Teaching is second nature to me, as I grew up I was consistently told by teachers and mentors that I should become a teacher. There are many qualities of my personality that contribute to making me a successful teacher. I am flexible, patient, empathetic, sincere, and I am a leader. I am also a learner and a reflector, I believe these are two key qualities needed to become an educator. As a learner, I understand that I am never through with this title. I continue to seek opportunities to advance my practice. When I became an educator I celebrated myself and committed to becoming a life long learner. As a reflector, I seek self-actualization. In order for me to become the best educator possible it is essential that I seek change and continue to challenge myself.
Relationships are the foundational piece of my teaching practice. The quality of education and success of a student depends on the relationships built within the classroom. I have witnessed first hand the change in students as they develop their trust in you as their teacher. Every success you will have in the classroom comes from the relationships you’ve developed and the class culture you have created.
Connection is an integral part of why my students choose to learn English. For some students, it is a connection to a more prosperous career, for others, it may be to expand socially with people from across the world. This sought after connection requires students to participate in intercultural communication. On the surface, intercultural communication seems straight forward, as our fluidity in the world increases our opportunities for intercultural communication also increases. In reality, intercultural communication is incredibly complex, it is multi-leveled as well as multi-layered. What I mean by this is that there is a lot of meaning behind communication outside of the words we say. An English speaker communicates not only with what they say but by how they say it. Telling someone, you like and admire them will not be accepted if the use of body language and tone conflicts with the message. I work with my students to identify the code within communicating using the English language.
I believe that it is the teacher’s job to foster a type of environment that encourages the exploration of ideas and flexibility. I am a flexible teacher, I am able to adapt my methods of teaching to the student. Different students have different needs and learning styles, my approach is not just a one size fits all approach to teaching. It is the teacher’s job to figure out how their students learn best and adjust their teaching methods accordingly. Understanding my educational priorities enables me as an educator to set and achieve my goals.
I value spending time as a class to create and nurture a classroom culture that will enable students to achieve success. This means allowing students opportunities to voice their opinions, be heard, and for them to see their input utilized. As a language teacher, I find this to be especially beneficial. When you step into the role of the teacher in an English language class it is guaranteed that the students come from a different background and culture than yourself. Building a classroom that is centered around celebrating and learning from each of our unique cultural experienced is integral to who I am as a Language teacher.