Introduction Being a teacher is a big responsibility because deciding to become a teacher means being responsible for building a lot of generations. Students spent most of their time in schools, so it’s where they gained the good morals. A teacher should be an organized person that committed to the rules, time and professionalism. They are not only responsible for educating students, but there are a lot of points that connected to the teaching process. Teachers are responsible for managing the classroom, giving reinforcement, give different assessments, apply creative activities (Check my PDP Goal 3) and teach the students about the good principle. The teacher is also responsible for building the students’ personality from a small age to increase their confidence (Check PDP Goal 1).
Teachers also should choose the appropriate way of teaching the students without compensating the needs of each generation. For my philosophy statement, I have chosen three strategies that can help this new generation: using technology in improving vocabulary, storytelling in improving writing skills, and group work in improving speaking skills.
Using Technology in Improving Vocabulary I believe that teaching vocabulary is the basic point of increasing the level of the student language. Students should have a variety of words that can give them the confidence to write, read, listen and speak. I think that this generation needs the motivation to learn vocabulary with new methods rather than the traditional ways of teaching because it’s too hard to attract their attention. Older generations learned by using the whiteboard and the marker. Teachers explained the lessons by lecturing and giving the whole topics by talking at the whole 45 minutes. But, by integrating technology into the classroom, teachers change their teaching strategies to provide the students with the tools that will take them into the 21st century (Beynon, Young & Mackay, 1991).
I think that teachers should implement creative activities (Check my PDP Goal 3) to teach new vocabularies to attract these students during the lesson. For example, the teacher can use the ball for asking questions to the students instead of the random questions. She will throw the ball, and the student that will touch the ball will receive a question. Moreover, creativity should be used more in arrive the information to the students, by using videos, games and puppets show. Creative activities depend on changing the routine of teaching and let the students use their five senses while learning (Murphy, 2013).
From my previous TP, when I gave the students a dictation, I asked them to use the whiteboard app to write the words instead of the small whiteboards. I noticed that the whiteboard and the app did the same job, but students were engaged more while using the app. They were writing the words faster, their concentration level increased, and they were enjoying the dictation.
Moreover, I also applied the technology (Check my Best Practices) by using the word search app. This is a game that depends on finding the words that students knew already. I applied it by using my iPad I connected the iPad to the data show device to let the screen shown on the board to the whole class. Then, I asked all students to search and find different words. I used this strategy to memorize the prior knowledge of the students. I think that this app is very useful and it helps in boosting their vocabulary level.
Storytelling in Improving Writing Skills During my previous teaching practice, I selected a class per week for storytelling. I started the lesson by asking the students questions about the cover page. Then, I asked them questions about each page, and let the students read the sentences, select the verbs, nouns or adjectives.
After reading the story to the students, I applied different activities like acting out the characters, making puppets and completing the sentences with the suitable verbs. I focused more on asking the students to write a summary of the story that I read it to them. Storytelling helped the students in gaining vocabulary, learning grammar rules and parts of speech and then applied it in writing a summary by using these rules.
I noticed that when students were writing after each storytelling session, they had improved their writing skills. In my opinion, literacy skills are connected, so I can use reading to improve writing. Storytelling is well-suited for student exploration and accessible to all ages and abilities. As a learning tool, storytelling can encourage students to explore their unique expressiveness and can heighten a student's ability to write greater writing pieces (Tanner, 2016).
Apply Group Work Activities to Improve Speaking Skills I believe in the benefits of applying group work in each lesson. I applied this strategy by giving a group activity after each explanation. Group work can help students develop a host of skills that are increasingly important in the professional world (Kutnick, Ota & Berdondini, 2008).
When I apply a group work activity, I explain the instructions, and then I distribute the materials of the activity. Each group works together to finish this activity by sharing ideas and applying the instructions (Check my PDP Goal 1). From my previous TP, I applied group activities that depended on writing a story about selective topics, such as, helping others. Each student shared their ideas and discussed how to make it a story. After writing the story, they acted it out as a whole group.
Group work helps students talk more, use more words, improve the language and give them the confidence to speak. Putting ESL students in groups gets them speaking up and practicing the language that they are trying to learn until it becomes a natural part of who they are and how they learn (Schruijer, 2016).
Conclusion In this paper, I have discussed the positive effects of implementing technology in boosting the vocabulary level; the effects of the storytelling in improving the writing skills and the effects of implementing the group work to improve speaking skills.
I think that if the teacher is good at managing students, they will have the chance to focus on each detail in the class. This extends their knowledge and develops their language. Moreover, I will also use more creative activities that can support learning like inquiry-based learning activities and centered group strategy.
References
Beynon, J., Young, M. F. D., & Mackay, H. (1991). Understanding technology in education. New York. N.Y; London;: Falmer Press. Kutnick, P., Ota, C., & Berdondini, L. (2008). Improving the effects of group working in classrooms with young school-aged children: Facilitating attainment, interaction and classroom activity. Learning and Instruction, 18(1), 83-95. doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2006.12.002 Murphy, K. (2013). Technology techniques: Using them the right way.(guest editorial). Science Scope, 36(5), 6. Schruijer, S. (2016). Working with group dynamics while teaching group dynamics in a traditional classroom setting: An illustration of a systems-psychodynamic point of view. Team Performance Management: An International Journal, 22(5/6), 257-268. doi:10.1108/TPM-05-2016-0023 Tanner, S. J. (2016). Storying the classroom: Storytelling and teacher evaluation. English Teaching: Practice & Critique, 15(2), 208-220. doi:10.1108/ETPC-01-2016-0009