Observations as well as teaching and learning experiences were done at the English Language Institute on campus at California State University Sacramento. This campus serves a diverse student population predominantly between the ages of 18-30 with less than 1% of the students falling outside of this age bracket. Students come from Saudi Arabia, Libya, Tunisia, Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam, Haiti, Italy, Brazil, and more. The majority of students are from Saudi Arabia, Korea and Vietnam. The program consists of 8 levels in Speaking & Listening, Reading & Vocabulary, and Grammar & Composition. A variety of electives are offered during each 8 week, intensive term in addition to pronunciation classes for the 1-4 level students.
As I began my TESOL journey in this program, I had expectations that I would be taught “how to teach”. I expected I would be given explicit guidance on what type of teacher I should be. However, it was quickly revealed that becoming a great teacher was much like becoming a great artist. It was not only about learning how to see the students, but also about learning how to recognize what works and why it works. Carol Rodgers (2002) quotes Anne McCrary Sullivan (2000) suggesting that,
“… ‘art and artists can offer us a model of aesthetic sensibility- an ability to see- from which we as teachers, teacher educators, and researchers might learn…’ (this sensibility) demands ‘a high level of consciousness about what one sees… a fine attention to detail and form: the perception of relations (tensions and harmonies); the perception of nuance (colors and meaning); and the perception of change (shifts and subtle motions)’” (as quoted in Rodgers, 2002, p. 230).
This quote impacted me as an artist becoming a teacher, tuning in my senses to how I see the classroom. I based my teaching philosophy, my assignments, lesson plans and personal reflection on the idea of “learning how to see”. As I engaged this idea of “learning to see” in formulating my lesson plans and reflecting on my observations, it was important to me to see the students bring their expertise, life experience, and personalities into the lesson in order to create meaningful expressions. In order to accomplish this, I focused my lessons on constructivist theories and communicative language teaching experiences in the classroom. Constructivist theories support the ideas that students contribute to their own learning and each others’ learning as much as the instructor does, believing as Celce-Murcia (2014) writes, “…knowledge can be created collectively…” I came to realize that if we see our students’ as well equipped as they enter the classroom, that knowing them or “learning to see” how we can incorporate their contributions to the classroom, would support a communicative language-teaching atmosphere and activities. Communicative language teaching brings meaning into each interaction within the classroom for the sake of meaning making as opposed to focusing on the structures of the language using such activities that engage their opinions and interests (i.e. debates and discussions) (Bell, 2009). When students are allowed to bring their own meaning into classroom interactions, this supports both constructivist theories of students contributing to their own learning, while utilizing the principles behind CLT. Again, these classroom practices engage the teacher’s senses as well by allowing us to see our students in the most naturally communicative manner. Lessons based on these theories support the idea of “learning to see” because they create an environment where this is possible.
Each of the lessons I developed and implemented throughout this program have been intentionally designed to set up a classroom in which students were bringing their own experiences to the table to create meaning in a way that I, as their teacher, will be able to see their strengths and be able to incorporate those in the classroom, while they benefit from using the language in a relevant manner. As I learned to see my students, I also learned to see myself as a teacher and critique my habits and practices. Kumaravadivelu (2003) discusses reflective teaching as, “…a holistic approach that emphasizes creativity, artistry, and context sensitivity,” (p. 10) calling teachers “transformative intellectuals”. When he speaks of teachers in this way, he defines their role as having a “commitment to world-making” (Kumaravadivelu, 2014, p. 14), meaning that these teachers validate student cultures in the classroom in a way that creates solidarity and ultimately lowers the student’s affective filter.
My teaching philosophy of preferring a student-centered classroom- one that focuses on strengths as opposed to deficits, and one that requires learning experiences to be relevant- have not been altered. Instead, where I believed before this was something that could be taught explicitly, I now see that this is a skill we as teachers are continually developing as we apply principles and practices, critiques and creative ideas into our toolbox of proficiencies and talents. I do not believe teaching skills can be spoon-fed any longer, but that it takes a heart and will determined to draw the greatest potential from the students.
In my teaching and learning experiences, I was able to apply the principles of “learning to see,” to real classroom practice. I was full of fear regarding the challenge of not being told what to do for my classroom and dreaded being caught in a position of not being understood, or being unable to adequately serve my students questions with appropriate answers. Not only did I find these fears inevitable, but also the dread I experienced in the face of these unavoidable realities dissipated rapidly as I realized that not only do others struggle with these same challenges, teaching is not a science to be perfected; rather it is a perpetual adventure that shapes our perspectives and sharpens our skills for the benefit of our students.
