My teaching philosophy is based both on a constructivist approach and student- centered learning approach. I strongly believe that my students construct their knowledge through experiences, so my role is to facilitate the appropriate learning environment where they can gain better experiences. One example of teaching strategy that I often use is the guided practice or “I do, we do, you do” method.
This approach starts with me modelling a practice, involving the gradual release of responsibility to my students, until they can do the task on their own. I prioritize student’s individual needs, creating an environment where they take responsibility for their own learning journey. My classrooms are focused on the specific needs, working hard to differentiate learning so that each student’s unique skills are revealed and emphasized.
I help my students to develop their communication skills such as team work, negotiation and self-expression in every lesson. In the 21st century, it is more important than ever for students to develop effective communication skills. I aim to teach them to become confident communicators by giving ample opportunities to work in groups, report their research to the class and even perform in front of their families or friends.
As a teacher, assessment is important to me because it helps me to measure my own teaching efficacy. Using my students’ assessment results, I reflect upon how I taught the lesson, I identify the weak points I had and I try to find the way how to teach those areas of weakness more effectively in the future. I believe students learn best when they are intrinsically motivated, so I try to create lessons that are engaging, relevant to my students’ real lives and encourage active discovery.
Education is the foundation for all the children’s future. As a teacher, I take my pride in my profession and I consider teaching one of the most important professions in the world. Being a teacher involves classroom management skills too. Classroom and behavior management is about ensuring students are focused on their learning process. My first step to classroom management is to make my lessons engaging and motivating, so this way I will minimize disruptions and I will promote learning.
Despite several initiatives, there is a need to increase the digital skills of teachers and students. Schools in Romania should be better equipped with digital equipment. My country should focus on using information and communication technologies (ICT) in education. “Although Romania has progressively integrated elements of digital technology in its policies, school curricula and training programs, a lack of monitoring and support mechanisms has resulted in many of these initiatives not being productive.” (Balica et al) ICT is an optional subject in primary grades and a compulsory subject in lower secondary education. However, schools in rural areas are less able to offer a digital education due to teachers who are not properly trained or qualified and lack of digital infrastructure. A successful 21st century teacher is the one who does not only understand that each student is different and has a different learning style than his classmate, but is ready to adapt his teaching techniques accordingly. This kind of teacher should try to teach his students how to find information, to ask questions and how to work with it after gathering information from a variety of sources. Of course, not all teachers should be experts at working with the new media, but they should at least try to use it and understand it, because the new curriculum focuses on this type of activities using technology. Unfortunately, many teachers realize the fact that students have changed their lifestyles in the recent years, they are aware of the changes which would make the educational system more effective, but they consider their implementation difficult. That is why, there are many English teachers who do not use the new media in their lessons much or not at all, although they are provided with materials and books designed according to the new curriculum.
One of the most popular free time activities of students in the 21st century is playing computer games. Especially boys like to play them. Computer games are useful if we think about the fact that they train children to make fast decisions, which can be well employed in the English-speaking activities focused on instant reactions. They have a positive effect on students who are afraid of mistakes when talking in a foreign language. Many students of mine have told me that they know English from computer games. They make teams with kids from other countries and they need to communicate in order to achieve their game’s tasks. Computer games foster collaboration, role-playing, problem solving, debates, which are useful skills for learning English.
Therefore, it is important to teach the students of English how to fail, not to be ashamed of doing exercises and learning from mistakes.
Challenges:
– Lack of basic digital equipment in rural areas (laptop, whiteboard, projector or even printers). Unfortunately, not all schools have this kind of equipment, that I find very important to create great lessons with. Working with students for fifteen years now made me understand the importance of using media in the classroom. Moving on from the traditional style of teaching to a modern one, made me realize that a good lesson needs technology. And the best of way of bringing technology in my classes was the power point presentation. I discovered that through media presentations there is more communication and cooperation among students, helping them to speak freely and to engage in useful writing as well. If working with the books is more individual, less collaborative and less interactive, Media motivate students to integrate all skills, through various kinds of activities. Then, I started to use the video player, the telephone and the internet in the classroom. The feedback of my students was a great one, they were eagerly waiting for the next lesson, were asking me if they needed to bring materials, if we could discuss about different topics and if they could bring their own ideas in the classroom. This feedback convinced me that using Mass Media resources in the English classroom was the best thing to do. I decided to adapt my teaching techniques to fit the students’ needs and the needs of the society we live in. I discovered that media engages students in the process of learning English, motivates them to work harder and aids student retention of knowledge.
– Lack of motivation from students. Students do not perceive the classroom climate as supportive; they have other priorities that compete for their time and attention. They see little value in coming to school or its content.
– Early school leaving which is a serios problem for our educational system. According to statistics made in 2022, Romania had the highest score of early leavers from education and training of 16%. The majority of children who leave school early are minorities (gipsy), because they live in poverty, which limits their access to education. I worked in a school where the majority of students were minorities. I remember it was quite a difficult period for me, because most of them didn’t like school, were unmotivated to study and were misbehaving just to disturb the lesson. Their families weren’t very supportive regarding their children coming to school. Step by step, I tried to create interactive lessons that would stir their attention, I did my best to understand their problems and behavior and I talked to them very supportively and empathically. I’ve also implemented some projects to prevent children from leaving school earlier, that proved to be a success. The Romanian educational system has developed greatly since 2000, however it still faces many difficulties in providing all people with the right to access to education.
– Working with children with special needs, that proved to me that everyone has something that is good at, whether it’s sports or painting or music. I worked with children that had ADHD, autism, Down Syndrome or mental retard. It was quite difficult to work with them. I did a special curriculum for them, individual worksheets and each lesson I tried to work with them, individually for at least 10 minutes. Children with special needs are integrated in classrooms with normal children, so it is very hard to work with students that are so different, that have different needs and knowledge in the same time. But, thanks to them I’ve become a better teacher.
As a conclusion, teaching can be an art as long as you have the right techniques, skills and practice, therefore teachers can masterfully face any situation in the classroom.
References
Balica Magda, Petre Botnariuc, Andra Fanita,Mihai Iacob,Oana Iftode,Ligia Sarivan (2018), Conditii pentru integrarea tehnologiei digitale in practicile educationale din Romania
decode-net.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IO3_Romania_National-Report.pdf