portfolio

    A missed part in my portfolio 

    The following includes the most practical things that I have learnt this semester. HOW to apply all the things that I have identified during my real classes with my students of different backgrounds, feelings, and interests is some thing that has preoccupied my eager mind. But I should be cognizant that teaching is a principled problem solving activity & I can get help from the principles of teaching and learning in order to solve problems. I should teach the students how to learn and how to use the language. I can make use of negotiated curriculum which is another important and useful concept in order to have a learner oriented class. For planning a lesson, it is needed to have a thorough awareness of the learners and of the teaching situation. In fact, since every teacher, every learner and every situation is unique, the plan for each lesson would be different. Accordingly, it would be in the realm of me as a teacher to explore all the aspects and design a lesson plan which goes with my learners' needs. In order to plan a lesson for an interactive learning and teaching, I should be meticulous for the important principles mentioned which are among the principles used in the principled approach of teaching.

    Following widdowson's ideas I generally tend to believe that in order to be an effective teacher regarding teaching grammar, at first it is wise to provide my students with an appropriate context within which my vocabularies will be utilized, and then I can make my students aware of how to put the sequences of words together and produce meaningful sentences. The learners must be cognizant of the fact that grammar is an area of utmost importance & I, as a teacher have the responsibility for presenting the grammar rules in an enjoyable manner.

     Considering the fact that the role of the teacher has dramatically shifted from a transmitter as somebody whose task is to convey knowledge to an interpreter whose task is to give the chances of learning to the learners themselves, I should try to apply to my own classes initiative rather than initiation, and an autonomy of learning rather than an authority of teaching. I tend to believe that an art-craft approach with assisting me to create my own personal theories of teaching according to the constraints and dynamics of my classes and my own students' distinctive needs would be the most helpful conception of the three. In order to be an effective teacher, I endeavor to utilize the notions of a constructivist view of teaching with empowering my students, doing needs analysis, creating a negotiated curricula and strategies awareness and applying all those key features of mediation into my teaching and encouraging self evaluation, making choices, self initiation, self actualization, self awareness and self-esteem in my learners.

      In a time that such dramatic kinds of changes have taken place, again it is me that should accommodate my own special classes and learners with the innovations. So my role changes from a person who banks the knowledge in the empty minds of the learners to an interdependent participant and an interpreter of knowledge, to teach learners how to learn and to bring a process dimension to the class. A big burden over my shoulders…

       The tasks which I use in my classes should be meaningful to the learners. Since, according to a constructivist view, individuals tend to learn what they think is worth learning, these tasks should also be purposeful to them. Considering the model of theme-centered interaction of tasks, the task that I take to my classes should hold the three dimensions of this model. Furthermore, I need to be clear in my mind what my learning goals are, and attempt to implement these through the tasks that I use.

       Consulting ethnographer who clarifies the problems and identifies appropriate curriculum renewal should be a continuous process. In the absence of solutions, teachers and learners can achieve the same result by working together and find their own ethnographic voice. Learner diaries, classroom observation, interviews, videotapes of lessons, and questionnaires can be beneficiary. By finding the most appropriate form and application of these devices, I try to explore problems and find solutions with the help of my students.