Zainab's Teaching Philosophy

“Teaching is more than imparting knowledge, it is insuring change. Learning is more than absorbing facts, it is acquiring understanding” (William Arthur Ward). The main purpose of education is to make the individuals effective, productive, and civilized. All these characteristics would allow the individuals to gain a social place and make a difference. That difference is based on teacher’s touch, mark, or finger print. So the teachers are responsible indirectly for building a sophisticated society or a worst one.Each child needs education just as a plant needs water. Students are considered as the basic ingredient in education; as much as the teacher gives from her heart, the students will improve, develop, and succeed.Actually, English language is a universal language, in other words its useful everywhere. In our country English language is considered as a second language, but it’s very important. The world now is open. In order to communicate, learn, and be up to date we need the most popular and simplified language which is English. Also, most of the jobs require English especially in today’s time; it’s the language of prestige. Based on that I like to teach something that would be meaningful, valuable, helpful, and useful in students’ lives, students would use “language” more than any other subject in their life.My main goals in teaching are working with children to make a positive difference in their lives, introduce a useful language for the students, make them appreciate it, motivate them to use this language so they can develop desirable social attitude, and to help the students develop and acquire valuable skills.I think students learn best when they are involved in the learning process; in other words when they have active role in the class not only recipients.  Also, they will learn better if the learning environment is safe, fun, and challenging.Actually, I believe in two main quotes that are related to the teaching and learning process:“Evolve me and I will learn” “Don’t give me a fish every day; teach me how to catch one”. In my opinion, as a teacher to be I should support and assist my students to acquire language easily. I’ll provide for my students the useful tools so they can use, try, and apply things by their own. I will not give them something they know even if it is in the book; I’ll give them tasks that are suitable for their abilities.Group activities or “Cooperative learning” is a basic thing that will be applied in my classroom because students learn from each other. As a teacher to be I will grab my students attention by maximize their attention. My lecture would be divided into chunks; they would be short and interesting, and many a variety of activities would be created for practice.Furthermore, a mixture of declarative (only facts) and procedural (steps) knowledge would be also applied. I will try as hard as possible to make the declarative one meaningful rather than rote. For example, attach real life meanings, relate different topics to each other, elaboration (relate the new knowledge to the prior one), and organization (clustering- charts- webs- maps….these would connect the information to each other and simplify this information). Visual aids and visual images also would be my materials.Moreover, I will enter my class lively, optimistic, and energetic. And instead of coming only to claim and explain, I will let my pupils observe and discover. For example, if I want to teach “relative clauses” I will combine two sentences without using a subordinator. At first, they will be distracted, but after that they will realize that the two sentences should be connected by something. And then, my explanation would go smoother, easily, and faster.Classroom dialogues would be applied in my classroom too, in addition to the assigning authentic activities. Also, I will treat all students equally regardless of their backgrounds, and there will be no “teacher’s pet”. I’ll avoid expectations and attributions as much as possible; trying to know to know and understand my students by myself would be better. Likewise, I will make my students responsible, appreciated, in control, and an essential part in learning process. My materials, assessments, and activities will be based on the students’ levels, needs, abilities, and interests. Focusing on students’ interest is really beneficial because it makes the pupils ready to learn, encouraged, and motivated to give effort.My way of explaining wouldn’t be monotonous. For example, in such a story I can dress up like the main character OR I can explain a lesson about nature, garden, orchard, or spring time outside the classroom.More than that, with each topic, I will introduce and show my students that each topic has a value, importance, utility, or even a cost. So the students will appreciate it and work hard to learn. For example, show them that a certain topic is related to their culture or to their daily life.And before anything, I’ll teach them to expect success, and there is nothing impossible by showing them real life example such as Einstein. Also, I will not forget to teach them how they can set goal (Why should we learn English? / What do you want to be in future?).Consequently, my objectives in each session would be mentioned, clear, and direct. So the students would know what they will learn. And an important point I will follow on is not to jump to another objective if I didn’t reach the first one.Teacher-directed style also will be applied indirectly in my classroom, as well as the learner directed one. For example, I can give my students a list of topics and let them choose. I decide many topics, and give them free choice.Teaching only using books is not effective, so I’ll try to create meaningful materials besides the book. I will follow a logical sequence not teaching everything at once (regular-irregular/ a complete essay). Hands on (engaging) and Heads-on activities are also essential.At last but not least, teaching methods are based on theories. There is no perfect method. It all depends on how, when, and where the teacher applies them. I believe that, the teacher should be wise enough in order to choose the appropriate approaches from here and there. For example, the grammar translation method is outmoded, but sometimes students need translation.As a conclusion I think that the qualities that are needed for an effective teacher:©      Flexibility.
©      Patience.
©      Intelligence.
©      Hard work.
©      Skillfulness.
In my opinion, the teaching journey is endless. When the teachers love what they’re doing and give from their heart, students will be active, ready, energetic, willing, and able to learn. “A students’ life is like a piece of paper on which every teacher leaves a mark”. Although, teaching is not an easy task, but it is a pleasurable one, and each teacher will deal with students having totally different backgrounds, needs, levels, and abilities; her techniques must vary from one to another. The techniques, approaches, tools, and materials are different, but the purpose is one!!At first I will teach my students to put goals and try to reach them; using extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in my classroom is essential, but the focus will be on the intrinsic one that enhances long-term success. I will show them the importance of the universal language “English” in today’s society (ex: in applying for a new job, knowing the English language is a must)When I teach English as a second language, I will work very hard to reach my pupils the correct information and pronunciation. In the classroom, the students will rely on me, being the adult, to guide them and push them further in their education. My focus will be on both fluency and accuracy. I will provide a clear and accurate model for my pupils so they can follow and form correct pronunciation and structure as well. Grammar rules are essential in my classroom; these rules will be taught deductively (in a meaningful way).I will not correct each and every single mistake for my students because that practice would make them feel frustrated and anxious, and it would lower their confidence; they will not even try to learn/user the language anymore. Although, some errors are predicted, and it shows that the learner has already learned the rule, but he/she doesn’t know where to use it (developmental errors).Moreover, my feedback will be given for improving students abilities not to embrace them. Also, explicit correction will be used but rarely. I will use different kinds of corrective feedback:

