Last semester, my son finally declared his college major: physical education. I was slightly taken back by a mix of surprise and pride that he wanted to enter the teaching profession. He will be the fourth generation of educators in our family. The other night my son and I were talking about his experience in his last high school physical education class. He recalled that he didn’t know anything about the teacher because the teacher would start class by stating the objectives for the day followed by the directions of the activity – never allowing time to share personal stories, anecdotes, or experiences to build connections with the students. Our discussion continued by how, we as teachers, often learn how to be a ‘good’ teacher by reflecting on our perceived value and benefit, both positive and negative, of the teachers we had in our own K-12 experience.
Lortie (1975) referred to this phenomenon as the ‘apprenticeship of observation’ (as cited by Conner & Vary, 2017; Borg, 2004). The ‘apprenticeship of observation’ occurs when a teacher’s perception of what ‘good teaching’ is informed by their own observations of their K-12 teachers’ attitudes, actions, beliefs, and behaviors. In other words, teachers often learn how to be a teacher from how their own K-12 teachers taught them because we “spent thousands of hours as schoolchildren observing and evaluating professionals in action” (Borg, 2004). From my own personal lived experience, I found myself reflecting on my own ‘apprenticeship’ when I became a principal as well as when I transitioned to higher education. I wanted to emulate the principals and professors that I hold positive memories of and differ my approach from the principals and professors that I have negative experiences with. While one can argue that a teacher can learn a great deal about what to do and what not to do from their ‘apprenticeship’ as a student, we must recognize that they only saw a portion of what it takes to teach a lesson and were not privy to what occurs behind the scenes (Borg, 2004).
As teachers of advanced learners, we often rely on our own ‘apprenticeship’ of how we observed our K-12 teachers work with advanced, high-achieving, high-ability, high-potential, gifted, and talented peers. When I first started working in my district’s gifted & talented department, I reflected on my ‘apprenticeship’ of gifted education and I relied solely on enrichments, enhancements, and extensions of what is being taught in the classroom. Unfortunately, I did not realize the multitude of the instructional practices to best support advanced learners learn and demonstrate their understanding. Once I engaged in the field of gifted education through professional development opportunities like state-association conferences, regional networks, book studies, and taking coursework, I shifted my instruction to using best practices in gifted education.
Advanced learners learn differently thus teachers of advanced learners must teach differently. We cannot rely on our own ‘apprenticeship’ of gifted education and must pursue best practices in gifted and talented education. As each of us continue our journey of professional growth, it is essential we recognize our role to extend a welcoming hand to others – our general education colleagues, administrators, school board members, parents, and more. The African proverb resonates this intention, “If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together.”
My goal is to support you in your pursuit of best practices in gifted and talented education through this series of articles. I aim to provide practical ideas and strategies that will help you differentiate for the array of learning needs in your classroom and school as well as share perspective to help general education teacher and administrators support gifted education.
Personally, I am very excited to engage with the multitude of teachers that work with our gifted, talented, and creative learners within and beyond the borders of Kansas!
Email Dr. David Wolff at dwolff@pittstate.edu to connect and have further discussions or share how you used this resource in your practice!
This article was vetted by members of the KGTC Executive Board of Directors.
Dr. David Wolff is an Assistant Professor in Teaching and Leadership in the College of Education at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. Prior to PSU, David was an Elementary Teacher, Gifted & Talented Interventionist, District Coordinator of Gifted & Talented Services, Instructional Coach, and Principal.
References
Borg, Michaela. (2004). The apprenticeship of observation. ELT Journal, 58(3), 274-276.
Conner, J. & Vary, G. (2017). Confronting apprenticeships of observation: How student-faculty pedagogical partnership complicates conceptualization, understanding, and practice of effective pedagogy. International Journal for Students as Partners, 1(1), 1-6.
Resource
Lortie, D. C. (1975). Schoolteacher: A sociological study. The University of Chicago Press.
