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A mediocre, good, superior or great teacher?

Before starting this journey, I thought that in order to be a teacher one must
constantly study; now, I am convinced of it. An effective teacher will always be
a learner, if we disconnect that part we just stop being a teacher and start to
be just somebody providing information. William Arthur Ward said once: The
mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher
demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. One cannot be a great teacher
without being a learner, its a circle that cannot be broken.
Sometimes we use an approach as a teacher and we believe its effective only
until we experience it having our learner hat on; and even if it is effective, we
soon discover that it hinders some other important areas inside the classroom
like community, for example. What strikes me is how fast the process is. Many
times we spend long hours analyzing how to improve a process, how to make
this or that lesson more effective, and we forget about the learner. Only by
putting ourselves in their shoes, but really being a learner, we will discover the
root cause of the issues that are hindering our students learning process. The
first step in becoming a great teacher is being a student and not stopping
being it when teaching.
Last week I was having my teaching practice. I was teaching to a group of
intermediate-advanced students and the topic was jobs and professions, we
were practicing vocabulary using names of occupations like astronaut or flight
attendant.
Objectives: SWBAT Describe at least 3-4 jobs/occupations to compare them,
express preferences and discuss their pros and cons, in a mingle activity or
in small groups.
Before that day, many times I asked myself if this is the kind of job for me, if
its something I really like, if this is my career. That day I discovered that
teaching is a part of my life that will never go, this is my career.
Before starting the class I was feeling sad because I was having some personal
issues to resolve. I was wondering if I would be able to teach properly; on top of
everything, I got there late because of a problem with transportation. Until the
very last moment I was very sad, but as soon as I stood up and spoke to the
students a smile appeared in my face. I forgot about everything else and after
the class, my life was bright again and I felt the necessary strength to resolve
the problems I had. That way I discovered that teaching is something I want to
do for the rest of my life.
The students did a great job going through all the activities, I know they all
learned because I observed them comparing and evaluating jobs, at the end of
the class they were also comparing the jobs presented with their dream jobs.
When observing my colleagues teaching I identified many things that Im trying
to do myself now. Andrew has a very nice tone and pace while teaching, I see

how that helps the students because they pay attention as soon as he starts
speaking, Izzete is always transmitting energy in everything she does, the way
she prepares her material is awesome, Im very bad at doing that, but Im
learning with her! Both of the teachers are doing a great job and I know it
because at the end of the lessons the students are in fact using the language
target presented. Something I really enjoyed about watching Andrew teaching
is that at the end of the class he spontaneously started making requests to the
students and they were all answering using the target language. He was
teaching expressions used to make excuses when saying no to a request, he
started asking for things and they all made very good excuses! In those
moments is when a teacher can say my job here is done.
During my teaching practice the students taught me that a teacher must be
flexible. Its amazing how much you can learn if you pay attention to the
students faces. During the previous parts of the class they were moving their
chairs, switching places, making different groups, standing and sitting down.
When I started my part of the class I asked them to make groups of 3 and the
first thing that happened is that they didnt move for three seconds, then they
started moving very slowly. I saw their faces and I realized that they were
thinking oh God, not again! so I told them hey guys, I know that you are
tired so I promise that youll not move again. In that moment, it was like if
their spirit came back to their bodies and they showed more enthusiasm, they
felt I was on their side.
The question I was left with came from this experience. How can I prepare a
lesson plan where the transitions between sitting arrangements can be
smoother, in a way that the students dont feel they are moving too much? I
believe that they need to feel they are not moving only for the sake of moving,
but because its necessary for their learning process, so, when we plan the
classes we need to take that in consideration and try not to move them as a
requirement for a lesson plan, but only move them when necessary for their
learning experience. I dont know if this is quite the answer for my questions,
but its what I believe so far. However, when we are completely sure a
rearrangement is necessary, what strategies can we use to make it smoother?

Student involvement in the teaching process


During my last teaching session, one of the activities involved writing on the
board; one of the students shared an answer to one of the exercises provided
and stood up to write it in the board while the rest of the students continued to
discuss the exercises in groups. They were using a copy I provided to them with
some exercises to match a description of a job with its name. The task was
easy for them and they had nothing else to discuss while the classmates were
writing on the board. They also felt empowered of their learning process
because they were the ones who selected the person from the group to go to
the board and they helped creating the chart we used for the next activity,
which had pictures, names of jobs and descriptions.

INTERPRETATION
Something that hindered
me was the type of
activity I selected for the
copies, it was not an
activity that required
discussion, and still I
asked them to discuss it
while their partners were
at the board. Which they
did very quickly.
Also, I was hindered by
the way I decided to
send them to the board,
writing instead of just
putting a poster I should
have prepared
beforehand. Having
them to write took more
time than expected.
Something that helped
me was that the Ss felt
empowered of their own
learning process, they
finished writing and they
saw that the chart
created in the board was
made by all of them
working as a team. The
same chart we used for
the next activity.
Another thing that
helped was that it gave
opportunity to the other
groups to fix the answers
they had wrong or point
out which ones were
wrong in the board.

GENERALIZATION
Its important to take in
consideration the way
the Ss may decide to
interact with the
material, despite the
way we expect/explain
them to do it.

PLAN ACTION
I will prepare activities
that encourage the Ss
discussion and
interaction.

Its very important to


consider not only the
activity but also the
impact that the activity
will have on the time
scheduled, and also
consider if all Ss will be
involved or not.

I will prepare the


material for the class in
a way that the activity
doesnt require
unnecessary tasks.

Students can be
benefited by being
included in the material
presented for practicing.
They pay more attention
when they feel part of
the process and not only
passive learners.

I will try to do activities


that involve the Ss in the
teaching process in an
effective way, including
mechanisms to avoid
distractions and waste of
time.

Its important to give


opportunities to the Ss
to fix their errors without
interfering with that
process by pointing out
their mistakes.

I will make sure that for


every activity the Ss
have the time to correct
each other and come to
an agreement on which
answers are correct,
before I make any
correction.

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