London Normal School - Spectrum Yearbook (London, Ontario Canada)

Page 13 text:

In order to cope with the accelerating pace of change, teachers must be able to incite change and control it. During your year at London Teachers ' College you have, no doubt, often considered the teacher ' s role in innovation and change. I should like to share a few ideas with you in the hope that you may become innovating teachers. If growth and innovation cause each other, then the function of the teacher must be to provide the medium in which the child can grow. You may find the following suggestions helpful: 1. Provide each child with a variety of things to think about. 2. Encourage each child to do his own thinking, but don ' t let him stop here. 3. Get each child to put his thinking down so that he can evaluate it. Let him write it, draw it, dramatize it, or put it together with his hands. 4. Encourage each child to evaluate what he has done. Generally, he will know if what he has thought is right or wrong, good or bad. If he is uncertain other children will tell him. If he wants you to evaluate it, get him to go through his thinking again with you and when you do he will find for himself the parts that are not in order. Growth of an innovating teacher should follow the same steps. I challenge you to try them!

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After a year of preparations, farewells have been spoken, lines safely aboard and you are underway, launched upon your teaching career. Tedious as were the preparations, they were accom- plished. You are satisfied that you are ready to voyage forth. You have been guided , counselled and sometimes chided by the staff at London Teachers ' College, as skilled and as diligent a group of enthusiastic educators as you are likely to encounter. Their concern was to get you underway, equipped as well as possible to succeed as teachers. Surely you are already aware that education is a stormy passage. Veering gusts and gales of conflicting opinions on curricula and methodology have already given you much thought concerning the laying out of your course. Surely, too, you have observed that the staff at London Teachers ' College, your associate teachers and your own colleagues demonstrating that in this in- exact science of teaching that there is no one way but that there are as many ways as are required to be successful in communicating with your pupils. I would wish for you common sense, which when acquired in uncommon measure is what the world calls wisdom, to differentiate between first rate practices, worthwhile innovative techniques and the cyclonic fads in education that threaten to throw you far off of your course. In wishing you bon voyage I hope that you will always be aware that the staff and the College remains a safe harbour and, should you have need, one that stands ready to offer aid and support. Sincerely, D.F. Harris Principal 8

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etntor VINI, VIDI, VIC I. Having chosen this quotation for our year- book theme, I feel that it would be appropriate to place it in context for you. It is within the capacity of all to perceive the superficiality of Caesar ' s statement. Since last September we have individually or collecti- vely conquered various tasks which have been set before us. For some the overwhelming obstacles of their first teaching practice, others their week of exams or seminar, and for many the fear of their inadequacy to communicate effectively. Should we have included another dimension with the caption, I THINK? . Perhaps we should, after all Caesar never did occupy all of the island. The examination of this statement in the light of one ' s own achievement is the responsibility of the individual. What did we conquer? Was it the system, or individual inadequacies, or what? I do not know. Perhaps the most important questions we should ask ourselves are, What didn ' t I conquer? and Did I really con- tribute all that I could to that which I did conquer? . As educators we have to continually evaluate the state of our commitments. If we do not take stock occasionally then we lose some of the energy dedication to task requires. In October 1969 I promised you a publication that you would be proud to display. The 1970 edition of Spectrum was made possible only because a few gave more than their initial commitment demanded for a book of this nature. The responsibility which commitment incurs must seriously be considered by us before we enter the teaching ranks. Accomplishment, through involvement, is followed by satisfaction. The yearbook staff feels this satisfaction, as in- deed we all should after our year in Teachers ' College. If we do not, then surely we must take a critical look at our own role since last September. The profession we have entered demands total involvement, not merely in our interaction with students or other staff members, but with all the elements observed in the spectrum of our environment. If we are not willing to become so involved then we do no less than a disservice to our profession. On behalf of the members of Spectrum I wish you well in your chosen career and satisfaction in the accomplishments which will undoubtedly be yours. Kenneth Bond, Editor-in-Chief Spectrum 1970.