My Teaching Philosophy

M. Paulo Santos

I am teaching teenagers and young adults age 15 to 28 years old in a high school. Two main beliefs are at the centre of all that I do as a teacher. First, I think that education should be student-centred and second, that providing an enjoyment of learning is probably the most important thing we can do with our students.

If teaching, instead of learning, is the focus of a classroom, then control over student academic, social, and behavioural actions becomes the job of the teacher. Supervision of the classroom, of academic progress and pace, and even of bad behaviour becomes the primary concern especially among classes that have been created for a two year time practical course (vocational training course on computing for slow/misbehaved learners).

In the first years of my teaching career my task was to get through the curriculum while still trying to keep school as enjoyable for the students as possible. Thus, I concentrated on the classroom full of students, keeping them "on task" and rewarding good academic and social behaviour. I put an emphasis on my being in control of each and every situation.

In the 1997-1998 school year I was fortunate enough to get a group of students (currículos alternativos) that would push me and teach me about what they needed and wanted for themselves. I would describe these students from "fed-up with school but intelligent" to "how do you deal with him/her every day?" As the months passed I found it increasingly harder to motivate the students. Projects would work reasonably well, whether individual or in group, but anything that had a bit of traditional feeling to it would make the whole group find resistance and/or conflict.

At the end of that year, I reflected quite a bit on my beliefs about teaching and learning. I came to realize that children increasingly need to have some control over what and when they learn, that they need to be, an active participant in the learning process. I had been keeping the focus of my classroom on myself, it was teacher-centred. In order for students to really learn and to enjoy school, I had to refocus on the pupils, to make my classroom a student-centred one.

For this reason, I believe that a variety of approaches to both the content to be learned and individual students is the best way to structure a learning programme. A variety of learning opportunities allows for a greater number of children to both enjoy learning and, if choice is incorporated into the activity, to give children some control over their education.

Here I emphasise the use of new technologies that permits a great number of activities and provides an exciting new challenge in the classroom. Whether I am explaining verb tenses or highlighting the use of possessive pronouns, lessons take on a new dimension that contributes to student-centred classes.

Thus, my two attempts at student-centeredness and enjoyment of the learning process are part of my classrooms and are the basis of my philosophy of teaching.