Exploring my beliefs

First assumption: The teacher needs to play different roles in the workplace

"It is a well known-fact that knowledge transfer is not only about having a specific purpose of teaching in the classroom but all the insights that students can get from us as teachers in a regular school day anywhere." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor

"One of the roles that teachers are related to is the learning facilitator. As the name speaks by itself, the teacher needs to facilitate learning to the students by using the methodologies that are considered to be the most appropriate for the students' needs." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor

"Another role that teachers need to play is the classroom supporter. That means that the teacher needs to continuously observe their students when they are doing in-classroom activities or in any other classroom duty." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor

"Mentor or counsellor is another role that teachers need to assume inside or outside the classroom. Teachers usually forget that they are one of students' first role model in society though." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor

"The teacher also needs to be a society builder. In other words, every single teacher, no matter what the teacher teaches, needs to be pretty aware that we as teachers are preparing our students for society." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor

"Teachers need to take into account a variety of roles in order to prepare their students not only in the subject but in all areas that students need to develop." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor

"I do not follow any specific or strict methodology because all my students will not learn in the same way. Then, a variety of sources need to be used in the classroom." Taken from conceptualising teaching acts

Second assumption: English as a way of communication

"The story of my professional life starts when I got really interested in learning English after listening to some American relatives talking with their children in the mentioned language." Taken from my professional autobiography 

"I was about eight years old when I wanted to learn a language different to my mother tongue for communicative purposes." Taken from my professional autobiography 

"At that moment, I did not think about being a teacher but just moving to a further step in English learning." Taken from my professional autobiography 

"I have always considered English to be very important in people's lives at this moment due to the fact that it is becoming a must to communicate in most countries around the world." Taken from what I think about English

"I have always considered English to be very important in people's lives at this moment due to the fact that it is becoming a must to communicate in most countries around the world." Taken from what I think about English

Third assumption: Teacher as a reflective practitioner

"During the lesson I was checking students' interest on internal organs and thinking what movement activity could be done in order to start explaining the function of the organs. And that was how I started to plan the next session with them." Taken from four reflective journals

"Later that day, I started to think about how I could have given more to my students by going further in the field of the circulatory system and the heart function. With that in mind, I took the decision to make the next activity more motivating for my students and deeper in anatomy." Taken from four reflective journals

"After that, I asked students how it was and interviewed some of them to collect data for my research practice. While doing so, I was reflecting on their answers and taking as suggestions for future activities on Schoology." Taken from four reflective journals

Fourth assumption: Being an English teacher professionally 

"Hence, I am taking different courses and reflecting on what I have been taught to be a better-prepared teacher for all the learning difficulties presented in the classrooms of our context." Taken from my professional autobiography

"As teaching is an ongoing process, I as a teacher need to be updated by getting new insights from other teachers. Taken from conceptualising teaching acts."

"I consider those work experiences good because actually I can grow personally and professionally having students with different needs. Taken from conceptualising teaching acts."

"The relationship between theory, research and practice seems to be very integrative due to the fact that they need to be applied in a sequence." Taken from conceptualising teaching acts

Fifth assumption: Teachers need to reflect on students' feelings towards activities

"Teachers also have to be aware of the students' level of English in each targeted skill so that they can use activities, worksheets, videos, books and others that can suit students' level of language knowledge." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor

"Over time, students will start to feel a friendship bond with the teacher and may express more confidential information related to their learning issues that they might be embarrassed to tell at first." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor

"My students could create their account and modify lots of their information. Some of them even messaged me on the Webpage and asked to work more on Schoology the next sessions we were going to have. That motivated a lot to continue working with them what I had thought to do on the webpage on September the 29th." Taken from four reflective journals

"After that, I asked students how it was and interviewed some of them to collect data for my research practice." Taken from four reflective journals

Assumptions were derived from the different sources:

The sources that have played a magnificent role in my way of teaching, behaving professionally and learning are my different own experiences that I could have had with the range of students I have been able to teach to. The different contexts that I had encountered in my short teaching life have been a great source to shape my teaching ideology. Furthermore, journals and research readings have been of great reference to learn from authors and their particular cases. In addition to that, reflecting on people's personal lives has also gave many ideas on the changes that could be done my life, even if it is not directly related to my way of teaching.
Nevertheless, before being a teacher one can be mentally-shaped by the surroundings met at the first stages of life. Our parents are the first teachers that we meet and may give us remarkable insights that are going to be conspicuous in our future life. However, some situations presented in our lives changes might forge our way of thinking anytime. Our way of thinking can change from one moment to another. That is why, we as teachers cannot be strict to the point of having a specific pedagogy because we are going to have different population as students throughout our lives.

Challenging my assumptions:

In order to challenge my assumptions, I personally believe that I have to go further as a reflective practitioner. That means that I have to apply what I have reflected from my lessons and what not, add new innovations in the activities done in the classroom. In this way, I will identify the strengths of my assumptions and what can be done to bolster what is not being done at one hundred percent successfully. Another method that would help me to challenge my assumptions is to hear the voices from my students or colleagues in order to receive feedback from their position. Those comments will not only help me to improve my lesson but also to grow greater personally and professionally.