Encouraging

Students through
Teaching
Principles.


Universidad Gerardo Barrios.
Teaching Practice I.

February 25, 2014
Teaching Principles II

In the following, we are going to talk about seven principles of a good teaching.
In every principles we are going to use its description, name and even a brief
introduction of its application in a real class or out of the class. If you are a teacher
you know or you will notice that principles are really important not just in the life,
but rather in a classroom because this is way how you will have an effective class,
principles are thought, ideas that guide you in order to have a good class. In this
paper we are going to talk about these teaching principles:
1. Good practice encourages interaction between students and faculty.
2. Good practice encourages interaction and collaboration between
students.
3. Good practice uses active learning techniques.
4. Good practice emphasizes time on task.
5. Good practice gives prompt feedback.
6. Good practice communicates high expectations.
7. Good practice respects diversity --- talents, experience, and ways of
learning (Ehrmann, 1996)
Teaching
Principles.
Principle s
Descriptions.
How I will apply them.
Good practice
encourages
interaction
between
students and
faculty.
Frequent student-
faculty contact in and
out of class is a most
important factor in
student motivation
and involvement.
Faculty concern helps
students get through
rough times and keep
on working.
Knowing a few
faculty members well
enhances students
intellectual
commitment and
encourages them to
think about their
own values and
plans. (Ehrmann,
1996).
One of the important things in a class is the
interaction between students and teachers
and not just in the class, if we can realize
the description of this principles says: in
and out so, we need to develop other
ways of interaction among them and a
teacher.

Every teacher knows that if you have a
good relation with your students, your
teaching process is going to be successful
because this is way how they are not going
to be afraid and they will ask questions or
doubts about a homework, a task in the
class or maybe a topic.

There are many ways how I can apply this
principles. One of things that we have to
take in account that every method that we
use in a class has its principles, so before
we plan a class we need to know about the
methods, for instance: Total physical
response, in this method exist a little
Teaching Principles III

interaction between student and teacher.
On the other hand, how we can apply this
principle out of the class is with the use of
technology, because this can facilitate us
the contact with student, I can give them as
an example: my e-mail or another site that I
can use, nowadays, remember that exist
this important resource and it is close to us.
In this form we can encourage our student
in their leaning process.

There are many ways how I can apply this
principle, as a teacher just some examples
in the school: I can get early to the class and
start a conversation with them, or in the
class starting a discussion with them about
any topic.

Good practice
encourages
interaction
and
collaboration
between
students.
Learning is enhanced
when it is more like a
team effort than a
solo race. Good
learning, like good
work, is collaborative
and social, not
competitive and
isolated. Working
with others often
increases
involvement in
learning. Sharing
ones ideas and
responding to others
improves thinking
and deepens
understanding.
(Ehrmann, 1996)
The most common way that we use as a
teacher in the class is to work as a whole
group in this way we do not get a success
in the class first we are not applying this
principle, there is a big difference between
group and a team according: (Attribution-
ShareAlike., 2012) A group is informal and
meets to solve short-term problems. A team
solves long- term problems and includes
more coordination and structure.
As the description says in this principle the
main goal is the interaction and
collaboration between students, and this is
the responsibility that as a teacher we need
to solve.

There is more learning when students work
by them because they can apply what they
have learned before.
One of the strategy is to make groups small
groups and then to teach them and works
as a team following the same goal as
students where they can learn.

One of the method that I will apply is the
Teaching Principles IV

community language learning because this
is one way where they can collaborate and
interact with each one. Community
language learning is an approach in which
students work together to develop what
aspects of a language they would like to
learn and the teacher works as a counsellor.
(Rogers, 2000)

This is just one example of methods that
exist in order to teach languages. Other
form to work and they can work together is
that I can give them exercises in group,
presentations or maybe in a real situation
where they need the support each other.

There is one important thing mentioned in
this description and it is that learning is
much better when is social and it is not
competitive. In this case I would handle
with this talking with my students and
reflecting that as student we need the
supporting of our classmates and
remember that we are learning a second
language and English is not spoken in this
country so the only place that we have is
the classroom with our classmates and the
teacher.
Good practice
uses active
learning
techniques.
Learning is not a
spectator sport.
Students do not learn
much just sitting in
classes listening to
teachers, memorizing
prepackaged
assignments, and
spitting out answers.
They must talk about
what they are
learning, write
reflectively about it,
relate it to past
experiences, and
Active learning techniques mean that as a
teacher we need to use techniques that are
important and have a meaning leaning. As
a teaching in my teaching practice I would
use things that are important for student
for example one thing that is really relevant
for student is to work in group, as I
mentioned before in this they can learn
from each other and they are going to
remember what they have lived. As a
teacher we need to consider that students
need spaces in our environment where they
can play an active role.

