Reflect on the concept of “soft eyes” (p. 113). Think of a situation where having “soft eyes” might have helped you in the classroom. Describe what happened, how you reacted, and how you would have liked to react.

When speaking of the soft eyes the writer refers to open the eyes of us first to see what's around, so we have as a resource and time to educate. But we must see the beautiful things of life around us, then we can invite our students to appreciate this and enter the world of the mysteries surrounding us that cannot possibly come to understand but are a gift which there to appreciate and care. This can help in the classroom that also invite our students to see more of what is around them, invite them to appreciate every single detail. As a result, the students learn to broaden their perspectives and periphery that they have the world around them.

3. As a student, did you have courses that made you a participant in the community of truth gathered around that subject? If so, describe how they worked. Compare their impact to courses that simply introduced you to the facts about the subject. Do you think “the community of truth” is an accurate image of the way knowledge is gathered in your field? Why or why not? Reflect on the concept of “soft eyes” (p. 113). Think of a situation where having “soft eyes” might have helped you in the classroom. Describe what happened, how you reacted, and how you would have liked to react.

As a student throughout the all the career, I participated in activities in which I shared with my fellow community as many of my teachers taught by creating a space in which the community of truth is practiced. The hallmark of the community of truth is not the psychological intimacy or political or pragmatic accountability civility, while not excluding these virtues. By practicing the truth in the community I've noticed that it works best to integrate each group member as to know everyone in the group his thoughts and how they act when participating in community known. Therefore it has been one of the best experiences so more is known about this topic and then put it into practice as a teacher with students. With what I have read in this chapter I also realized that this model of community reaches deeper in ontology and assumptions epistemology about the nature of reality and how we know it-on which all education is built. The hallmark of the community of truth is in its assertion that reality is a network of community relations, and we know the reality just by being in community with him. To my community the truth if an accurate picture of knowledge when taking into account each of the elements essential to carry out the first step toward understanding the community really understand that the community is the essential form reality, the matrix of all being, that is, we're all on the right to belong to a community. The next step brings us the nature of reality to the question of how we know to be in community with ourselves. If you do not know what we want, or what they are far less power will be in community with others. So the community is to collect all knowledge and then put it into practice.

2. Do you feel a “sense of community” with each subject you study? What is the nature of that relationship? How has your relationship with your subject enriched your life? Stretched your life? Challenged your life? Changed your life?

1.     With each topic that I had studied, I felt community. At first I know myself I could then meet my classmates and having a good relationship. Although, often not coincide with the views you try to learn from the opinions of others and to accept the group to which one belongs. When studying each topic you share with peers and creates connectivity between each, the nature of this relationship is to recognize that most of us will achieve true intimacy with only a handful of people in life, without try to force anyone to belong to our group. Respecting each of the members and the ideas of others. My relationship with each of the members who have enriched my ability to belong to a community and understand that it is a community was acceptable and was based on fear losing the relationship and communication with them. Since I have been challenged to be different, to accept the opinions of others and solve problems together, so it has changed my life in a positive way because as the same chapter the model of community that I look says it is one that can embrace, guide, and refine the core mission of education-the mission of knowing, teaching and learning.

1. Write about an experience of community, of any duration, that has been meaningful to you (letting community mean whatever it may mean to you). What went on in that situation that made it “community” for you? What was going on in you at that time that made you available to this community?

One of the most meaningful experiences of community for me was when I started to study in the university, because I did not know anyone and to staying in group or community was hard for me. Since I started the career I was very shy and I made it difficult to make friends with others and I know that the community can not take root in a divided life which began to realize that I had to stay in a group. When you start dealing with others I realized that just because they are in communion with ourselves we find community with others as I have read in this chapter, for only then can come to know ourselves while we get to know to others. Community is an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace, flowing identity and personal integrity in the world of relationships. Therefore to interact with others I could understand that I had to show me as I am not trying to impress anyone, without losing my identity and learning to accept others. As a result of this experience is one that most marked me when talking of the community understand that and to me it seemed to me difficult to belong to a community and it happens to many people especially our students many times we do not realize it but they do not feel welcome or comfortable with their peers. Since they do not understand that community building is essential. First, the students have a basic need to belong to a group; at first I was a little uninformed use of strategies to connect students to each other and to me. As Mr. Palmer does point out, it was messy, and I've certainly learned a lot. Fortunately, now are the importance of community and the importance of staying in it.

