Philippine Normal University

The National Center for Teacher Education

Taft Avenue, Manila
College of Teacher Development
Faculty of Education

CASTRO, CYRA GERINA R.

CTP 7-2

EDUC 2A Psychology of Learning

BOOK REPORT

Book Title:

The Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning: Practical Ideas and Resources for
Beginning Teachers

Author:

Joanne Languay & Jim Strachan

Bibliography: Languay, J. & Strachan, J. (2011). The Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning:
Practical Ideas and Resources for Beginning Teachers. Toronto, ON: Elementary
Teachers Federation of Ontario.
I. SUMMARY

As you begin to be a teacher, you should take note that teaching is a commitment to make
a difference for students; the heart and art of teaching and learning starts with knowing
the different ideas of success, preparing before school starts, understanding different
practical ideas for the first hours/days/weeks of school, taking note of different strategies
for classroom management, interacting with parents and guardians, meeting varied
learning needs, preparing for or being an occasional teacher, and continuing your
professional learning and growth.
Know that to succeed in this profession, you should (1) learn to connect with your
students by establishing genuine personal connection with them, modeling a caring,
patient, and humorous attitude, building inclusions, and developing classroom
community; (2) have the passion for teaching by harnessing personal experiences/passion
and connecting these with your teaching, trying something new (risk taking), drawing
upon interior resources and applying them, and bringing personal enthusiasm and passion
in teaching; (3) include attributes-based approach by empowering your students through
looking into their positive attitudes instead of their weaknesses, listening and responding
to their needs, and recognizing rewards for their progress; and (4) know the importance
of school culture by collaborating with school administration, colleagues, parents, and
students, sharing and celebrating success, developing positive relationship with
colleagues, and creating an atmosphere that supports risk taking and experimentation.
Before school starts, you should (1) expect a lot of tremendous challenges and rewards at
the same time; (2) take account of mentoring as a powerful support by connecting with

your colleagues; and (3) set up a flexible classroom, if possible, to get to know your
students and their learning needs accordingly, and begin a welcoming and collaborative
learning environment.
There are different building inclusions you can use at the first hours/days/weeks if school.
You should (1) take note that relationship with your students has a big part in your
success; (2) understand that building classroom community is an ongoing process
throughout the year, (3) use different building inclusions/activities like encouraging and
valuing personal responses, knowing their goals, strengths, and beliefs, map of the human
heart, and etc. and remember to directly involve students in these activities; and (4) take
care of yourself for it is vital.
In building effective classroom managements, you should (1) model the standards you are
trying to encourage; (2) think about how to reduce conflicts instead of increasing it; (3)
seek opportunities to observe and learn about and from your students; and (4) talk, laugh,
and share with your colleagues.
In communicating with the parents and guardians of your students, you should (1) use
both formal and informal communication for it provides valuable insights about your
students; (2) experiment with different methods in communicating with different types of
parents/guardians by also maintaining professional demeanor; (3) report to
parents/guardians in an ongoing process to inform them of their childrens progress and
next steps; and (4) understand that you and the parents and guardians share the common
goal of helping every student achieve their fullest potential.
Consider different ideas in meeting diverse learning needs by (1) viewing the differences
of students as positive attributes in enhancing their learning capabilities; (2) realizing that
our philosophy (who we are and where we come from) have a direct impact on students
and teachers relationships; (3) helping students understand themselves as learners and as
unique, competent, and valued members of the classroom; and (4) understand that the
learning environment plays an important part in how we support students and how well
they learn.
In times of your absence or other teachers absence, expect occasional/substitute teacher
for your classroom or to be one for another class by (1) preparing and communicating
with them; (2) asking help or support from other colleagues; (3) creating positive and
respectful learning environment; and (4) being flexible at all areas/cases.
Teaching and learning are both progressive thus you should consider to learn and grow
professionally by (1) defining what teaching means to you, (2) asking supports from
colleagues and administrator (for beginning practice), (3) examining your practice with
the help of your colleagues, (4) experimenting and applying different methods and
strategies in handling your class, (5) continuing self-directed professional learning in a
variety of contexts and settings to change or develop some embedded practice, beliefs,
and ideas in teaching, and (6) intentionally sharing of knowledge and practice to broaden
perspectives in teaching and handling classes, having ongoing consultations,

collaborations, and coaching opportunities, and stimulating a desire for continued

