Don't touch my stuff! (Just kidding)

For this week I want to share on the good experiences I have had in my class room with sharing my identity with the students.

Before I start though, I would like to give some background information.
When I first started teaching in my school, I was only working with two different co-teachers, one of them I only saw once a week at best and the other dictated how most of my teaching took place.
She was a good teacher herself, constantly changing her practice and such, trying new techniques and overall doing her very best to try and teach English to her students.
BUT, she would not allow any talking in the classroom that she deemed "not good for students"
I would normally agree, but this included: talking about any action movies, discussing comic books of any kind, talking about games, or talking about anything to do with things outside of pleasant school life.

I had a few discussions with her about how we were supposed to let the students use the language, if they couldn't talk about themselves. (most of them watched movies, played games and read comic books) She said we were to tell them to be quiet and use "proper English" like the textbook.

In my class the students would ask me about things I liked and what I would do outside the classroom. I was told to lie and say that I only read books, studied and cooked. My co-teacher was very strict on this rule, I sometimes made games or had students create sentences on their own, and if they wrote or said anything she didn't like, she would mark it incorrect.

She moved on a year and 1/2 ago, but I was still very nervous to "break the rule" in my class until 1/2 through last year.
At first I would slip in some pictures of action movies, ("I can jump" with actions stars jumping out of the way). When the students reacted positively, and my new co-teachers didn't react negatively I put more and more in my lessons.

One of the biggest steps I finally took was the put my money where my mouth was. I recently bought a set of books (just one as an example) and presented it to the co-teacher in charge of the library. These are all leveled readers, but they focus on the characters from the Avengers. I presented the books and with support from my co-teachers I was able to to get approved to have the school buy the entire set of books for the library. When they come in, I will be announcing it to the students.

I also ordered a set of Doctor who comics. And have gotten permission to have them in my classroom for extra reading. (these are higher level, but all the other books I have are low to mid level, so it is a good fit.)

I used to play league of legends as well. (I was a darn good Carrie Annie or Carrie Miss Fortune if you are a player too)  When the students found this out, it made it so the lowest level students would come running into the English classroom and ask me questions about what rank I was (Bronze T_T) and what characters I play, and if I liked their characters. (I hated Dr. Mundo :P)

In the current classroom environment I have found that sharing a part of you with the students really helps to open them up to speaking English. This is done in two ways (that I have noted) 1. They are more willing to talk about themselves because they have their own personal meaning attached to the language they learned. 2. They are more willing to talk to you, because you are not keeping your distance in a fake manner that all students know.

I would encourage every teacher to share your interests with your students. We are here because we are different, don't try to hide and blend to what you co-workers want you to be, it will only hurt your teaching practice.