Conceptualizing Teaching

What do you usually do as teacher? With what kind of rationale?

I would like to start with a quote that really catch my attention, “the teacher’s primary role in the classroom is to function like a conduit, channeling the flow of information from one end of the educational spectrum”. And, that is exactly what a try to do in every single class I apply. My role is nothing but conducting my students to a new level of language level knowledge. Moreover, I expect my students not only to get “information” but also I expect them to use it in every single performance they do whether inside or outside the classroom. Though, the sort of activities have to be well structured according to external issues students have namely: social class, cultural matters, parents relationships, etc.   

What is your mind engagement like in the professional exercise of teaching?

The most important thing in terms of being professional is how much committed you are with your students and with your role as a teacher. Every teacher have to be engaged not only with his/her teaching but also they need to be engage with their professional development. That is to say, that we have to be in an updated mode since language education is dynamic, and as a dynamic entity, we have to catch up with the methods and techniques that are currently updated. Hence, my idea of being engaged with professionalism is nothing but to be faithful with your students in terms of well-structured materials, updated resources, take time to be reflective, and most important to be open-minded.

How would you characterize your professional, personal, and experiential knowledge of teaching?

I would say that every teacher has good experiences and those that we usually call bad experiences, those are the ones which we learn the most. My experiences in language teaching have allowed me to be who I am as a teacher. It has also help me to grow as a human being, since the first time we call ourselves teachers, we learn every day from our students, we learn how is to be in our learners shoes like, we learn how to be humble. Being professional is not just about getting graduated or getting an insignificant university certificated, it is about being society transformers. Moreover, professionalism is the way in which we behave in our field as teachers and as an integrated person outside the place we use to be teaching.

How do you see the relationship between theory, research, and practice?   

From my point of view, theory, research, and practice are linked each other. Each one differs from one another, however they could not exist without being related. First, Kumaravadivelu (2003) sets theory as a set of insights and concepts derived from another disciplines. It means that theory comes from previous studies and gathered information. Second, from the perspective of the same author, practice is a set of teaching and learning strategies. Thus practice comes from the theory and it is implemented and adopted by a teacher in an particular learning setting. without theory practice cannot exist since practice is the implementation of any theory, and from practice new theories come to light. Research, is a tool in which people can rely on to settle if a theory is suitable or accountable in any ground.

To what extent is there a cause – effect relationship between teaching and learning?

Unquestionably, there is a cause – effect when teaching and learning. Something in our students’ minds happens as a consequence when attending regular classes at school or in a daily live situation since teaching goes beyond of the school walls. Even though there is not learning, something hit their attention and of course the effect diverge depending on the student. When teaching, learning does not necessarily happen, however learners are aware of the relevance of education, even if they think education is not worthwhile they somehow are reflecting and reflection is part of the learning process. Thus, the effect would be positive or negative according to the students’ particularities.