The paper contains a reflection of my 21st-century skills-based on theoretical input, and it also presents a Creative common license which is the ultimate goal of this practice.
Reflecting on my development as a pre-service teacher
1. Reflection of my current skills.
As a pre-service teacher, I have learned to appreciate the PDC sessions because these
have given me meaningful knowledge about learning. As John F. Kennedy (1963) pointed
out “Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in
each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit
for everyone and greater strength for our nation.” Therefore, I am looking at the valuable
contributions that the course has brought to my learning development and the deeper
insights obtained regarding motivation, autonomy, critical thinking skills, and
communication skills.
The power of agency
Firstly, I saw class as a time where I learned information, but the course has shown me
the real essence of a professional session. As Harmer (2001) points out among the main
objectives of teaching is to cause interest and involve the student in the topic regardless of
whether was interested or not in this from the beginning. Hence, my motivation towards
class entirely changed because the facilitator makes me reflect and become aware of my
desire to learn by using strategies such as reflecting and analyzing my own learning process
or evaluating information presented in the professional input. In the same way, my agency
has improved because I am really conscious about the meaning of finding the tasks´
purposes (help me to reflect as a professional), creating habits to improve my English skills
2. (reading newspapers, listen to subjects I like, writing about academic subjects), or using
Language learning projects to take advantage of learning opportunities.
Skills needed during this century
Secondly, a 21 century facilitator needs to develop critical thinking skills in order to be
competent, so I am trying to go beyond when reading the professional input since this
strategy helps me, little by little, to rigorously question ideas and assumptions rather than
accepting them at face value. Likewise, I am starting to apply it in domains such as
personal and occupational. On the other hand, I have taken powerful tools from the course
such as communication skills because I now understand the importance of actively interact
with my colleagues or the professor by asking questions, stating arguments with solid
evidence, and supporting each other as Trilling& Fadel (2009) states “creativity and
innovation can be nurtured by learning environments that foster questioning, patience,
openness to fresh ideas, high levels of trust, and learning from mistakes and failures.”
To conclude, I am on my journey to become a facilitator, and this process has taught
me to create a link between teaching and learning because the way you are as a learner, you
will be as a teacher. Finally, I am consciously assimilating all the valuable information,
strategies and teachings to become a successful 21 century learner.
Bibliography:
3. Harmer, J. (2001). The Practice of English Language Teaching. (3rd ed.) Longman Pearson
Education Limited.
Kennedy, J. F. (1963). Report to the American People on Civil Rights
Trilling, B., & Fadel, C. (2009). 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times. John
Wiley & Sons.
Reflection of my current skills by Cristian
David Izquierdo Suarez is licensed under
a Creative Commons Reconocimiento-
NoComercial-CompartirIgual 4.0
Internacional License.