Milestones in my Journey of Education

Bio data 

( A brief introduction in order to get to know me better...)

My journey of education passed through a lot of transitions and changes. When I first entered school, I enrolled in Aitanit’s school which I leant in till Grade nine. After graduating, I moved to Karaoun’s Public High School which was something different of course but in a good way. Being in a new situation, I was able to adapt, learn more, and experience new things. My English teachers used to love me because I was so good, and I loved English ever since I was a kid so my success in this domain was from a long time ago. Once, my English teacher told me that I was going to teach instead of her, I rejected the idea of teaching, but I never knew where I would be after a couple of years… After graduating as a Literature and Humanities students, I entered the Lebanese International University as a Radio & TV student; two days after attending classes, I knew that it wasn’t where I belonged, and now I feel happy to say that I took the right choice to become an English teacher; I guess my teacher saw something in me when I was a student that I now clearly understand.

During my 3 years journey at the University, my personality changed a lot. I can say that this major took me as a raw diamond and refined me. Let alone these 3 years, each semester changed certain aspects in me, ideas, thoughts, and beliefs that not only helped in preparing me to become a teacher, but aided me to become a more responsible, sharp, and dedicated person to everything I do. I learned valuable life lessons from my instructors that served as role models for me and my colleagues, they took our hands, supported us, and made us realize that we can do it and our efforts are definitely worth it. Their faith in us and their look towards us made us work harder to see those signs of pleasure and satisfaction.

When I first joined the major, I had no idea about the struggles and challenges I would undergo. I remember the first time I had to do a presentation in Educational Psychology, it was the first time to explain for an audience, and this successful encounter lead to many different and enhanced ones. After participating in many events, I learnt to become somehow creative (since I think there’s plenty of room for my enhancement); I also experienced the pleasure of team work and the success of giving without waiting for something in return.

There are many courses that affected me, and many instructors who touched me in various ways. From children’s literature, I learnt to be dynamic in the classroom, I saw the different types of stories, and knew how to be funny and interesting for kids. The story I made in this course was a one that I’m very proud of and would love to share with educators and students. From acquisition, I learnt about how children develop their first and second languages, and how to deal with them and their errors. From the methods course, I can’t even mention half of the things I learnt, but the most important ideas that I got are that teaching has different approaches that should be combined together; students learn in different ways, and their mistakes should be tolerated. It showed me which things to take into consideration, and how every move affects the students. After taking the history course, rules of the language started actually making sense!! As for teaching reading, it was a baby step towards the teaching process that showed me various aspects I should consider in delivering information for students.

I can say that observing for almost a year at Al Thanaa in Grade 7 had a great impact on me. Being a part of the classroom and teaching the girls was a great experience that helped me to take the first step. I was able to know and observe the school’s climate, policies, the administration, the teachers (how they act, manage periods, deal with the principle), and students from different grades.

Now, after going through all of this, I can share with you my philosophy of Education, a repertoire of three years ( Learning and experiencing teaching...) 

Philosophy

When I first got to know that I’m supposed to write my own philosophy of teaching, I was anxious and I thought about how I’m supposed to write one, where should I start from, and where do I stand. I never thought that I was ready for such a deep reflection and interpretation of what I have been taking for the last three years. It hit me that I was a senior now at the end of the road, and I thought like wow, everything happened so fast and I don’t know if I’m ready or not. But then it came to me, everything that I took in those three years, all the efforts of my teachers, the long hours of concentration and the excessive activities that we used to have and how without realizing, we were able to achieve the theories and information we took in reality. All the assignments that we thought were impossible and we can’t do, we were able to create results in with the help of the teachers. The flashbacks came to me then, it was a long trip yet I felt that it’s not enough, it was stressful, emotional, challenging, self destructing, and great, and it was worth all of it.

In my three years at University, I was able to gain a lot of information about teaching, but I wasn’t aware about their richness until I came to write about them. All the courses that I took are related together.

The amount of studying, assignments, and presentations that we used to do seemed to be so heavy. I felt the pressure and the effort I needed to put in order to reach my goals, but at the end I was able to see the importance of such tasks in expanding my knowledge, reinforcing my information, and preparing me to become a future teacher easily and unconsciously.

