Education is a journey and teachers are guides for students in order for them to build their own path of knowledge. Most of my beliefs about learning and teaching were built throughout all the years I’ve spent being a student myself and the practices I’ve liked the most from all the educators I’ve had over the years. In addition to this, the first-hand teaching experiences I’ve had so far served to also shape my beliefs and way of thinking and approaching situations in the classroom.
For me, teaching is a garden; where students are the flowers awaiting to bloom and educators are the gardeners that help said flowers grow. To put the aforementioned into context, I believe that the class should be student-centered. In my opinion, as educators, we are guides for students in their learning process, but we must let them build their own path by themselves too; walk alongside students in their journey instead of overshadowing them. The best memories I have from my own teachers are of them being patient with me when I needed the most and giving me the space to learn and grow, both academically and personally. That’s why I also try to follow this now in my journey as a teacher.
What is more, I find it important to not just stick to one methodology and apply it to every student and class that we encounter. Each class is different and, within each of them, students are also different, so I think we need to find the middle ground according to the needs of students and the overall environment of the class. In my years at the ISL, I’ve learned a variety of methods and approaches that can be applied in class and, although I have not tried all of them, I’ve used a handful in different situations and contexts. Moreover, I’ve learned a lot from observing other teachers and many of them have also given me insightful feedback and comments that have helped me build my own set of ideologies and practices.
A very valuable and rewarding aspect of teaching is being able to learn and grow alongside students as well. Each student is a whole world and each classroom is a universe from which something new can be learned every day; therefore, it is important to never take students for granted. I learn a lot from students’ questions, observations that they make, and challenges that are presented in the classroom every once in a while, just as I hope they learn from what I try to convey to them.
Aside from everything mentioned so far, something else I’ve put into practice is incorporating technology in class. As technology is a great part of our daily lives, it provides us many tools that we can use in the classroom to make it more dynamic and to help students further. Technology is an amazing instrument and, I believe that, instead of being afraid of it, we should use it in our favor. We can find endless of resources through it, we just need to help students make wise decisions about which tools they can benefit the most from and teach them about online safety as well.
Lastly, I strongly believe in diversity and making the classroom a safe and welcoming environment for everyone, regardless of anything. That’s why I’m always looking to learn more approaches that can be helpful for every person I might encounter along the way; I try to research and get to know more about minorities and people whose voices often get silenced, as I wish to help a variety of people inside and outside the clasroom. Moreover, I can also spread what I learn to my students so that all of us can be a little more accepting and understanding of everyone. The world in which we live is big and diverse and, I firmly believe that a helping hand of a teacher can make a change bigger than we can imagine. As a teacher, I would love to be part of someone’s journey towards growth, even if it is just one person; the same as I was able to have precious and valuable educators as a student as well.