CHAPTER FOUR: KNOWING IN COMMUNITY: JOINED BY THE GRACE OF GREAT THINGS

Community is an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace, the flowing of personal identity and integrity into the world of relationships.  Only as we are in community with ourselves can we find community with others.
As the community of truth gathers around a “great thing,” it is “the grace of great things” that evokes the virtues we cherish in education: celebrating diversity, embracing ambiguity, welcoming creative conflict, practicing honesty, and experiencing humility.
 
Another concept of community is that a community is a social unit of any size that shares common values. Although embodied or face-to-face communities are usually small, larger or more extended communities such as a national community, international community and virtual community are also studied.

In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks, and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness.

5.What questions are you living at this stage of your life—from “How can I get up in the morning? To “ How can I become a good teacher? Are the questions you are now living the ones you want to live? If not, what questions would you like to be living? How might you hold these questions at the center of your attention?

Every morning is different because we have new challenges not only as teachers but also in everyday life. When neither imagined he could become a teacher woke without aspirations or goals to accomplish. But now everything is different always have to improve some areas of my life and that is why I wake up motivated to move forward no matter the obstacles. In order to be better every day and give my best to my students. Since I have a big challenge on my hands and learning the English language depends a lot on me. From the way the reason I go ahead and how I relate to them so that learning is optimal. I keep every challenge every day because only then I will be able to fulfill my dreams striving to achieve what I want and how I want my students to be. So these are many of the questions with which I can get up every morning thinking to motivate me to be different.

4. Palmer discusses six paradoxes of pedagogical design (pp.73-83).Choose one to focus on.  Share examples of teaching environments you have experienced where this paradox is honored.  Have you ever been in a classroom where only half of the paradox was honored while the other half was ignored? Describe what that classroom was like.

Para mi the space should welcome both silence and speech , I consider this paradox into my classes, because the invironment of my class has both  silence and speech, I give to my students the oppotunity to talk and share their ideas at the momento to explain something or simply talk about doubts or something like that, both of them work so good , they are two important tools for be an effective class, in order to recognize in which areas I can improve to my students, for example: I give my students 5 or 10 minutes for tell me if they have some problems with the topic or they want to share their knowledge with their classmates, at the same time they may think in silence about this and then they can share their ideas.

 3. Describe a moment in teaching when things went so well you knew you were “born to teach” and compare it to a moment in which things went so poorly you wished you had never been born! Name the gifts that made this good moment possible—not the techniques you used or the moves you made, but your qualities.

 

One moment in teaching when things went so well was this year, because I was teaching to students of seventh grade but they are form seventh grade “E”, so my tutor at the beginning of the semester changed my classmates and I to another grade. So, I told that bad new to my students and they were really sad. They told me that they want to be with me because they understand me and that my classes are nice. In that moment I felt so happy and I could understand that if I do all the things with love and pledge everything change. I appreciate that kind of thing because through the years I have receiving many lessons from a lot of people and it helped me to clean my mind and conscience to be thankful for everything and to understand that if I work together with the students, I could change the traditional way to learn. It is one of the best gift that I have been never received because I know that they appreciated my work and my pledge in each classes and they taught me that the great and little things changes in our lives need time to occur. Unfortunately, I lived a moment in which I wished I have never born. It occurred at the beginning of this semester with my new group of student. In the first class, one girl said something really bad about me, she said: “I hate her I didn’t understand anything, I hate her stupid class” and listed to her. So, I felt frustrated at that moment but at the end of the class I talked with her and I asked her about her comment. She told me that she said the true. I looked for a solution of that problem because I felt so terrible. Thus, I tried to know her and she knew me, too. Now, she is one of the best students and she pays attention in the classes and if she has a question she asks and I answer in a good way. 

