Post by Dee Broughton on Jun 23, 2015 12:24:51 GMT 5
In this Summer Reading Circle, we are going to work on writing a teaching philosophy for English language teaching. It's important to be able to clearly write about your ideas about teaching. Writing about your ideas helps you refine them and it also gives you a document you can use to obtain jobs and opportunities. Writing a teaching philosophy is your chance to say who you are as a teacher.
The teaching philosophy should briefly, but specifically, describe your personal approach to teaching English as a foreign language in Uzbekistan. A teaching philosophy is a first person story about why and how you teach. It is usually written in the present tense. It may be only a few paragraphs or it may be a bit longer.
The teaching philosophy is usually one to two pages and it describes 1) your main goal as a teacher, 2) what you teach, 3) your approach to teaching and why you use it, 4) some methods you use that illustrate your approach and why you use them. It specifically says what you teach and why. The reasons you chose your approach and methods usually include references to readings in the field of second language acquisition. This is where the Reading Circle will help most.
Other Teaching Philosophy Statements
There are many ways to write a teaching philosophy. Some teaching philosophy statements may include other information, such as your approach to assessment, challenges you have faced and overcome, how your research interests influence your teaching, how you intend to contribute to the educational system in Uzbekistan, etc. These things may be included in a longer teaching philosophy statement, teaching portofolio, or CV. The short teaching philosophy statement can be the basis for a longer one.
Our Teaching Philosophy Statement
For this reading circle, we will only focus on writing several paragraphs for a short teaching philosophy that describes your goals, approach, and methods so that you can describe them using references from the readings we will discuss in the Reading Circle.
The teaching philosophy should briefly, but specifically, describe your personal approach to teaching English as a foreign language in Uzbekistan. A teaching philosophy is a first person story about why and how you teach. It is usually written in the present tense. It may be only a few paragraphs or it may be a bit longer.
The teaching philosophy is usually one to two pages and it describes 1) your main goal as a teacher, 2) what you teach, 3) your approach to teaching and why you use it, 4) some methods you use that illustrate your approach and why you use them. It specifically says what you teach and why. The reasons you chose your approach and methods usually include references to readings in the field of second language acquisition. This is where the Reading Circle will help most.
Other Teaching Philosophy Statements
There are many ways to write a teaching philosophy. Some teaching philosophy statements may include other information, such as your approach to assessment, challenges you have faced and overcome, how your research interests influence your teaching, how you intend to contribute to the educational system in Uzbekistan, etc. These things may be included in a longer teaching philosophy statement, teaching portofolio, or CV. The short teaching philosophy statement can be the basis for a longer one.
Our Teaching Philosophy Statement
For this reading circle, we will only focus on writing several paragraphs for a short teaching philosophy that describes your goals, approach, and methods so that you can describe them using references from the readings we will discuss in the Reading Circle.
GOALS (What you strive to accomplish)
Throughout the entire time that you are participating in the Reading Circle, think about your GOALS for teaching. Take your time with this. It may take the entire 6 weeks of thinking and writing and refining your ideas. We will write this section at the end of our time in the Reading Circle. Make notes and discuss your ideas, but do not rush to write the goal section of your teaching philosophy. Your goals may change as you read and discuss with us this summer.APPROACH (Your beliefs about learning and teaching informed by second language research)
During the Reading Circle, you will read and write about the basic principles of second language learning and acquisition so that you can describe your beliefs, how you approach teaching, and why you take this approach. Follow the reading, answer questions, make comments, discuss your ideas. At the end of each reading, write a short paragraph about the reading that gives your response to it. These short writings will help you when you write your philosophy at the end of the Reading Circle.METHODS (How you implement your approach)
In the teaching philosophy, it is helpful to describe key methods you use in the classroom to help illustrate your approach. This part is usually easy to write once you have clearly written about your approach. Share your ideas with others so that you can clearly tie your methods to your approach.INTRODUCTION & CONCLUSION
There are many ways to introduce and conclude a teaching philosophy. The introduction may include a sentence about how you knew that you wanted to be a teacher as a child, or may say that your approach to teaching is based in your early experience in some other career or may start with a detail of how rewarding your find teaching. Your conclusion may mention your continuing efforts to improve, how you measure success, what you hope to contribute, etc. We will help each other write effective introductions and conclusions at the end of the Reading Circle.