My Introductory Message
“Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.” Paulo Freire
My first and outmost goal as a teacher is to provide a socially just education accepting each day’s challenge with our students’ as a road to mastery. What we learn from students set the stage to how we promote learning in our classroom.
Furthermore, my goal is to develop lesson plans and assessments that apply theories, principles, and instructional strategies leading to comprehensive literacy with State adopted academic content standards for students’ achievement. In addition, my goal is to implement an instructional program that helps students listen, comprehend, read, write, and speak the language to the best of their abilities, keeping in mind that “one size-fits-all” teaching doesn’t apply in our broad-ranged inclined classrooms.
Having this philosophy in mind, I would develop a curriculum that embraces Differentiated Instruction and Understanding By Design. It is imperial to bring flexible instruction to make curriculum work and assessments accessible to each and every student without exception. It is only when each child is reached that the “No Child Left Behind law” is considered to be effective.
For example the ESL students in my classroom were able to expand their knowledge of the new language from the different instructional strategies we used in class. No matter what the language barriers were, the ESL students were able to succeed due to their involvement. The students were not pushed to begin speaking the new language right away, but they were given the chance to assimilate what they heard; the results were stunning. Content Based Instruction was very helpful to further advance their language proficiency. We used countries and cultures as content subject and we made sure all students got involved by bringing into the class prior knowledge on their cultures. The pre-reading and during-reading phase were possible through different methods such as experiments, field trips, films, Jigsaw procedures, text structure just to name a few. Many researchers and scholars dedicated their time to come up with ways to assist teachers and ESL students alike because the non English speakers constitute an important percentage of the student population. Many strategies have been implemented and it is up to the teachers to use them as a helpful tool for the success of their English learner students.
In sum, as teacher, I would apply theories, principles, and instructional strategies to empower my students’ learning opportunities through interpersonal interactions that allow them to share ideas, abilities, interest, and aspirations.
I would evaluate my own teaching practice to be able to better instruct my students and help them become life-long learners in this global inclined society.
A final word, I will lead a classroom that would learn how to become a life long learner through respect of self and others.