Blogging and My "Work-Self"

How does a teacher determine who they are as an educator? Certainly there must be some wrestling and toggling within, and some thought provoking questions that need to be addressed to decide this. I would think a large part of a teacher’s identity is determined by their post bachelor educational experience. The personal, provocative, precious and potentially pitiful moments that make up a journey of ‘teacher-ness’ by which a future educator is self-defined must therefore, be of the upmost importance.

However, what happens if a teacher’s educational encounters, by which he develops and defines his sense of ‘work-self,’ are not expressed and reflected upon time and time again? In education, there is always something to be learned, to reflect upon and to improve. For me, to receive the upmost benefits of my educational environments, I must provide myself with a forum by which to reflect. Day by day, in class and at work I am surrounded by educators. Everywhere is a talent, a skill, an insight that I can absorb, think-on, and potentially implement. How can I not be interested in what I and others like me are doing? How can I not take advantage of and make use of who and what surrounds me day by day?

It is my hope that cataloguing my various experiences of in and out of the classroom will become a tool in defining my teacher ‘self-ness,’ within, as well as advancing and perfecting the way I teach English without.

With that as a blog umbrella, here is where I am at this week:

Yes, I am in Chinese. Yes, I am in Chinese at 8am five days a week. Yes, it’s nothing like English and very difficult. There are several things that have contributed to my VERY mixed sentiments about this course. On the one hand, it is lending me the perfect ‘blackground’ with which to see how I desire to be in an educational setting. Its not all ‘black’ when Zhongwen-ing (Zhongwen is the pinyin word for Chinese. Pinyin is a way to display and somewhat categorize the sounds used in Chinese in a phonetically and the -ing is what I do to nouns to make any noun a verb), but there have been many, many times when I’ve made the vow, “I will never do this to my students.” Here are some educational tips I’ve picked up so far:

1. Do not establish a standard (pattern) for test taking and then change it without giving your students notice.

2. Do not explain examples by using unfamiliar vocabulary.

3. Explain grammatical structure, don’t just repeat sentences from the book as the students’ only points of reference.

4. If there is new vocabulary, explain slowly and clearly. The definition never, “Just doesn’t matter,” especially when converting from a phonetic language to a non phonetic one.

5. Do not have a test every day. 

Although most days any frustration I have with memorizing what seem to be pictures (only I've learned not to call characters pictures through the mistake of one of my classmates), I have enjoyed a few things in the class also:

1. My friends who know Chinese are extremely supportive. They ask me how I am in Chinese whenever they see me (Ni hao ma?) and they do sweet things like make Chinese reference flashcards to help me memorize the many ways in which to make words. Now if that kind of support was cultivated in the classroom, motivation would be no problem for anyone.

2. Although I don't appreciate the stress that comes with weekly standing before my classmates and reciting a memorized Chinese conversation for two minutes, by watching my classmates take their turns, there is a definite sense of camaraderie that is cultivated. To have camaraderie in a classroom without the embarrassment would be great.  

Questions I have from the week: How does one incorporate technology into TESOL? What kind of technology can be a direct and indirect benefit to teachers and students?

Is the order of learning the same for L1 and L2 learners? Do we learn things in the same order regardless of when we contact the L2? How do you pick your grammar battles on a student's paper or in the classroom? When do you correct your students' speaking and when do you just let them talk to learn to talk?

Thoughts: Blogs would be a great tool to show inward growth and development for a teacher. To have a forum to express experience is key to developing a teachers’ sense of self. How do we know what we treasure in education unless we consider it? I don’t think that profound advancement in one’s personal performance in education or in the field of TESOL as a whole comes by accident, nor can it be the result of a one sentence wrap up of an isolated experience. Personally for an educator, I can’t imagine blogs being anything but an outstanding tool for educational reflection and advancement.

Surely there must be a belief that an L2 learns to speak the L2 by speaking. How does the philosophy, learn to speak by speaking play into an L2's learning of language?

Funny Things: 

1. In Chinese class two classmates (males, probably freshmen in college) got called on by the TA to read a dialogue aloud. They were laughing while sitting in the back of the class (which is why they probably got chosen to speak). The laughing and difficulty uttering anything didn't cease upon being called on. One of them was trying to speak while the other was laughing and he said to his partner, "Come on, Zhongwen man you're making us look stupid!" If not properly conveyed by my writing, it was the funniest thing I heard all day.

2. I was at work (I work at the campus tutoring center and tutor reading and writing, and work the front desk at times) and the coordinators (my bosses) were in there discussing a tutoring session one of them just had:

Coordinator 1: How'd it go?

Coordinator 2: Oh I don't know, I don't think I helped him much (she teaches freshman English at my university, so for her not to help a student immensely is rare).

Coordinator 1: Why do you think that? (She's a total mama. She is the cog of the Learning Assistance Center machine. She's wonderful, and has a wonderfully dry sense of humor, which you will understand momentarily)

Coordinator 2: All I did was showed him some places in his paper he had grammar problems. All I did really was show him when to use whatever and whoever. 

Coordinator 1: Well, you don't know that could have changed his life. 

Now this was dry funny at its finest. Bravo "Coordinator 1."