week #15: Putting It Together and Starting Again – Another Model

According to the reading, there are some factors and conditions that foster your development as a teacher. To be a good teacher it not only to have a good character, and a great personality; this influence a lot in the way the students see the teacher, but  there are some others characteristics that the teachers should take into account in order to succeed as a teacher.

In order to be good teachers we should follow some elements such as, “it is important to see teachers as actively involved in constructing knowledge and making meaning, through their own actions”. In my opinion, this means that teachers should be creative in order to be involved in constructing knowledge, demonstrate to the students that their knowledge is not based only in theory, but is based in practice and experiences collected from many areas.

On the other hand, the reading mentions that “relates to teacher´s knowledge of the students themselves, as learners of a particular age, deriving belief and values from a culture and having preferred way of acting and learning”. In my opinion, this means that the teachers should know their students in order to act in the correct way while is teaching. For example, we as teachers should know the students background, their culture in order to build a good environment in class.

week #14: Teacher development through reflective teaching

According to the reading; “Since the early eighties a number of approaches to teacher development have been proposed and implemented in classrooms. These approaches include the teachers-as-researchers, action research, clinical supervision, and the critical pedagogy perspective, among others”.

I think reflective teaching is very important since the teachers organize themselves before start a class. “According to Julie Tice, Reflective teaching means looking at what you do in the classroom, thinking about why you do it, and thinking about if it works - a process of self-observation and self-evaluation. By collecting information about what goes on in our classroom and by analyzing and evaluating this information”. So according to this information, I think that an effective teaching teacher is the person who really cares about the students necessities. It is a person that improves his/her knowledge in order to give his/her best in class. It is the person who motivates, and helps his/her students to give their best.

Teaching Video

 

Hello guys,

This is my teaching video, it is giving me an error, if you have the same problem you can go to blackboard, under discussion board and find it in there as well. Let me know any inconvenient and your feedback about the video.

Thank you

week #13 Building Community in the Classroom

“The beginning of the year is a time for creating a sense of community, and your room is the gathering place. Here, all children can feel secure, nurtured and supported by the environment, each other, and YOU.”.

My Opinion

I think that building a good community in class from the beginning of the year is very important, since the students learn about loyalty, problem solving, being human, and the most important, they learn about fellowship. On the other hand, it is important to mention that by creating a good community in class, the students learn that there are no physical, racial, and economic differences; they learn how similar they are and the importance of working in groups as a community.

In addition, as teachers we should help the students to feel comfortable in class, by giving them a warm place to learn. But, as the reading says, “The essential element to creating a sense of community in your classroom is YOU! It is not the number of toys and materials or the size of your space that really counts. It is your loving, compassionate attitude towards the children in your classroom family that creates a joyful community”. So, teachers should have the patience and wisdom to teach their students, to build a good community in class.

Week #12: Classroom Management

At the moment to talk about classroom management there are many aspects that should be taken into account. For example, it is very important to take into account the adolescence in students, why? Because, this is the moment in which the students experiment significant changes that provokes different behavior in class; so, as the reading says, it is important that the teacher remember that the students have difficulty straddling the overlapping worlds of childhood and adolescence; so, that is why they should use the appropriate rules in order to manage them in class.

I think that that to know about classroom management is helpful for teachers, since without management the classroom will be unfocused and no learning will be able to take place. Although the adolescence is very difficult to manage, it is very important to keep organized the class and apply different rules. The teacher is responsible for providing an environment in a class that helps all students to learn. Also, it is important that the teacher keep in mind that the class management is the technique that establishes a good learning environment.

On the other hand, it is very important to mentions the student’s parents in the classroom management. Parents are an essential support in student’s education. Teachers need to guide the parents on how to help their children in education. They not only need to tell the parents about the students struggle but about their potential and they should offer parents inputs on educational programs that will help their child. So, teachers/parents communication is useful for the student development and for their discipline in class.

I think the organization of the classroom is very important for the classroom management; so, that is why there are some tips that the reading mentions that I think are very important to apply in class, for example:

·         Make sure all students can easily see you when you are presenting information on the board, overhead projector screen and instructional displays.

·         Keep in mind potential distractions such as windows and doors, interesting displays, and small work group areas.

·         Leave plenty of room around desks so that you can get to each student when monitoring.

·         Locate your desk, work areas, and instructional areas where you can see all of the students all of the time.

·         Plan to seat students who need extra help or attention close to where you will be most of the time.