For applying this principle I would use one
Teaching Principles V

apply it to their daily
lives. They must
make what they learn
part of themselves.
(Ehrmann, 1996)

of the method that I explained before and
this is Community Language Learning as
we know in this method they had the
chances to participate in what they want
and what they have learned. Or another
technique for example Peer Instructions
this consist in asking a question and they
have to think about it. (California, 2005)

Good Practice
Gives Prompt
Feedback.
Knowing what you
know and dont
know focuses your
learning. In getting
started, students
need help in
assessing their
existing knowledge
and competence.
Then, in classes,
students need
frequent
opportunities to
perform and receive
feedback on their
performance. At
various points during
college, and at its
end, students need
chances to reflect on
what they have
learned, what they
still need to know,
and how they might
assess themselves.
(Ehrmann, 1996)

When we are in a class as a teacher we
need to be aware that our work is not just
to give a certificate that someone has
approved the scholar year. So this is a
relevant principle that we need to apply
and consider it in every process that we
live with our students.

Exist many ways when we can apply this
principle, first of all, we can make a
diagnostic evaluation in the first classes, in
this way I can realize what my student
know, their competences and even their
weaknesses.

I would apply this technique at the
beginning of the course because as a
teacher I need to know what my students
know and their levels in English. Other
form is to ask questions not just at the
beginning I would apply this as much as
possible. Feedback is important too because
in this way as a teacher I can support my
students and they can make a reflection
about what they have learn and in this
form I can teach them to love learning and
show how important is learning in our life.


I do not want to forget that other way that
I can use for feedback in this class is
technology remember that as a teacher we
just can stand in front of the class around a
Teaching Principles VI

hour or two. So, we can show them many
websites in other to understand better what
we have talked in class. For examples
videos on YouTube or in other website
blogs, social networks or the most common
way in technology with the e-mail.

Good Practice
Emphasizes
Time on Task.
Time plus energy
equals learning.
Learning to use ones
time well is critical
for students and
professionals alike.
Allocating realistic
amounts of time
means effective
learning for students
and effective
teaching for faculty.
(Ehrmann, 1996)


If students do not spend time in their study
they are not going to have success in this
process because every course or subject
needs time in order to learn better, it is not
the same a student that spends five hours a
week than a student that just spends one
hour. Everyone knows that the best student
is someone that invests time in his
homework, task or anything because in the
learning process we need time.

As a teacher we know that one thing that is
included in the lesson plan is time, so as we
consider our time in our plan we need to
encourage students to consider time in
their learning process. Nowadays, there are
many advantages with the use of
technology as a teacher I would use the
uses of many websites where they can
learn and investing time in studying.

Students are always distracted with a lot of
thing so as a teacher I would give them
important homework or task where they
have to search information and in the class
they can discuss about it. Do not remember
that we can use the calendar to say them
when is every evaluation in the class.
Good Practice
Communicates
High
Expectations
Expect more and you
will get it. High
expectations are
important for
everyone for the
poorly prepared, for
those unwilling to

As a student sometimes I felt that my
teacher asked me much and always I think
about it, but if we think deeper our teacher
are our motivators when we are attending
any course they know that we can.
As a teacher if we do not say our high
Teaching Principles VII

exert themselves, and
for the bright and
well-motivated.
Expecting students to
perform well
becomes a self-
fulfilling prophecy.
(Ehrmann, 1996)
expectation of our students they are not
going to push themselves. Of course there
are students with good expectation in class
but what about other one.

There are seven principles in this paper but
this is one of the most important as a
teacher you need to say to our student that
we believe in them and they can give more.
I would say not just at the beginning my
expectation from them because as a human
we need to hear this as much as possible,
and at the same time, push them to have
their proper expectations because as some
says the word that you use for moving
yourself is not my word, but rather that
word was your because you decided to be.
Nowadays, remember that not just the
teacher expects from them because the
society is asking for people that know more
than people that live before, so we need to
remember then what the society wants
from them.

