The Courage to Teach

THIS IS RELATED TO THE COURAGE TO TEACH BOOK.

I-The following task is about my personal statement trying to express what is at the heart of my life as a future English teacher, and I took into account the following questions:

Why do I want to become a teacher? 

I want to become an English teacher because it is a good way and excellent opportunity to help students at the same time I learn from them, so it is a little interchange of learning and teaching process where the teacher plays an important role, not only in, but also out of the classroom due some of the students might want to follow teacher´s steps.

What do I stand for as a student teacher?

It is important to think back for answering this question, for example: When I was a child, I saw some of my teachers as a kind of heroes because they were excellent professionals with positive attitudes; moreover, they always taught or spoke with knowledge and authority.

For example: in some cases, when I had had any type of problem with my parents, a teacher asked to me: if he/she could help me in any way, then he/she spoke words of wisdom, and that attitude created in me a good concept of them.

 What do I want my legacy as a teacher to be?

To leave a good legacy is one of my best dreams and desires, but that is not easy to reach because I will have to face several problems or differences during the process, not only with my future students but also with my colleagues, and I will have to control them with positive attitude, and learn from them.

On the other hand, that will be one of my main goals as a future English teacher, so I will have to prepare good students not only in the academic area but also for the real life, due they will have to be ready for the competence of the real world.

What can I do to keep track of myself, to “remember” my own heart?

I think that intrinsic motivation is going to help me to keep on track of myself, to remember what my heart says.

When did you first realize that you wanted to be a teacher?

As I said, I noticed that when I was a child.

What were the circumstances of this realization?

I remember that I wanted to be a person who makes the difference in this society because I liked to help others.

How close are you to those feelings today?

I am so happy because I am closer than ever.

 

II-Palmer writes: “ My ability to connect with my students and to connect them with the subject, depends less on the methods I use than on the degree to which I know and trust my selfhood—and I am willing to make it available and vulnerable in the service of learning” (p.10). What does it mean to rely on your selfhood rather than methods?

In my opinion, it means what a good teacher needs to use his own identity, and he does different things in the classroom, and takes some risks because he works with the students´ hearts, emotions, spirits and their affective feelings, so he is able to reach students feel confidence that they learn from an excellent teacher; furthermore, he acts with enthusiasm and joins the students with himself and the subjects.

Finally, creating a good concept and relation between them is one of his main goal than the way he uses methods of teaching.

III. Reflect on your earliest encounters with teaching. If you are drawn to teaching, when did you first feel drawn to it? What was it that drew you? What within you was evoked by teaching—its values, its methods, the way it names and frames reality? What does the nature of teaching reveal about who you are? If you aren’t, share a story about one of your favorite teachers. What do you recall most vividly about that teacher? What was his / her relation to the subject taught? What was the ethos of his/ her classroom?

My first encounter with teaching was some years ago when I started to do my English practices in INSA, and it was a good and unforgettable experience because I taught my first class in a large class, I was so nervous, but I thought that I was well prepared, so during the class I felt secure to myself because I could get control the class. At the end, my tutor who is teacher Nora congratulated me because I taught in a good way. However I know that I have several chances to improve through my English practice.

On the other hand, I was drawn to teaching because I had a great teacher who made me feel especial, he created amazing ties of friendship, and he taught us how to learn in an easy way, and give us clear explanations of real and academic topics. So those were some important values that I could identify of him, but he applied discipline in his classes. 

Besides I could feel that all the students were his priority and his reason of being a teacher. On other words he always searched the best way for helping us by using different methods and techniques.

Moreover, the ethos or climate in the classroom played a good role because he found the way to encourage us to participate in each activity he made. His classes were considered on high quality due everyone learnt in playful manner.

One day, he spoke about the importance of working on you love to do, and that class woke up my wish of teaching, and I said to myself: "I want to be like him when I grow up."

IV-Jane Tompkins discovered that her goal as a teacher had been to put on “performance,” thus distancing herself from students and subject (pp.28-29). Do you identify with her self-criticism? If so, do you share Tompkins’s diagnosis of fear as the driving force behind this distancing? In what ways other than “performance” do teachers set themselves apart?

I am in a disagreement with Jane Tompkins discover because one of the main goal of a teacher is to help my students through their needs and interests rather than showing them my own proud about how smart I am; or showing them how well prepared and knowledgeable I am for my class, due that can build a wall or create a distance between students and a teacher.