What is my work?

I’ve been asked this question, “what is your work here?” since I started this Master program of Education almost two years ago and I didn't really have a certain answer back then. "What is my work here as a teacher?" I believe the answer has been changing with the time and the field experiences that I’ve had the luck to have through the years. There is no one word that can describe or express what my work is here, but I would say that in order to answer that I have to look back a little bit. My journey on this path to become a teacher hasn’t been an easy one, since it meant to study in a second language (English) and experience teaching for the first time, both in a foreign country. Therefore, I knew it was going to be a challenging experience, but positive if I wanted to be.

 

Throughout the years, from different situations and people I’ve met, I heard they had a bad experience learning Spanish, with expressions such as “I didn’t like it”, “It was boring”, “It wasn’t fun when I took it in school”, “I don’t remember anything about Spanish”, and there were more expressions like that. That made me sad but also made me think and connect two things: the traditional education and the bad experience learning Spanish. Therefore, I started to think that this is what I would like to avoid in my future classes and make the Spanish classroom the opposite, more fun and real.

 

When I started this program in Fort Lewis college, called Master of Arts in Education, I was fortunate to see different school cultures, teachers, types of education, variety of methods and resources, technology, teaching personalities, among others. That lead me to realize how different the education is here, in the US, as my whole education (K-12 and college) was pretty much traditional. Therefore, I was very amazed by all the different things I was able to see; it was a completely new world for me.

 

I had the great opportunity to do my student teaching in two schools, in a high school and in a middle school, which allowed me to observe and learned from two very different styles of teaching and classroom management. From both chances I got to learn from and with the students, hear their thoughts, perspectives, feedback and opinions, and teach them some Spanish through a variety of activities. Thus, I came to realize that there has to be a balance between independent work (such as worksheets to practice) and more enjoyable and realistic activities in which students are more active and feel more connected to the content.

 

I believe that education is not only about the content, the curriculum, classroom procedures and rules, and standards. I think is more about the connections and relationships we get to create with our students. By getting to know them and building those relationships based on trust and caring, one can make a beautiful classroom environment. If we are to do that, we certainly can make the classroom a more positive place, where students’ voice is heard. If we get to know them, we get the chance to give them a voice and have them be more part of their own education (instead of the teacher being the only who delivers instruction on the board, which is the traditional education I experienced) by having them share their ideas and thoughts. Thus, us, the teachers, could use those ideas for lessons and activities in the near future. For that reason, I believe that is not only important to deliver content and knowledge, but also to let the students be the center of the classroom by letting them lead the classes and be curious and expand their critical thinking. Last, but not least, I consider it is crucial for teachers to be like a sponge, where we can learn from students and be flexible. That way, we can all learn from each other and the environment turns into a more positive learning environment, which also shows the kids that we are humans, can make mistakes and that is ok.

 

My work here is to change the value of the Spanish classroom and help it to become a more fun environment where kids appreciate Spanish and are excited to learn it, via fun activities that resemble real situations that they can feel more connected with.