Teaching Philosophy for Volunteer Service with
the Teach and Learn with Georgia Program (TLG)
My teaching service with TLG was guided by seven components:
1) Cultural Relevance and Dual Language Development
2) Making Learning Fun: Constructivist, Student-Centered, Whole Child Education
4) The Importance of Dialogue and Collaboration
6) The Development of Higher Order Thinking
Cultural relativity and dual language development is of extreme importance. Prior to my service, I knew that the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia had adopted MacMillan’s English World program for grades 1-6. This was a great concern for me because the materials for this program take an extremely Eurocentric, and specifically British world view that does not honor the native Transcaucasian Georgian culture. Vygotsky (1962) determined that language is a socially constructed transmitter of culture and a powerful tool of intellectual adaptation. From time immemorial, the people of Georgia have been plagued by a variety of imperialistic mechanisms, yet they have still managed to preserve their cultural dignity.
While recent changes and the opportunity for Georgian children to learn English generates excitement, it is essential that they do not lose track of their native language and rich historical roots. Georgian students must develop and maintain their native language and culture in tandem with learning about the English language and various English speaking cultures. Please understand that this proposition is not without its challenges; as Buras and Apple (2006) reminded us, “the globalization of culture combined with oppressive streams of nationalism and national identity, neocolonial forms and practices, and mobile police states mean that circulations of knowledge from below are all the more difficult and all the more essential” (p. 30).
In addition to the sociocultural benefits, dual language development and direct instruction on identifying similarities between new English words and Georgian words is essential for English Language Learners because it accelerates the speed of the learning process, bolsters comprehension, and increases the understanding of new words in English. Ultimately, “teachers must tap into students’ primary language skills and encourage students not only to learn English, but also to preserve their knowledge of and proficiency in their native language” (Teele, 2004, p. 175).
Teachers are facilitators of learning environments that engage multiple learning styles and developmental needs. Instruction is student-centered and dialogue based; individualized feedback and support is provided to students. A sense of fun and play is added into the learning process through the use of dramatic role plays, collaboration, music, movement, and art.
It is essential that teachers communicate to students the expectations for learning, classroom behavior, and rituals, routines, and behaviors. Each instructional session must contain a clear introduction, middle, and end with the incorporation of as many of the language development domains as possible (e.g. reading, writing, listening, and speaking). Student assessment should be tailored to each learning activity; when students are first introduced to rubric based assessments, these instructional tools should be simplistic in nature.
Students must learn to collaborate in structured environments in order to increase creative thinking and creative problem solving abilities. It is crucial that students learn how to use dialogue to discuss and solve intellectual and social problems. It is through the interchange of ideas and interactions with others that students come to build their own knowledge; it is the responsibility of educators to facilitate interactive scaffolded activities that provide students with ample opportunities to expand their intellectual potentials. It is through these activities that students will come to develop their personal voice.
Students must be able to communicate verbally and in writing. Teachers must provide opportunities for students to use the writing process (e.g. prewriting, drafting, revising, proofreading, publishing, presenting, reflecting).
It is important that teachers assist students with developing their higher order thinking skills. This is done from the standpoint that teachers are co-learners instead of transmitters of absolute knowledge. Freire (1970/2007) advocated for more reciprocal roles between teacher and student as co-learners and noted that this approach is in direct opposition with more traditional banking models of education wherein “…the scope of action allowed to students extends only as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits” of knowledge made available to them by all-knowing teachers (p. 72); indeed, education and knowledge are processes of inquiry that are negated by the ideology of oppression – “the more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world. The more completely they accept the passive role imposed on them, the more they tend to simply adapt to the world as it is and to the fragmented view of reality deposited into them” (p. 73).
It is critical that students and teachers reflect about instructional activities; reflection develops the metacognitive and self-regulation skills that are required to participate in the global community of scholars. Mathew (2012) discussed in detail the importance and value of reflective practice in a communicative language teaching classroom; essentially, “Honest reflections and evaluations of their pedagogies by way of questioning what they do and rethinking what they would do give scope for self-improvement and innovative teaching practices” (p. 207).
Buras, K.L., & Apple, M.W. (2006). The subaltern speak: Curriculum, power, and educational struggles. In M.W. Apple & K.L. Buras (Eds.), The subaltern
speak: Curriculum, power, and educational struggles, (pp. 1- 42). New York, NY: Routledge.
Freire, P. (2007). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: The Continuum International Publishing Group. (Original work published 1970).
Mathew, N.G. (2012). Reflective classroom practice for effective classroom instruction. International Education Studies, 5(3), 205-211.
doi:10.5539/ies.v5n3p205
Teele, S. (2004). Overcoming barricades to reading: A multiple intelligences approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Vygotsky, L.S. (1962). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
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