Conceptualizing teaching acts

1. What do you usually do as a teacher? With what kind of rationale?

Since I graduated from the university I had constantly attempted to get the most out of my potential as a professional.  I defined myself as a reflective practitioner and as a transformative intellectual, based on Kumaravadivelu’s (2003) three concepts of teachers. Everyday practice of teaching has brought me challenges. As a teacher I do reflective teaching to analyze the continuous progress and the context in which I teach. I question my performance in the classroom and the goals I set as guidance to do my work. 

2. What is your mind engagement like in the professional exercise of teaching?

I want to state this ancient Chinese proverb to make mention of the art of teaching “tell me, I will forget. Show me, I may remember. Involve me, I will understand” (p. 2084). Keeping children engaged and motivated during the learning process is not an easy job; it demands innovative activities that let students be involved in significant experiences. My teaching performance must contribute to make students enjoy learning a foreign language. 

Moreover, I want to be recognized as an agent of social change and empowerment. I think that my decisions and my actions have to be transformative for education.

3. How would you characterize your professional, personal and experiential knowledge of teaching?

The act of teaching is an ongoing process in which I have experimented professional growth and personal satisfaction. Everyday practice of teaching is full of enjoyments and fulfillments but also frustrations and constraints that as a teacher I must face and go through.

4. How do you see the relationship between theory, research and practice?

Theory, research and practice are linked and each one relies on the other. Practice is what validates theory and research works as a vehicle to study the nature of learning and teaching and solve the problems evidence in the classrooms. Research is a source of knowledge that can contribute to study the current teaching and learning practices as a way to increase awareness about the social, cultural and economic issues immersed in the educational settings. Research is the path teachers have to go through to make the teaching and learning conditions more suitable for our context. I consider research a fundamental tool for my professional growth. 

5. To what extent is there a cause-effect relationship between teaching and learning?

In my view, learning can occur without a formal instruction. There is not an interdependence of both acts. People construct knowledge from what they experience. Nevertheless, what teaching provides is a reinforcement and a bunch of opportunities to learn from the existing knowledge and to build up new one.