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From my own experience
as a student and now as a teacher I can argue that the educational system in
Ecuador has still a long way to go before reaching high levels of quality. Lamentably, most in service teachers still
keep old school practices. Not all
students have the opportunity to fully develop their cognitive, academic, and
social capacities. As a consequence, a
lack of motivation for learning is exhibited in students which is reflected in
aggressiveness, misbehavior, and dependence.
Most students find making sense of their learning difficult and just a
few have clear goals for their future.
Along the construction of this portfolio I was able to bring together
theory and practice to identify what needs to be done in Ecuadorian schools in
order to offer a high quality of education.
Moreover, my experience
as an intern in Bergman Elementary school gave me the opportunity to observe
effective educational practices which consider students as the core of
instruction. Children in USA are taught
to think, question, and reflect at early ages with a clear emphasis in reading
in a safe and respectful environment.
When I compare this reality to the Ecuadorian context, I conclude that
what our students are missing is expert teachers who teach vcthem how to think
and genuinely care about them. I
consider that despite the fact that in Ecuador cultural and linguistic
diversity is not a barrier for effective communication, Biography Driven
Instruction is a powerful tool to change English, math, science, language
teachers’ perspectives regarding strategies for instruction and
teacher-students relationships.
Therefore, the theme of this portfolio is promoting meaningful and
critical learning beyond EFL context. It is my belief that the learning of a
second language much depends on how proficient at using the first language students
are in terms of processing information, using high order thinking skills, and
being aware of who they are and what
happens in the world around them.
The first part of this portfolio, the platform, is a description of the
theories, principles and pedagogical forces which give support to my teaching
practices. The five sections addresses specific areas namely language
development, pre-instructional assessment, planning, authentic assessment and
reflections. The second part is a
collection of artifacts which provide the evidence o f bringing together theory and
practice. Most of the artifacts included
are examples of lessons I had the opportunity to implement in the fifth grade
of Bergman Elementary School. The appendix section contains a description
and reflection of the core subjects of the Curriculum & Instruction Master
Program as well as the research papers for each. To conclude, final reflections on the
learnings gained in the program and my long and short term goals for the future
are also included.
From my perspective, this portfolio is
like the last piece of the puzzle. I feel that all components of the Master
Program have been put together in this document to give me and readers a
perfect view of who I am as a teacher, what my teaching philosophy is, and what
my expectations and goals are. As a teacher I recognize the benefits of
reflective practice on a regular basis. Thoughtful and bias-free reflections
are the first step to break down old practices and beliefs so as to
continuously grow professionally. The content of this portfolio is aligned with
my teaching philosophy which follows three principles: a)know who my students
are; b) know where they are at; c) have high expectations. Framing my teaching
within these three principles allows me to provide my students with meaningful
learnings which help them to grow cognitively, get engaged with discovering and
learning, and become independent learners.
It is imperative to highlight the fact that EFL teachers cannot make a
significant impact on education by themselves.
It is necessary that all content area teachers are included in the
process of change.
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