Teachers as Artists

Being a teacher entails a lot of responsibilities and one of these, is for teachers to be creative inside their class. Creative, in a sense of using different strategies, methodologies and techniques in a different class, because a creative teacher acknowledges the diversity of his students, which is why he uses varieties of approaches in teaching. And this is very evident in the different classes of my cooperating teacher. Since he teaches grade 12 and grade 8 students I was able to witness his creativity. The way he changes and level his approach to the students. For example, when he teaches in his grade 8 class, he is more cheerful, he cracks jokes and the tone of his voice is friendly, which makes the class less threatening for the students and make them actively participate in the class. While in his grade 12 classes, I notice that, although he is still friendly and cheerful I can observe in his voice and movements his authority, which is good. Since the age gap is not that far, he makes sure that there is still boundary or professional line between him and his students. Another thing, is the way he manages his classroom, I was very lucky to observe his advisory class. I was able to see and appreciate the aesthetic of his homeroom. He is a fan of the movie The Greatest Showman, which is why the design of his homeroom is inspired by the movie. When you enter his room you can somehow sense his personalities, my cooperating teacher is very friendly, bubbly and funny, which can be seen the way he designed his room. With his creativity, they won an award for the Best Bulletin Board in Chevalier School this month. One more artistic thing about my cooperating teacher, is the way he speaks. I know that he is an English teacher and it’s just right that he speaks that way, but the way he pronounces words, he stressed syllables he is very good very, very artistic. One time, while they are talking about a Kapampangan play in his literature class, he read a dialogue there and I caught myself staring at him because he did very well, that time, I realize that as a future English teacher I should practice more in terms of speaking so that in the future I can also inspire my students.