Erikson's Stages of Teacher Education

As I drove back across campus following Pizza & Conversation with pre-practicum students the other night, I thought of Erik Erikson's seventh stage, Generativity vs. Stagnation.  I love talking to students who are considering becoming teachers, and I often do it casually -- my choir in particular seems to attract a lot of educators!  It was wonderful to spend an hour chatting with my cohort and future teachers about our lives and what they're getting themselves into.  I then began to see my whole experience of the practicum as Eriksonian stages...so here we go!  Apologies for the extreme nerddom :P

1. Trust vs. Mistrust -- You're about to plunge into the practicum, the culminating event of your college career, the first step toward your future profession.  You think:  can I really do this?  Are all the support systems promised to me (professors, supervisors, licensure coordinator, CT) going to hold up?  Can I trust myself and this system?  You can't sleep the night before you go in, anxious and eager.
2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt -- Your first day in the classroom feels awkward.  You feel lost.  You sit back, observe the culture, learn students' names.  You follow your CT to lunch and discover there's a fridge where you can keep your milk.  You get dragged along to an RTI and wonder what the heck is going on.  As the days go on, you start to get a feel for the physical and emotional climate of the classroom, and begin to find the horizon.
3. Initiative vs. Guilt -- As you teach your first few lessons in your placement, you're starting to have a little bit of control over the environment instead of just being a passive participant in it.  You feel nervous the first day you lead Morning Meeting, and you write up a formal lesson plan for your first math lesson.  As those lessons pass and you survive, or even succeed, you start to feel confident.
4. Industry vs. Inferiority -- As high as you feel after you think you've nailed a lesson, you watch your CT silence the class with the raise of an eyebrow.  "Damn," you think, "I'm so not there yet."  You implement more lessons, you work with more students.  Your management skills develop further as you get to know the class, the children, the culture even better.  You accept that you're a beginning teacher and that your CT has a lot more experience, and that you're right on track for a practicum student.
5. Identity vs. Role Confusion -- You take on more.  You may lead a whole morning.  You take pride in your work.  You begin to develop your style.  You take risks and try new things to manage or instruct your students.  Hopefully, as lead teaching begins, you've developed your beginning sense of teacher self.
6. Intimacy vs. Isolation -- By the time lead teaching comes, hopefully you've completely fallen in love with your students.  Taking the reins with your CT out of the room lets you really dig into relationships with challenging kids and get to know what motivates them.  You help a kid with serious emotional troubles have a really great week, tying his highest spelling score all year.  You get hugs, wipe tears, tie shoes, and sign your morning message, "Love, Ms. H."
7. Generativity vs. Stagnation -- You start a blog.  You talk to your younger friends, share your successes and failures.  You answer their questions and assuage their fears about their future in the program.  You make suggestions for classes, professors, and pre-practicum placements.  They listen to you tell about your experience and validate it.  You feel valuable, giving to the future practicum students of your college.
8. Integrity vs. Despair -- This last stage I have yet to come to, but here's my guess.  You finish your practicum.  You give your students a special gift to remember your time together, and there are some tears as you dismiss them one last time.  You cry privately, after your little friends have left.  Then you put together your licensure application and your portfolio.  You reflect on your work, your progress, your growth, and you think to yourself, "Damn, I guess I did good."

Here's to the next adventure.

**********

Currently reading:  still Teaching Children to Care...4 more chapters, then something new!  Recommendations?

Current high:  April vacation is just around the corner, and we ALL need it.

Current low:  choral tour, right back into the work week, and evening commitments daily means I haven't really seen my friends in days :(