 2.  Name some of your key gifts or strengths as a teacher. Now name a struggle or difficulty you commonly have in teaching.  How do you understand the relation between your profile of giftedness and the kind of trouble you typically get into in the classroom?

There are a lot of key gifts or strengths as a teacher. For example: blissful, pleased and joyful about the good things that you do for your students. For me when my students get good grades is happiness because I know that I taught in the correct way and they understood all the classes that I taught them. For that reason, I am blissful. I am pleased too when they participate in my classes with a nice attitude and I don’t need to force them to participate because I don’t like to do that. On the other hand, I feel joyful in the majority of the classes because we are friends and they share with me their problems and in that form I search some ways to help them to solve their problems. As well, I have some struggle or difficulty at the moment to teach. For example: I am not too much active in classes because I am really quiet and for me it is hard but I try to teach in an interactive way. Another struggle is my tone voice because it is low. Sometimes, my students don’t listen to me and it cause disorder in classes, so I try to speak a loud. It is a little bit difficult for me but it doesn’t matter because I prefer to strive myself than a wreck class.

 1. In what ways have you experienced “suffering” as a student teacher? Has your suffering had any redemptive quality to it; that is, has it made you heart larger? What would help you deepen the redemptive quality of the suffering your experience in your work?

To remember that kind of experience is really hard to me because it was a horrible experience. It was a year ago; I started my teaching practice at INSA. The first time that I taught was in ninth grade. I have never had a previous experience as teacher so, it was difficult to me. I started the class with a great attitude but the students were bad behavior. They started to said: “teacher teach us you, please”, they told that to another practitioner. The practitioner was from teaching practice IV and I was from teaching practice I. I was upset and frustrated. I tried to engage the students to participate in my class and to paid attention but it was impossible. They were doing another things and I couldn’t continue with the class because they were intolerable. After the class, I felt so sad and I didn’t continue the teaching practice but I talked to my mom and she told me that:   ” to teach is not easy, you must to be brave and continue with your dream”. She motivated me and I continued. So, it helped me to open my mind and overcome my fears. Besides, I made my heart larger because I love my students instead of their behavior. Now, I am friendly and kind with all my students. I don’t have teacher’s pet and I am really respectful with all their opinions. I learn a lot about them because some of my students talk to me about their personal life so, I give them some advices. I think that bad experience happened because life it is not easy and it is no easy to focus on what we don’t have and on what we fail. In my case, maybe I was so shy and I felt that I couldn’t do something. So, when you focus on all the beautiful things in your life, for example to teach and to share your knowledge with the students you will attract that in abundance and you connect with the many blessings in your life. I’m grateful for and before I know it now.

CHAPTER III THE HIDDEN WHOLENESS: PARADOX IN TEACHING AND LEARNING

Palmer writes that we are trained to “think the world apart,”dissecting it into either-ors, but we need to learn to “think the world together,” embracing opposites and appreciating paradoxes.
The principle of paradox can guide us in thinking about classroom dynamics—and in designing a teaching and learning space that can hold the community of truth.

 Evelyn Fox Keller says of Nobel Prize—winner Barbara McClintock that her knowing came from “the highest form of love, love that allows for intimacy without the annihilation of difference” (pp. 55).  Does this kind of love have a place in education? If not, why not? If so, how might it be taught? How might it make a difference if we could teach students to love the world in this way?

This kind of love has no place at all in schools, that not all teachers are partially to its students many of them make no distinction between them. This is not correct because when we have to educate in an egalitarian manner with students and learning is optimal. Because if there are preferences students take a nasty behavior and classroom environment is bad, but if you have a good relationship with each of them trying to know them better and see if we can help in any of the areas in which they most need the classroom environment becomes better. If we show a different attitude to the students they are too but if the teacher does not show love or interest they act the same as they are reflected in one. So if we want to educate students that they are good people with love of neighbor we have to start by learning ourselves. Thus education is different and no student will see less of their peers. Because if they begin to learn to love themselves as they do with their peers as well as the teacher. Now they will be good people both in terms of what education will also be people of good for humanity. Taking love for the needy and doing good to improve the world. I  love my career. Through the years I learn that, God blessing me much more than I deserve. For that reason, I try to do my best in the career because I want to be a good teacher and I want to help my family and my students to be better person. As a result, I enjoy all the little things in life and I could overcome another fear that is good because now I am braver than I was before. 