After my experiences in Practicum A, I had expected this term to run more smoothly, though I knew my challenges I was prepared to work on were not easily conquered. At the close of the last session, the main struggles I wished to address dealt with modifying my speed and depth of explanation and modeling of activities to my classroom. I had noted that my speech was very rapid for ELLs, and though my lessons were well prepared, I was unsure of myself in my explanations of each step when explaining the stages of each activity to the class. My goals as I began this session were to better prepare my explanations through practicing my dialogue previously to teaching, as well as being more conscious of my pace. In addition, I determined that I needed to model more thoroughly for students and made a point to furnish each activity with ample examples of what was expected.
For these teaching and learning experiences, I created a dialogue for myself prior to teaching the lesson, which I practiced as I would a speech as I timed myself. This helped me become more aware of my pace and how much time I was spending on the instruction portion of the lesson. I was able to feel more confident in the information I was presenting and realized what needed more explanation, as well as what was unnecessary information that would potentially only waste time. This practice was so helpful I continued writing dialogues for subsequent lessons. As I practiced the dialogues, I modified my instruction to make it more relevant and ultimately, I was more confident in my explanation as well as my pace for the students. The change was obvious with the first lesson I taught, as my instruction was more deliberate and included significantly fewer false starts.
Another observation that my host teacher had made was to ensure that I modeled the lesson, and followed up to ensure students understood the instruction with more than just, “Does everyone understand what we are doing?” To switch this up, I provided an entire fictitious version of our activity already completed, of which each student received a copy. I went over each portion of the activity and examples, following up with, “Does anyone have any questions?” I was encouraged by the amount of questions that my students engaged in versus the blank stares and nods I received in previous experiences when I asked if everyone understood. This taught me that my questions needed to be as deliberate and open-ended as my explanations in order to open the necessary doors for participation.
For the second teaching and learning experience, I practiced the same habits of making a dialogue for instruction and practicing out loud, as well as providing the students with literal fictitious examples that modeled each activity. My instruction was still a little too fasted paced for the level I taught, however the examples helped in addition to the open ended, “What are your questions before we start?”
Improvements Needed
Each TLE experience provided me with distinctive challenges. For my first TLE this term, I had a well-planned lesson for the Reading and Vocabulary class. The host teacher warned me previously that this class, as a unit, tended to grasp things a little more slowly than previous terms. He wanted me to prepare my lesson so that I gave them a generous amount of time to understand and complete the project. While I did modify the lesson and my expectations, I did not modify it enough so that I could effectively culminate the lesson. This was not a time management issue as much as it was an issue of not being in tune with my class and what they needed from me, and the lesson itself. While this is something that comes more easily to seasoned teachers, and those who know their students well, this was a vital point made by my host teacher. In reflection, I realized I needed to be more present with my students and less so with my lesson. I was so aware of the objective I wanted to accomplish and how I would accomplish it, that I temporarily lost sight of what that would look like for this group of students.
For the second TLE, I taught a class that was notoriously disinterested in the class content. The class was a low-intermediate Reading and Vocabulary class. Many of the students were not reading the book or even attending class regularly. This was discussed with the host teacher previously to teaching the class, as well as the unusual nature of this lackadaisical behavior from the class as a whole. I attempted to incorporate group work to teach paraphrasing, in hopes that the students would find the interaction motivating, however it didn’t improve the classroom environment. What I failed to realize was the personality of this class was not a cohesive one to begin with, and the students were not anxious to interact with one another. It occurred to me that I was trying my perception of what would work to engage these students instead of considering what might be simply shy personalities. In this case independent work might have been more productive for this class. Again, this was a case of having an idea of how things should go instead of being flexible and present with the personality of the classroom.
Ultimately, I realized that while I am confident in the knowledge I have gained in this program, overconfidence in my abilities as a teacher could easily overshadow my students’ needs. It has become apparent that in order to be an effective teacher, the lesson planning does not end with the written lesson plan itself, but instead needs to be modified within the classroom to adapt to the needs of the students and their learning styles, personalities, comfort level, etc. I believe this is something that will take a very conscious effort on my part, as being flexible does not come naturally to me when I have a well-formulated plan. I will determine to use needs analysis and surveys within my classrooms as a constant reminder to myself to check in with students and how I may better serve their ever-changing needs.
These challenges that I was able to realize by observing my own and others’ teaching practices have assisted in honing my “seeing skills” as a teacher. Practicing taking that step back and reevaluating again and again was a vital part of my learning experience and development as a teacher. I not only practiced seeing the issues and potential pitfalls of my habits as a teacher, I was also given an opportunity to troubleshoot those problems with professionals and colleagues. While I know I still have much to learn as I embark on my teaching journey, I feel well equipped and supported with knowledge and encouragement from others in the field. It is no longer a fear-filled journey of unexpected outcomes that I will not know how to face, but an ongoing series of adventures to be discovered and shared with my colleagues, as well as those that I have the pleasure of teaching and learning from along the way.
