Aspect of the school
SELF-INTRODUCTION
What have I learned today?
My journey in life has been all about learning, and becoming a teacher is a chance to give back to the community for teaching me education and life. I am an Australian native, where I was born and raised until the completion of my high school before moving to Macau, China. My mother raised me together with the other two elder sisters since my father was already working in China.
During high school, I enjoyed learning photography and English, reading and, playing chess. I found learning not only academic work but also other areas like games exciting. Most of the time, I would find myself asking a friend to help quench my curiosity in a particular area, a lifestyle that has impacted my current education philosophy as this report explores later. I valued learning since it made me more enlightened than before and felt the urge also to enlighten other students in my high school life. Every evening I would ask myself a question; what have I learned today? The value of learning and teaching other students made me develop the motivation in teaching, although, at that time, I did not pay much attention to the pressure. Instead, the pressure to learn created another urge to go overseas, China, where my father was, to advance my education.
My shift to China motivated the urge to teach and also narrowed the interest to the English language. I could not resist the pressure to become a teacher due to the challenge I faced in learning the Chinese culture. Most of the new friends I met were more conversant with their Chinese language leading to a barrier in learning the culture and quick integration. It took me longer than usual to learn and integrate with the culture due to the language barrier. I was the problem since English was not common to the Chinese in Macau. The issue was a concern to me because I did not have frequent interaction, making jokes, and sharing ideas with the friends I made. I felt the need to teach English to my Chinese friends so that we could understanding each other. Fortunately, most of them were willing.
However, my understanding of the English language also got me to the advantage side since most of my Chinese colleagues at the University of St Joseph in Macau needed to become proficient in the language. They would pressure me to teach them English during my free time, an activity which I enjoyed since I took it as a way of helping my friends. Due to continued unofficial teaching, I become more motivated to help more Chinese natives who needed to become proficient in English. I felt that China was a mission ground for me to support most of them in the English language so that they can become independent in the future when they travel overseas. The experience inspired me to teach English after studying the field of Architecture as pure interest because of the sensation of helping other people and helping them prepare for challenges in life, such as language. I decided to change my career to an English teacher with a part-time job at the same University. The Architecture profession could no longer provide me satisfaction and joy like the one I found comfort in teaching English.
STATEMENT OF TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
“The aim (of education) must be the training of independently acting and thinking individuals, who, however, see in the service of the community their highest life problem.”- Albert Einstein
I have always had this idea that learners, especially when young, have set the mind on what they want to hear from their teachers. In my experience at the early stages of life, I was always interested to hear the teacher explaining the meaning of complex words, for example, science, and lacked interest in explaining processes. The experience has made me develop the philosophy that learning is expanding one’s ideas and interests in a particular field to serve curiosity and advance knowledge. Based on the cognitive constructivism theory, I believe that leaners make knowledge of themselves through the help of teachers by absorbing what interests them and serving curiosity (Dagar & Yadav, 2016). For example, a young male student will assume learning when the teacher serves his question on why we have day and night. Fortunately, young learners are curious about almost everything happening about life. A successful learning situation, as a result, is that which provides the most curiosities making leaners more knowledgeable in an area that they hand clues at the begging of a lesson. It was easy for me to concentrate in class and count the lesson successfully when the teacher answers my questions and develops more questions in the same area with answers. Learning, therefore, occurs when the learner becomes more skilled, competent, or knowledgeable on an area they had an interest.
My belief in teaching is that teachers should impact lifelong learning to support learner’s critical thinking. Knowledge, skills, and competencies are so diverse and dynamic that teachers cannot cover everything in classes. However, when teachers model lifelong learning, learners can develop themselves and with critical thinking, approach any problem or issue. Teachers should provide a framework for solving and filling knowledge gaps and model the culture of inquiry as a way of making learners independent and dynamic in thinking (Deveci & Ayish, 2017). I believe that schools should enable learners to become independent in life to achieve their careers, dreams, and solve community problems through innovation. A classroom should, as a result, be an interactive environment with practical activities on real-life situations. The actual, interactive forums support learners’ independence in thinking and learning (Hsieh & Hsieh, 2019). The events have worked in my life by enabling me to develop approaches in identifying and solving other problems outside the classroom. They motivate learners to become independent researchers and thinkers.
My education philosophy further results from my view about children as people with personal models of interpreting the world. Although children do not have any knowledge and interpretation framework at birth, they develop background knowledge with time to base their understating of the world (Martín et al., 2015). I see children as people who already have an idea of what they want to know and seek the advancement of knowledge. The conception results from personal and experience from other children where most will resist information that does not resonate with their knowledge. A child, for example, resist a description of a vehicle if it does not agree with prior understanding. I, therefore, approach children like students who have expectations and goals. I usually avoid lectures on my own goals and those predetermined curricula and embrace and interactive environment where I can build on children’s objectives. However, I mould their goals alongside those of the education curriculum to have successful learning.
In my view, learning is more efficient when leaners become creative to find formulas used in classrooms, for example, in developing English sentences. Students, on the other hand, learn to become creative in other areas, for example, science and solving community problems. As a result, I believe that teaching should provide learners with internal freedom to impact creativity. Interactive classes with group discussions and simulations are open to learners to think in their ways and develop frameworks of approaching such issues (Tan et al., 2016). Teaching should involve mentoring and motivating learners to create personalized solutions to such case studies and arguments in group discussions. Motivation to even interact with the teacher is another way to develop independent thinking and creativity. Teachers can realize the strengths and weaknesses of learners and hence, provide the appropriate support for advancement to the next level. I have always encouraged interactive classes and found students developing internal motivation with improvement in performances. However, my assessment is also diverse, including presentations, projects, and portfolios. The different approaches to evaluation are from the belief that leaners develop individualized knowledge following the cognitive constructivism theory. There are differences in areas in which leaners excel, depending on their interests. The wholesome and diverse assessment approach, therefore, provides an objective evaluation that aligns with the educational philosophy on developing learners’ independence.
