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Critical Incident B

Critical Incident B This incident is related to our traditional system of evaluation and my lack of knowledge on the impact it has on people.The incident took place the day I was supposed to return my students´tests. It was their first summative test and it was rather easy. Students had done pretty well but some of them had committed a few errors that were worth while discussing. It was my intention to correct the test with the whole class, not just telling students the right answers but making it a teachable moment. Nevertheless, I had not counted on one important detail: students´ mark orientedness. Unfortunately, my students have already come to see learning at school as a series of tests which you either pass or not. Thus, when it is time for test correction, all students want to know is how they did, grade wise. The second they see their grade, the chapter is closed for them. No matter the grade. If the grade is low, they get disappointed and forget about the test. If the grad
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Roadmap to Becoming a Better Teacher

Roadmap to Becoming a Better Teacher There are many things one can do to become a better teacher.According to Heick, becoming a better teacher is about prioritization, practice, reflection and refinement. And it all starts with a why.Why did I become a teacher? For Heick, that should be visualized by teachers to even start seeking improvement.Life is a matter of priorities and so is the process of becoming a better teacher. We cannot learn everything that is out there but no one can stop us from never stop learning the things we find worthwhile studying. One cannot spread oneself too thin in trying to meet all the demands along the process. It is best to prioritize and focus on the "bits" that might need improvement right away rather than trying to cover all aspects at once. As the saying goes, he who focuses upon everything has, in fact, no focus. Another saying goes "practice makes perfect" and we all know what that means. Practice is key in everything but we ca
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Mental models

            Mental models Teaching has the potential of making us think a lot about identity. What makes me,me? To my mind, our beliefs and values  make us what we are. At times, they make us proud, at others they disappoint us. Be that as it may, everything we think,say and do respond largely to them. But where do these ideas come from? They are not immanent. Some of them we choose in the course of our lives but we are actually born into them and the roots of these pre-existing  "frames" go deep . It sounds pretty gloomy and pessimistic but it is not. Fortunately, sooner or later these frames are challenged. Someone says or does something that clashes head-on with our neatly-shaped world and the security net is gone. We are left speechless and disoriented. Times like these are crucial for deep learning. Being critical of oneself is of the essence if we want to shift our default thinking models. Being critical means for instance stepping out of ourselves and using our i
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A critical incident

A critical incident Just the other day, several of my students were complaining about the huge load of work they had in front of them and the many things they had to study in high school. I have been in that very same situation so I wanted to hear what they had to say.   One student wished to speak first and he did. Actually, he asked me a question: Why do I have to study English?   I have been asked this question many times before and I myself as a high school student have asked the same thing but in reference to math. These kind of questions are asked all the time by all students in reference to at least one subject in the curriculum and now that I am teaching I understand how important it is to deal with these matters. So when this particular student asked why he had to study English I quickly responded that learning English was an excellent tool for today's highly competitive labour market.   One nano-second later, I realized that should not have been my first ans
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The students

The Students There are twenty-two students in my class and their ages range from 12 to 15. Six of them are repeating the year. Either because they exceeded the limit of absences or because their performance was not good enough to pass. Most students come from disadvantaged backgrounds and many of them  lack parental support. They also skip classes very often.The group itself is warm and has always been respectful towards me,  not so much towards one another though. They were a bit reserved at first but have loosen a lot lately.They enjoy normal stuff such as music, films and sports but their tastes are widely broad. They also like games so that is how I usually work to motivate them. All students had English in primary school and the diagnostic assessment showed they were not completely lost and they knew a lot of vocabulary but speaking makes them really nervous and having them to speak the language is quite a challenge. Most girls in the group are more mature than the boys and th
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Who am I as a teacher?

                                                        Teaching can be a good mirror Even though there are some obvious differences, I am pretty much the same person both inside and outside the classroom. For instance, humor plays a big role in my  life and I bring it into the classroom for I believe conditions for learning can be improved this way. I also try to be objective and non judgemental. While there is no such thing as pure objectivity and we all see the world differently we do have to strive for it. I do not see myself as someone who molds the young minds either. All in all, I believe my teaching identity is still under construction.So far I have learned I am less patient than I thought I was. 
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Why teaching?

Why teaching? I have been interested in English since I was a child but I cannot say I have always been attracted to teaching as a career.I did not see teaching the way I do now. There was a time I saw it as too constrained and restrictive. I am not saying all my teachers were like this but even the ones who dared to try something different had to comply with prescriptive curricula and restrictive guidelines.  So I felt there was no wiggle room in education and that if I ever joined it the system would devour me and I would become just another brick in the wall. A bricklayer, actually. But everything changed after a few lessons. I realized there is always some wiggle room and this has given me great joy ever since. I like to think that whether you want to fight conventional knowledge or perpetuate it, education is the way. I also like to think I am with the good guys, fighting ignorance and encouraging students to assume nothing but to question everything. 
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