As I began my TESOL journey in this program, I had expectations that I would be taught “how to teach”. I expected I would be given explicit guidance on what type of teacher I should be. However, it was quickly revealed that becoming a great teacher was much like becoming a great artist. It was not only about learning how to see the students, but also about learning how to recognize what works and why it works. Carol Rodgers (2002) quotes Anne McCrary Sullivan (2000) suggesting that,
“… ‘art and artists can offer us a model of aesthetic sensibility- an ability to see- from which we as teachers, teacher educators, and researchers might learn…’ (this sensibility) demands ‘a high level of consciousness about what one sees… a fine attention to detail and form: the perception of relations (tensions and harmonies); the perception of nuance (colors and meaning); and the perception of change (shifts and subtle motions)’” (as quoted in Rodgers, 2002, p. 230).
This quote impacted me as an artist becoming a teacher, tuning in my senses to how I see the classroom. I based my teaching philosophy, my assignments, lesson plans and personal reflection on the idea of “learning how to see”. As I engaged this idea of “learning to see” in formulating my lesson plans and reflecting on my observations, it was important to me to see the students bring their expertise, life experience, and personalities into the lesson in order to create meaningful expressions. In order to accomplish this, I focused my lessons on constructivist theories and communicative language teaching experiences in the classroom. Constructivist theories support the ideas that students contribute to their own learning and each others’ learning as much as the instructor does, believing as Celce-Murcia (2014) writes, “…knowledge can be created collectively…” I came to realize that if we see our students’ as well equipped as they enter the classroom, that knowing them or “learning to see” how we can incorporate their contributions to the classroom, would support a communicative language-teaching atmosphere and activities. Communicative language teaching brings meaning into each interaction within the classroom for the sake of meaning making as opposed to focusing on the structures of the language using such activities that engage their opinions and interests (i.e. debates and discussions) (Bell, 2009). When students are allowed to bring their own meaning into classroom interactions, this supports both constructivist theories of students contributing to their own learning, while utilizing the principles behind CLT. Again, these classroom practices engage the teacher’s senses as well by allowing us to see our students in the most naturally communicative manner. Lessons based on these theories support the idea of “learning to see” because they create an environment where this is possible.
Each of the lessons I developed and implemented throughout this program have been intentionally designed to set up a classroom in which students were bringing their own experiences to the table to create meaning in a way that I, as their teacher, will be able to see their strengths and be able to incorporate those in the classroom, while they benefit from using the language in a relevant manner. As I learned to see my students, I also learned to see myself as a teacher and critique my habits and practices. Kumaravadivelu (2003) discusses reflective teaching as, “…a holistic approach that emphasizes creativity, artistry, and context sensitivity,” (p. 10) calling teachers “transformative intellectuals”. When he speaks of teachers in this way, he defines their role as having a “commitment to world-making” (Kumaravadivelu, 2014, p. 14), meaning that these teachers validate student cultures in the classroom in a way that creates solidarity and ultimately lowers the student’s affective filter.
My teaching philosophy of preferring a student-centered classroom- one that focuses on strengths as opposed to deficits, and one that requires learning experiences to be relevant- have not been altered. Instead, where I believed before this was something that could be taught explicitly, I now see that this is a skill we as teachers are continually developing as we apply principles and practices, critiques and creative ideas into our toolbox of proficiencies and talents. I do not believe teaching skills can be spoon-fed any longer, but that it takes a heart and will determined to draw the greatest potential from the students.
In my teaching and learning experiences, I was able to apply the principles of “learning to see,” to real classroom practice. I was full of fear regarding the challenge of not being told what to do for my classroom and dreaded being caught in a position of not being understood, or being unable to adequately serve my students questions with appropriate answers. Not only did I find these fears inevitable, but also the dread I experienced in the face of these unavoidable realities dissipated rapidly as I realized that not only do others struggle with these same challenges, teaching is not a science to be perfected; rather it is a perpetual adventure that shapes our perspectives and sharpens our skills for the benefit of our students.
After my experiences in Practicum A, I had expected this term to run more smoothly, though I knew my challenges I was prepared to work on were not easily conquered. At the close of the last session, the main struggles I wished to address dealt with modifying my speed and depth of explanation and modeling of activities to my classroom. I had noted that my speech was very rapid for ELLs, and though my lessons were well prepared, I was unsure of myself in my explanations of each step when explaining the stages of each activity to the class. My goals as I began this session were to better prepare my explanations through practicing my dialogue previously to teaching, as well as being more conscious of my pace. In addition, I determined that I needed to model more thoroughly for students and made a point to furnish each activity with ample examples of what was expected.
