Thread:Teaching what we are (1)

"To teach is to learn twice over". Joseph Joubert

I chose starting with this quotation because it reflects so much what I want to get from my students and also reminds  something crucial that every teacher should do; that is learn from our students. My goal as a teacher is that my students can read, write and speak in the target language. One of the roles of a teacher is to be a facilitator and a prompter, so to fulfill my goal, I need to be a real facilitator, by helping them to discover and develop their abilities when learning the language. I like guiding  and encouraging  my  students in the process, without directing them in what to do; in this way  I can see my students being actively engaged in their  learning. I dare to say that to be successful in what we do is having passion for it, when we have passion in doing something; there is not strength that can stop us. I find passion in teaching whenever I discover every little thing meaningful to be used to keep the spark in my classes,  I know that  many things, external facts can affect our learning such as mood, problems, feelings; however when  we  have passion for something, those external facts can be decreased. So far, I know my strengths as teacher, my good rapport with students and imagination can make a class. I always say that we cannot give what we do not have and I think the same happens with teaching; we cannot teach what we do not know. I am not trying to reduce teaching to intellect, otherwise we get just cold abstractions of things; but I talk about emotional and spiritual skills. Time ago, I read about and article called THE HEART OF A TEACHER, Identity and Integrity in Teaching by Parker J. Palmer. What I remember the most from this article is the following quotation: Here is a secret hidden in plain sight: good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher. Once again, our role as teachers goes beyond ; it involves knowledge, attitude, emotional  and spiritual skills.' For me, being a facilitator one of the most important teacher's roles means to provide circumstances that will enable my students to engage with the learning opportunities and construct for themselves their understandings and skills.