about. I learn best when I do something, not when I am told about it, as do most of the stu-
dents in my classes. The funny thing is that I coach lacrosse, and coaching is hands-on teach-
ing. It took me a while to understand that coaching and learning how to install phone lines
by actually doing it is really what good teaching is all about.
***“By the Book” Versus “the Real World”by Steve Bologna
During my junior year of high school, I was placed in a vocational training program for air-
craft mechanics. They taught us to do everything “by the book.” We were supposed to follow
directions and work step by step according to the manual. The best part of the program was
that it taught me how to handle tools and how to work with others. I had a big surprise when
I began working as an aircraft mechanic. The old-timers quickly initiated us into the real
world. They put the manual aside and took shortcuts as they worked. In the beginning, I
questioned their methods, but as time passed I realized they understood the job. Being a me-
chanic was about solving problems, not simply following instructions. This is the most signif-
icant thing I learned from my vocational training and I think it will help me wherever I go,
whatever I do. People learn best by doing and the most important learning is figuring out
how to solve problems.
***JOIN THE CONVERSATION—THE VALUE OF VOCATIONAL TRAININGQuestion to Consider:
Do you believe vocational training can be a model for effective academic instruction? Ex-
plain.SECTION C: BECOMING A TEACHER 2: NEW TEACHERS DISCUSS
THEIR PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AS STUDENTS
Did you like middle school and high school? Why or why not? What did you like? What did
you dislike? Do you think everyone in your classes felt the same way you did? Were some in-
dividuals or groups favored? Stereotyped? Victimized? Alienated? Who was responsible?
Could anything have been done to change their experiences?
Not everyone has the same experience in school, even when they attend the same one. I
have a colleague who went to the same high school as I did, though a couple of years earlier.
She remembers our high school as a place where there was excitement about learning and
where teachers were connected to their students. I remember it as a place of alienation and
oppression, where my relationship was with a small group of friends who felt little connec-
tion with the school or the teachers. The same school, similar people, different experiences,
and very different memories. Can we both be right?
If you have ever seen the Japanese movieRashomon(1951) or the American movieWhen
Harry Met Sally(1989), read the novelChronicle of a Death Foretold(1993) by Gabriel Garcia
Marquez, or heard different “eyewitnesses” describe an accident, you understand how peo-
RESPONSIBILITIES 41