Week 1

Journal entry 1 - Expressing personal goals and priorities

Goals affect directly the performance and motivation of people in general, but when it comes to teaching and learning, they affect directly the output and performance in the teachers and students. A teacher without goals is like an aimless boat tossed back and forth by the slings of life and profession.

Expectations

How do I expect to benefit from the field experience (Student teaching) /Practica Profesional?

As the name of the course suggests it is a practice, an opportunity to apply what I have learnt in an actual school with hands on experience, therefore I expect to practice much and apply what I have learnt in the University and through previous learning processes.

In concrete words, I expect to get from this practice a greater experience in teaching, more fluency, better human relationships, and more knowledge in my profession.

Questions to reflect on my goals

What have you chosen Enseñanza y Traducción del Inglés as your career? What are your options?

At the beginning, I could have chosen any other career basically, but I chose this career because I like to learn and to transmit what I have learnt, and because I like literature very much.

What do you see as essential qualities for a teacher, which you are striving to develop? ( List them and describe role models, if any )

Essential qualities a teacher must have are the following: friendly, open minded, culturally open, willingness to learn from everyone and everything, sympathetic, perseverant, patient, good humored, critical thinker.

What do you expect from the Practica Profesional? What would you like to be the objectives of this course?

I expect to gain experience through practice and to transmit whatever I have learnt as much as I can. The objectives of this course I would like them to be focused on practice mostly as I see them they are so far.

Amongst my personal goals as a teacher for this practice and for my future professional undertakings the following aspects are relevant

Willingness to learn: teaching is an ongoing process, so I must be willing to learn and be corrected.

Organization: I consider this element fundamental in teaching all types of subjects and levels to a successful outcome.

Critical thinking: Learning is not a set situation, instead, it is a dynamic and ongoing process, therefore teachers can only guide students in the vast learning process and help them with the tools and to discern knowledge from different sources, to grasp what is useful and to consider all things under higher goals and aims.

Cultural sensibility and open mindedness: today there is a vast array of beliefs, aims, goals, cultures and ways of seeing the world, therefore a teacher must be willing to listen, discern, and cope with the different circumstances and thought.

Motivation and friendliness: this is necessary for every teacher, if a teacher wants to motivate he/she has to be motivated and friendly.