Teaching Philosophy

My name is Diana De la Cruz and I'm a student at California State University, Los Angeles. I'm currently completing the Master's program for Teaching English to Students of Other Languages. Throughout the course of my learning experience I have come to develop my own ideas on teaching and learning a second language (L2). I think learning is a two way process. Not only do the students learn from their teacher, but the teacher also learns from her students. A class cannot be complete without the active participation of both parties. The teacher has to do her part of pre-planning the lessons and activities for the day and paying close attention to her students, while the students have to take the responsibility of participating in the lessons and seek to make their learning experiences as enriching as possible. Teaching is a skill that takes a lot of work to perfect. We need to address concerns related to classroom environment, the curriculum, and our students.

First, it is crucial that a teacher know what she expects from the students in her class, and what they should expect from her. In my class, I hope to instill a feeling of belonging. My classroom environment will be one where my students will feel comfortable approaching me with any concern they have, whether it be about the lessons or any other topic. I have had experiences where my teachers are fairly strict and unapproachable, and I don’t feel like I benefited very much from those uneasy environments. I want to be able to lower the affective filter for my students so that they feel that their participation in the course is highly valued, and hence, increase the probability that they will learn the L2. Everyone’s thoughts are important, and if I can get my students to understand this, then they might be more willing to share and reflect on their ideas without worrying about being wrong. Participating in my class will not be used to assign grades, instead it will be used to provoke growth in my students.

Along with creating an inviting class ambiance, I think it is essential for a teacher to know how she is going to go about teaching a particular curriculum. I plan to make my lessons as interactive as possible. If I can keep my students engaged in the discussions, then I can keep them motivated to learn. The subjects being taught will probably be the same from one class to another, but the key to getting these concepts across will be in the presentation of the material. We need to keep in mind that many of the topics in the curriculum appear to be dry for many of our students, and if we don’t try to make them more interesting, then our job as a “teacher” will never be fulfilled.

Finally, teachers sometimes forget that the students are human and that they have their own lives that affect what and how they are learning. We need to be able to address concerns not related to the curriculum. For instance, some students might not be doing too well in our courses because of outside factors, but if we take the time to reach out to these students and get to the root of the problems, then we might be able to help them out with their situations, and ultimately help them get back on track. I know we can’t reach or help everyone, but stopping to help one student is better than ignoring all.

I still have a lot to learn about teaching, but I know that I should always make my students’ needs a priority.

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