Brown Ch. 9-11 and Kumar Ch. 13

When looking at the chapter “Mentoring Teacher Acts” in the Kumar textbook all I could think about was my meeting with the two cooperating teachers I will be student teaching for next semester. When Kumar says “these partners, by virtue of their prior experience and exposure, bring with them their own perceptions and prescriptions about what constitutes learning outcomes. Therefore, one and the same classroom event can be, and in fact is often, interpreted differently by different participants” (290). One of the first things that the two teachers I met with said to me at our meeting was “we each teach very differently; we have different teaching philosophies and you will more than likely be getting conflicting advice from the two of us.” Thinking about this, I believe this is one of the most intimidating factors when it comes to student teaching. Which teacher do I listen to? Which perspective do I follow when it comes to these classroom events? Should I listen to my mentors, or figure out different situations for myself?