4/27/20 W02: Response to "Is the Great American Teacher Dead?"

Reviving the Great American Teacher
Finished reading "Is the Great American Teacher Dead" as a class assignment, and I am reflecting on my teaching I am currently involved in. I would like to think I am engaging my students and delivering the information in a way that keeps them wanting to learn and know more. I am now left doing some serious self-reflection, and I am sitting here trying to imagine myself as an ESL teacher one day.

From the article, education is so much more than regurgitating facts. We all acquire learning best through a process of a good "delivery system". Without good delivery we are left wanting more, or are just plain distracted. The findings of several Anthropologists show a decline in the motivation and inspiration among American teachers. Where is the critical thinking? Where is the complex reasoning? Do teachers need to find a way to improve their delivery? Is great delivery and depth all that is needed to improve?

My thinking and research led me to an article written in September of 2019, by educator Ariel Sacks on the Education Week website. Sacks states that personality is not the only thing a teacher needs to become "great" or successful at teaching. Being confident and charismatic are not enough. "Relevant teaching skills" are needed and developing "pedagogical and social-emotional skills" are necessary, says Sacks. Many of us learned about several different pedagogical methods for TEFL last semester. These methods are not equally effective, so if we are doing our job, we are flexible and will know our students enough to know what methods work. Creating that learning environment that works for your students, even if you not overly charismatic, is key to helping students engage and bring the desired outcome.

When I started taking these courses I thought I had an advantage with my outgoing and fun personality. The more I learn, the more I realize that if I do not study the methods and develop my social-emotional skills, I will not keep the attention and trust of my future students. I need to learn to take risks, develop cultural aptitude, be aware of myself, the interactions between me and my students, and of the pedagogical practices needed to help my students learn. I would like to define this as "personality PLUS".