  
III.    Write about a fear, not necessarily related to teaching that once controlled you, but no longer does.  What caused you to confront that fear? What helped you get loose from it? Whatweretheresults? Whatdidyoulearn?
 

One of my fears is to lose my sister because she was born with a heart problem. She is five years old and she is one of the most important people in my life. So, when she was born all my life changed. The doctor said to my mom that she was going to be operated. I don’t know what happened but she was sick at the moment to the operation so, the doctor stopped it. After two years, the doctor wanted to operate my sister again, but she was sick again. My family and I were disappointed about that. But, now my sister is so healthy and she is really intelligent and I am sure that God healed my sister. At the beginning that situation was difficult for me, because I love my sister and I was study the licenciatura so, I failed some subjects. I felt upset and I didn’t want to continue to study but my mother told me that I must to study. So, I continue but I changed to the profesorado. Now I am happy because my sister is my blessing and I love my career. Through the years I learn that, God blessing me much more than I deserve. For that reason, I try to do my best in the career because I want to be a good teacher and I want to help my family and my students to be better person. As a result, I enjoy all the little things in life and I could overcome another fear that is good because now I am braver than I was before.

II.     Palmer writes, “Good teaching is an act of hospitality toward the young, and hospitality is always an act that benefits the host even more than the guest” (p. 50). In what specific ways do you think a teacher has to be hospitable to students? In what ways do they treat them as unwelcome guests? How do teachersbenefitfrompracticinghospitalitytowardstudents?

Actually, I think a teacher should be hospitable with all the students, because each of them have different life styles, so we as teacher must intervene in their feelings, actions and thought. In that form we will help them not only in side of the classroom but also outside of this.  Because a teacher is not only a facilitator, the teacher is a model, too. Likewise, the students learn through our actions. It is a mirroring if we are hospitable our students will be like us. As Palmer wrote, “Good teaching is an act of hospitality toward the young, and hospitality is always an act that benefits the host even more than the guest”we must be kind with all of students. We don’t have teachers’ pets because it can cause some problems and we must to be respectful with them. We must to encourage our students to be the best in all the areas. But not all the teachers are in the same way, they have different method to teach and some of them don’t care of the students’ feelings and actions. They don’t have the opportunity to share with them and the students need our advice every day, but if you don’t know anything about their personal life you don’t have the opportunity to help them. And to share their personal experiences, their feelings, to know about their families will help us a lot, because in that form we could understand their students’ behavior and how can we do to help them to change that behavior. It is good because if you can change their bad behavior in an interactive and good way they will be different person so, you will have successful classes.

I. What are some of your fears in the classroom? How have you dealt with them? What have you learned about yourself and about fear as a result? 

At the beginning of the career, I didn’t want to be a teacher. I wanted to learn English and I wanted to work in another place. Because I remember one of my biggest fears was to be in front of the students. It was because I used to be very shy. For that reason, my first experience as teacher was a little bit difficult, because in the teaching practice II I taught for the first time. I used to think that to teach will be the worst thing in the world but it wasn’t in that way. That day I could overcome my fear and I realized the entire lesson plan that I planned. I had a good experience and now I love teaching. I think that, I overcame that fear because I did a lesson plan and I asked for some help about it. To be in front of a group of student is not easy we must be brave. But for me is a one of the best thing because if you enjoy what to do everything is different. I like it because I share my knowledge with the students and at the same time I learn a lot from them. But I have another fear, it is my enthusiasm. I am not too much enthusiasm. Sometime, I could notice that the students are more interesting in others things not in my class. As well, I try to implement some warm ups activities with the purpose is to encourage the students to participate in classes and to activate their minds. Accordantly, I learn that I need to be more active in classes so, I motivate myself to learn new techniques and methods in which my I teach with a great attitude. 

