Dr. Alex C. Pan

One of the crucial elements in a given teaching portfolio is teaching philosophy. From what I reviewed in the past, I found many teacher candidates simply search online and find other people’s ideas and incorporate bits and pieces of information or quotes into their own philosophical statements. That is bad practice.

In reality, teaching philosophy should be based on individual teacher’s experiences, ideas, personalities, personal moral values, and beliefs. Not all teachers would conduct teaching exactly the same way. The teaching philosophy will mold the kind of teacher and impact students accordingly.

To shape up one’s ideas for the teaching philosophy, there are a few exercises that would help: 1) ask yourself why choosing the teaching career; 2) identify the values about teaching profession; 3) think of a metaphor for teachers; and 4) develop the teaching philosophy statement.

Best teachers are driven by passion. Teachers’ salaries are usually not very high to begin with, while the responsibilities are enormous. Many devoted teachers would take home plenty of work after hours, over weekends, and during the semester breaks. Some teachers would even go out of their way to help their students. Such teachers are dedicated to the teaching profession, and they feel their career is the most rewarding of all.

To identify the values about teaching profession, let’s take a look at the following big words or phrases for teaching: Accommodating needs, Caring and compassionate, Competent, Communicating , Cooperative , Credentials, Consistent, firm and fair, Credible , Creative and Critical thinking, Connect to students’ life exp., Challenging students , Flexible , Knowledgeable, current , Careful and understanding, Ethical , Responsible, accountable, Inspiring, encouraging, Nurturing, Positive and optimistic, Professional , Reflective , Well-organized, Well-prepared. Feel free to add a few more to the list. Then, you are to choose ten words out of the list to best represent your value and try to come up with a short passage about these words. To precisely depict your ideas of teaching, try to narrow down your list to three words or fewer, and try to write a concise statement based on these words. Hopefully, this will be your unique teaching philosophy.

The next exercise will be to examine your beliefs and come up with a metaphor for teacher. You may symbolize the role of teachers as sunlight, fertilizer, a light bulb, a light house, a tour guide, a magician, an actor, a gardener, a chorus conductor, a commander-in-chief, a big ship, a candle, a doctor, a wizard, etc. Try to explain why you think so.

Once you have developed a good sense of your own teaching philosophy, write a statement and convert your statement into bullet points. It should make a lot of sense about what kind of teacher you are and how you are going to influence your students.

Can computers help students learn better?

Ever since the fashion of computer-assisted instruction emerged in the late 1970’s, people viewed computers as a potential tool to change education, and some even imagined that someday teachers will be replaced by computers. There were all sorts of computer software and resources, dedicated for just that purpose. Schools spent huge budgets on technological tools and resources as well as teacher training. Over the years, the passion of computers had changed and the use of computers in education dwindled. Computer literacy is being considered as an easy essential component for everyone. Few people will bother learning about basic computer skills. So suddenly the talk about computer applications in education disappeared.

Are we better off today in terms of using computers for our jobs? Not really. I found more and more people lacking basic computer skills to become productive. Most people would spend more time for online surfing, chatting, browsing videos, talking in Facebook or twittering. They don’t have good knowledge of skills about using computer tools or resources wisely to solve problems or to improve their lives. Maybe it’s because most people believe that the technology has become so easy and intuitive for us, and we don’t need to use our brain to think and deal with any kind of hassles or challenges.

I love computer technology, old and new. I still would rely on the logical operations in programming or in Excel spreadsheet to solve some problems. When I plan a speech, I enjoy using the Inspiration program to create and organize my thoughts in diagram view.

It was a few years ago that I witnessed how computers came to a rescue to help a couple of young students catching up. During that time I supervised a couple student teachers doing internship practicum in a first grade classroom in an urban school. The home room teacher was an experienced veteran teacher. She was enthusiastic about helping all of her students. However, it was a daunting task for the teacher to deal with over 20 students in the class, and many of them were underprivileged and ill prepared for the first grade. Some of the students even struggled with the learning of basic alphabets while the teacher was trying to push for the basic phonics and to get students to be able to read words out loud from picture books and to write simple sentences at the end of the year. Certainly the student teachers were greatly appreciated.

The teacher asked the intern student teachers to help with the slower students, especially two boys, sitting at the corner. The problem with the boys was easily detected – they could not follow the instructions and make sense of what they were learning. You can teach them how to say some words in the morning and they will forget everything in the afternoon. You’ll have to teach them again and again the next days. They made little progress. Unfortunately, when they went home, they received no help from their family. Both the teacher and students were frustrated.

The student teachers and I discussed about the issues, and formed a plan to deal with the situation – we decided to give it a try using computers. There were four old Mac computers sitting in the back wall, barely being used. We check the conditions of the computer and found they all worked and they were equipped with sound device and Microsoft Office applications. We decided to train those two boys to use computers and take charge of their own learning. They quickly leaned how to turn on and off the computer, as well as how to launch applications. They used a built-in application named “Simpletext”, which allow them to highlight text and have the computer speak the selection. In this way, they started picking up words and learned how to pronounce new words they encountered by themselves. Teachers’ time was freed up to help other students. These two boys enjoyed their learning tasks. Other students also became interested to follow. Eventually all students made significant progress about the basic phonics and reading.

