Abstract

This inquiry looks into the human dimension of teaching of three high school educators who teach in Jamaica, and my own experience of teaching art to high school students in Jamaica. The human dimension refers to the emotional and inter-personal side of teaching: the personal identity of a teacher. Teaching style is the blend of both the human and professional dimensions, and influences the dynamics of the classroom. The main task of the thesis is to analyze how our personal identities influence our teaching styles. My discussion places the personal identity of a teacher at the source of class dynamics. I collected my data by going to Jamaica in April and May, 2002 and interviewing the three teachers about their experiences in their classrooms. I also interviewed four of my former students on their experiences of being in my class. I have selected four to analyze: (1) personal identities in relation to our teaching styles; (2) the environment and its relationship to teachers' personal identities and teaching style; (3) discipline; (4) the relationship between teachers and students. Analyzing other teachers' practices provided me with stronger convictions of the impact we have on the development of our young students. It also contributed to the improvement of my own teaching style