автор: Майер Ирина Игоревна
Учитель английского языка МБОУ «СОШ №28», г. Ижевск
My personal development
My professional development
Starting to write the article I would like to gratify you for giving me the chance to share my thoughts and ideas of my own way as a teacher.
Thinking of a theory, I must confess that at the beginning of my career I considered it far from teaching practice because there is no an exact recipe how to react in this or that situation. But now it is very interesting for me to learn and join together all the parts of teaching process to make it new, effective and really exciting. Of course, I have my own way of teaching using a variety of teaching styles and innovative approaches. But it is not the only thing that matters. The most important, I suppose, is to understand individual differences and treat pupils with respect regardless of their progress. Probably, it’s the only profession that gives me the opportunity to reveal my best qualities. Every day my students encourage me to do something special. No doubt, that teaching is an art. I sing, dance, play games, and use drama at my lessons. And it is a great chance to combine a lot of professions in one – the best profession in the world, the profession of a teacher.
Thinking of good and bad teachers I can’t say that I’m good or I’m bad. It depends. My students consider me understanding, supportive and fair. But there are some situations when I behave myself the wrong way being in my “child”. It’s really difficult to confess even to myself that it’s my fault because I’m older and wiser but I try. I’m not afraid of acknowledging my mistakes and after that I feel myself a new person as if I “grow” in my own eyes. I love my students! I strongly believe that it is the most important feeling to live and create. I’ve learned to build positive relations with my students and can cope with the situation (so called negative “ripple”) because I understand what is going on in the classroom. There’s no need for me to speak of somebody’s bad behavior interrupting the flow of the lesson. More useful here is to use meaningful eye contact. My students are very clever. They understand everything! I always tell them that they are really talented persons. I believe that they can do everything if they want but here I add that the process of learning should be persistent to get good results in future (I realize now that the most frequent “self’ in my teaching practice is “parent”).
Thinking of my lessons I consider them interesting and well organized. Planning everything beforehand and putting material in the logical order I join it with here and now making it available for everyone in my classroom. I love jokes and connect everyday situations with serious issues. Such teachable moments help my students to use their imagination. (I manage here a gold rule of pedagogy: «First an image, then realization of the issue».
Having studied the lecture where there was an example of learning pyramid, I decided to give an opportunity to my students to explain the material themselves. It was an extraordinary lesson! There were a lot of funny moments but the experiment was successful!
In my work I use individual tasks which help me understand and reconcile the differences. Making special groups gives my students the possibility to clarify and do things according to their individual progress that maximizes their learning.
There was an interesting information about the research of teacher’s talking at the lesson. The 80/20 equation is a matter to think carefully. I suppose it’s just. But it is difficult to reconstruct the system at once. Now planning activity for the lesson I recall the example of a basketball game.
I have read a good saying: «Good learning starts with questions, not answers». At the beginning of the lesson I use anticipating questions to make my pupils think. During the lesson I tell them to write down their questions and ask about misunderstandings but they are not very active in asking. Probably, because of Russian trait of character being good listeners.
Thinking about myself as a teacher I understand that there is no effective teaching progress without constant learning. As far as I remember myself I learn, learn and learn. Having got proper education at school, institute and university I started my teaching practice at school. Of course, during our life time we meet people who are sent to us to find the right direction, to change, to think carefully about something. As for me, my first teacher influenced me greatly. I liked her appearance, manners of teaching but now I understand that I would like to do it differently. I’ve been teaching for more than 20 years. And from time to time I think of some changes in the way I do my work. I feel the necessity to learn more how to make my lessons interesting. I am at ease when I find them exciting and useful. I realize that the process of my own learning will never cease. And at this period of my life I have found the course that I’ve been looking for a long time. Frankly speaking, I must say that most lectures, seminars and conferences I had attended before were not so useful and positive, because I didn’t get answers to urgent questions. And it is very important for me to find something I am really interesting in. Getting such knowledge now I feel myself engaged and motivated in the process of learning.
So, as a sort of conclusion, how might I contribute to my own professional development?
I agree that refresher courses for the teachers should be managed by others but at the same time we ought to have a desire to be eager to renew and update our professional knowledge. Openness to learning and sharing ideas with colleagues will breathe life, excitement and enthusiasm into our own way of teaching process!