Good Practice
Respects
Diverse
Talents and
Ways of
Learning.
Many roads lead to
learning. Different
students bring
different talents and
styles to college.
Brilliant students in a
seminar might be all
thumbs in a lab or
studio; students rich
in hands-on
experience may not
do so well with
theory. Students
need opportunities to
show their talents
and learn in ways
that work for them.
Then they can be
pushed to learn in

Every human has different characteristics,
mood, way of leaning and everyone has
different talent or style. This principle
shows us that we need to be aware that we
are working with people shaping life, so
every generation has many changes and so
on. In simple word we need to move
ahead with different methods, techniques
etc.
In my teaching practice I will use not just
one method or technique as a teacher I will
need to consider what is the way that they
learn better. For example I can use videos
in my class but not all people understand
videos or live to watch videos, so I will use
the result that I can use with them:
Presentations.
Grammar exercises.
Teaching Principles VIII

new ways that do not
come so easily.
(Ehrmann, 1996)
Videos.
Games.
Songs and so on.


Teaching designing in My Practice as a Teacher.
Approach.
Well, I will perform my teaching practice in a High School in tenth grade and it
will be around forty hours taking in consideration the National English Curriculum,
through this we can see how it is organized and what topic I can choose for
developing in the class. There are interesting question included in this curriculum
and this is the guide how the curriculum is designed just for a little comprehension
of this here I write some questions that the curriculum has: (MINED, 2008).
What do teachers teach for?
What must student learn?
How to teach?
How, when and what evaluate?
I am not going to be deep in these questions because this is not about, I just put
this as examples how the curriculum is designed. And this curriculum is based in
the Communicative Approach, where students and teachers have a meaningful
interaction in a real situation. I will guide me through this approach because as a
teacher of language the major purpose is that my students can communicate each
other in the target language at least some common conversations. And this is way
too how the Curriculum shows us how we can get it. Inside of it, I mean the
approach we got communicative competences for example: Grammatical
Competence, Sociolinguistic Competence, and so on. (Movement, 2005).


At the same time, I will guide me in this approach English as a foreign language,
because as we live in El Salvador where English is not spoken we need to use this
language a foreign because we do not have any social group that speak English just
Spanish. So, the only group is inside of the class and encourage them to speak
English maybe they can schedule many meeting or conversation clubs where they
can develop their competences in this language. Through this approach the course is
going to be given to some students, I do not how many student because now I am in
the process of choose a High School where I will perform my teaching practice.
Teaching Principles IX

Now I just want to put some topics that the National Curriculum suggests,
remember that methodology depends of the topic and through this I can decide the
method what I need in the class and the method will define the technique always
finding the general objective that you read before in the last paragraph: (MINED,
2008)
Expressions to make appointments.
Commonly used questions for personal interviews.
Biographies of Salvadoran personalities.
Personal goals.
In my point of view I think that those topic are really difficult for starting this
year, but maybe I am wrong. The first thing that I would apply is a diagnostic
evaluation for meeting my students and know what are their advantages, what they
know about English and in this way I can start my teaching practice as an English
Teacher.
Strategies.
Strategies are action that we use in order to achieve a goal with our students I
just punt some strategies here because my teaching practice is short:
Lectures: In this I will use book, short paragraph, presentation where my student
can develop the reading skill.
Discussions: where they can share what they think and at the same time
developing the speaking skill.
Writing: With this my students will develop their writing skill with the use or
grammar, exercises, and so on.
Group Projects: Working in group they are going to share knowledge each other
and at the same time they are going to improve their speaking skill.
Independent Student Projects: We say in other word individually.
Methods, Methodology and Techniques.
As I was study the last year about teaching Method I will apply the method that I
have been learning there are many methods that I can apply and this depends of
students, purpose and what I want to achieve, remember that the techniques are
inside of the methods, for example I can use the traditional method, and this depend
in a brief explication about an issue in grammar and as a technique I use the
Teaching Principles X

