{"id":1081,"date":"2012-09-03T08:00:25","date_gmt":"2012-09-03T08:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/?p=1081"},"modified":"2012-09-03T08:00:25","modified_gmt":"2012-09-03T08:00:25","slug":"voices-from-the-itdi-community-4-barry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/2012\/09\/03\/voices-from-the-itdi-community-4-barry\/","title":{"rendered":"Voices from the iTDi Community 4 \u2013 Barry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barry Jameson\u00a0 – Korea\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Barry Jameson is originally from Ireland but currently lives and works in Jeonju, \u00a0South Korea. He\u2019s an active member of #KELTChat and KOTESOL and quite a presence in the ELT Blogosphere. Barry blogs on All Things ELT at <\/em><\/strong>http:\/\/barryjameson.wordpress.com\/<\/em><\/a> and can be found on Twitter as <\/em>@BarryJamesonELT<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

What are you passionate about, Barry?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It may seem an obvious answer for a teacher, but I am passionate about teaching.\u00a0 I wake up every day and consider myself fortunate to do what I love for a living.\u00a0 I am relatively new to teaching but it has turned my whole life around.\u00a0 When I worked in financial services I always envied co-workers who came to work with a smile on their face.\u00a0 I never felt any passion for my previous work. \u00a0Quite simply, I feel like I belong in the classroom.<\/p>\n

How and why did you become a teacher?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I could say I always wanted to be a teacher, but that would be a lie.\u00a0 I was bored of my old job and life.\u00a0 I had worked in banking for almost six years but never enjoyed it.\u00a0 I had always dreamed of travelling.\u00a0 I was 33 and felt if I didn\u2019t make the move then, I never would.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t become a teacher because it was a calling.\u00a0 I became a teacher simply because it allowed me to travel and still pay my bills.\u00a0 It was a very practical decision, and I had no idea whether I would enjoy it or not.<\/p>\n

I handed in my resignation in my old job, did a simple 100 hour TEFL certificate and applied to work in Korea.\u00a0 I took the first job that was offered and left it to fate.\u00a0 Luckily, after a shaky first few weeks, I started to really enjoy being in the classroom.\u00a0 Then, I simply fell in love with the job.\u00a0 Now, I don\u2019t see myself doing anything for the rest of my career other than teaching.<\/p>\n

What are you most interested in right now?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I find Reflective Practice a really interesting part of my development.\u00a0 I first became interested in it through reading Dale Coulter\u2019s blog (http:\/\/languagemoments.wordpress.com\/<\/a>).\u00a0 Here was this young guy, not teaching very long, and he is writing an absolutely fantastic blog.\u00a0 He was certainly an early inspiration.\u00a0 This year I\u2019ve really started enjoying reading Michael Griffin and Josette LeBlanc\u2019s blog posts on Reflective Practice. The other thing I have a real interest in is motivation.\u00a0 I think this stems from of my own lack of motivation when I was in school, I was a poor student, mainly because the course work didn\u2019t engage me.\u00a0 I was bored and shut down.\u00a0 As a teacher, I love the challenge of reaching students who seemingly have no interest in studying.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to describe the satisfaction I feel when they start to open up and become involved and interested in learning.<\/p>\n

What things do you do to help you get better at being a teacher, Barry?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m lucky to have a fantastic PLN on twitter.\u00a0 This has been huge in helping me improve. When I first joined twitter I was surprised at how open and welcoming the ELT community was.\u00a0 There seemed to be no competitiveness.\u00a0 Everyone was pulling together, helping each other.\u00a0 That impressed me and has been a constant source of information and inspiration.\u00a0 However, because I\u2019m less experienced and less qualified than them, it can feel intimidating at times.\u00a0 This drives me to want to improve every aspect of my teaching. In addition, I have a plan to visit and observe some wonderful teachers soon in their workplaces.\u00a0 I always feel I can learn something from every teacher, whether they have been teaching 10 weeks or ten years.\u00a0 You always see something that makes you re-evaluate your own approach and tweak it in an attempt to improve. The chance to view and learn from other teachers is very exciting for me I have also been trying to attend as many webinars as possible.\u00a0 Of course, iTDi is one of the best out there at the moment providing some great presentations so far.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why but I could just watch teachers talk all day.\u00a0 I also watch lots of videos on YouTube.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the biggest challenge you face as a teacher?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The biggest challenge for me is a not having the amount of control over my teaching as I want.\u00a0 There is always a danger that your own teaching philosophy doesn\u2019t fit the school you work for.\u00a0 I have been very fortunate to work for a wonderful school at this early stage of my career but in Korea, the course book is king.\u00a0 My beliefs stem more from the Dogme point of view, so it can be frustrating to try to cover material which doesn\u2019t engage the students, but also having little opportunity to change it.\u00a0 It can be frustrating when parents see course book completion as a definitive sign of learning progress, when it is rarely is.<\/p>\n

Barry, what advice would you give to a teacher just starting out on a journey of professional development?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Find what works for you.\u00a0 There are many different ways to develop.\u00a0 I love twitter and it has been fantastic for me.\u00a0 Other teachers haven\u2019t found it useful.\u00a0 Try everything, keep doing what works, and discard what doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 Always keep an open mind.\u00a0 Also, make sure you take professional development seriously, but also make sure it\u2019s enjoyable.<\/p>\n

Is there any blog or online link you\u2019d like to recommend?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Where do I start?\u00a0 There are so many fantastic blogs, I\u2019ll have to apologise in advance for leaving anyone out.\u00a0 If I was to give you the full list of blogs I enjoy, you would see a list as long as my arm.\u00a0 With that in mind I\u2019ll list the blogs that I happened to discover when I needed them most..<\/p>\n

First up, the first teacher I discovered at the very beginning of my professional development journey.\u00a0 The legend, Scott Thornbury.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/scottthornbury.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Next up, a fantastic teacher trainer, Anthony Gaughan.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/teachertrainingunplugged.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

A blog that got me interested in Etymology as well as ELT, step up Brad Patterson.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.edulang.com\/blog\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Next is a great guy and a blogging machine.\u00a0 I love his style of writing and impressed by his knowledge, Phil Wade.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/eflthoughtsandreflections.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

A teacher who has infectious enthusiasm and a brilliant blog, Chia Suan Chong.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/chiasuanchong.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The master of interviews, Chiew Pang.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/iasku.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Two great teachers working in Korea that I mentioned earlier.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad I discovered them on twitter.<\/p>\n

Michael Griffin<\/p>\n

http:\/\/eltrantsreviewsreflections.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Josette LeBlanc<\/p>\n

http:\/\/tokenteach.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

I could go on but I better finish there, with a final comment to follow all the great bloggers on KELTChat \u2013 http:\/\/keltchat.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favorite quote about being a teacher?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll go with my fellow countryman on this:<\/p>\n

“Education is not filling a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”\u00a0 William Butler Yeats<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barry Jameson\u00a0 – Korea Barry Jameson is originally from Ireland but currently lives and works in Jeonju, \u00a0South Korea. He\u2019s an active member of #KELTChat and KOTESOL and quite a presence in the ELT Blogosphere. Barry blogs on All Things ELT at http:\/\/barryjameson.wordpress.com\/ and can be found on Twitter as @BarryJamesonELT What are you passionate … Continue reading Voices from the iTDi Community 4 \u2013 Barry<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":1082,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-voices-from-the-itdi-community-4"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}