Ricci primary school is a Roman Catholic middle school located in Macau China and a branch of the Ricci institution, which starts from kindergarten to secondary school. The school, which is also a fellow of the Macau Catholic Schools Association, started in around 1955. Currently, it has a campus for secondary school learners and two campuses hosting nursery and primary schools. The School vision which it relates to the Jesuit educational philosophy is:
“We are in the atmosphere of a learning group, providing students and faculty with a holistic, open-minded and growing Catholic education; cultivating them to become progressively capable, dedicated, enthusiastic, spiritual and ethical discriminating people; They also have a universal heart, willing to seek happiness for the world, especially for those who are poor and neglected.”
One thing I noted about Ricci’s primary school is its beauty in decorations along the corridors, in classrooms, land the whole environment, as shown in figures 1, 2, and 4. I felt an attraction to the school at first sight with well-matched colors and paintings all over. The decorations are more than beauty. Unlike in other places like theatres where there are many drawings, the school has almost the same ration of paintings to drawings on the walls. The paintings and drawings bring out the element of a creative and innovative culture in the school. Beauty in the current competitive world occurs when one can provide a unique appearance of an object, and Ricci has made it in the area. It means that in the school, teachers and leaners adopt creativity in their teaching and learning alongside other management areas. The perception of creativity through the decorations resonates with the school vision to develop open-minded leaners. Ricci’s decorations challenge leaners to become open-minded by showing them that the same materials, colors, and walls can produce a unique appearance.
The decorations, on the other hand, sends the message of a culture that embraces happiness and support among members of the Ricci community. Through experience, the decorations set a perfect ambiance that makes one feel on an exploration trip. Every corridor or wall has a unique appearance that maintains moods, an element that appears to support the school foundation on catholic believes in compassion. A culture of compassion, in this case, involves the provision of happiness to the sad and weak Ricci community members. The school vision has the direction of compassion by seeking to develop people who can create a happy environment for the neglected and the poor. Support for the needy and weak resonates with learner’s needs. Teachers are supposed to support learners as they develop in their unique ways, for example, in the pace of learning.
In addition to the decorations, there are writings on the walls with principles and school theme that demonstrates orientation towards a culture of hard work. Some of the words on the walls include conscience, commitment, and competence. The billboard, on the other hand, displays this year’s school theme stating that “Genius is 1% talent and 99% hard work.” The wordings are an indication of the school leadership and teachers’ commitment towards impacting a culture of hard work. The general knowledge about genius is that there born with exceptional abilities, but Ricci affects a belief that such people become due to hard work. Such a theme reveals more pressure on learners and teachers to uphold responsibility for their
time and resources for greater outcomes.
Another unique element of the school is the religious artifacts that demonstrate support for the catholic faith culture, as shown in figure 1. The artifacts reveal a culture of spiritual life with humility, compassion, love, unity, friendship, and other moral ethics, as demonstrated by the life of Jesus Christ and his lineage. The catholic culture emphasizes family and unity, where Mary, the mother of Jesus, demonstrates the existence of one body of Christ. It means that Ricci community practices oneness helping each other similar to the way Jesus saved humankind and wanted people to be one. Both the clean and appealing environment and the artifacts of catholic faith reveals a school culture that supports the wholesome development of leaners in spiritual, moral, and education areas. There is an emphasis on diversity in learners to become independent persons in their life with the ability to overcome moral, spiritual, and knowledge-based issues.
The appealing environment has an impact on learners and teachers with evidence from their all-time happiness and support to each other. On entering the school compound for the first time, I met with happy faces of learners having discussions about life, school, and other issues on the corridors. I thought that that was a moment mood only to find that learners are ever happy both in and outside the classroom. Teachers also gave me a very warm welcome with competition on the one who would orient and create a sitting position for me. Again, I thought that it was out of excitement only to find that they extend the same support to learners. Leaners and teachers have a friendly relationship due to the teacher’s willingness to help in assignment and other in non-academic issues such as social life.
Through experience and interaction with the learners, there is no doubt about their happiness in the general school environment and uniform. One student told me that if I stayed longer until winter, I would be surprised to see them in warmer uniforms they reserve. Their happiness results from support by the management and teachers. They boast about the most beautiful school they have ever seen with attractive classrooms and teachers who are ready to give them the best. The students further extend the happiness to amongst themselves by supporting each other in times of need. For the internship duration, I did not witness any case of conflict. However, I realized that leaners had developed mechanisms of peaceful reconciliation with each other in case of the dispute instead of involving teachers and developing enmity.
The school also supports learners through the utilization of modern facilities and tools. There are fans with proper lights in classes to ensure comfort and less strain due to heat and light, as shown in figure 5. Teachers, on the other hand, utilizes laptops, projectors, and whiteboards to develop interactive classes. The classes are well spaced with cream and dark blue paintings, which allows it to have an ambient environment conducive for learning.
Another unique and essential aspect of the school is its diversity among learners. There is a proper mixture of girls and boys raging between wealth and average social classes. Such a population allows a hybrid culture that supports creativity among learners. Learners can challenge each other along social and academic files to become open-minded. However, the school does not integrate learners with special needs