First days at the school

During these days at Policarpa IED, I have been experiencing many feelings, sensations and
situations that have challenged my self-perspective as a teacher. Considering a previous quote by
my partner Nicolás Wilches, it is absolutely true that “We, as teachers, usually plan the lessons as
if the students will be perfect and will behave in a perfect, idealistic way”, when actually that
does not happen. I have seen a lot of diverse dynamics in my own students group and in partners’
groups (that I could see during different moments of teaching support). In all of them, I saw
particular behaviors in the students, both individually or while interacting with fellows. All these
strange behaviors (strange for me) are related to discipline issues that probably have not been
addressed in the correct times and places. All of this has led me to think that my teaching
responsibility is beyond a mere linguistic/communicative approach, but also to a
behavior/discipline aim to be achieved together with the students.
Thinking about the possible origins of these behaviors leads me to remember my own school
experiences, that were developed in a similar socio/economical context. For me, it is almost
impossible not to relate one of my students with one of my old school partners. In some way, I
found this helpful for teacher-student rapport, because the way I see every individual student and
how he/she is related to a school partner helps me to interact with him/her in an appropriate way,
or at least what I consider as an appropriate way, depending on how I want the student to do or to
behave.
Despite this, I have found a lot of potential among the students, making me think that they
already have a linguistic basis that helps them to improve their language learning. But, one more
time, this might be interrupted or affected by a lack of discipline habits among the students.
Another “discovery” (as I could call it) during this practicum process.
As a final comment, I would add a little “discovering” that I have found in this practicum
experience, and it is the dichotomy between a teacher personality that shows complete love and
passion to his duties and, on the other hand, another personality that expresses total authority
among the students. This difference is usually expressed with references to Teacher Jennifer
Honey and Headmistress Agatha Trunchbull respectively, according to the personalities and
pedagogical perspectives that both characters reflect and represent. During this practicum, I have
thought that is necessary an equilibrium and a balance between both personailties to find an ideal
approach for teacher-students interaction. Obviously, it is necessary to express passion when
teaching a lesson, but also, in this type of contexts, it is important to adopt a strong personality to
control students’ misbehavior.