We decided to make a big leap for writing. We wanted all students to be able to write something meaningful about themselves, and maybe they could present what they have written in a culminating activity during the parent-teacher conference at the end of the semester. The first graders were very excited about this idea. They were eager to dive in this initiative. The student teachers piloted the idea with the Power Point application, where they can easily record their own narrations along with text and pictures in each slide. They showed the prototype to the first graders. They told the class that they were going to build a class album, with everybody’s picture, passages, and individual reading of their paragraphs. The remainder was a history. They got the best finished product at the end. All students participated in the project and they all worked very hard to complete the tasks. The teacher told me it was the best result she ever experienced in her teaching career. She couldn’t imagine how powerful computers can become such an engaging tool to help students master their learning and succeed. Parents were tremendously impressed and commended the teacher for doing such a wonderful job.

Until today, I still think that computers have great potential to help students learn better. It’s up to teachers to  decide what to do and how to do it.

“Differentiation in instruction” had become a hot topic recently. Different teachers will interpret it differently. How should we differentiate instruction for students?

Here are a couple examples of lesson plan that try to address the differentiated instruction: 1) When student go back to their desks to work independently, the group of students that are ESL may stay at the front with the teacher and complete the project together; 2) When student go back to their desks to work independently, the group of students that are at tier one level work in a small group with the teacher on the carpet using cubes to explain each problem individually on page 198. The teacher’s assistant circulates with the rest to make sure they stay on task. The enrichment students move on to page 199 quickly and will be able to complete more of it. These examples touch upon the DI only a little.

To better address “differentiated instruction” for all students, we need to address two things: accommodation and adaptation. No two people share exactly the same learning styles and learning preferences. Nor do they share the same learning disabilities.

The key idea for differentiating instruction is to address the individual needs. Teachers should be aware of each individual student’s needs so that s/he can accommodate their needs and take into consideration during the instructional planning.  To address varying learning situations, the teachers can customize the instruction, materials, level of difficulties, support, time, tasks, assignments, forms of assessments, etc.

Thus, let’s spend sometime for accommodation and adaptation.

This is a silly question to ask: what makes a good lesson?

I have many experiences teaching the same lessons to different groups of students in the same semester, using the same strategies/ methods, while getting different results. Some lessons went really well with one group but did not work for other groups. If I were to control the factors, I would want to make all of my lessons good ones. I wonder if it were me, the groups, or teaching methods that decisively contributed to the results. Factors contributing to good lessons may be complicated.

Once in a while, I was  asked to define “good teaching”. This forced me to go back to my recollections of many incidents of observing others teaching. I had witnessed teachers acting like bullying tyrants, nasty and demanding, scaring kids all the way through. Kids were intimidated, harassed, and coerced to participate in some “learning” activities.  I had also witnessed teachers teamed up with parents to impose moral burden to kids so that they feel guilty of not performing well academically. Some teachers would do nothing but test-prep, always worksheets. Other teachers would heavily rely on textbooks. I knew one middle school math teacher following an easy, yet irresponsible approach for teaching. He basically assign a number of questions from the end of each chapter in the book for students to explore and to find out the answers. He never bothered teaching or explaining anything to students. His class time was basically spent on assigning tasks, checking answers, and watching movies/videos. I would not consider any of these good teaching examples.

I have observed a fun-loving teacher teaching a subject of money exchange to a first grade class. She played “shopping” games with students and tried to make the lesson fun and engaging. Till the end, she was quickly checking on students’ understanding of money exchange.

Teacher: How many nickels can I exchange for a dollar?
Student A: 100
Teacher: No. Not quite.
Student B: 40
Teacher: No. Not really.
Student C: 10
Teacher: No. Not quite.
Student D: 25
Teacher: No. Not really.
Student E: 20
Teacher: That is correct. Good job!

The teacher then moved on to do other activities.

I was shocked. Didn’t the teacher sense that students actually did not get the idea of money exchange and were simply guessing the answers randomly? That definitely was not good teaching. The teacher should reteach the topic in different way to help kids grasp the concept.

Teaching is in contrast to learning. If good teaching takes place, we can find obvious evidences of successful learning. Fun and engaging experiences will not necessarily be equivalent to good teaching and learning.  Ask what exactly you want your students to get and prove they have got it after the lesson. Good lessons, based on such a notion of good teaching, will be a successful experience reaching out to students and helping  them significantly achieve the goal(s) of the lesson.

When I was a college student in Taiwan, I used to seize whatever opportunities I could get to practice English with foreigners. I would hang out with missioners, foreign travelers, visiting staff/faculty in the university, and also some friends/ relatives from overseas. I believe we need to practice English with the people from the actual English-speaking world.

