Lapman Mission Statement

Mission Statement and Teaching Philosophy

As an ESL teacher abroad in Spain for thirteen years and as a Spanish teacher in Litchfield, CT for seven years, I come to RSD #10 with a strong personal teaching philosophy that manifests itself in all language classes I teach. I firmly believe that:

Good teaching is more than simply teaching the subject we are hired to teach -- good teaching draws from the diversity of life in order to bring clarity and wisdom to our specific fields.
Students are human beings, workers, and dreamers. Therefore, students must be seen as people who are interested in more than our class material, and they must be respected for who they are beyond our classrooms.
Teachers must constantly re-examine what and how they are teaching -- as the world changes, so must what we teach and how we teach.

I would like to share the components that serve to enhance my teaching philosophy:

Communicative Language Teaching: structured lessons & authentic tasks: Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), an approach that emphasizes meaning, purpose, and communication without sacrificing form and structure. I try and make my classroom a place for students to exchange meaningful information and personal opinions in the Spanish language. My lesson design includes authentic tasks, contextualized activities in which students feel that there is a purpose for working with the language. I continue to improve upon the creation of these tasks and provide structured practice for students with the intention of moving from more mechanical drills to a more meaningful and communicative production of language and using clear oral and written models to guide student acquisition.

Interaction and classroom atmosphere: A communicative approach fosters a classroom atmosphere that promotes interaction with other classmates who all participate and collaborate in communicative tasks, offer peer correction and support, and take part in the development of an appreciation for both language and culture. I implement the technique of frequent pair and group work which allows students not only to interact with each other, but to find ways of expressing themselves for effective communication with their peer(s) and to apply their developing language skills. Language learning requires risk-taking. I want my students to feel comfortable, willing, and encouraged to do so. I establish a student-centered environment which incites learners to recognize new cultures and compare them to their own. Although there is flexibility, structure and organization exist for my teaching within this atmosphere. Teachers should be available, helpful in the offering of continuous feedback, open to daily suggestions and concerns, and innovative in creating an environment conducive to learning.

Building proficiency in the four language skills: Development of proficiency in the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing is fundamental for language learners. Therefore, I always try to develop course activities that provide students with authentic tasks that increase proficiency in all skills.

Evaluation and alternative assessment: Assessments should reflect the different learning styles and language levels that students bring with them into the classroom. On a daily basis I carry out follow-up activities in class, as I support a variety of alternative assessment tools that recognize how students are processing information and completing tasks as they learn. My assessments include formal pen and paper tests, oral presentations, journal entries, interviews, dioramas, along with peer and self evaluations.

Input sources: I believe that the input provided to students is extremely important to language learning, and therefore my classes are taught exclusively in Spanish (with the help of visuals and body language!). A variety of texts, videos, music, or images, allow students with different learning styles to better express themselves. I develop the majority of my teaching materials to create authentic tasks. I highly consider technology an effective tool for proficiency-based skill-building activities to meet course objectives and student goals.

Cooperation, collaboration, and sharing: I strongly advocate collaboration with colleagues and the sharing of materials, as the exchange of ideas and material among teachers can greatly improve and enhance teaching. I have learnt great things from all of my colleagues!

In a world that is becoming more and more communicative, our language classrooms must reflect this change. As language teachers, we provide language students with the opportunity to improve world communication. Through their acquired language skills and cultural knowledge, our learners have the power to improve global interaction and cultural awareness. I feel that language teachers can guarantee this and I consider myself fortunate to be a part of this group of professionals.