My Teaching Philosophy
My dream of being a teacher had sparkled since I was in kindergarten; not to mention that long before that I also imagined of becoming an astronaut or a president, just as innocent children as they were. As a kindergarten student, my naive answer of becoming a kindergarten teacher would always be laughed by people, but that did not stop me dreaming. Since then, my pursuit of becoming a teacher had not yet faded. Every time I enjoyed a class in one level of education I always wanted to be a teacher of that level. Apparently, though I was in such a dilemma of what level of education I want to be a teacher at, my only dream is always as it is: a teacher.
Narrating those in the beginning of this essay might already give a reason why I want to be a teacher: mostly because I enjoyed the teaching and learning process and thus I adored my teacher for his or her capability in doing so; in making me and other students had fun in learning. I want to be like them. However, as I grew up, I realized that in addition to that aforementioned reason, I have my own, probably selfish, view of why. I learned that teaching is one of three lasting good deeds. I know that I am no one and I have not done much in life up to now. Therefore, I want to do things that benefit others and also me, a mutualism interaction that violates nobody and results in good, everlasting deeds both in this current world and hereafter. Teaching will do.
I have not been teaching for so long if we talk about teaching in formal way. Therefore, frankly speaking, I might not have much knowledge of teaching practice. Nonetheless, I believe that teaching is not merely a process of transferring knowledge. Beyond that, teaching should give positive impact to both teachers and learners in order to be much more down to earth. Teaching, in my opinion, should give the learners the feel of joy. Teaching and learning must be a process of fun, enjoyment, and positively affect their life. As I pursue my master degree, I realized that I know nothing but a little. The more I learn, the more I get to know lots of interesting teaching and learning activities that I am eager to implement in the ‘real’ classroom.
From my teaching experiences, I faced many types of learner: those who are beyond active, slightly shy, ‘bossy’, and many others. It is true that as a teacher we have to respect our students’ differences, but if their way of learning is ‘not right’ based on norm, we have to help them change to be better. I always am annoyed with those learners who force me to give away the answers. Thus, I have to find a way to make them indirectly ‘study’, encouraging them to find the answers by themselves with my assistance because my students have to be independent and autonomous learners.
I will therefore create a series of activity that opens up a wide chance for the learners to realize that learning a language, at this point I refer to English, of course, is important as it always benefits them in many kinds of way. I will design authentic and communicative environments so that the students can understand the purpose of the learning in their real life. I know that forcing all the students to speak up seems impossible as we have different traits of learners. I will then provide a box in each class to give those ‘introverted’ learners chances to be heard through written text. I will convince them that nobody should be afraid of making mistakes in learning and that is why I cannot blame or mock them when they are wrong.
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I am a proponent of those who believe that teaching and learning is best conducted when the learners feel relaxed. They can easily digest the information that is given when they do not get stressed. Thus, as a future teacher, I will do my best to hold my principle; to give the students many kinds of learning activity that they will enjoy the most. To catch up their learning style, implementing ICT in the classroom is such a must in nowadays’ teaching and learning activity. It affects me to also learn what is happening and what I should do to not to be so yesterday because life is changing so is the teaching and learning activity. Finally, all I can say is that teaching is not merely encouraging the students to learn, but also forcing me as a teacher to learn, too, either from the students or other ways during the teaching process.