fuller, Frances. "Concerns of Teachers: A Developmental Conceptual-
ization.“ American Education Research Journal 6 (March, 1969):
207-226.

Geer, Blanche, et.a1. "First Days in the Field." In Issues In
Participant Dbservation, pp. 144-162. Edited by George McCall
andJiL._§immons. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing
Co., 969.

. "Teaching." In Focus on Teaching, pp. 188-193. Edited by
Neville Bennett and David McNamara. *London: Longman Group Ltd,.
979

Gennep, Arnold van. Rites of Passage. trans. Monika B. Vizedon, and
Gabrielle Caffee. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960.

Gibson, Tony. Teacher's Talkjgg. London: Allen Lane, 1973.

Glaser, Barney and Strauss, Anselm. The Discovery of Grounded Theory.
Chicago: Aldine, 1967.

Glassberg, Sally. "Student Teaching Supervised, Designed, Implemented
and Evaluated From A Developmental Perspective." Paper presented
at American Education Research Association, Toronto, Canada,
March, 1978.

Gold, Raymond L. "Roles in Sociological Field Observation." Social
Forces. 36 (March l958):217-223.

289

Good, Thomas L. and BrOphy, Jere E. Lookingin Classrooms. N.Y.:
Harper and Row, Publishers, 1978.

Gordon, Raymond. Interviewing:_g§trate ies Techniques and Tactics.
Homewood, Illinois: Dorsey Press, 1 75.

Henry, Marvin A. and Beasley, W. Wayne. Supervising StudentlTeachers
The Professional Way. Terre Haute, Indiana: Sycamore Press, 1974.

 

Hicks, William V. and Walker, Clare C. Full Time Student Teaching.
East Lansing, Mi.: Michigan State UniversityPress, 1957.

Hill, R. Jean. Toward A Science of Organization. Eugene, Oregon:
Center for the AdVanced Study of Education Administration. 1968.

Iannacone, Laurence and Button, W. Functions of Stggent Teaching.
St. Louis, Mo.: Washington University Office Project, No. 1026,
1964.

Iannacone, Laurence. "Student Teaching: A Transitional State in The
Making of a Teacher," Theory Into Practice. 2 (April 1963):
73-80.

Jackson, Philip. Life in Classrooms. N.Y.: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, 1968.

. ”The Way Teaching Is.“ In Focus on Teaching, pp. 26-31.
Edited by Neville Bennett and David McNamara. London: Longman
Group Ltd” 1979. ,

Janesick, Valerie. "An Ethnography of a Teacher's Classroom Perspective."
Ph.D. dissertation, Michigan State University. 1977.

Jersild, Arthur T. "Behold The Beginner." In The Rea1_World of the
BeginningvTeacher. Report of the 19th National TEPS Conference,
Wa§hington,DLC.: National EdUcation Association, 1966, pp. 43-53.

Johnson, John M. DoingField Research. N.Y.: The Free Press, 1975.

Karmos, Ann H. and Jacko, Carol M. "The Role of Significant Others
During Student Teaching Experience." Journal of Teacher Education
28 (September/October 1977): 51-55.

Kelly, Mary K. "A Study to Determine the Effects of Structured
Reflective Writing on the Professional and Personal Development of
Teachers." Ph.D. dissertation, Michigan State University, 1979.

Knoblock, Peter and Goldstein, Arnold P. The Lonely Teacher. Boston:
Allyn and Bacon, 1971.

 

Lindesmith, Alfred R. "Two Comments on W.S. Robinson's The Logical
Structure of Analytic Induction." American Sociological Review
17 (August 1952):492-493.

290

Lofland, John. Analyzing;Social Settings: A Guide Toigualitative Ob-
servation and Analysis. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub. Co. ., I971.

Lortie, Don C. "Teacher Socialization: The Robinson Crusoe Model)‘ In
Thefleal World of the Beginning Teacher. Re art of the 19th Nation-
al TEPS Conference. Wash., D.C.: Nationa Education Association,
1966. pp. 54-66.

. Schoolteacher. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975.

Lutz, Frank W. and Iannacone, Laurence. UnderstandingEducational Organ-
zations: A Field Study Approach. Columbus, Ohio: Merrill
Publishing Co. ,81969.

McAleese, Ray and Hamilton, David, (ed.), UnderstandingClassroom Life.
Oxford: NFER Publishing Co., Ltd., 1978.

McCall, George, and Simmons, J.L. Issues in Participant Observation: A
Text and Reader. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co. .1969.

McDermott, Raymond P. "Kids Make Sense: An Ethnographic Account of the
Interactional Management of Success and Failure in One First Grade
Classroom.“ Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University, 1976.

Mead, George Herbert. Mind, Self and Society. Edited by Charles W.
Morris. Chicago: University ofchicago Press, 1934.

