Teaching Philosophy

My classroom vision is that “We will be globally inspired, driven ESOL scholars who persist through every obstacle and better the community around us.”

We will do this by:

1. Engaging in the world around us through participating in cross-cultural conversations and community service-learning,

2. Strengthening our socio-emotional intelligence through daily restorative circles,

And 3. We will treat our classroom as a BRAVE space to practice our English.

My students need to be supportive and collaborative with each other in my classroom in order to have a productive and effective ESOL learning space. They need to work together to break down challenging aspects of the English language and ask and extend help to their peers through cross-cultural communication. Students need to have a brave culture in my classroom, where they are not afraid to attempt challenging questions, and sometimes make mistakes. Students will understand that we have a culture of respect for our peers and the teacher, always aligning to LEAD (Learning, Engaged, Accountable, and Determined) expectations. Furthermore, they will be comfortable approaching the teacher with problems both academic and personal.

From my first year to my second year of teaching, this vision has been through quite a bit of refinement. I noticed early on in my teaching career that my ESOL students struggled with being engaged in our school community. This is why the first part of my vision focuses heavily on community involvement. Through being engaged in the community students can put their English language skills to use in a real-world context, educate other students about their culture, and make a difference in our local school and Baltimore city community. We do this through being involved in extra-curricular organizations and doing classroom projects that contribute to bettering the society around us.

Secondly, restorative practices have become a pillar of my classroom management, and instructional strategies. Through verbal and written restorative circles, my students have addressed trauma, build friendships, and developed a culture of respect in my classroom. Furthermore, we consistently use restorative practices to relate our own lives to the classroom content we are learning, which helps us become more engaged in conversation and analysis of texts. This practice enables us to have a strong classroom culture and community of ESOL learners.

The final objective of my vision is to encourage my students to treat my classroom as a “brave space.” Learning a new language can be an intimidating process, especially when my students are surrounded in a school of native English speakers. I also speak conversational Spanish, however in order to ensure that I am a culturally responsive teacher, I do not use it in the classroom to prevent singling out students. Therefore, I encourage my students to not be afraid of failure, and I do not tolerate other students bringing each other down based on their academic performance. This is partially reflected in my grading philosophy, where I grade my students according to their progress with their English language development level and effort rather than their pure abilities on paper. This helps students break out of their comfort zones and dare to work harder for academic and personal success and accept that mistakes will happen.

By building mentally and emotionally strong students who engage with others around them, I hope to see the success of my ESOL students continue as my teaching career progresses.