• Clarification request.
•   Met linguistic feedback.
•   Mixed (keep the conversation going/ focus on the ideas).

I will be correcting indirectly so the students won’t notice that I’m correcting for them. Also, my correction would take place directly if they did errors in something I explained (it's based on the objectives).Group or pair work is hard to control, but that doesn’t mean I will not apply it in my classroom. After taking a course in classroom management, I realized how cooperative learning can be applied. In groups, my students will adopt identifiable roles (writer, timer, presenter, leader, and followers, someone responsible for the material). And this is a kind of role play of action for self-control. The groups will be divided either homogenous or heterogeneous; it depends on my objectives. In addition to that, I will distribute cards (small colorful hands) for each group (redÞI urgently need you/ greenÞI need material/ purpleÞI need help, but I can wait). It’s going to be students-centered. Time, instructions, and procedure will be clear. Amount of noise will be controlled; I will accept the productive one, but the noise that is not useful will be managed (ring a bell/ put a song/ turn the lights off/On). Extra activities will take place in my plan (for early finishers). My feedback will be positive, and students’ questions will be anticipated. In brief, I will work like busy bee to manage cooperative learning.
Because managing the first few days of the school year can set the stage for the entire year, I will let my students to know the classroom policies and mange these policies with them. I’ll be clear from the beginning. Also, my students have the opportunity to discuss the classroom rules and consequences. I will never use the word don’t! Classroom rules will be posted on the bulletin board as a reminder. (Keep your hands and your feet to yourself/ raise your hand/be respectful).As a future teacher, I will try to know my students very well (learning styles/ personalities/ behaviors) so I can engage them in my plan and help them to learn in a variety of ways. I will keep in mind their needs, levels, and abilities while aim planning a lesson/ assessment/ instruction… for example, the lesson will offer opportunities for the different learning styles. Learning will be active; engaging and encouraging are the main approaches to enhance student’s participation.Inclusive environment will be applied in my classroom to support, welcome, and make the students ready to learn Absecon language.Punishment sometimes is needed in the classroom, but personally I prefer to follow a logical consequence instead of punishing the students:Ø  Verbal warning.
Ø  Time-out.
Ø  You break it you fix it (write an apology letter for someone you hurt).
Moreover, I will not be an allergic teacher; if my students understand while they are drawing, I have no problem when they sit in the class draw and pay attention at the same time. I’ll try as hard as possible to be fair and not to pick favorites (hide the names while I am correcting the exams).