Experience and Expectations:
I've started working as an English Language assistant in Spain to get a feel for teaching in a classroom setting. I spent my university career working as a swim instructor and volunteered with a program to help teach social skills to children with autism spectrum disorder. I discovered that I loved working with children in my spare time. They always make me smile; teach me to look at the world in new ways; and to remember that not everything in life has to be so serious and have fun. The best feeling I have found yet, is seeing the joy on a child's face when they accomplish something they hadn't before, and knowing that I had the chance to be part of that success.
My teaching philosophy, that I've come to from teaching swimming, is that learning is fun, so you may as well smile and have fun teaching too.
My goal for myself is to try, everyday, to be just a little better than the day before. I know that nobody gets everything right the first time, including myself, so it's important to admit my mistakes and learn from them. How else can I grow? If this is what I expect from the children I teach, I believe it's important to do no less as a teacher.
My goal for myself as a learner is more simple: to learn something new everyday.
The only thing I know is that I know nothing --- Plato's account of Socrates
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School Placement
Characteristics of My School
My school in Spain is in a smaller town/city outside of the city of Madrid, and it was built fairly recently. It seems to be more than a little underfunded: there were no balls or equipment for gym classes until the gym teachers went out and bought some with their own money this year; computers/projectors are only just starting to be installed; and they don't even have enough proper classrooms because (I've been told) that construction isn't quite finished yet, after 4/5 years. These things sometimes make lesson planning hard: I come up with an (arguably great) idea, then realise I don't have access to the equipment/technology in the classroom. This has been a challenge for me to try to prepare lesson plans that I think will interest the students.
Most of my classes are in sciences (3rd of ESO Biology, or 3rd and 2nd of ESO Physics and Chemistry) or English classes (2nd of ESO). In general, I usually prefer to have whole class or small group discussions, in order to let thee students try to find solutions on their own; or interactive, guided discussions. On one hand, the students often seem to be more interested in a lesson when they can participate in someway, but, on the other hand, sometimes, when I ask a question, they look at me as if they aren't sure if they are actually supposed to answer it or not. That said, seeing the students become more comfortable, and confident, in answering my questions (especially those that have no "right" answer) has definitely been a highlight over the course of the year.
Most of my classes are in sciences (3rd of ESO Biology, or 3rd and 2nd of ESO Physics and Chemistry) or English classes (2nd of ESO). In general, I usually prefer to have whole class or small group discussions, in order to let thee students try to find solutions on their own; or interactive, guided discussions. On one hand, the students often seem to be more interested in a lesson when they can participate in someway, but, on the other hand, sometimes, when I ask a question, they look at me as if they aren't sure if they are actually supposed to answer it or not. That said, seeing the students become more comfortable, and confident, in answering my questions (especially those that have no "right" answer) has definitely been a highlight over the course of the year.
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Final Project
Because I work in, and enjoy, a variety of subjects I have decided not to choose a specific subject as my topic, but rather a teaching style: social-constructivism and enquiry-based learning. My lesson plans include opportunities for the students to participate in presentations, and to learn that the point of answering a question is not to always be right the first time; as well, I try to include opportunities for the students to work with, and learn from, each other on more student-led projects. This seems to be a new style of learning for many of the students so, in trying to teach a subject in an enquiry-based method, the lessons are still fairly "teacher-guided," but I try to emphasise the involvement of the students. I feel this teaching style is important, and effective, in all subject areas: in physical sciences because the very nature of science is enquiry-based, and you don't get the right answer on the first try every time (if ever); in social sciences because new problems require creative and innovative solutions that, again, don't work every time and need to be revised; and even in English because, I believe, it encourages the students to take more responsibility for their own learning as they find new ways that work for them.
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