Jane Tompkins discovered that her goal as a teacher had been to put on “performance,” thus distancing herself from students and subject (pp.28-29).  Do you identify with her self-criticism? If so, do you share Tompkins’s diagnosis of fear as the driving force behind this distancing? In what ways other than “performance” do teachers set themselves apart?

Well, I have never felt that I was superior from my students contrary sometimes when I am in front of my students I feel insecure because I think that they are not going to understand my classes it is really difficult to me because I feel very nervous and it always stress me but I am pretty sure that I will improve my knowledge also I will overcome all my fears because the most important of wish to be a good teacher.

During my life as a student I have seen that there are different kinds of teacher and I can say that some of them are good teacher and some of them are bad teacher but we have to take the best from them and abolish the bad. Some teachers try to intimidate their students in base to their knowledge but others try to increase their learning.

On the other hand, there are some teachers that always are looking for the better for their students and do everything for to increase their abilities.  

III.    Reflect on your earliest encounters with teaching.  If you are drawn to teaching, when did you first feel drawn to it? What was it that drew you? What within you was evoked by teaching—its values, its methods, the way it names and frames reality? What does the nature of teaching reveal about who you are? If you aren’t, share a story about one of your favorite teachers.  What do you recall most vividly about that teacher? What was his / her relation to the subject taught? What was the ethos of his/ her classroom?

When I was in high school had a good English teacher. He engages my classmates and me to be the best students. I remember that I used to hate English because it was difficult for me and I was really shy. But he motivated me to overcome my fears and to try to do my best in everything.  So, when I choose the career that I study now it was difficult but my mom and my English teacher were who motivate myself to study the professorate. At the beginning I don’t accept the idea that one day I have to be in front of a group of students, I used to think that it could be the worst thing in the world. But in the second year of the professorate I went to INSA for the first time it was a meaningful experience. First of all, I could observe my tutor’s classes and in that moment I felt a little bit happy to be there because I learned some techniques to implement at the moment to teach. I motivated myself to teach because while I was observed I interact with some students. I could know about their needs, their weakness and their abilities. So, the moment to teach arrived and I felt nervous because I didn’t know how my students were and if they could be understand my classes. That day was fantastic for me, I overcame my fear and I enjoyed the class. In that moment, I loved my career and I am sure that it was one of the best experiences that I have never had. I tried to answers all the students’ questions and I correct them in a respectful way. It motivated me to study hard to get good grades and one day to be a good teacher, but it won’t be possible if my mother and my teacher did not engage me to study that career. But the students are an element really important in this process because they are my inspiration to want to investigate and study more and more to share my knowledge with them. I know teach is not easy but if you enjoy it and love what you do, it could be successful for you. As a result, it makes me a better person because now I don’t think only about, now I think about how to encourage my students to be a good learners and to believe in their dreams, because if they have a specific goal in life they want to achieve that goal I am going to change their bad habits into a good habits of thinking. In that way, I could teach to the students not only specific topics but also I am going to provide them tools or models as successful people to become a unique, dynamic and a persons who improve their skills to get the results that they want. It is one the things that motivate me to want to be a teacher. 

II.      Palmer writes: “ My ability to connect with my students and to connect them with the subject, depends less on the methods I use than on the degree to which I know and trust my selfhood—and I am willing to make it available and vulnerable in the service of learning” (p.10). What does it mean to rely on your selfhood rather than methods?

Now day there are a variety of techniques and methods that can be used in the classroom that help teachers to increase student interest in learning each knowledge. When implementing a technique or method is necessary to know about this not just use it without prior knowledge, because if we just trust in what we might be able to pass on what we know but we will have a concrete base about as teaching a class in the right way, that is why if the proper development of a class known methods and techniques must be used since they are guides for the teacher. The methods and techniques not only serve as a guide but we also teach us how to interact with students and how to keep up with the class, since not all students feel like they are different and therefore need different techniques for each. So as Palmer suggests connect with her students through their own knowledge without relying both the methods used and to the extent that students are interacting and knowing as each time to take a class but also as a person they they are able to trust one's individuality, and one has to be accessible, respectful and sympathetic to them but not only within the classroom but also outside of it, so to use the methods and techniques appropriate they will learn from a complex manner without ignoring our individuality for optimal learning.

