Mickaël Langlet, Construction Teacher, Pierre-Adrien Påris Professional High School, Charlottesville’s Sister City, Besançon, France
What’s the most challenging aspect of your job?
To get all students to reach the required level of knowledge and technical ability. There is no universal method of teaching; if we had one, teaching would be easy and problem-free. It is difficult to individualize teaching while you teach the masses.
What’s the most common misconception about your job?
In France, people think we don’t work much, as we have eighteen hours of face-to-face instruction in a full-time work week. However there is a lot of preparation before your lessons. It can be compared to an iceberg, in that the preparation for high quality teaching often appears out of sight.
Where do you see the teaching field in 5 years?
At the moment, there is an issue about distance teaching and how technologies can be used in regards of “pedagogy.” Students consume information and interact with the world through devices like smartphones; perhaps, this will be an avenue for learning.
What outside experience prepared you best to become a teacher?
Being in charge of students and kids for ski lessons gave me a hint of what could be teaching (I live in the Alps!). Besides that, my experience working in professional settings taught me the world of work and an important trait: flexibility!