 During this journey, I have learned a lot of theories and information related to teaching and I’m sure that I will learn more in the future since education is always evolving. I was able to explore a lot of theories and methods of teaching and I was able to know their impact on the children’s learning. Because of that, I was able to know what methods of teaching I would like to use in my classroom. Each method or strategy has its advantages and disadvantages, and it’s my job as a teacher to take the better of each one to form an efficient and fruitful philosophy of teaching. I came up with some important notes that I would apply in my classroom.

v  Knowing the importance of your job and loving it from your heart. Teaching is not some regular or ordinary job. People have the misconception that it doesn’t take a lot of work or effort; it is easy and not demanding but that is terribly wrong. Teachers carry the message of knowledge, and they are raising the generations of the future, that’s why, every single thing they say or do may affect the students’ thoughts and perceptions whether in a negative or a positive way.

v  Cherishing the students that you’re teaching should definitely be on your priorities list. The students are the center of the classroom. After all, teaching is directed towards them and the main goal of education is to give them knowledge that’s why, the first step in teaching in teaching is building a healthy relationship with the students that is based on mutual love and respect.

v  Considering each student as an important individual not as a number. In a class, the teacher will be subjected to students from different regions, identities, cultural backgrounds and beliefs. Because of that, as a future teacher, I should pay attention to the characteristics of every student in order to know how to address him/her and deliver them the information in the way that suits them without hurting their ego. Occasionally, students feel demotivated if their ego was attacked thus they repel and neglect education. I should be very careful while talking with them so that I won’t hurt anyone of them. Children pass through cognitive development stages in different paces thus the teacher should know how to deal with each student according to where he/she stands since they will definitely be different. Each student is like a diamond that is waiting to be molded to turn into a beautiful piece of art, and as a teacher, I have the opportunity to contribute in that master piece.

v  Always being ready. As a teacher, I should take my job with full dedication, commitment and preparation. I should be able to cover the material and be able to answer the questions of the students. However, a teacher can't know everything so it's okay if he/she didn't have information about a certain topic, what's more important is for him/her to check that topic later and explain what the students want to know. I should also be tolerant and accept criticism whether from the faculty or the students and turn it to something positive in order to improve my skills.

v  Showing students that learning is fun. Many students link the idea of school and learning with boredom and routine. As a teacher, I should always be dynamic and I should crave for new ideas and learning styles. There are a lot of ways to explain a certain point for them that are interesting and satisfying for their needs of knowledge, curiosity, and engaging. By using such methods, students will not consider learning as a duty only, but they will love the idea of it and earn more knowledge.

v  Trying new things and showing variety. The domain of education is in constant stage of evolvement. Every now and then, new theories are being made that take from the previous ones and adjust them according to the changing needs of the students. Also, with each generation, the ideas and perspectives of the students change that's why, a teacher should always be up to date with the news about modifications to secure an efficient classroom experience. So I should try to invent and get interesting game like activities.

v  Engaging students. Students are like a sponge, they absorb the information that they learn. The teacher's job is not only to give them the knowledge; he/she has to engage them in the process, since it helps them save the information in their long term memory.

v  Controlling the classroom. No matter how much my background knowledge is rich, and no matter how I'm enthusiastic as a teacher, I will not be able to achieve my objectives in an unstable classroom. Before teaching students, I should be able to manage the classroom. If it was a noisy, there will be many barriers for communication and the message won't be transferred to the students thus it will fail and require extra effort and time. A teacher should value and appreciate time and learn how to manage it with her program and lesson plans.

v  Take decisions on spot. It happened to me once that one student asked me a question and I was unfamiliar with so I wasn’t able to retrieve all the theories and methods that I learned at that moment to decide what was best to do and I just followed my instincts and said what I thought was right. One major aspect of a teacher’s character is being able to think fast at the spot about the correct things to do in certain situations to guide students

v  Managing time. This is the last point that I am going to mention. “Time is money”, this is a quote that illustrates the importance and value of time. As a teacher, I should be able to divide my time on the different tasks and objectives I need to fulfill in the classroom so that I will be relaxed and students won’t feel the stress and pressure. By knowing how to benefit from time, I will be able to finish tasks early, be more productive, and provide students with better experiences in learning.

