This is a unique take on developing a philosophy of teaching. My student teacher had a bad experience at another school in the area before courageously asking to be reassigned. She contrasts what she saw and experienced there with what she has seen and done in this classroom in the last few weeks. I cringe thinking of what it must have been like, but I am glad that she is seeing a difference—she is being trained to do the opposite now. Here is her creative list of What NOT to Do:

  • Don’t learn all of your students’ names, but bonus points for you and feel accomplished if you remember just one’s name in the hall.
  • Do nothing to acknowledge birthdays… no time for that!
  • Never expect students to read novels on their own. They can’t and there is no time for that anyway.
  • Do not let students write on the board or give their own unique answers to assignments before showing them… no time for that!
  • Don’t acknowledge all of Central America’s nor Mexico’s independence days or holidays… you don’t have time for that, and anyway how are our closest Spanish speaking neighbors’ largest celebrations relevant to a Spanish class? Keep letting them think Cinco de Mayo is the only holiday.
  • Let four rowdy boys sit in a row at the back of the class. No need to prevent disruptions.
  • Let students call features of the language and culture stupid.
  • Don’t ever slow down to make sure that Spanish 2 and 3 students can properly introduce themselves, answer how they are, or any other extremely basic questions in Spanish. No time for that. Keep going on with the district curriculum, which is full of stuff they don’t understand and won’t remember; but at least you can show how much material you have covered.
  • When doing activities in pairs, ignore the fact that there is a group of 3 popular boys goofing off together and one quiet boy completely alone in the back with no partner for the whole activity.
  • Don’t encourage attempts to speak Spanish. Speak plenty of English yourself, and go ahead and give explanations in English. Even your AP Spanish class, allow students to speak in English for a lot of activities as well.
  • Don’t share about yourself: your life, your family, or where you’ve traveled or lived in TL countries.
  • Don’t ever utilize native Spanish-speaking students in the class.
  • Don’t expect them to work from bell to bell. Let them pack up while you are talking and have no closure. Just let the bell interrupt you.
  • Don’t let them figure out any words on their own. It takes too much time and they’re dumb. Just tell them the direct translation and don’t even let them guess from context.