My Philosophy of Teaching and Responsibilities

My Personal Teaching Philosophy 

Through the years, my philosophy of teaching has changed, specially since I started my teacher training studies. During these four years studying in Lenguas Vivas Bariloche, I grew and matured as a teacher but above all I learnt from   my tutors, who were not only professional but also wonderful teachers and humans beings. Thus, on my path to become a teacher, my ideas and feelings about teaching and education have changed and nurtured from the knowledge acquired.

My Teaching Philosophy is based on the idea of creating a positive and stress-free environment where my students and I have a personal encounter. During this personal encounter, the importance lies in the appropriate rapport that I build with my students.  Thus, in the process of getting to know my students, I try to let them know that I care about them and their success in the learning process. In this sense, I work hard to make this personal encounter as meaningful as possible. Therefore, this experience should be engaging, interesting and enjoyable for both, my students and me. In order to create this atmosphere in my classroom, I take into account my students´ age, interests, motivations, learning styles and of course, their level of English.  My ideal classroom environment is possible when I build positive connections with my students, so they can trust me. To connect to my students I try several strategies, like greeting them at the door, bringing humor to the classroom and sharing some personal information about me which can build a positive connection with the entire classroom. This is good for me and good for them in the classroom and I can see it on their work and enthusiasm. Other important ingredient in my classroom is communication. I work so as to create a communicative context where my students can achieve their personal goals as regard the target language. I try hard to provide valuable educational resources to satisfy my students’ needs. Therefore, I can adapt my teaching practices taking into account different approaches and methods so as to help and guide my students to accomplish their learning aims.

As an English teacher I know that it is very rewarding for me to learn from my students and share “real” time with them. I enjoy being in the classroom with my students. Something new always happens so we learn from each other. I am motivated to continue developing my skills as a teacher because I want to give my best to my students.

Teaching Responsibilities

As a teacher I certainly know that I have an endless list of responsibilities for my students, their parents and the school. I notice that a teacher performs several tasks and duties during her daily routine. It is not only about planning the lessons. From my personal point of view, I consider that a teacher guides her students to fulfill their learning goals and, besides helps them to find their interests and needs. A teacher is not only a teacher but a communicator, a builder, a lifelong learner, a professional, a facilitator, a protector and so on.  

In my role as a professional teacher it is of paramount importance that I always behave in an ethical manner taking into account my students and their rights. In this sense, I should be respectful, supportive, flexible, reflective, creative and caring when interacting with my students, parents and professional peers.

As a teacher, it is my responsibility to reflect about my decisions, actions and beliefs so as to improve my teaching practices.

I think that in the digital era one of our responsibilities is to make a good use of ICT tools during the lessons since they help to make them more motivating for students. Moreover, ICT tools are a must in this century that is why I have to be updated in order to use them with my students.  Another important responsibility is to develop autonomy and critical thinking with my students as I consider that these skills will help them to understand the real world once they finished school.