5. Reflect on the concept of “soft eyes” (p. 113). Think of a situation where having “soft eyes” might have helped you in the classroom. Describe what happened, how you reacted, and how you would have liked to react.

Once I was explaining to my students a grammatical structure. Each student was very concentrated while we were studying new vocabulary. During the explanation I gave them some examples on the board, then; during the practice stage, students had to use their own ideas to complete a series of exercises. 

Suddenly, a student publicly expressed a new idea for the practice, the student suggested to do a more interactive practice. 

I reacted surprised and considers it as a nonsense idea. Although there was not disorder because the flow of the class was maintained. 

That occasion, was perfect to use “soft eyes" because I would have liked to react differently and take into account the new idea of ​​my student. 

I think I reacted in that way as a defensive manner I felt fear of losing control of the class, but the student thought he was treated like my enemy.

4. Do you think “the community of truth” is an accurate image of the way knowledge is gathered in your field? Why or why not?

Well, I think that experience does not occur all the time because sometimes we fail to acquire awareness of developing "the community of truth”, especially when we faced with conflicts of identity and integrity within a group, but I think we as training students are in the process to acquiring the necessary resources to be aware of and reflect on our position to find "the grace of great things".

Personally I feel motivated to work and learn with a sense of community and also to better understand and develop positive virtues towards myself and towards others. 

Sometimes it is normal because of our condition we are unique and unrepeatable human beings so that conflicts exist between us, but definitely learning in community is a tool that opens the door to the visible and invisible grace and the most important: evokes our best qualities as people in a society or particular field.

3. As a student, did you have courses that made you a participant in the community of truth gathered around that subject? If so, describe how they worked. Compare their impact to courses that simply introduced you to the facts about the subject.

According to my opinion, I think that I had the experience of participating in community around a subject. 

I had the opportunity to live this experience while I was studying high school and I believe that the guidance of our teacher was the key to achieving the goals and work as a community. 

Through various activities we participated actively, each student played a role according to our ability and most of the times we worked in teams. During the develop of the course we learned to value ourselves and accept others to work in harmony. At the same time, we learned to practice values ​​so that every student learned to develop different virtues that I think influenced a lot in our lives. 

If I compare the development of that subject with others that I have studied where there is no sense of community, I can say that learning has not been meaningful because if we limit ourselves only to the facts of the subject without any guidance beyond simple theories, I consider we do not have a realistic perspective. In addition, if we work in community, at the end we will get better results and students will have the opportunity to experience, learn and appreciate things from a different and positive perspective.