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Why I Chose to Become a Teacher…
My choice to become a teacher was not made lightly. This decision was a culmination of a process of reflection about what I wanted to do with my life. I have chosen a career in education because I believe that it is one of the most important functions performed in our culture. I believe that teachers individually and collectively have the ability to not only change the world, but to improve it. Within the process of teaching, I hope to find both personal and professional renewal. I want to be a part of a noble profession with the hope of one day being counted among those in whom future teachers find inspiration.
My Supporters
I would like to cite God almighty as my Best Friend , Who always supported me , and encouraged me to teach other people .
Many of the great teachers that I have had throughout my education have become my heroes and role models. I began to understand in high school and college that great teachers have skills that I wanted to learn. I want to follow their examples. I remember that great teachers were good at explaining content, were patient yet firm with students, were always fair, set high expectations, knew how to motivate, and used humor appropriately. They were great communicators who had a command of their subject matter content. This is the type of teacher that I intend to become. However, I understand that my personal teaching style will evolve as I draw on my own strengths, knowledge, skills, values, and experiences.
So, the title is a little self-indulgent, but don’t judge me just yet.
I was thinking back about student teaching earlier this week and how my cooperating teacher made me reflect on everything and how I got so tired of it by the end of student teaching. She was constantly pushing me to reflect in writing on every single lesson I taught, which was significant in and of itself. What made this really special to me was the fact that she always made me take the time to identify strengths before weaknesses.
Why Do I Want To Become A Teacher?
A teacher has the direct opportunity to make a difference, to change the future. I have been told that I am an idealist. I want the best for everyone. I will set high goals as a teacher and do my best to show each and every student that these goals are within their reach. I will expect every one of my students to want to learn and more importantly to understand. I want my students to fight over the seats in the front row as if they were attending a concert, not elementary school. I want to make my students wonder; make them question; make them think critically; make them write; make them read, read, read.
Who is An Excellent Teacher?
An excellent teacher is not just someone who explains. Not someone who just demonstrates. An excellent teacher is someone who inspires. An excellent teacher goes the extra mile. They can take any individual and make them believe, truly believe, that their hopes and dreams are within their reach. An excellent teacher will not let a student walk away until every question is fully explained and completely understood, no matter how long it may take. If the day ends and the student still has not understood the lesson plan, an extraordinary teacher would brainstorm. He or she would think, “How can I explain this concept to the student so that he or she can better understand it?” I intend on being that type of teacher.
The chance to inspire another human being is not an opportunity it’s a challenge. There are too many educators that haven’t accepted this challenge, and it needs to change. Students go to school because they are forced to. Many times learning is not their top priority, but the teacher’s job is to teach. Students are always learning. Unfortunately, it just may not be what the teacher is teaching. Since this is the case, a teacher must not only know his or her content area, they must also be prepared to teach other “things”. Things, such as character, morals, ., which may prove to be more valuable than knowledge itself. This is the reason I want to become a teacher…. I want to inspire the children who will represent the future of our great nation.
Why I Decided To Teach
I became a teacher because I was passionate about knowledge and information. My parents never graduated from college so they had hammered the need for getting a college degree into from the time I can remember. I earned degrees in music and classics (Latin and Greek).
With this strange education at times I wondered where it would lead. Interestingly enough it did not lead to a life as an academic or musical recluse, though it might well have done so as I was a shy kind of guy. Instead I began to share what I knew and loved with people of all ages. Enthusiastically and unequivocally.
Conclusion
Students come from such diverse backgrounds that it is difficult to approach any two students in the same way. You have to be willing and able to teach the same concept through many different approaches or you may not reach all your students. You will unquestionably not be an effective teacher if you only teach one way. A fantastic teacher is an evolving teacher. Teachers who search out better and new methods are the ones who will make it. Being flexible and adaptable are two key characteristics of a good teacher. It allows you to provide instruction in a variety of method that will meet all your students’ needs.
It isn’t vain or conceited to say these things make me a great teacher. I am not saying I’ve reached my pinnacle…these are things I did well this year and things I hope to continue to do well.
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The most important issue is to always try to see the bright side, and believe truly that you must be humble to acknowledge some issues, so you can move forward. Most people don’t like to press the reset button, but sometimes we must start from scratch.
The most important tool I can imagine of, in order to get a better professional teacher is being a student. So I take regular courses with the purpose of being a student, ie, complaining, asking, being ignored. And what I notice is that for the student that takes that course with easy, my behavior it is not as important as for those regular students.