Mehan, Hugh, Fisher, Sue and Maroules, N. Social Organization of Class-
room Lessons. Report #67. Ctr. for Human Processing, an Diego,
Calif.: University of California, 1976.

 

 

Neal, Charles D. The Student Teagher At Work. Minneapolis, Minn.:
Burgess Publishing Co., 1959.

Payne, Stanley L. The Art: of Askin Questions. Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press, 195

Pelto, Pertti, J. and Pelto, Gretel H. Anthropological Research: The
Structure of Inquiry. N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, 1978.

 

Powdermaker, Hortense. Stranger and Friend: The Way of the Anthro-
Pologist. N.Y.: WiW. Norton, 1966.

Rose, Arnold M. Human Behavior and Social Processes. Boston: Houghton-
Mifflin. 1962?

Ryan, Kevin. Don't Smile Til Christmas. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press. 1975.

Salzillo, Frederick E., Jr., and Van Fleet, Alanson A. "Student Teaching
and Teacher Education." Journal of Teacher Education 28 (January/
February 1977). -

 

291

Schatzman, Leonard and Strauss, Anselm. Field Research: Strategies for
Natural Sociology. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1974.

 

Schellenberg, James H. Masters of Social Psycholggy. N.Y.: Oxford
University Press, 1978.

Scherer, Charlotte. "Effects of Early Field Experiences on Student
Teacher's Self-Concepts and Performances." Journal of Experimental
Education 47 (Spring 1979):208-214.

Shibutani, Tamotosu. Human Nature and Collective Behavior. Englewood
Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1970}

. "Reference Groups as Perspective" American Journal of
Sociology 30 (May 1955):562-569.

Smith, Louis. '"The Classroom Social System in Elementary Education."
In Reform of Teachgr Educatigg, pp. 116-163. Ed. by Bruce Joyce
and Marsha Well. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1972.

Smith, Louis and Geoffrey, William. The Complexities of an Urban
Classroom. N.Y.: Holt, Rinehart and Winston,‘l968.

Spindler, George 0., ed. Being An Anthropologist. N.Y.: Holt, Rinehart,
and Winston, 1970.

Strauss, Anselm, et al, "The Process of Field Work." In Issues in
Participant Observation. pp. 24-26. Ed. by George McCall and J.L.
Simmons. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1969.

Stone, Gregory P. and Farberman, Harvey A. Social Ps cholo Throu h
Symbolic Interaction. Waltham, Mass.: Ginn-Blaisaell, 1970.
Van Fleet. Alanson, "Learning to Teach: The Cultural Transmission

Analogy." Paper presented at Michigan State University Institute
of Research on Teaching, East Lansing, Mi., 2 June 1978.

 

 

Wiggins, Sam. The Student Teacher In Action. Boston: Allyn and Bacon,
1957.

Wolcott, Harry. "Criteria For An Ethnographic Approach to Research in
Schools." Human Organization 34 (Summer 1975): 11-112.

. The Man IgyThe Principal's Office. N.Y.: Holt, Rinehart,
and Winston, 1973.

Zeichner, Kenneth M. "The Student Teaching Experience." Action in
Teacher Education 1 (Summer l978):58-61.

Zelditch, Morris, Jr. "Some Methodological Problems of Field Studies."
American JOurnal of Sociology 67 (March 1962):566-576.

APPENDICES

293

APPENDIX A

First Interview Set Student Teachers

 

Are you looking forward to student teaching?

a. What have you heard about student teaching?

b. What problems/good things have you heard?

(Question arose due to constant conversation of student teachers
with field worker.)

Are you worried about student teaching?

a. What worries you or doesn't worry you?

(Hunch was that sutdents were frightened. Question was to
verify above. It was generally asked twice, once in the
beginning of the interview and once at the end.)

Have you ever had a teacher that you considered good?

a. Describe what you mean by a "good" teacher.

(Question arose due to emphasis in classes on the "good" teacher,
and the past experiences of participants.)

Have you ever had a "bad" teacher?
a. Describe what you mean by a "bad“ teacher.
(Opposite of above and for the same reasons.)

Are you thinking about a job yet? and graduation?
a. Do you want to teach at this time? ‘
(First questions are leader questions for the third.)

00 your friends in education really want to teach?
(Information for verification of field notes.)

Who is your supervising teacher?

a. What do you think about him/her at this time?

(First question is a leader question for the second.)

(Second question to uncover expectations of students about the
supervising teacher.)

What do you think of the method's class/fundamentals class?

(Questions arose from student comments which varied on these
classes.)

January 23-February 6

294

APPENDIX B
Second Interview Set Student Teachers

How did the methods and fundamentals classes help you in your
teaching?
(Question due to waning references to lesson plans and units.)

