Personally, my own definition of a good teacher is someone knowledgeable on their subject matter, but also passionate about it as I consider passion to be a crucial component when it comes to teaching since that can be transmitted to the students. Additionally, a good teacher goes beyond just sticking to their subject, they also care about teaching students values such as kindness and respect, in order to be able to form healthy relationships throughout their lives. But, for a teacher to transmit those values to the learners, they have to be an example of the application of such values, as I also believe that a good teacher serves as a role model for students, specially the younger ones, since teachers who were kind and compassionate are the ones that tend to leave a mark on the students’ lives, not only in an academic matter. A good teacher is also able to allow their students to express themselves freely and without judgment, but intervening to provide constructive feedback when necessary. I stand by these qualities of good teaching because that is the kind of teacher I am working to become every single day.

As mentioned above, I put a lot of emphasis on creativity, critical thinking and values, instead of focusing solely on teaching your subject matter. That is because, as a sensitive individual, I always preferred the classes in which the teachers were not so strict and were only concerned about us memorizing and repeating back everything they said. I also really enjoyed activities in which I could express myself with freedom, such as writing stories, reflective essays and even using forms of art like acting and dancing. Regarding the values, it was also my sensitivity that always led me to care deeply about those around me and I truly treasure those teachers who also took the time to shape us into good, respectful and kind human beings.

There are many ways in which I connect my definition of a good teacher with my own teaching methods and strategies. First, I always start my lessons asking my students how they are feeling and letting them know they can rely on me for advice or even just words of encouragement. I am aware of the fact that my students are human beings too, they have their own worries and concerns outside the classroom and I am happy to help or guide them if they ask me to. I also implement a wide variety of different activities in which they can express their creativity and critical thinking skills, such as writing stories, essays, role-play activities, descriptions or presentations of topics of their interest like their favorite artist, movie, book, and so on. Since I teach in an online environment, sometimes I feel like my options to implement creative tasks in the classroom are a bit limited, however, there are plenty of online tools for e-teachers nowadays that are more than just questionnaires or fill-in the blanks. Additionally, I put a lot of emphasis on teaching them values by being the example myself, and also whenever behavioral issues arise, I remind them of the importance of being kind and respectful to one another. Words of encouragement and affirmation are also a big part of my lessons, especially when I sense that the students are feeling overwhelmed or are having a hard time grasping the content. I believe that by simply telling them “you got this”, “you are capable”, “you can do it”, one can really impact the students’ perception of themselves, their abilities and their self-esteem. This also applies to the moment of giving corrections as I prefer to say things like “why don’t you try again?” or “are you completely sure of your answer”and help them correct their mistakes from there, instead of telling them “you are wrong”.

When it comes to evaluation and assessment, I tend to focus more on the fact that the students are putting effort into learning English instead of striving for perfection from their first try, which is an unrealistic goal. Of course, the way in which they are evaluated changes according to their level of proficiency, but since I teach mostly private lessons, I try to stay away from standardized tests and focus more on the development of the students’ skills and the way in which they apply the content that was learned. An example of this is making them write a paragraph using specific verb tenses or vocabulary words that we covered. In that way, I am able to tell if they truly understood the rules of such tense, if their spelling is correct, if there is a subject-verb agreement in their writing, and so on. This also allows them to actually make use of their critical thinking skills, instead of simply selecting options from a multiple choice questionnaire.

As I mentioned before, I teach mostly private classes and they vary from individual to small group lessons. They are also different in age and level of proficiency, since I teach young children to adults. Because of such differences it is quite difficult to make a general description since each class is different, but I can confidently state that most of them have improving their English skills (especially speaking) as a main goal. Whenever I start a class with a new student I always ask them what skill they consider to be most important and almost every student replies “speaking”, because the function of a language is to communicate with others and that is the goal they strive for: being able to communicate fluently in English. However, their main goal is often their greatest challenge as most of them perform better in reading and writing exercises, but have a harder time with listening and speaking. In spite of that, the amount of effort they put on in improving their skills is remarkable, as many of them ask me for extra materials or daily things they can incorporate to improve their English outside the classroom, which is something only a truly motivated student would do.

Finally, in relation to my teaching goals, I would like my students to leave each class with the least amount of doubts possible, as I encourage them to ask questions and to not be ashamed of making mistakes, since that is a natural part of the learning process. I also want them to feel satisfied with the lessons and actually notice their improvement with the passing of time, which is why I don’t mind staying on a specific topic longer than I have planned if they are struggling with it, I prefer to make sure they actually comprehend the content before moving on to the next one. Moreover, as I stated countless times throughout this paper, I would like them to learn how to make use of their creativity, critical thinking and judgment to share their own opinions and most importantly, to develop into kind and respectful human beings.

To conclude, my personal perception of a good teacher is someone who truly cares about their students, beyond academic matters. Someone inspiring, compassionate and kind, as well as knowledgeable and with good teaching strategies. A good teacher also fosters their students’ critical and creative abilities instead of relying on memorization and regurgitation of the content. Good teachers see students as whole human beings and treat them as such, taking into account their individuality as well as their academic performance. My goals to improve as a teacher are to continue to apply these qualities and characteristics into my own classes and also build up my confidence when teaching, which is an aspect that I haven’t mastered yet, but I intend to as I continue to teach in the future.