Challenging my assumptions

                    “Active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed 

                              form of knowledge in light of the grounds that support it”.

                                                                            (Dewey, 1933, cited by Smith, 1999)

After 12 years of compulsory schooling, 4 years at college, and going on 5 years at university, I feel I have a good understanding of what it is like to be a student. Seemingly, I love student life that much that I am in the process of enrolling for a further year so as to claim the letters of MA after my name. So what have I learned in my years as a student? That's easy, I learned primarily that teachers are the font of all knowledge, right?!

Wrong. I  have quickly come to the realisation that I do not know everything, as I assumed teachers should. This leaves me wondering whether in fact the teachers I hold in such high regard actually knew it either. By 'know', I mean: ingrained, second nature, revised, and ready for recall at any given point. It is true I am ready come my lesson; I know my subject, but not without the pain of having to research, read and revise beforehand. The problem I face, in all honesty, and this is not new knowledge to me, is that I have an absolutely shocking  memory! I have a First Class Honors Degree and graduated with an average grade of 84%. This is an achievement I am very proud of: I am good at what I do, I have passion and motivation for my subject, but this unfortunately does not equal knowledge. However, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel; it seems once I have taught a subject as a teacher, I am able to recall the information much easier than if I had read and wrote it as a student. 

I further surprise myself with the extent to which I utilise social media as a means of staying  current within my sector. Although I am not able to remember what I have read enough to recall it within my planning, I do remember that I have read 'something' useful, and am able to signpost myself to the relevant source. I am primarily using twitter and yammer for this purpose, and recently read a post by Nicky Morgan (2015) proposing the introduction of a baseline assessment at the beginning of the Foundation Stage. I intend to include this suggestion as a point of debate within my planning of the Senior Practitioner module. 

I can relate at this  point to Stephen Brookfield's explanation of imposter syndrome - the feeling that I am presenting a false sense of self, whereas the students presume my competence (Brookfield, 1995). According to Brookfield (1995), in order to overcome imposter syndrome we must go public, and admit we are also learning and have room for development: such disclosures are expected to build trust and encourage risk taking. This approach is particularly useful within teacher training as it allows us the opportunity to be a student and learn through our mistakes, rather than playing it safe and adopting pre-existing practices. Thankfully, my students understand me to be a student teacher, and although initially I considered this a crux I was burdened to carry, in consideration of Stephen Brookfield's impostership theory (1995), I view the disclosure to be as much a help as a hindrance.