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Megan Hughes's Reflections[Angelo's Note: My years of co-teaching with Meg Hughes has provided me perspectives on my teaching that have been surprising and immensely helpful. Consider, for instance, her characterization below of my work in this hypertext as outlining the "system" of the class, when I had been hoping to inhabit the sprawl of chaos! Of course, she's right--and I have myself acknowledged (in the "Learning/Teaching Identity" section) a creeping systemization and teacher-centeredness on my part as the course experiment continued into its third year. The key to that episode was that I didn't even perceive I was taking control, taking the reins from the students. Here then is the principal value of co-teaching: Through the friendly dialectics of collaboration, teachers may experience the kind of creative interference to save them from becoming "too assertively, too hopelessly" themselves (Burke, Counter-Statement, 105)--particularly when they don't even spy the quiet compulsiveness at work in them. Meg's interaction provided needed correctives in the TW classroom. And her reflection here provides a crucial "counter-statement" to this hypertext, as she shifts the focus from my experiences as a learner and professional to the needs of teacher candidates in that most important of formations, the development of a teacher's ethos.] Angelo and I both love the Teaching of Writing class. For Angelo, it has always seemed like a lively part of his professional development--Angelo's passion for teaching, technology, and writing manifest itself in the best ways in this "arena." For me, it was more like a love affair beginning with an intense infatuation and ending quietly with a respectful parting of ways. I could spend time here telling the story of my three year engagement with this class, and I think that story would illustrate well some of the points Angelo has made elsewhere in this article. The major issue here, though, is that I am leaving. And of course there is a part of me that thinks that I ought to write about all of the wonderful parts of this class and the collaboration--conference presentations, MOO building, long afternoons at the Chinese lunch buffet…. Instead, I am going to spend my words here continuing to promote the same agenda I've been working toward since I first insinuated my presence into the class two years ago. Angelo has shown, I think, the system of this class--the way in which all the pieces as they are conceived and formulated work together to create a situation in which collaboration is likely to happen. I, on the other hand, tend toward a belief that collaboration and co-teaching are more likely to occur when we challenge ourselves to move beyond the creation and inhabitation of a system. (Angelo will disagree with this dichotomy, and he'll be partly right. But he'll also allow me to continue, knowing well the nature of our behind-the-scenes negotiations.) Angelo has alluded to the guilt that led him to increase the structured activity of the Teaching of Writing class, a guilt that is born of student complaints that they are not getting their money’s worth. These students argue that it is Angelo’s job to set the agenda for the class, believing "agenda" to mean that Angelo ought to decide what and how everyone should learn, and then act as the iron fist in insisting that they learn it. It is no surprise that after more than fourteen years of American education that many students feel this way, but moving beyond student-ness and the need for constant guidance is an important step in becoming a teacher. My story begins with the construction of my first webfolio. I disagree with Angelo that this first project was notable for its technical accomplishments (my html writing skills were, and still are, rudimentary). Rather, this project was notable for the fact that it put me in the role of primary teacher and learner, and Angelo in the role of facilitator. I complained about the design inadequacies of our courseware and he gave me space and instruction to make my own site. Again and again in this class my education was shaped by my questions and concerns--for the first time in my fifteen or so years of school, I was setting the agenda for my learning. This agenda setting was not part of the system of the TW class; it was encouraged implicitly through whole class readings that introduced new ways of conceiving the teacher/student relationship. I argue that the purpose of this
teacher education course should be to force people beyond
the teacher education course. Teaching is hard work, and
one can work very hard as a teacher and still be largely
unsuccessful (my entire student teaching experience
exemplifies this). I think my wish would be that each
student in the Teaching of Writing class write up an
individual proposal of what she hopes to learn. She would
work with Angelo, classmates, in-service teachers and beyond
to accomplish her goals, and then she would be responsible
for documenting her learning. How can teacher educators
reasonably expect students to become teachers of others if
those students cannot even make sound educational decisions
for themselves?
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