And last but not least, a philosophy is flexible especially in the domain of education. There is always a place for something better to take place since the main concern is the benefit of the students. What’s more important than the philosophy is applying it in the classroom since only by doing so change will occur and education will become more effective and fruitful.

This was my philosophy before I started practicum II. Since then, a lot of things changed and I realized that the process of observing and learning needs time and patience and being in the place of an observer is easier than being the actual teacher!!

Being able to observe for a whole year gave me better knowledge of the classroom and everything surrounding it. It turned out that getting deeper contributed in experiencing the teaching process in its different aspects, situations, and events.

Everything that I’ve mentioned above is true, credible, and essential for a teacher. But what’s more important is to apply these values and ideas in the classroom as a future teacher. It’s easy to say the teacher should be this and the teacher should use that, but when it comes to the actual process, doing all these things takes effort, practice, and dedication.

Teaching is a difficult job that needs a lot of attention and work, stress is always there, and piles of work awaits every teacher, but having a tough personality, believing in success and the message of education, and craving for the better aids through the way.

The major change that I’ve witnessed is about the effectiveness of some approaches of teaching. In a specific situation, one method may not work but it can in a different one so the judgment about the use of a certain method shouldn’t be final. What’s important is to check if it matches the students’ needs and help in reaching the destined goal. So as a teacher, I shouldn’t reject a theory or method because it is not preferable, I should check my classroom, the students’ needs, and the goal to see if it will work or not. It is also true that some very popular and successful theories may not work in a certain situation so it’s all about its effectiveness if the students learned or not.

Another point is classroom management that controls the amount of information and activities done in the classroom, but a new thing to mention is how to do it. Many teachers suffer from time and may end up with either finishing ahead of it or it finishes before they are done. From what I’ve observed and experienced when I taught, managing time needs practice to be able to balance it with teaching because several factors affect it like the level of the students, how they absorb the information, the type of information presented, and how much the activities need. So, all teachers especially new ones should plan ahead of time, and put an estimated time for each session with expected answers in order to have an idea of how the session is going to work. I should always check time to see if each part is taking the estimated time and in case something happened I should have a plan B because I’m the teacher and I control the class. The students need my guidance and walk according to my plan.

Preparing my material ahead of time is essential before each session. The material should be ready and I should put them in class early to avoid wasting time. When dealing with technology, further procedures should be followed like making sure the devices actually work and the cables’ connection is right and that needs check a day before. Technology is a sensitive topic so it should be dealt with carefully.

I should engage the students during the whole period and that only happens if I keep them active, ask them questions, and design activities that will make them busy and productive.

A major part of my class is organizing it. , I should first organize my class in a way that eases learning and minimizes the possibilities of distractions and disruptions. It should also be one that reflects motivation, dynamics, and happiness. The classroom should be full of colors to make students feel comfortable and happy.

The bulletin boards must always be full. As a teacher, I can decorate them with things that are suitable the whole year for example the manners that students should have.

Another idea is to let students decorate the bulletin board with my supervision, by that they will feel a sense of importance and they will believe in what they can offer to their environment. Bulletin boards are also a great place to display the projects of the students since it gives them a sense of pride and they feel that they really are a part of the classroom.

The distribution of the desks is something crucial in the classroom. They should be well organized in order to cause less disruption in the class. Hyperactive students should be placed in the front rows because they tend to move a lot. Also, students with low voices should be placed there since going to the back rows in order to hear them may cause some noise in the front seats.

When welcoming the students at the beginning of the year, it’s important to state clearly how the classroom process should go, what are the rules, and the logical consequences if they are not met.

I will first introduce myself for the students which can be done using variety of activities like bringing material related to me and making them guess how they define aspects of my character. After that, I will make activities for them to define themselves to their friends like bringing materials related to them and talking about them. Such activities help students in knowing each other better, they will also show them how they are similar, and for me, they will make students feel that I’m similar to them thus feeling more safe in the classroom environment and demolishing this sense of inferiority they have concerning me. According to me, my goal is to make students consider me “friendly” but not “their friend”. The relation between us should make them feel confident to share information with me, participate in the class, and enhance their performance but at the same time they should be able to recognize the limits of our relationship.