personal and professional growth.
II. MY PERSONAL REFLECTION
a. KNOWLEDGE LEARNED
I have learned that teaching is not simply discussing the lessons, giving exercises,
and making the students participate in an activity. I have learned from the book that as a
teacher, we must learn to connect deeply with our students to understand and create a
good atmosphere within the class. Also, establishing a positive attitude helps the students
enjoy learning. In addition, we should create positive relationship with our colleagues for
they can help with our growth in teaching. Establishing positive and ongoing process of
communication with parents and guardians are also important. Lastly, we should continue
to grow and learn in the profession of teaching.
As a beginning teacher, we should also value mentorship such as direct assistance
from our colleagues, demonstration of classroom learning, co-planning/co-teaching, and
collaborative assessment of student works. Also there are different models of mentoring
we should take note of: (1) the broker-mentor, a consultant-type of relationship, (2) oneto-one mentor matching wherein both parties learn and grow, (3) group mentoring, a
school-wide mentoring culture, (4) informal mentoring, a spontaneous and informal
nature of relationship, and (5) online mentoring wherein the use of online conferences are
established.
Establishing classroom set-ups is also important. Some ideas to consider are (1)
size of your class, (2) resources or materials you have, (3) space of the classroom, and (4)
personal safety of students and of teachers. If you encountered some problems, you may
ask help from your colleagues and/or learn from their own classroom set-up. Also,
remember that the set-up you may have may not work out for your students, so keep the
classroom set-up flexible as much as possible so that the students can see that they are
important in creating the learning environment.
In addition, know different strategies or activities to help student engage in
learning. Examples of activities are encouraging and valuing personal relationships,
knowing their goals, beliefs, and strengths, map of the human heart, creating class
database, appreciation fans, asking for their ideal classroom, creating community circle,
rating your day, name game, and many more. Remember that every time you share with
your students have an impact to them.
In managing the classroom or building effective classroom, I have learned that we
should know the model or norms we want to encourage in our class. Also, you may
consider to: (1) establish a signal (to call for their attention), (2) give talk time, (3)
provide choices, (4) create positive consequences instead of punishments, (5) deflate
conflicts instead of inflating them by mediation or time-out reflection.
In communicating with the parents and guardians, the book illustrated some
methods or types of communication. These are by writing a letter, calling by phones,

communicating face-to-face, and online. To communicate with them further, you can (1)
use home works, (2) consider Meet the teachers event, (3) assess student learning and
report it to them, (4) write report comments, and (5) consider Parent-Teacher interviews.
On the other hand, in knowing your students, I have learned some activities such as class
yellow pages, student interviews, morning check-in, observations, and informal
dialogue.
There are also times that you may substitute an absent teacher. With this, you
must prepare the information you need, if none, you can ask the students or use valuable
resource from the class, and be proactive in teaching.
Lastly, continue to grow in your profession. You should continuously encourage
and inform students of what they seem to not understand, individually. Also, as a teacher,
every moment you stand up in front, you may always learn new things from your
students.
b. SKILLS GAINED
An increased awareness in the heart and art of teaching is somehow developed in
me. Likewise, dealing with students, colleagues, and parents can be approached in
different ways. Such skills I gained from the book are (1) having the passion in teaching,
(2) developing a deep relationship or close connection with the students by considering
their needs, holistically, and by encouraging their strengths instead of focusing with their
limitations and weaknesses, (3) establishing a classroom set-up suitable to the students,
(4) managing the effectiveness of the class, (5) valuing my relationship with the schools
administrators, teachers, and staffs, (6) considering different mentoring methods, (7)
establishing close (formal or informal) communication with the parents and guardians of
the students whether in letters, phone calls, face-to-face, and online interaction, (8) using
homeworks as a means to communicate with students and parents, (9) using assessment
and reports to further help in the development of the child, (10) meeting different learning
needs by looking into the attributes of the students, helping them understand what they
have learned, and the use of field trips, (11) preparing in being an occasional teacher, and
(12) continuing my professional learning and growth.
c. ATTITUDE/VALUES ENHANCED
I came to realize the importance of having passion and positive attitude in
teaching, giving significance to the needs of the students, the concept of them being an
important factor in the learning process or environment, my relationship with my
colleagues, the communication process with the parents and guardians, and my growth
and learning in being a teacher.
To be a teacher is not simply teaching the lessons for the day nor finishing the
activities for the day. In beginning as a teacher, you should learn to understand who are
you teaching and what are the things they need to learn, holistically. I learned to consider
the set-up suitable for them and effective management activities to keep peace and order
in the class. Also, an attitude to create a positive relationship with my co-teachers is

enhanced in me. Since the school is comprised of different people, instead of competing
with these people, I learned to have a good relationship with them by asking help from
them if needed and vice versa. Also, I learned to value my relationship with the students
parents and guardians since they are my partners in the development and progress of my
students. I learned that I must communicate to them as much and often as possible and
report to them the assessment of the children to further supervise their learning process.
Lastly, I should not stop learning and growing as a teacher. There are still many things I
do not know and are still waiting for me to be discovered. That is why, teaching and
learning does not stop when your time has come up in class, but always consider
approaching your students who have difficulties in class or in the lessons, learning
different strategies and approaches for your next meeting, preparing different activities to
stimulate attention and learning process of students, and studying different resources.
III.IMPLICATIONS TO TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS
The book implies that your passion, your students, your colleagues, and the
parents and guardians are important factors in the teaching-learning process. If you have the right
reason and passion in teaching, you can find the difficulties and struggles in teaching as
challenges to further improve your way of teaching. Also, the book implies that students are part
of the learning environment, not only how the teacher want to approach or teach them, but
teachers should take note of the needs and capabilities of the students they are handling. Also,
setting up the classroom according to how effective can the students learn is also important. You
should build a set-up wherein their needs can be achieved, if problems or conflicts may arise, be
flexible and try to change the set-up, if possible. Also, take note of the help you can get from
your colleagues as experienced people in teaching for they may give you advices for your
questions and problems you may encounter in your class. They can also assist you in further
developing your teaching capabilities. Moreover, create a positive relationship with the parents
and guardian of your students for they are your partners in the development of the children.
Always report the assessment you made for your students so that they can help you improve their
limitations and weaknesses. Lastly, continue to learn and grow in teaching. Do not stop learning
different ways to handle your class, learning additional information for your subjects, learning
strategies to improve effective classroom management, and improving your degree of profession.