Teaching Philosophy

    Teaching Philosophy

Teaching as a Melodic Art

My perspective on teaching is comparable to guiding an orchestra, where students act as members of the orchestra while the teacher plays the role of the conductor. The classroom becomes a dynamic stage, with each student playing a unique instrument, contributing to the collective composition of learning. The teacher, like a conductor, guides the group, setting the rhythm, bringing out the best in each participant, and ensuring a harmonious blend of knowledge. The classroom, in comparison, is a vibrant place, where the teacher guides the learners to find the joy of knowledge, produces well-balanced individuals who possess physical, social, emotional, and academic competence, and helps the students to find their talents by making them well-equipped to confront the challenges of life. Further, the teacher also holds the baton of responsibility and should be ready to address any challenge. Thus, just as a conductor ensures a smooth and pleasant performance, I guide the class to make sure everyone learns and enjoys the process of learning.

Orchestrating Diversity

For an ESL teacher, dealing with an inclusive and diverse classroom is inherent.  In my classroom inclusivity and diversity are not only acknowledged but celebrated by creating an environment where each student's uniqueness is recognized as a source of strength. Thus, an atmosphere is created where mutual respect and understanding are developed. I create the opportunity for every student to share their voice, and through collaborative efforts, they can learn not only about the subject matter but also about the world and each other. Therefore, the blend of cultures, languages, and abilities is accepted in my classroom equally.

Melodies of Pedagogical Instruction

As an ESL practitioner, I follow a few language-teaching theories in my teaching and when preparing lesson plans. They mainly consist of four principles of language teaching and learning, namely, Task-Based Language Teaching (Prabhu, 1980), Constructivist theory (Piaget, 1896), Second Language Acquisition theory (Krashen, 1982), and the Communicative Language Teaching approach (Hymes, 1996). With TBLT, my focus was to shift from traditional memorization to engaging, real-world tasks that mirror authentic language use. Each lesson is created to present students with meaningful challenges, encouraging them to actively apply language skills in an appropriate context through problem-solving, role-playing, and collaborative projects. Constructivist theory is used throughout my teaching sessions to activate the schemata and prior knowledge through lead-in and pre-task activities. As stated in SLA theory, I used an ample amount of speaking activities, group and pair work, language games, and simulations to acquire the target language subconsciously. To create an immersive experience, I adopted CLT principles through interactive tasks, role-playing, real-life scenarios, and speaking games to equip students with practical language skills. Apart from those theories, I utilized Total Physical Response, Eclectic teaching-learning approaches, and gamification to create an engaging and learner-centered classroom.

Melody of Connection

The positive interaction between the teacher and the student plays a huge impact in developing the knowledge of the students. I believe creating a healthy relationship can be done through continuous feedback as it helps students to believe in their abilities and feel important. For that, I used On-spot feedback, corrective feedback, delayed feedback, and peer evaluations. However, I always tried not to give empty praise or criticism as it can lead to overestimation and underestimation, and I used constructive criticism and encouraged the students to improve the connection between me and the students.

In conclusion, as the teacher ought to guide the orchestra, each member should contribute to teamwork while improving their individualistic knowledge. In my terms, a classroom is where teachers and learners play a vital role in developing knowledge while producing unique and well-balanced learners.

Link 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zOizw2C2gAgepChUBMErgG0qQnu2F8z8/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=112842285059872871937&rtpof=true&sd=true