How much time does your supervising teacher spend in oral evaluation
with you?
a. Does he/she write any of your evaluations?
b. How do you feel about the talks you have with your supervising
teacher?

c. Has Mrs. Smith been to see you? What did she say to you?
(Questions were needed to get evidence that contact time was

limited between student teacher and SUpervisors, and to check

the kinds of evaluations given.)

How are you feeling about the teaching situation now?
(Leader question for a,b,c). (Verification of field notes).
a. Are you more comfortable in the classroom?

b. Are you still feeling nervous?

c. What does this nervousness do to you? Describe it.

Are you busier than you were before this time?

(Leader question for a and b.) Field Notes reveal some guilty
feelings on the part of student teachers who were not busy and
extreme nervousness of student teachers. To check "I'm tired.“
a. How much time are you spending planning?

b. How many hours does it take you to check papers?

What have you realized about your students?

What contact have you had with the administration? (Verification
that they had not had any.)

Do the interruptions bother you during class?

a. How do they bother you? What happens?

(Question to verify disruption of the student teacher's
method of operation.)

March 7-March 23

10.

295

APPENDIX C
Third Interview Set Student Teachers

Demographic Data for verification: Name, Age, Schools, Hometown.

How much time do you spend planning?

(Leader question to check amount of time spent planning lessons.)
a. Are these plans written?

b. 00 you use objectives? What kind?

c. Does your supervisor check the plans? Did he ever check them?

I noticed you said you were spending a lot of time checking papers.
Are you? How much time?
(For verification of observational nootes, and leader for question 4.)

Which do you like to teach better: writing, literature, or grammar?
Why?

Have you read your final evaluation yet? What did it say?

(Leader question for a and b.)

a. When was the last time your supervisors evaluated you? Was it
written?

b. Do you think the evaluation was fair?

I noticed you said you had some job interviews. Any luck yet?
(Leader question for probe on a.)

’a. Are you still planning to teach?

Overall, what kind of a term had this been for you?

(Leader question for a, b and c. )

a. What was the most pleasant aspect of this term for you?
Unpleasant? Why?

b. How much time did you spend actually teaching? Was this enough?

c. What would you like to have done differently?

In the classroom how do you know when you are succeeding? Failing?
(For additional data on why student teachers do what they do?)

a. Do you make decisions based on success and failure?

b. Have your students said anything to you about your teaching?

Has student teaching given you any problems?

(Leader questions for a, b, c and d.)

a. Have these been resolved? How? When?

b. What happens when your supervising teacher is in the classroom?
c. Is the classroom yours? When did/or why didn't this happen?

d. How did you know the room was yours or was not yours?

What can you say about those competency tests?
(Verification of what student teachers said immediately after test.)

11.

12..

296

What contact did you have with the administration over the term?
a. How did they accept you?

How will you feel about observers like me in your classroom in the
future?

May l-May 8

297

APPENDIX D

Interview Schedule for Supervising Teachers

The purpose of this interview was to verify data and to allow
supervising teachers to ask questions about the researcher.

1.

How is your student teacher doing?
(Verification of what student teachers had told me.)

How do you evaluate what the student teacher does?
(Leader question for a and b.)

Have you had many student teachers? How many?
How do you see yourself as a supervisor?

How do you judge what your student teacher is doing?

(Leader question for a and b.) (To get data on "good" teacher.)
a. What in your opinion is he doing right/wrong?
b. How do you correct him/her?

What do you think most surprises the student teacher when he
comes to school?

What do you think the student teacher finds out abbut students?
(Student teacher contact with students was becoming equivalent
to that of the supervisor in some classes.)

Is student teaching necessary? Why/Why not?

(This question was added since supervising teachers mentioned
their student teaching.)

March 3-March 7

298

APPENDIX E
Participant Observation
The Role of the Fieldworker

Like most individuals who have done fieldwork in groups and in
institutional settings, it becomes necessary near the end of the
finished product to explain to the reader the role of the researcher,
and how the fieldwork progressed from its initiation to its conclusion.
In other words, what did the researcher do in the field and how was she
interpreted by others who were her informants.

Since the study's methodology was that of participation observation,
I was my own instrument. This meant that I took field notes from obser-
vations on site, made transcriptions from taped lessons and interviews,
and recorded informal interviews as soon as possible after leaving the
site. Some notes were dictated into a tape recorder and later
transcribed. Notes were reread as soon as possible after the observation
was made, and were always reread before reentering the site the next time.
This rigor was necessary to help me see where the holes in my data
occurred, and where the study was going. Inferences and notations (MN's,
ON's and TN's) were made along the right margin of the field notes. I
frankly enjoyed gathering the field notes and usually felt comfortable
doing so. However, since the interviews were taped, they took as many as
ten hours to transcribe. Transcription is an arduous task, but well worth
the effort. All notes and transcriptions were then typed and coded.
After coding, the classes and categories arose. It is from those that

the abstractions were uncovered. Before the final analysis was made,

299

I let the notes and preliminary analysis "percolate." The final
analysis was extremely challenging and fascinating.

