THE COURAGE TO TEACH

The Courage To Teach

I. Write a personal statement trying to express what is at the heart of your life as a future teacher. Consider the following questions: Why do I want to become a teacher? What do I stand for as a student teacher? What do I want my legacy as a teacher to be? What can I do to keep track of myself, to “remember” my own heart? When did you first realize that you wanted to be a teacher? What were the circumstances of this realization? How close are you to those feelings today? 

Well, I want to become a teacher because I think it’s not only an amazing profession but also it’s a challenge because is not easy to form the futures leaders.in my point of view as an student teacher I stand for myself  long learning, learn the strategies ,methods and approach in order to become a good teacher like the teachers are teaching me now, because as the way they teach is my inspiration  as I’m a model for my students, and don’t forget that I’m studying this profession because it’s enjoyable to it.

Well I remember when I was a little girl I used to play with many dolls, and they were my students and I was a teacher, it was so funny, then when I went to the school and I met my teacher her name was Marta Alicia Najarro, she really made me realize that I wanted to be like her, she was the best teacher that I have ever known in my life. Now when I remember those things make think that I’m on the right way to overcome my dream.

II. Palmer writes: “My ability to connect with my students and to connect them with the subject, depends less on the methods I use than on the degree to which I know and trust my selfhood—and I am willing to make it available and vulnerable in the service of learning”. What does it mean to rely on your selfhood rather than methods?

 

In my opinion it’s mean that a good teacher not only must take into account methods, strategies, approaches, but also some points like tolerant, think outside the box, good listener, respect the students’ opinions, know the students’ need and to keep track, also a good teacher must reflect every single day and try to improve day by day; moreover he has be self-confident on his skills and on how he’s doing the job, so he must teach from the heart not from the book, and he has to remember what have motivated  to teach. they must prepare the students for the truth that's happening outside, and practice balanced with theory.

III. Reflect on your earliest encounters with teaching. If you are drawn to teaching, when did you first feel drawn to it? What was it that drew you? What within you was evoked by teaching—its values, its methods, the way it names and frames reality? What does the nature of teaching reveal about who you are? If you aren’t, share a story about one of your favorite teachers. What do you recall most vividly about that teacher? What was his / her relation to the subject taught? What was the ethos of his/ her classroom?

 

Well, I know that I’m drawn to teach because I enjoy helping the others. I realized that I want to be an English teacher when I was on elementary school, and I met one of the best teachers that I know, he was a man, I remember that all the time he was enthusiastic, and we felt save to participate during the class because he provided a good environment also he used to prepared us for situations in the real life, and encourage the importance of know English. I remember that my English wasn’t the best, so he was so patient with me. The way he taught was amazing that made me take the decision of try it

Jane Tompkins discovered that her goal as a teacher had been to put on “performance,” thus distancing herself from students and subject. Do you identify with her self-criticism? If so, do you share Tompkins’s diagnosis of fear as the driving force behind this distancing? In what ways other than “performance” do teachers set themselves apart?

 The teachers’ goals will come true if they join themselves with the subject and with the students, that’s my opinion so I feel identify with her self-criticism because a good teacher has to be enthusiastic, and show true interest not only on the students learning but also in helping them to solve personal problems, to give them pieces of advice, but sometimes we as teachers set ourselves apart and we forgot the main goal as teachers, and just we want to show them how much we know, or how well we prepared the class, in order to avoid it we must be aware on the students need, and also our needs in that way we’re going to overcome our goals.