Teacher Self Analysis

Teacher self analysis

I feel compelled to write about this topic because as a teacher, I feel a need to express some of my ideas, hopes and concerns, in a realistic and candid manner.

The completion of this course of study opens a very exciting door for me. I always had a passion for teaching little children. After spending my life as an Engineer and a designer of airplanes and oceangoing ships, the time has come for me to realize my dream.

At times, I have asked myself if I am really gifted to be a teacher. But, deep in my heart I know I am a teacher. 

Earlier in my life I have been a flight instructor and a teacher of Engineering Applied Technology to adults at a business level. Not until now, have I had the opportunity to realize my dream of possibly teaching young beginners.

I believe a person needs a certain amount of vocation to be this kind of teacher. In addition to vocation, this person must have a true love for this activity and a great amount of compassion and patience for those young persons needing our daily help.

A person must have a lot of patience indeed, plus understanding when taking on this responsibility. We are in charge of providing those young people with the knowledge of a new language. For some of them, their future will depend on this new language we will be teaching them. Regardless of the circumstances, or wherever we find ourselves as we engage in this activity, we are responsible for the outcome of the process we are conducting.

Personally, I feel a great love and compassion for young children. I realize that at times, these duties will become difficult due to the variety of personalities and behaviors I will be encountering each time I stand in front of the class. At that moment, my main duty and my greatest obligation will be to give those little ones my knowledge, my gentle care and my guidance with much dedication and devotion. This doesn’t mean that I would not enjoy teaching adults as well. On the contrary, I would like very much to teach adult classes. I enjoy the more formal setting of an adult class. But nothing compares with the joy of seeing the little ones being themselves and learning at a greater pace than the adults. I, as teacher will probably find myself attached to a particular group, or to certain individuals that will have the ability to capture my heart at one time or another. But, in spite of everything, I will always be a loving and caring teacher, no matter what. This is my nature and it will show each and every time.

I am fully aware that a person with these human qualities could easily run into problems, if character and discipline are not added to his/her performance in class. 

In my own case, I can say that I am in possession of both qualities when it comes to my teaching duties. I am a loving and compassionate person by nature, but I am also a disciplinary teacher by nature as well.

I am anxious to take on my first assignment and I pray to God to allow me to be a true blessing to those I will have the honor and the joy to teach.

Teacher Self Analysis

I have been teaching now for about one month, so I thought I would sit down and take advantage of this TEFL assignment to really take a good look at myself. I teach English level 3 (out of 10) integrated, integrated meaning that it involves grammar, speaking, writing and listening. In my course I have a text book which I use as my main material. The text book supplies me with a CD for listening exercises, various lesson plan ideas, quizzes and tests. The book is very useful and is called World View 2. My students are all Spanish speakers and the majority are Costa Ricans.

To begin positively, I would like to analyze the things I believe I do well as a teacher. In the classroom it is my goal to always get every student involved. I constantly am calling on students and asking them questions and I have them come to the front of the room and play teacher when we are correcting homework. I want my classroom to feel safe so, the students aren’t afraid to participate or make mistakes. I also try to base the material being learned on real life. For example, last week we were learning adjectives for physical descriptions and the difference between is/have. For this lesson I had the students answer questions like ?Describe to me your perfect man/woman, what would he/she look like?? Questions like these make the students relate to me and to the rest of the class on a personal level. The last thing I ever want to have a ?cold? classroom. I am a very young teacher and I try to let my age, personality and style come through every time I teach.

Now on to the aspects I need to work on as an English teacher. I have received several evaluations from different sources: my boss, my students and peers. All of the evaluations have been very positive however, I have received constructive criticism. Mainly, their comments/concerns have been that I speak too much in Spanish (my student’s native language) and that I speak too quickly. I 100% agree with these comments and every day I have them present in my mind. I struggle with teaching lower levels for various reasons. One reason is that I am a very sarcastic person. I love to tell jokes and stories and when lower level students don’t understand me, I turn to translation. I realize this is not the right thing to do, but I get frustrated when I have to repeat myself 5 times and the student still looks at me like they are a deer caught in headlights. I need to learn more patience. Another reason why I use the translation method is because that is how I learned Spanish. I took Spanish lesson for five years so; I think I teach how I was taught. 

In conclusion, I love to teach and I really care about my students. I obviously need to improve in many areas but, with only 7 weeks of teaching under my belt I feel as if there is a lot of room for improvement. Constructive criticism for me is an amazing tool, which should be used over and over again throughout one?s career. I want to end this essay stating my goal as an English teacher:

To teach everyday like it was my first. To never lose the passion, motivation and drive I have right not. To give every student I will ever have the attention he/she deserves.