The entry for this study was made after some initial contacts with
the selected university's Field Experience Director and the Directors
of Laboratory School. At a meeting of secondary methods instructors,

I explained my intents and background of this study. I also met with

the head of the Secondary Education Department so that I could participate
in the Fundamentals classes. Since the English methods instructor
volunteered herself and her group, it was decided that these would be

the student teachers, if they agreed to the study, that I would follow.

At the beginning of the professional semester, these individuals were
contacted, and they agreed to be the major participants.

Since this particular study involved a great many groups. the
arrangements for entry were not confined to the university, and they
wereinformal since that was what the university suggested. My entry
into Laboratory was perhaps the easiest, since this school was used by
observers and researchers on a regular basis. The only thing I was ever
asked not to do was to use a "counter that clicked." (They once had a
researcher who was doing frequency counts and found it disturbing to the
classes.) The Director of Laboratory got me a parking sticker, and was
very receptive to the idea of a study on student teachers. The arrange-
ment for John's class was made initially with the substitute, and later
with the supervising teacher.

County High School was somewhat more difficult, but the principal
agreed to let me be an observer if it was all right with the supervising

teachers. It was. and I explained the study to each of them. Since I

300

at no time interviewed County's students, no formal arrangements were
made concerning them. Although I asked to speak with all teachers at
a faculty meeting, I was told that County did not have regular faculty
meetings. Therefore, I explained the study and its purpose to the
teachers who asked and that I had contact with. I also always checked
in with the office secretary in the morning.

The gradual acceptance of the fieldworker is interesting. In
methods Mrs. Smith initially would look to me for agreement, but slowly
this subsided and was replaced with "be sure you put that in your notes."
The majority of the time I was simply introduced by my first name, and
individuals were told I was the observer who was "always with them."

If at any time Mrs. Smith felt I was out of line, she spoke to me just
like she spoke to any of her students. We had many long discussions
together, and when I saw her recently she and I talked with one another
as though no time had passed. She is truly a fine person.and she was
sincerely dedicated to the education of teachers and to the literacy of
the children in our public schools.

I found very little difficulty being accepted by the student
teachers, and in addition to participating in classes with them, I
usually had lunch with them, and we talked at great length about a
multitude of subjects. We also took breaks together, and we attended a
party and had drinks in a bar. They generally included me in their
activities, and occasionally asked me to attend a university function
with them.

Throughout the semester I attempted to dress as the student teachers
did, and it is recorded various times in the field notes that student

teachers did not believe that I was 34 years old. Since I was aware of

301

my position, I kept dutiful notes on the responses that others had toward
me. I felt very comfortable with the students at County High. It is
recorded in the field notes that on the last day of student teaching,

one of Mary's students said, "You're leaving too. . .we'll miss you.

I got kind of used to seeing you back there." Essentially the students
ignored my presence; at first they were curious, but then I was just
“back there."

I limitedly participated during the term. At first I participated
less, but as acceptance grew, I found it necessary to participate at
certain times. For instance, at County I was given the task of making
coffee for the upstairs teacher's lounge after Mrs. Foster became ill,
and after the student teachers became busy, I sometimes ran an errand or
ran copies for them. I never at any time revealed personal things about
one student teacher to another or to a supervisor, but I did carry glad
tidings or materials for them. Since I was noncommittal in answering
questions, the student teachers after awhile just used me as a sounding
board for questions. In fact, I do not believe they wanted me to answer
their questions. What they wanted and needed was someone to listen to
them. I also on one occasion helped with a resume', and if I heard of a
job opening before they did, I told them about it.

A woman in the position of a fieldworker is sometimes more vulnerable
than a man. since women are expected to speak, act, and respond to
certain circumstances in culturally specific ways. I tried at all times
to remember these things and with one exception I managed to avoid serious
difficulties. One situation did, however, arise with one of the

supervising teachers. She had initially agreed to my observation, but

302

decided at a later time that she would rather I no longer attend her
student teachers class. Ihis particular incident was duly recorded in
the field notes and pr0perly reported to various authorities at the
university. It made no difference in the study's conclusions, nor did
it seem to effect the way others in the field site viewed me. It is
interesting that no incidents occurred with the major student teacher
informants only with fringe persons.

In conclusion it may be said that for all intents and purposes, I
did student teaching with the informants. and I learned from their
problems, aspirations and dreams what it was really like to learn to be
a teacher. Even though I have been a teacher all my adult life, I
learned from them things that should have been obvious to me, but I
had not seen. Since the end of the field work I have heard from some
of the student teachers and they are well. Like Mary, John, Paul, Jean
and Mark, this study taught me a lot not only about student teaching,
but about myself.

"IIllillllfllililll