One day on the second year of my teaching in 1st grade, I asked one of my students who could hardly sit still to take a cushion and sit down on the floor for three days. The underlying reason for my decision was because this little boy could repeatedly fall from his chair in a day. There was no day without reminding him to sit properly. After fell for several times, on his last fall that day, he cried and said that it was hurt. He protested me for the consequence of his "falling from chair" thing but still he did not have any other choice. Three days passed, I know for sure he felt uncomfortable as well as upset during those days. I talked to his mother about it and surprisingly she did not give any negative response to what I did. I should be grateful that his parents were very supportive. Since then, I and my partner could see gradual changes of his behaviour in the classroom. Time flied so fast, on the PTC day when we reported all of his learning achievements, he came with his mom with a big box of heart-shaped and key-shaped chocolate. At first, he was too shy to say anything and hid behind her mom's back. Finally, before he went home he handed me the box and said in slow soft voice, "Thank you for teaching me, you are the key to my heart". It was so touching anyway, and he made me speechless for a moment. For me, it was a huge thing that a 1st grader could ever think about :)
My Philosophy of Teaching...
As Joseph Joubert, a French moralist and essayist said, "To teach is to learn twice" as a teacher, it is necessary for me to review what I have already learnt, upgrade my knowledge, understanding and thinking as well as to be open-minded to new ideas in order to develop my teaching skills. From my experience so far, I believe that in teaching process I should take into account the following principles:
- Teacher is basically a facilitator of learning. Teacher should create a conducive learning environment by providing materials needed, designing fun and engaging activities and giving opportunities even for certain students to improve their skills. The opportunities here including the possibility of differentiation for students based on their learning needs and styles.
- Establish good communication and positive encouraging relationships between teachers, students and parents are the keys to successful learning process and environment. All parties should feel equally responsible for the learning process and development of the students' learning in achieving their goals.
- Students as the center of learning process and therefore the priority should be focused on students' learning process not to the product they make. They should be actively involved and engaged, not merely doing tasks by following teacher's instructions. Active learning like hands-on activity is highly required.
- Teacher is basically a facilitator of learning. Teacher should create a conducive learning environment by providing materials needed, designing fun and engaging activities and giving opportunities even for certain students to improve their skills. The opportunities here including the possibility of differentiation for students based on their learning needs and styles.
- Establish good communication and positive encouraging relationships between teachers, students and parents are the keys to successful learning process and environment. All parties should feel equally responsible for the learning process and development of the students' learning in achieving their goals.
- Students as the center of learning process and therefore the priority should be focused on students' learning process not to the product they make. They should be actively involved and engaged, not merely doing tasks by following teacher's instructions. Active learning like hands-on activity is highly required.