Week #11: Assessing Learning

I think assessment is the most important in teaching and learning. It provides opportunities for students to improve their knowledge, practice and receive feedback. When teachers assess the students their study is more effectively when they know what they are working towards and what their results are. In order to assess a student the teachers usually use the traditional test.   Although, the tests are very important to evaluate them, and have good structures in which the students demonstrate their knowledge, I think that it is not sufficient to demonstrate that students will keep that knowledge; since, some students use to study and memorize the topic one day before the test and then forget it. So, it is important to take into consideration alternative assessment in which the students can practice what they learn in each class.

As the reading mentions, “Alternative assessment uses activities that reveal what students can do with language, emphasizing their strengths instead of their weaknesses. Alternative assessment instruments are not only designed and structured differently from traditional tests, but are also graded or scored differently. Because alternative assessment is performance based, it helps instructors emphasize that the point of language learning is communication for meaningful purposes”. So, besides using tests, the teachers can use different activities to assess the students; for example, the teachers can ask the students for a final project in which can use a rubric to evaluate its content, they can ask to the students for presentation in which they put in practice the topic and their speaking, and where the teacher can use a checklists to evaluate the student performance, etc. To conclude, there are many activities that teachers can apply to assess a student, activities that can help them to practice the topic and keep in mind what is learned.

Week #10: Motivating Learners

Gaining your students’ interest and improving their motivation will increase the likelihood that they will commit the time and effort necessary to achieve the learning objectives (Clark, 1999; Dembo, 1994; Gagné, Yekovich, and Yekovich, 1993; Smith and Ragan, 1999).

I think motivation is very important in learners, why? Because, without motivation they won´t succeed. Motivation increases the learners´ desires and their want to do something, either better or worse. It puts them in action, increase their desire to participate in class and achieve their goals. But, in order to achieve that motivation in learners the teacher should assess some motivational techniques.

The reading mentions that “Language teachers promote or discourage students' engagement by the ways they define successful language learners”. To promote engagement in language learning:

Ø  Encourage students to use the language spontaneously to communicate ideas, feelings, and opinions.

Ø  Identify informal out-of-class language learning experiences.

Ø  Ask students to evaluate their progress in terms of increases in their functional proficiency.

So, this is very important, because as the reading says “Students' motivation for learning a language increases when they see connections between what they do in the classroom and what they hope to do with the language in the future”.     

Week #9: Syllabus

To have an idea about what a syllabus is, I found an article that says that “a syllabus is a "learning contract" between you (the instructor) and the students. It sets the ground rules for all the classroom goals, objectives, activities, assessment tools, policies and exceptions. In normal use, the syllabus will serve as a planning tool for both instructor and students. In extreme cases, the syllabus can be used to resolve disputes between students and faculty, for example on the number and weight of various assignments.  As such, the syllabus should contain all the elements students will need to know at the very beginning of the class”. (University of Alaska Anchorage)

So, I think that create a syllabus for a course is very important, since it is like a summary. It contains the main points of the all course, and is the best way to communicate to the student the organization of the course. In a syllabus, the teacher explains the way the student will be evaluated. Also, explains the organization of each topic and how is going to be applied. So, I can say that this is a good tool of communication between the student and the teacher. On the other hand, it is important to take into account that a good syllabus transmits the enthusiasm and interest of the course, and give the students a sense of how this course will change them and why they might want to take it. So, create a syllabus is a great responsibility since is an agreement that the teacher has with the student.

Sixth week… My Experience… My last week!

I finished my teaching practice the last Friday. It was a great experience, I learned a lot from the students and I am sure that they learned a lot from me. Although, I have to recognize that some of students need extra help to learn English. I noticed that the problem is that they use to speak all the time in Spanish during the English class; so, that makes them to forget everything they learned in class. I tried to change that by speaking only in English, but it was a little bit difficult, since was hard for some of them to understand some words. I tried to use mimic and drawings to help them, but sometimes it worked, but sometimes not. I think that I would need more time to get them to use English all the time in class. Since with the time, and if the teacher continues talking to them in English, will be easier for them understand different words, and to use only English to communicate themselves in class.

On the other hand, I have to recognize that I worked with a good group. They worked hard and cooperated in each class, and although some of them do not have a good background in English, and all of them use to speak in Spanish during class, I have to say that they learn very fast a new topic. Also, it is very important to mention the material (books) they use. The school uses very useful materials that helps them a lot, since it complement the grammar with interesting topics that call their attention, and I think this is a good way to learn a new language. Also, in each topic I did a lot of practice in order to help them to keep in mind what they learned. I tried to do my best in each class in order to help them to learn, and I had good results, since they learned new vocabulary and grammar while I was there. I learned a lot in this practice, I learned how to apply a lesson plan, and was my first time in front of a group of children; so, it helps me how to act in front of a group of kids. I have to recognize that was great experience and a really love this work, and I hope to continue teaching the next year.