Teaching Mind With a Heart: A Closer Look of a Language Teacher's Teaching Philosophy

Teaching is a vocation. It is a special call that demands utmost dedication and commitment to fulfill a noble purpose. It is a privilege that fits well to anyone who possesses enduring patience and strong discipline. For one, I regard teaching as a gift not of things but of people entrusted with the task of sharing knowledge and talents with the youths who with hope or determination pursue education to make a difference in life. As a teacher, let me be an instrument of change that helps mold young minds and facilitate them in their pursuit for what they can truly become in life. Teaching for me relies on these core values: commitment, patience, discipline, and freedom.

· Commitment comes first to be an effective teacher. I commit myself to the task of teaching no matter how bumpy the road is in this journey. Challenges and struggles are but part and parcel in this vocation, but they are the ones that truly define me for what I am today. Without challenges and struggles, I could have not been more committed as a teacher. These challenges and struggles are like the fire in a crucible that refines the gold in me. The more frequent I am exposed to them, the better teacher I become.

· Patience is the second quality a teacher should possess. I set each day goal/s to accomplish for my students and myself. If I achieve it, I congratulate myself and thank God for the blessing. But many at times as challenges beset, I have to make twists and turns to find a better way to achieve my goal, and in the process, sometimes miss it. But it doesn't deter me. If I miss it today, I tell myself there is tomorrow and it gives me hope. These everyday goals are meant to reach my long-term goals with my students in mind first concomitant with my personal satisfaction second. Teaching demands patience, and if you have it, there is always a price that awaits in the end.

· Discipline means executing goals into real action. I can only meet my personal vision and mission through discipline. If I set the things to do, I have to do them to let them happen. It cannot be come-what-may. If I have to wake up at 5 AM each day to start my day right, then I should wake up at 5 AM, not to delay it at 5:15 or 5:30. Commitment demands disciple and discipline complements commitment. Discipline should work hand in hand with commitment. It is the arm to make things happen. As teacher, I model discipline to my students and that discipline should naturally emanate from me.

· Freedom has two sides: a means and an ultimate goal, and a teacher by heart knows the value of freedom. As a means, I exercise freedom to share things with them in a manner I see and feel best for my students. Being the captain of the ship in class, I decide freely on my teaching style and strategy. As an ultimate goal, however, freedom is a crystal ball that the teacher carries on his hand. He protects it with utmost care and passes it on to his students. This freedom embodies the knowledge and talents that the students may acquire and develop in the process. The teacher facilitates the acquisition of these knowledge and talents, and the students eventually acquire and use them to stand on their own feet. That's the real freedom I relish upon seeing my students excel and stand like my equal.

These four values define the teacher I am today. My short-term goal is to let my students explore day by day the necessary language tools they need to survive in their academic life. Further, my long-term goal is to hone my students' communication skills, writing and speaking alike, to become better and more versatile workers in their chosen fields someday, ready to face the challenges in the real world. In the end, they will also become gifts to others, a medium of change just like their teacher. For as long as I live a life of a teacher, I uphold these purpose, goals and core values as my ethos, my driving force and my inspiration.

Teachers inspire their students to learn and catch the values they model in class. It is for this reason that teachers need to reflect time and again the values that they possess to be able to transform the youths under their care. In this light, they have to reflect on and be reminded of their teaching philosophy as this will keep the light in them burning, energize them and inspire them to respond to the call of the changing times. As they say once a teacher always a teacher. One who has the heart of teacher remains a teacher forever.


 By Roland B Diez


Article Source: Teaching Mind With a Heart: A Closer Look of a Language Teacher's Teaching Philosophy