Patricia Wyza

FLT 817 – Dr. Lanier

April 30th, 2022

Teaching Philosophy

Learning a language is a skill one must constantly seek to improve upon and grow. To

quote Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already

mastered, you will never grow.” One can learn how to say basic phrases, but how you build upon

that information and use it is what matters. If the language isn’t being used or built upon, it

becomes lost and seeks to lose meaning or importance. I see my role as a Spanish teacher as the

facilitator of this process to help them grow and build upon their language skills to see

improvement and proficiency.

I believe my role as an elementary Spanish teacher is to encourage my students to be

globally minded inquirers and lifelong learners of Spanish. I follow the mission of the Primary

Years Programme (PYP) of the International Baccalaureate (IB) to “develop inquiring,

knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world

through intercultural understanding and respect” (International Baccalaureate Organization,

2009). With this mission in mind, I try to encourage students to lifelong learners who are

inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers,

balanced, and reflective (2009, 2018). Additionally, I would like my students to leave my class

with the skills to build target language proficiency and cultural understandings in real-world

contexts. My vision matches Donna Clementi and Laura Terrill (2015) in describing my

communication goal as going “beyond the ‘what’ (vocabulary) and the ‘how’ (grammar),

expanding to a more complete definition of communication indicating the ‘why’ (the purpose),

‘when’ (the time and place), and with or to ‘whom’ (the audience)” (p. 5). The language goals
and standards I set for my students are based on the standards and “Can-Do Statements” set by

the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages and the American Council for Teaching

Foreign Languages (NCSSFL-ACTFL).

I try to keep the activities engaging, based on real-world application, and rooted in my

students’ interests. If I can incorporate my students’ interests into my lesson, learning the

language has more meaning and they’re encouraged to continue learning and using the language

in their own lives. I love to incorporate hands-on and authentic activities, especially when

related to culture. With these activities, I try to bring in or use authentic artifacts and materials to

show real-world application. Having students experience different cultural practices firsthand

using authentic materials encourages them to be more globally- and open-minded and inquirers.

In teaching my students the skills to build language proficiency and cultural

understandings I try to incorporate various teaching methods in my lessons and activities. As

each student is different and learns differently, I believe that there is no singular method that fits

all. I utilize communicative language teaching (CLT) methods to encourage meaningful

communication in Spanish. To take my students one step further, I also incorporate task-based

language learning (TBLT). TBLT encourages real-world application and helps develop language

fluency and confidence. Both methods encourage authentic materials and texts and helps

establish communicative competence in the target language. I also try to balance teach grammar

concepts explicitly and implicitly to help students produce accurate forms of language while

encouraging contextualized and authentic language. Utilizing these various methods, I develop

various lessons and activities that cover the three modes of communication: interpretive,

interpersonal, and presentational.

 Being a 21st century educator, I try to incorporate technology in many of my lessons and

activities. I like to maintain a balance of traditional work as well as maintaining a technologically

savvy classroom. Because my students are elementary aged, I do believe in having students

complete hand-written work to help encourage language acquisition in written form. I balance

that with other projects where students are utilizing and creating various projects on iPads. I like

to use apps such as FlipGrid, SeeSaw, and Apple apps like Clips, iMovie, Keynote and Pages.

For language review and games, I use sites and apps such as IXL, Duolingo, Quizlet, Blooket,

and Gimkit. The use of technology and these games foster’s student engagement as well as

motivation.

To assess student progress, I focus on Integrated Performance Assessments (IPA) and

project-based assessments (PBA). I utilize these for students to showcase how they use and

understand the language in multiple contexts. IPAs were designed to assess learner progress in

meeting the national standards by demonstrating a students’ ability to communicate (Adair-

Hauck, Glisan, Troyan, 2013). IPAs and PBAs allow for students to base their learning on real-

life experiences and possibly lead to further inquiry. I also give small vocabulary and grammar

quizzes to help monitor their vocabulary acquisition throughout the semester and year.

I try to maintain an inclusive, stress-reducing, and welcoming environment in my

classroom. I prefer to have tables in my classroom to build a community and encourage

collaborative and communicative work amongst my students. I allow for flexible seating around

the room for when students need to work on assignments whether independently, in partners, or

groups. In the design of my room, I have natural lighting from lamps, natural green colors, and

choose not to clutter my wall with too many posters as to reduce overstimulation. In creating an

inclusive environment, I encourage all students to participate in discussions, show that mistakes
lead to better language acquisition, and provide opportunities for students to showcase their own

identities and cultures.

Language instruction and teaching methods seem to be changing year after year. I will be

the first to admit I am not a perfect teacher, and I likely will never be a perfect teacher. There is

always room to improve and grow in the teaching profession. Every year, I am changing lessons

and methods, finding ways to make lessons better and more effective for my students, or even

removing lessons that no longer serve my students. As my students change each year, so will I to

help my students become globally- and open-minded lifelong learners of Spanish.

 References

Adair-Hauck B., Glisan E.W., Troyan F.J., (2013). Implementing integrated performance
assessment. Alexandria, VA: ACTFL

Clementi, D., & Terrill, L. (2017). The Keys to Planning for Learning (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA:
The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).

International Baccalaureate Organization. (2009). Making the PYP happen: A curriculum

framework for international primary education (2nd ed.). Cardiff, Wales, United
Kingdom.
International Baccalaureate Organization. (2018). Primary Years Programme: Learning and
teaching. Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.

World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages (2015). National Standards in Foreign

Language Education Project NSFLEP.