TESL-0100 - Unit One Reflection
Defining teaching
One of the descriptions that
Smith provides to define teaching is “the process of attending to people’s needs,
experiences, and feelings.” He explains that this involves an orientation based
on respect and the belief that everyone has the right to share in life. I think
that this description is particularly relevant to ESL because students come
from diverse backgrounds and might be unfamiliar with the classroom setting. In
addition, personal feelings and experiences can influence the needs of students
in the classroom and the effectiveness of various teaching methods and actions.
My experience volunteering
in the classroom setting has shown me that many students are afraid of being
wrong. This means that if no one raises their hand after the class is asked a
question that it does not necessarily mean that no one knows the answer.
Rather, students may feel unsure of themselves and be reluctant to speak up. Therefore,
it is important for teachers to be aware of their students’ feelings so that
they can cultivate a learning environment where students feel comfortable and
does not make them feel upset about giving a wrong answer. Making mistakes is
part of the learning process.
Another definition that
Smith provides is that teaching is the ability to “impart knowledge to or
instruct (someone) as to how to do something” or to “cause (someone) to learn
or understand something by example or experience.” In my educational experience,
the schools that I attended were quite bad at incorporating both aspects of
teaching. I did not learn how to write proper paragraphs and academic papers
until I attended university and received help from a tutor. I found that having
an example that I could use to structure my own writing was extremely
helpful.
I have tried to use both while
teaching in the classroom and as a tutor. I have found it easier to teach by
example or experience than to teach through instruction when assisting in the
classroom because the students have a limited English vocabulary. This has also
been true for my experience working with teens. Most have very strong speaking
skills but have trouble following spoken and written instructions. One student
that I helped did not understand a short story that she was assigned to read
and answer questions about. However, her reading comprehension improved after I
showed her how to scan the story for information to answer questions and to
underline important information. As such, I think both aspects of teaching are
important when trying to get students to apply what they learn in class to
other knowledge and situations that they encounter.
Defining Intervention
Another concept that I find interesting
in the assigned reading is intervention. Smith defines intervention as “the
process of taking defined and targeted action in a situation” so that students
can learn particular things. He explains that interventions can take the form
of “questioning, listening, giving information, explaining some phenomenon,
demonstrating a skill or process, testing understanding and capacity, and facilitating
learning activities such as notetaking, discussion, assignment writing,
simulations, and practice.”
I used some of these forms
of intervention while working with one of the teens who was having trouble
answering a list of questions about events and turning her answers into
paragraph form. I asked her questions about the events to make her answers more
detailed and helped her structure her answers themselves and her paragraphs. At
first, I worried that she might have been relying too much on me to phrase her
sentences and to decide what order to use them in paragraphs. However, the next
time that I worked with her she had finished some of the events herself and she
found it much easier to form paragraphs. Thinking about this experience within
the context of intervention makes me feel satisfaction and shows me that it was
appropriate to intervene when I did.
Building a growth mindset
The Smith article also
details the research findings of Carol Dweck on the topic of adopting a growth
mindset. She explains that a fixed mindset is what results from the belief that
your qualities are carved in stone and creates a continuous desire to prove
yourself. It is concerned with outcomes and performance and stems from valuing
and praising achievement. In contrast, a growth mindset is what results from
believing that some qualities are just a starting point and that effort,
together with application and experience, leads to personal growth and
achievement. This is particularly applicable to my experience as a student
since I have a tendency to focus on short-term goals rather than continuous
effort over time. As such, I understand that I could have inadvertently
increased my level of stress over the course of my university career. It can
also be incorporated into my volunteering positions where students worry about
being wrong. A growth mindset can be encouraged by focusing on the role of
effort within the process of learning.
References
Dweck, C. S.
(2007). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York, NY: Ballantine
Books.
Jackson, N. (2015,
January 21). Tutor Teaching Education [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/en/tutor-teacher-education-student-606091/
Smith, M. K.
(2018, June 25). What is teaching? A definition and discussion. Retrieved from
http://infed.org/mobi/what-is-teaching/
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