Going off my last post, I thought about a TV show that I am addicted to. Yup, it's "Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?" I absolutely love this show right now. It has become an almost everday competition between my dad and I, sad right? Well, as much as I love to try to answer the questions, it makes me very apprehenisve for my future teaching career. I find almost every time that I am NOT smarter than a 5th grader. After a majority of the questions I think " I should have known that, why didn't I know that?"
Why does it make me apprehensive for my future career as a teacher? Well I feel that I am not prepared to teach the students, if I don't know the information myself. It seems that a majority of the questions are simple facts or equations that I should know as a future teacher. I mean it is the criteria of elementary education since that is the basis of the show, so shouldn't I be nervous if I don't know the facts? I feel as if I should be able to tell you all of these elementary facts, so it makes me very nervous that I am far behind in my background knowledge. I am very concerned that I won't be able to answer questions as a teacher or an intern. At least as a teacher I can clarify that I don't know all of the answers and that I get confused too. This way it makes them feel better for not understanding certain concepts. Yet, as an intern I feel the main teacher will look at me like I am uneducated. I feel they will judge what I don't know and doubt me as a future teacher. I don't want to be doubted and I don't want the students to think they can't come to me with questions.
Overall, I find this show very interesting and fun to watch. Yet, it makes me doubt myself as a future teacher and I am very concerned about that. I know I write a lot about this feeling, but getting so close to being a senior working in classrooms and my internship, I am starting to think about it a lot more. Hopefully I can get over my fears and just try to do my best!
I have only watched "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?" a few times because those few times I watched it I found out that I'm not smarter than a 5th grader. I think it is a fun and enjoyable show to watch but because I am going to be a teacher, it scares me as well. I also feel that I should have all the answers and I fear a student walking up to me and asking me a question that I have no idea about. I know that I shouldn't expect myself to know everything, because that is impossible. But I feel that little kids look up to teachers so much that they think teachers should know all of this information. Like Jamie said, I will let my students know that I do not know all the answers but that I can find the answers for them. I remember in one of my elementary classes whenever I would ask the teacher what something meant, she would point me to a dictionary. And then when I found the answer, she'd ask me to come show her what I had found. She said that this was a good process because I learned how to look things up and how to find information on my own and it also taught her things too when I showed her what I found. I thought that this was a good process and it will probably be one that I use in the classroom when asked by students what certain things mean.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very good way of going about it Breanne! I had never thought of pointing them to a dictionary so we both learn things, but i think that is a very successful way to go about it. Thanks for the idea!
ReplyDeleteI agree this show does make me feel a little nervous as an adult not knowing a lot of the answers! I even find that when I'm helping my friends with their lower level Spanish homework that there are many things that I don't remember simply because I don't use certain tactics very often. This has taught me that I need to take time out and just review simple things once in a while that I may have forgotten. You're not the only person who isn't always "Smarter than a 5th Grader"!
ReplyDeleteI also think that I need to review simple things. It's not that I don't technically know the stuff, it's just when was the last time I actually had to deal with certain information! Good to know I'm not the only one, although the show proves that a lot! =)
ReplyDeleteI sometimes tune in to this show too! It's always fun to see what we remember and what is just so long gone! I don't think you should be concerned about not being able to answer all of the questions on the show...a lot of the content is what was learned many, many years ago and unfortunately some things just don't stay with us. It is ok not to know something as a teacher, as long as you figure it out and come back to the student's question later. Although we graduate, I feel it's important to know that we never stop learning and studying...we will be required to build lessons based on things that we will need to refamiliarize ourselves with before teaching and that is ok! One of the most important things is being a prepared and confident teacher.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice Darcie! I agree that some things just don't stay with us, but we need to be able to help the student by looking it up ourselves and getting back to them. Your advice makes me feel a lot better though!
ReplyDeleteOOOO I love that show! I never watch it anymore though cause I didn't know it was still on! When is it on? :)
ReplyDeleteBut I totally understand your concern about not knowing facts. I definitely wouldn't feel bad about it though because what I've been learning in Te 401 is that it's not about the little facts, but the bigger picture. We always go around the room and talk about things we remember in elementary school and we all agree that we never remember anything that has to do with tiny facts.
Also, I'm teaching two lesson plans next week and I still don't know everything about it. I'd say don't worry about not knowing things, because I feel like you'll be able to research it before you have to teach it to the class. If not, I know Rachel made a good point on my blog once, and she said that the students are going to understand if we are just honest with them and say we don't know.
As for the teacher thinking your feel dumb, I definitely agree, I'm afraid of that too. I just try to tell myself that they have been teaching for a lot longer and we are still students. Hopefully they will understand that most of our learning will come with experience and we are probably going to be lacking that in the beginning.
Wow, your blog got a lot of attention! :) This show makes me feel so stupid and worries me for the future! I truely believe that adults are not as smart as 5th graders considering all the material that they tackle and the depth they sink into it. I dont know if you have ever played the actual boardgame but it is so hard! Over summer, I work at a kids day camp and my 8 and 9 year old kids are beating me VERY badly at these ridiculous questions! I completely agree with you on your position about being hestitant about being a future teacher with your feelings of not being as prepared! But those questions are so nit-picky sometimes its crazy! So if you get a chance try playing the board game with younger kids and see what happens :)
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