Exploring my own beliefs!

a). My assumptions

1. In English teaching being a resourceful person is mandatory.

“According to the activities, these were varied and gave a fresh notion of the vocabulary that was related to personal information” (Journal entry 1).

“To engage students in the recognition and pronunciation of family members, the teacher used a puppet called “miquín”. She made a dialogue with him, asking and giving information for the family members”. (Journal entry 2)

“When she was trying to project some slides on the board, lights went out. Immediately, the teacher continued with the next activity, she had previously prepared. Everything seemed to be connected and students were very attentive”. (Journal entry 2)

2. In English teaching practice, monitoring is required to guide our students’ tasks.

“When students were working on some pieces of cardboard the teacher was carefully monitoring her students work”. (Journal entry 1)

“Besides, the teacher emphasized pronunciation and he was monitoring each group work. Moreover, Instructions for performing the activities were very clear”. (Journal entry 4)

“I observed that the teacher was at her students’ side, helping them with the pronunciation of words and phrases”. (Journal 3)

3. Teachers should provide students’ feedback when necessary.

“When students were working on some pieces of cardboard the teacher was carefully monitoring her students work”. (Journal entry 1)

“…teacher is constantly giving feedback to her students. I think that constant accompaniment helps students to redirect their tasks”. (Journal entry 3)

“What is more, this teacher is open-minded because when we give her feedback she is always attentive and she looks for solutions and strategies to improve her teaching practice”. (Journal entry 3)

4. The practice of teaching enables teachers to carry out a well-organized lesson plan.

“In my view, this class was organized because all the activities were previously planned”. (Journal entry 1)

“…teacher had a plan B when electricity went out. She controlled the situation and continued her class normally”. (Journal entry 2)

“Class preparation had a significant impact on the class development. The teacher prepared a variety of activities. Besides, the length of these activities was to five or ten minutes maximum”. (Journal entry 2)

“Through this observation we can reflect on the importance of planning and connecting our students in every activity we do in our lessons”. (Mauro’s comment, journal entry 2) 

5.  English learning involves students’ and teachers’ motivation.

“Our purpose as teachers is to guide them when necessary and also provide them with motivation and inspiration”. (Teaching beliefs)

“A teacher who is not motivated to learn every day is an obsolete person”. (Conceptualizing teaching acts)

“Students were highly motivated to participate”. (Journal entry 3)

“Bearing in mind Solis’ ideas, teachers should strive to draw the students’ attention in a motivating and interesting way”. (Journal entry 4)

“Nonetheless, I had great influence in learning English because my teacher was good at it and she motivated me to be better every day”. (Autobiography)

“On the whole, learners can learn through experiences because they are motivated to reach their personal projects (goals)”. (My teaching metaphor).

b). Sources from my beliefs!

To start with, I have taken these assumptions mainly from my experience not only as a teacher but also as an observer. The former, because when I teach a lesson, I always try to do my best such us accompanied my students and motivate them to learn. Nonetheless, I have noticed that being resourceful is a key issue when teaching. If something does not work, you have to prepare plan A, B, C, and so on. The latter, as an outsider I realized that teachers that were observed, try to implement many activities and strategies. For sure, these beliefs come from practice. Moreover, this is the result of teachers’ creativity and commitment.

Another source that I think it has been really useful, is theory. Generally, theory supports teachers when applying knowledge into practice. In this vein, theory and practice become important to develop good learning environments. I could take as an example the reflective teaching module. Here, there are many things that we do not consider when teaching a lesson. That is why, many researchers have made important contributions helping us to improve our practice.

c). Facing challenges!

First of all, I think I should be more aware of my students’ needs. I will apply different strategies that can help my students’ education. In this sense, they will probably be motivated to learn. Furthermore, I will bring them some appealing material in which they can participate actively. Needless to say, lesson planning is really important when you are going to a classroom. For this reason, I will try to be prepared every class and plan anticipated problems or activities. Indeed, challenges appear every time, so we have to face them every day. We as teachers are artists! So… let’s make artistic works!