All this drives me into being a better teacher: observing, acting like a student in other scenarios, like being part of a course where I am the student. And all this is passed along with my colleagues, because I learn a lot also from them, having a different perspective.
Also, if you can teach in a different country, it is a pearl of knowledge. I had once this opportunity of teaching math in Cecina (Italy). It was a small school and out of the blue I got invited thru a friend of mine. Amazing how much we have to shift our thinking in order to adapt.
Thinking about all that, I believe the most important tool we can use is the ability of being plastic. And the true love for the students. I love mine students and treat them as part of my own family. When we care about them it is easy to be plastic, to find new ways in order to do the duty of teaching.
And something also very important is to learn from them, by asking them what do they fell about. Once I was having a problem with a class and suddenly I decided to stop the class and discuss what would happen from that time on. We discussed in unison what would be the best way to behave and the disciplinary consequences (they were only 6 years old). That helped ME and also them. Being a better teacher is not just doing your best, but everybody`s best. It is a team work. You cannot be a better teacher alone, for me at least, that is impossible.
My best 5 teachers I had when I was a teenager also help me a lot, but not as much as I can learn from my own class. The reason for this is that those best 5 teachers I had in my entire life, worked for THAT class, for THAT subject and for each one of those individual teachers. They were very good, but to do a copy paste it does not get me be the best teacher I can be. The best way is indeed learn from YOUR students, and let them show you what you have to improve.
There is no other feeling in the Earth but
LOVE which can create something special
Positive environment…
It is so clear for “all teachers in all the countries that the right way to teach is in a certain way with teacher as a facilitator, the student as this active participant in the lesson…”
I would suggest the situation as an example of a positive environment in a teaching process. Of course, the main figure at school is a teacher and it is him (her) who is responsible for comfortable being of the students. A teacher as a facilitator… For me it is a MASTER who is capable to organize the lesson in a way that every student is engaged in the process deeply. The role of a teacher is enormous. Inspired «teachers bring dreams to life” but “how many students lost the impetus to learn because of the way in which learning was experienced by them”. It occurs to me that this question is addressed to all the teachers to realize the fact that for many children learning is a coercive progress, driven not by self-interest, not by a natural desire to learn but they are just forced to go to school.
So, how do I try to create a positive environment when teaching? What makes my students be active participants in the lesson? I suppose that their activeness depends on many things.
A pupil is active when he (she) is engaged in the learning process. Sometimes my students are so amused that the time of the lesson is over. Reflecting I praise myself for the successful lesson and ask what way I could get such a result. The answer is that the topic of the lesson was in a circle of my students’ interests and they discussed it promptly, with enthusiasm.
A pupil is active when the teacher believes in his (her) success and encourages him to work his best to get good results. He knows exactly that having even a little progress he will be awarded for a good work. I always do it saying: “You are my clever boy (girl)!” My students know that they will be corrected in a positive way if they make mistakes.
A pupil is active in a friendly atmosphere where there are no rude comments and different offensive names. A child must feel himself defended and valued. So the main goal of a teacher is to organize the positive environment when every student is seen, heard and respected.
My personal way of organizing comfortable learning process is very challenging. It takes a lot of energy and time. But it is worth doing!
I teach so many students. All of them are different and most important here is to celebrate differences, to value them. I watched carefully those lectures which were devoted to differences in race, gender, disability. But the most urgent was the one about race and racism. There is no need for me to discuss the issue like that because I teach only white children. But at the same time I live in a multicultural country and there are people of different nationalities in my native town. And I strongly believe that people in our state are equal in the rights and opportunities guaranteed by our Constitution. I always tell to my students that all of them are unique and talented. It does not matter what nationality you are, more important is your inner world, your identity. I am strongly against those who show straightforward rejection of people of other nationalities. But the core of this problem embeds deeply in a family position. From an early age children see how we feel about people who are different from us. So our feelings influence them greatly! I am not afraid of being with the neglected minority showing my personal attitude towards rude jokes and offensive names. There was an interesting statement in the final interview: “Punish in anger”. I wholly agree with it! Showing sharp position in situations like those the students see my beliefs and values and start to think what made me react that way.
In a conclusion, I would sum up that the situation in the classroom depends on a teacher, his (her) personality, values and beliefs, desire to change searching out new methods and approaches and organize “space inclusive for all learners”.