translation of this sentences into the native language. Other important factor is the
methodology, this is a set of method that I can use in a class.
The direct method: this consists without translation maybe with the strategy of
reading and the technique of reading loud, questions and answers etc. (Larsen, 2004)
The audio Lingual Method: In this we can teach vocabulary through the
technique of repletion drill. (Larsen, 2004)
Desuggestopedia: This is one of the most used here in this country because there
are many people that think that they are not capable to learn other language, the
work of this method is to show that they can and take the limits away. (Larsen, 2004)
Community Language Learning. Humanistic technique where they say what
they want to learn and other things. Other technique question and self-reflection.
(Larsen, 2004)
Total Physical response: This is more physical where students learn vocabulary
through movement gestures and pictures. Techniques: The use of pictures, videos
etc.
I am not going to write more about methods because there are many and this is
not just focused in methods. Now I will write just an example of methodology that I
will use in my teaching practice:
I will use the audio lingual method because I can use the technique of repetition
and they can learn many word through it, and then, total physical response because
after they have learnt they can perform what the vocabulary says, and finally
Desuggestopedia and in this way I can encourage students to learn without fear.
E-learning and Blended Learning
Do no forget that nowadays exist technology and through this we can give
classes online, the tools that I would use are: websites, blogs, social network where
we can have forums with all student in any time out of classroom, just here an
example of a web where we can have a class with methods, methodology, strategies
and so on. http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=219237.

The increase of technology has been different in these year as we can notice there are
technology almost all places, in home, in the classroom and so on. Traditional classes have changed
because before the teacher was face to face with student and now technology has changed the
thing, as we have native speaker we also have digital native people that have grown with
technology. As educator we need to consider those changes in our society because exist different
kind of learning here we mention E-learning and Blended Leaning. According to (Consulting, 2004) e-
Teaching Principles XI

Learning is the use of technology to enable people to learn anytime and anywhere. If you
have notice our students are in the class with their electronic thing for examples:
Cellphones, computers, Laptop. We need to be aware that they are using technology in
other to understand better a topic or you just give a homework and they are not finding
information in book just in Internet.
On the other hand, we got Blended Learning and according to: (Weingarten, 2007)
Blended learning: Is a mix of e-learning with traditional teaching and learning practices.
Typically there is a combination of face-to-face interaction with online learning. This is a
little different that e-learning the only thing that they combine two they take a whole
course online where they see the teacher just through technology, for example: Skype is
one of most used for these courses. As teacher we need to know the whole thing about
because there is technology but we will always be a teacher in or out of the class. Who is
going to teach through technology? Of course a teacher is the responsible of the course
those sources by themselves are nothing, the teacher give life to courses through
technology.
As conclusion, a teacher without principles is not a teacher, every principle that we saw
in this paper are really relevant for everyone that is a teacher or wants to improve as a
professional. I am using this word as a clich, in Spanish I use this word in order to resay
something, but I want to repeat that we are working with people, shaping life not things.
We need to be aware that we are a model for our students, and they are changing every
time. In conclusion our principles want to say that we need to motivate, inspire life.
Students need to see motivation in our life, I think that this is the first principles as someone
that wants to teach. Maybe in this work we are not going to see result instantly but at the
end we are going to be happy because someone learnt something through us.









Teaching Principles XII

References:

Attribution-ShareAlike., C. C. (14 de May de 2012). Boundless. Obtenido de Boundless:
https://www.boundless.com/management/groups-teams-and-teamwork/defining-teams-and-
teamwork/differences-between-groups-and-teams/
California, U. o. (15 de February de 2005). Teaching Guide. Obtenido de Teaching Guide:
https://gsi.berkeley.edu/teachingguide/sections/active.html
Consulting, E. L. (15 de December de 2004). E-learning Consulting. Obtenido de E-learning Consulting:
http://www.e-learningconsulting.com/consulting/what/e-learning.html
Ehrmann, b. A. (21 de October, de 1996). The TLT GROUP. Obtenido de The TLT GROUP.:
http://www.tltgroup.org/programs/seven.html
Larsen, D. (2004). Techinique and Principles of Language Teaching. New York: OXFORD.
MINED. (01 de Jenuary de 2008). Ministerio de Educacion de El Salvador. Obtenido de Ministerio de
Educacion: https://www.mined.gob.sv/
Movement, C. (23 de February de 2005). Approaches to teach English. Obtenido de Approaches to teach
English: http://www.auburn.edu/~nunnath/engl6240/clt.html
Rogers, C. (12 de December de 2000). ALTERNATIVE METHODS. Obtenido de ALTERNATIVE METHODS:
http://www2.vobs.at/ludescher/Alternative%20methods/community%20language%20teaching.
htm
Weingarten, J. (20 de March de 2007). Studyportals. Obtenido de Studyportals:
http://www.distancelearningportal.com/articles/269/blended-learning-e-learning-and-online-
learning-whats-important.html