To step up my effort, I always politely inquired if those “English-speaking” people could teach me English. To my amazement, the majority of them turned down my request. They were either too busy, unavailable, not interested, or not comfortable in serving as my English teacher. I wouldn’t believe them and kept pushing until finally I realized that not all the English speaking people knew how to teach others English. Similarly, I found it a daunting task for a Chinese to teach foreigners how to speak Chinese. Knowing how to speak Chinese doesn’t warrant your success of teaching Chinese.

I have a series of questions to ponder in my mind: Can anybody teach? What does it take to teach? Can all teachers teach? Are teachers born or trained?

I have heard of several cases of piano teachers sending their kids to learn how to play piano with other piano teachers. Can we assume that piano teachers must be good at playing piano and teaching others how to play piano? Why wouldn’t they teach their own kid(s)? Likewise, I also saw many wonderful educators failing to teach their own kid(s) well. Can we assume all capable, talented, and caring teachers should leave no child behind, especially their own?

At the wake of the No Child Left Behind Act, the highly qualified teachers are those who received the degree diplomas and teaching certifications. I remember reading about a few old teachers in the west states remote schools being pulled out. Those teachers had been teaching (as a service to their community) for long but they never had the formal training or teaching certifications. Their school sites typically were like a big classroom holding a few students in various grades. They did the marvelous job, cultivating kids in the community. Their salaries were low and that was why their communities could not successful recruit people from the outside. Would you think these non-highly-qualified teachers were inferior to other teachers?

Teachers are influential. However, not all teachers impose positive influence onto their students. A new high school freshman struggled with biology. She tried very hard but had no clue of how to study and perform well in class, although it was only the first month of class. Per her father’s suggestion, she went directly to her biology teacher for guidance and  help. The teacher looked at her test scores and experiment reports, and apathetically said to her, “I don’t know how to help you. I think probably biology is just not your thing.” The teacher’s comments shut her down completely and she decided not to waste time on biology any more because it was just not her thing.

Sometimes I was amazed to know that many coaches were not great performers in the area of their coaching. However, they have strong interest in their students. They were firm, confident, and determined. They were observant and could identify areas for improvements. They also facilitated good plans and opportunities to develop their students whenever possible. They are excellent teachers.

Can you teach? Do you have what it takes to teach?

Amy was one of my former students. She was bright and hard working. She was a new teacher in a school and she learned a good lesson about teaching during her first observed lesson.

Off and on, she heard of many horror stories about new teachers being observed by their supervisors or principals. She wouldn’t believe what those people said that the formal observation was one of the most nerve-wrecking experiences. She thought to herself: As long as I am well prepared, I am confident that I can do a good job.

The day came very soon after she started her teaching career. Per her principal’s request, she presented three different time slots and three choices of lessons that she was to teach for the pre-conference meeting. The stern, authoritative principal discussed with her about the lesson and procedures, and set a time to observe her teaching.

Being young, energetic, and passionate about her work, she tirelessly prepared for the first observation. She wanted the lesson to be exciting and engaging. She rehearsed a couple of times and she even visualized the lesson in her head the day before the observation. She knew she had everything under her control. The principal came a few minutes earlier and sat in the back corner. She started the lesson with her best effort. The activities went smoothly. Her students enjoyed the lesson activities as they eagerly participated in the lesson activities. The principal remained his stern and authoritative look till the end of the lesson. He left without saying a word.

On a request for a post conference the following week, she went to the principal’s office. When asked to make a self-reflective remark, she expressed her satisfaction about her performance. She believed she did an excellent job: the lesson was successfully delivered and Students enjoyed the lesson very much.

To her surprise, the principal disagree with her. He said, “Although your lesson was very exciting, and your teacher presence and demeanors were good, you did not teach students any significant new stuff. Your lesson was filled with bells and whistles. However, I did not see new learning taking place. Students had a good time with the activities, but they did not accomplish anything but fun.”

Teaching is an act in contrast with learning. If students did not learn anything new, the teacher did not teach.

Jenny was another example. She was one of my former student teachers. Per my request of lesson observation, she tried to teach a lesson to a fifth grade class. She picked “My Many Colored Days” by Dr. Seuss. After reading the book out loud, she arranged a simple activity for the fifth graders to choose to draw an object and pick a color to fill. They would then each describe why they chose the color for the object. In her lesson objective, she stated that students will be able to describe their feelings with colors.

What an annoying lesson! Why can’t she find something more adequate to teach to these students?

It’s Ashley’s birthday today. I learned about it in my ACB class yesterday. I was planning to make or buy a cake to celebrate in the classroom today. However, I was too busy to do it and the weather was too cold for me to go to a bakery. Too bad.

Till the last moment, I decided to try some of the soft resources that I’ve collected over the years. I found a site (http://www.1happybirthday.com/HappyBirthday/) where I can pick the name Ashley to be embedded in a song and play out with  real people singing Happy Birthday. I saved the song in MP3 and played it in class today. It was hilarious and the whole class loved it. I could tell Ashley was deeply moved. She appreciated it very much.

It was a wonderful feeling. I guess most of my ACB students will probably use it on various occasions in the near future.