Writing the rules of the classroom should be the responsibility of the whole class. When doing so, the students will understand them more and they will know what they should do and what they shouldn’t in an indirect way. 4 to 5 rules that are clear and direct are enough for students to comprehend. It will decrease the possibility of breaking them because they are the ones who wrote them, and they will feel that they had the choice in determining a major thing in their teaching process under my control of course. If they didn’t obey the rules, logical consequences must be taken. Students should be aware of them and I should provide them using clear and direct instructions. The logical consequences should be sequenced from the lighter to the heavier ones, and sending the student to the principal’s office should be the last solution. Finally, these rules should be written on big cartoons with attractive colors, and they should be placed in front of the students so that they always remember them because visual aids help students in gaining more output.

As a teacher, I find it most important to be active in the classroom. A teacher should never sit down. I should always be dynamic moving in the classroom and not giving the students a chance to be distracted with something else. Using hand gestures while explaining is a bonus of course. When talking, my tone shouldn’t be monotonous because that makes students bored. So I should always change and be creative by using various approaches. When students tend to misbehave, there are many techniques that can help me in getting them on the right track. For example, there is the physical proximity, knocking on the student’s desk, mentioning the student’s name in an example to make him/her focus, or showing how another student is doing a great job for them to do the same.

When it comes to methods, different types can be used since they all have beneficial sides so I should be eclectic in choosing the points that will help in my class by integrating them. For example, from the direct method I can make students communicate more in the target language by associating meaning to it. From the Audio Lingual method I can make students communicate using the language by taking roles in dialogs with my help. From the silent way, I can make students express themselves more. CLL is beneficial by giving more roles to students and considering their feelings. The Total Physical Response will make the class more enjoyable, dynamic, and free from negative feelings. And at last, the Communicative Approach will make students communicate in a social context and this can be modeled by setting situations they have to act.

The errors of the students are a sensitive issue. When I first started to study English, I thought that my job as a good teacher is to correct their errors. But I forgot something that is overcorrecting. I f I was in the place of the students I won’t be able to handle all this negative feedback since the main goal to start with is being able to communicate using the language then accuracy will happen through time and following up.

Crucial mistakes should be corrected but after the student finishes talking in order to prevent blocking the students’ mind and demotivating him/her. Other mistakes can be taken into consideration also after production but simple ones can be ignored as long as the message of the student is still clear. There are several ways to correct mistakes like recasts, Meta linguistic feedback, and elicitation. When it comes to writing, I shouldn’t consider the notebooks of the students as chances to color with my red pencil, my correction should be based on different point like main ideas, coherence, grammar, and spelling.

The English language is a flexible one that has a large system of rules semantically and syntactically. Due to many changes that happened in it and the huge amount of loan words used in it the English language has a different amount of words that resemble the same concept so as a teacher I can control the level of my language and make it parallel to the students’ one.

The teaching of English should be in a motivating atmosphere that’s why I should praise students when needed and modeling good behavior or samples of some students’ work to help others do the same and strive for praise.

I should always assess students on daily basis since students should leave each class having an idea about what they took and I should always reinforce information by repeating so that they will become more familiar until they reach automaticity.

There are different ways to explain a certain lesson so I should depend on a variety of them. If I present a new way of teaching a lesson it doesn’t mean that it’s wrong because that only depends on whether it worked with students.

Using riddles and songs in the classroom don’t take a lot of time to apply but they will make students more motivated and happy. Such things stay with students for a long time and the proof is that I still remember songs I was given at school as a kid.

The last thing I would like to mention is that the teacher is a lifelong learner and that’s a good part in our job. There’s always place for improvement and place to become better thus achieving the goal of teaching in a more emphasized way. Those students that may be hyperactive, noisy or misbehaving are the life of their parents and the apples of their eyes, so we should treat them the same and respect them.