My Experience with Learning and Teaching

 Previously, I wasn’t conscious about classroom management and strategies. As a student, I didn’t know what was right or wrong for a teacher to do in class; however, some experiences leave a huge impact on our lives. Taking education as a life profession made me realize what is like to have a healthy classroom atmosphere. Such an atmosphere is based upon a business-like one. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case during my high school years. Thus, I will narrate two experiences: a discouraging and an encouraging one. To begin with, my worst nightmare was the Arabic sessions with Mr. Ibrahim. The classroom setting in Mr. Ibrahim’s class was horrible. First, he didn't set clear classroom rules from the beginning of the year nor he did clarify our rights and duties as students in his class. Second, he didn’t rearrange the desks in an organized manner. Furthermore, if one of the students shuffled his place, he won’t even notice. Such a classroom climate never allowed me to create a sense of belonging nor ownership towards his class. Concerning his methodology of teaching, it was boring to listen to him lecturing all the time. The whole learning process was teacher-centered. That is to say, it was based on IRE cycles where he initiated a couple of questions, students answered, and finally, he evaluated their response. Moreover, open discussions and 21st-century skills didn’t take place at all in the learning process. Mr. Ibrahim didn’t engage students in any activities from outside the box. Overall, such an inconvenient environment hindered classroom management. As Mr. Ibrahim turned his back to the board, chaos floated all over the place. For instance, Hawraa and Mariam who used to sit in the back start to play Candy Crush Saga on their phones while others start eating some food secretly. Such students were always off-task but not disruptive. The disruptive off-task students were Maya and Jana who used to make noise and say silly jokes to interrupt the teacher and the rest of the class. Both Maya and Jana had antisocial behaviors because they were being aversive to others and deviate from accepted standards of civility. Probably what empowered the misbehaviors of students was the presence of great time intervals that were not dedicated to learning nor for engaging students in meaningful activities. Mr. Ibrahim wasted too much of the session on transition time. I never remember a time where Mr. Ibrahim prepared an Arabic lesson in an interesting way that grabbed our attention. Mr. Ibrahim used to sit behind his desk and lecture all the session. Rarely he did write something on the board nor displayed any video on the LCD. When my classmates started to annoy him and distract the flow of his speech, he didn’t use smart strategies to control students' behaviors. All he did was he gave useless instructions and used judgemental language with students. For instance, he tells students to stop talking, sit properly, be quiet, open the books, look over here, etc. Not only that but also his tone was rude and rough. I would like to note that since childhood I lived in Saudi Arabia where I studied in a school called Zahrat Al Sahraa International School. In international schools, the Arabic language was not a subject included in our curriculum. Therefore my Arabic writing and reading skills were weak. To clarify, I had no idea about Arabic grammar rules nor their comprehension. Disappointingly, Mr. Ibrahim didn’t take into consideration my background nor my abilities. A day that I can never forget is when Mr. Ibrahim was explaining a lesson about Arabic Prosody. I had no idea what the rules of this prosody were; thus I couldn’t comprehend any single word written on the board. I raised my hand and asked him if he could repeat the explanation. Of a sudden, Mr. Ibrahim said: “If I am speaking with the Raouche Rocks, they will understand but you don’t”. I felt heartbroken and disappointed. His comment was not only ill-mannered but also destructive. Since then, I started to purposely avoid his instructions and never pay attention to what he said until I became an obsessive avoidance. Whenever he faced harsh times in dealing with me, he kicked me out of the class. Of course, such contrived punishment made me feel extreme happiness and freedom. This was destructive because I intended to be kicked out. So, Mr. Ibrahim’s response increased the likelihood of my bad behaviors (positive reinforcers). Therefore, most of the students weren’t engaged in the learning process and weren’t cooperative with the teacher. The overall classroom climate was not related in a way or another to a business-like one because Mr. Ibrahim tried to gain control over the class through shouting and direct instructions. My classmates and I often were off-task unless there’s a reward or a grade. For instance, getting some extra marks for being on-task and attentive is a destructive positive reinforcer. This all is categorized under the name of extrinsic motivation. Also, Mr. Ibrahim’s assessment was based only on summative assessment where his ultimate goal was only to collect grades for the report cards or administration. Rarely he did formative assessments since he didn't care to improve students’ critical thinking, knowledge, and understanding. To sum up, Mr. Ibrahim’s sessions were demotivating and discouraging for students. Unfortunately, because of this dilapidated experience, I hate Arabic sessions up to this day, and I couldn’t become any better since that day. The latter is the most memorable experience of my entire life. Mrs. Suhair, an unforgettable English teacher, had a massive positive impact on me and she’s the reason behind my choosing English Language as my major. At the beginning of the year, Mrs. Suhair rearranged our desks in a way that allowed us to work in groups easily. She set clear rules, rights, duties, and the reward and punishment systems as if she signed a didactical contract with us. The classroom climate was a real business-like one. Teaching was based upon true and natural dialogues as well as open discussions. That is to say, the learning process was student-centered, and inquiry-based learning was her method of teaching us all English skills. She initiated 21st-century skills in her sessions where we were able to share thoughts, work together, solve problems, and invent and try new things. We never felt bored in Mrs. Suhair’s class because she worked hard to minimize transition time and maximize the allocated time. Thus, 90% of students were engaged and on-task all time. What most grabbed our attention as students is that she didn’t teach us English for grades nor future perceptions; rather she taught us to enjoy the moment and to become life-long learners. To clarify, Mrs. Suhair didn’t only stick to the information found in the book, rather she tried her best to help students develop a  growth mindset. Her words, speech, excitement, motivation, and love toward the English Language created positive energy all around the class. This enhanced students to build a sense of belonging and to be cooperative in class. Therefore, almost all students become intrinsically motivated and at most times they were on-task and engaged. I don’t remember any incident of students being disruptive or antisocial in her session because learning was based on critical thinking, creativity, and extraordinary activities. However, I remember incidents of some students who became off-task. For example, once my friend Hanin started daydreaming while the teacher was explaining a poem for Edgar Allan Poe. Mrs. Suhair noticed that Hanin was out of track so she asked her to come up to the board, reread the poem for us, allocate difficult stanzas, and write them on the board. Then, Hanin and her classmates will discuss these stanzas along with the teacher, and Hanin will write a summary of our discussion on the board. I can say that the teacher’s request for Hanin is a naturally occurring punishment for her daydreaming in class. Thus, such punishments took place to improve students’ behaviors in the future. Similarly, positive and negative reinforcers were implemented to increase the effectiveness of students. Moreover, Mrs. Suhair’s assessment varied between both summative and formative assessments. It’s not about the grading system rather it is more about giving students constructive feedback. Thus, Mrs. Suhair always used descriptive language with us to let us become hard workers and think outside the box. To sum up, Mrs. Suhair’s class was motivating, encouraging, and engaging. Things she did, said, and taught will be engraved in my memory as long as I live.