For these teaching and learning experiences, I created a dialogue for myself prior to teaching the lesson, which I practiced as I would a speech as I timed myself. This helped me become more aware of my pace and how much time I was spending on the instruction portion of the lesson. I was able to feel more confident in the information I was presenting and realized what needed more explanation, as well as what was unnecessary information that would potentially only waste time. This practice was so helpful I continued writing dialogues for subsequent lessons. As I practiced the dialogues, I modified my instruction to make it more relevant and ultimately, I was more confident in my explanation as well as my pace for the students. The change was obvious with the first lesson I taught, as my instruction was more deliberate and included significantly fewer false starts.
Another observation that my host teacher had made was to ensure that I modeled the lesson, and followed up to ensure students understood the instruction with more than just, “Does everyone understand what we are doing?” To switch this up, I provided an entire fictitious version of our activity already completed, of which each student received a copy. I went over each portion of the activity and examples, following up with, “Does anyone have any questions?” I was encouraged by the amount of questions that my students engaged in versus the blank stares and nods I received in previous experiences when I asked if everyone understood. This taught me that my questions needed to be as deliberate and open-ended as my explanations in order to open the necessary doors for participation.
For the second teaching and learning experience, I practiced the same habits of making a dialogue for instruction and practicing out loud, as well as providing the students with literal fictitious examples that modeled each activity. My instruction was still a little too fasted paced for the level I taught, however the examples helped in addition to the open ended, “What are your questions before we start?”
Improvements Needed
Each TLE experience provided me with distinctive challenges. For my first TLE this term, I had a well-planned lesson for the Reading and Vocabulary class. The host teacher warned me previously that this class, as a unit, tended to grasp things a little more slowly than previous terms. He wanted me to prepare my lesson so that I gave them a generous amount of time to understand and complete the project. While I did modify the lesson and my expectations, I did not modify it enough so that I could effectively culminate the lesson. This was not a time management issue as much as it was an issue of not being in tune with my class and what they needed from me, and the lesson itself. While this is something that comes more easily to seasoned teachers, and those who know their students well, this was a vital point made by my host teacher. In reflection, I realized I needed to be more present with my students and less so with my lesson. I was so aware of the objective I wanted to accomplish and how I would accomplish it, that I temporarily lost sight of what that would look like for this group of students.
For the second TLE, I taught a class that was notoriously disinterested in the class content. The class was a low-intermediate Reading and Vocabulary class. Many of the students were not reading the book or even attending class regularly. This was discussed with the host teacher previously to teaching the class, as well as the unusual nature of this lackadaisical behavior from the class as a whole. I attempted to incorporate group work to teach paraphrasing, in hopes that the students would find the interaction motivating, however it didn’t improve the classroom environment. What I failed to realize was the personality of this class was not a cohesive one to begin with, and the students were not anxious to interact with one another. It occurred to me that I was trying my perception of what would work to engage these students instead of considering what might be simply shy personalities. In this case independent work might have been more productive for this class. Again, this was a case of having an idea of how things should go instead of being flexible and present with the personality of the classroom.
Ultimately, I realized that while I am confident in the knowledge I have gained in this program, overconfidence in my abilities as a teacher could easily overshadow my students’ needs. It has become apparent that in order to be an effective teacher, the lesson planning does not end with the written lesson plan itself, but instead needs to be modified within the classroom to adapt to the needs of the students and their learning styles, personalities, comfort level, etc. I believe this is something that will take a very conscious effort on my part, as being flexible does not come naturally to me when I have a well-formulated plan. I will determine to use needs analysis and surveys within my classrooms as a constant reminder to myself to check in with students and how I may better serve their ever-changing needs.
These challenges that I was able to realize by observing my own and others’ teaching practices have assisted in honing my “seeing skills” as a teacher. Practicing taking that step back and reevaluating again and again was a vital part of my learning experience and development as a teacher. I not only practiced seeing the issues and potential pitfalls of my habits as a teacher, I was also given an opportunity to troubleshoot those problems with professionals and colleagues. While I know I still have much to learn as I embark on my teaching journey, I feel well equipped and supported with knowledge and encouragement from others in the field. It is no longer a fear-filled journey of unexpected outcomes that I will not know how to face, but an ongoing series of adventures to be discovered and shared with my colleagues, as well as those that I have the pleasure of teaching and learning from along the way.