I.       Write a personal statement trying to express what is at the heart of your life as a future teacher.  Consider the following questions: Why do I want to become a teacher? What do I stand for as a student teacher?  What do I want my legacy as a teacher to be? What can I do to keep track of myself, to “remember” my own heart? When did you first realize that you wanted to be a teacher? What were the circumstances of this realization? How close are you to those feelings today?

I decide to be a teacher because when I was in high school I had a good teacher that taught me a lot of things that I used in this years in the university and he was my motivation to be an excellent student so I think that I could be a good teacher to motivate students to be someone in his/her life as my teacher motivated me I could be a motivation to my students , but I have to study hard to learn new things because I have to give good knowledge to my students because some teachers did not like to teach and they did not care about what their students learn and I like a teacher want that my class were significant to my students that they remember the knowledge during all his/her life not only one month so every day I tried to improve myself because my students need different techniques  to improve a new language , because if the teacher always use the same they will feel bored in the class so the teacher have to know different strategies , and the teacher have to know the necessities of his/her students.

Venn Diagram

What seems to be more difficult: teaching teens or teaching large classes? Reason your answer and think outside the box.

There are some people that think that teach to the teenagers is the most difficult thing in this world because young people are very infuriating and they prefer to avoid teaching teens, but in my opinion is better to teach adolescents than to teach large classes, because in the large classes there are different students  and they have different needs; moreover, when we are teaching a large class is more difficult to establish the rapport and also to maintain the discipline inside the classroom; however, when we are teaching teenagers those things are difficult to achieve at the verb beginning but according to the time is passing you can achieve to establish not only a good relationship with them but also to maintain the discipline inside the classroom. When you do that you can see that is easier to teach teens.

How would you deal with error correction in your classroom?

When you have a group of students is common that you used different techniques during a class or after the class to indicate their errors. During an activity (role play, oral tests, quizzes, written tests, etc.) you could listen the variety of common errors that the students commit while they are speaking or when they writing something. But, not only you can correct them but also they correct themselves. It is a self- correction and it happen when you make a mistake and immediately you correct yourself. Likewise, there are others ways to correct errors: self-correction (I have already mentioned it), student-student, teacher-student, small group, all class, course book. In my classes, I use teacher-student correction because in that way I help them to learn about the correct pronunciation or writing of the words. To learn English is not easy, maybe it is the reason because some of my students do not pay attention but I try to encourage them to learn English in an easy way. When they make a mistake I do not tell them at the moment I wait after their participation and then I correct them with all the class. In that way they do not feel embarrass at the moment. When my students make a mistake I try to correct them in a respect way but after their opinion because if I correct the students while they are speaking, they could lose their ideas and it is not the purpose.

How can we raise student awareness about how students can best learn and help them find more ways of learning English more effectively and productively? Exemplify this through the lens of a student and prospective ELT practitioner.

In my point of view there are many ways to be an effective teacher. I know that we as teachers have many troubles at the moment in which are in front of the students because to learn a new language is not easy for them. It is because English is not their native language. For that reason, motivate our students is a key for open a new world, experiences and knowledge and keep the flow of the classes is one of the most important elements if we want to be a successful teachers. In my experiences as practitioner I apply some activities to innovate the way to learn for example: one of the useful activity in which the students have the opportunity to speak and listen is the audio program. The purpose of that activity in the classroom is to show students how to improve their four skills to develop those should become a vehicle for communicating thought and feelings.  The audio for me is focus in the listening and the speaking skill and contain pronunciation exercises; as a result, the students make conversation in the classes and fill the blank in the exercises that I provide them or the exercises that the English book has. With that activity I encourage my students to learn through podcast, songs or TV programs, not only in the classroom, but also outside of the classroom.