Eight journal

Good Compliments

This week was a completely fruitful one. As a student teacher I am aware of the possibility of finding many problems and constrains along my first teaching experience. In this sense, I have had the opportunity to face many unexpected happenings regarding to the development of normal classes and student´s behaviours. I do not know very well the other student teacher´s situation, but I consider mine as a really good one. I think I have had the chance to improve a lot on the teaching act and my attitude towards the job that I am supposed to carry out.

Nevertheless, as in every field of ur lives everything cannot be flawless. I have to say that I have found many difficuties while my teaching experience. I have found students who have had bad experiences with English, students with frug consumption problems among others. I feel fortunate because all those problems have been solved and they have not presented a big deal to me. 

This week I found it very interseting the fact that a couple of students who have had bad experiences with English told me something unexpected. I was carrying out a dynamic activity to reinforce their speaking skill and at the end of it two students told me very happily that they were learning. For instance, they told me that was a good teacher. In that moment I just smiled at them and just continued normally with the class. Later on, I remembered their words and I smiled. Then, I felt quite good because of their words. I started to feel more motivated towards the job that I am doing with them. Sometimes it is important to receive compliments in order for you to have a concrete happening that tells you that you are doing your best.

Regading the different tools that two weeks ago I decided to put into practice to increase the student´s attention and to enhance my classroom management skills, I am still working on them. I think it is important to have a coninuous process with students in order for teachers to evidence good result when we opt for any approach or technique to solve a problem. In this sense, I think I won´t stop implementing those techniques and tips because I consider that a good learning environment is crucial to obtain better results. Students are not focused on their goals if the classroom is a complete mess. The peace and calm have to be evidenced at all times. This tells us that we have successfully achieved our goals regaring classroom magement.

Finally, I have to say that the fact that I received a good compliment does not mean that I am doing everything well and that I am doing my best. This just tells me that I am performing well and that I must keep working hard to maintain the student´s motivation levels as high as possible. The teaching act is very changing due to the fact that students are very active. They need to be challenged because they are open minded towards new methodologies and skills that they want to develop to become better professionals in life.

    

Seventh journal

A Pleasant Visit

I believe that being a student teacher is a priceless opportunity to get a first-hand view of what really involves being a teacher. Sometimes, undergraduate students tend to think that they already know all the outstanding information needed regarding the teaching act. Though, they may be totally wrong since one thing is all the theoretical set of factors that you learn, and a different thing is the realities that you have to face in a real classroom experience. In this sense, teachers can fall into the trap of strongly believing that their classes are perfect and that there is nothing to change.

In this order of ideas I think it is crucial to resort to some good techniques to identify possible constrains that are affecting the natural flow of your classes and that you as a teacher might be ignoring. To put into practice tips and techniques for teachers development, instructors have to be very open minded and smart to accept reviews about their classes and what is more important to take immediate action towards to problem already identified.

As a teacher in training I love receiving feedback about my performance. I usually ask teachers about the quality of my job. I like paying attention to the aspects they name since they already have been through the experience and acting to change the aspects they mention. Last week, I had the chance of being observed by a classmate from the Reflective Teaching class. She made an initial observation, then she made a short survey and then she gave me an interesting and unexpected feedback of the class that I conducted. I felt ok with the activity since students´ answers were positive and have aspects to improve in the class.

This current week I started to apply some corrections regarding classroom management that was the principal issue identified. I felt quite satisfied since students´ homework are much better now. I can tell that they did not use Google Translator to do their jobs. Students showed me that they are learning and that they still have their good attitude and motivation levels very high. Regarding classroom management, it was pretty good to have decided that before class some students who use to be distracted and bothering each other switch seats to separate them. Now, they are focused on the class and they seem to take notes and be involved within the English class. 

My classmate did come again this week to make some observations. She noted that the classroom management strategies that I used were effective and that students made much better jobs on their homework. Nevertheless, as I am still learning how to become a real teacher, my classmate made again a set of recommendations in order for me to have a better teaching experience and for students to have an enjoyable learning process.

Sixth journal

The Changing Teaching Act.

One curious fact about the teaching act is that is will be always surpising since it is a changing process. Teachers cannot assume that their performance and the students development will always be the same as it happens in a certain period of time. You will always find changing facts that will change the game rules and that will make you improvise to achieve significant changes.

This week was a totally unsatisfying one. As SENA Institute that is the one where I work on has a special belief about individual work it is crucial to ask students to put into practice all the facts and topics learned within on-site classes. Moreover, I think individual homework is necessary and an important stage of students´learning process. In this order of ideas, last week I asked students to do a piece of homework consisting of creating a PowerPoing presentation in which learners were supposed to put into practice the verb to be in its present tense. I gave them a personal example of the work that I wanted to see from them the present week. Additionally, I asked them if they had any question about the homewoork and they led me know that everything was clear.

I was quite sure that students were going to do great presentations since they have always been commited to their work and they had done good homeworks. Nevertheless, most of them did make use of Google Translator to do the homework. I was upset because I thought the instructions were clear and the topic was correctly covered. I asked them the reasons why they did not do the homework as they were expected to. students gave me unacceptable reasons and pretexts. 

Based on the events already described, I decided to ask them to do a new PowerPoint presentation using just a dictionary to translate unknown words. I just hope that students show more interest on developing communicative skills through presentations and similar activitis. Students have many beneficial aspects to learn from doing good homeworks and they have to take into account that they are missing important opportunities of becoming competent on the foreign lenaguage.  

Fifth Journal

Some Uncomfortable Attitudes

This week I felt a little bit dissatisfied. As I have already told you in the previous journals that I am conducting English classes in two groups. There is a group in particular that seems to have a very slow pace regarding their learning process in contrast to the second group of younger students. In the group mentioned, there are some students who are the ones who start an unfavorable learning environment.

What I refer to, is to that uncomfortable attitudes that some students have towards the learning process of the English language. In some cases, if a student makes a speaking mistake those students make a lot of fun about it. At the beginning when I noticed it for the first time, I tried not to pay too much attention to this. Probably, I thought that it would be better to ignore them just like kids who are ignored and stop doing something unpleasant. Very soon, I could probe that I was wrong. Those conducts are repetitive.

 As usually, I pay close attention to even little details in every context. In this order of ideas, I decided to talk to those students who were making fun of silly things such as mistakes while producing speaking English. It is unsuitable to have a learning environment where students are shy and do not like to participate. I consider that learning English is a matter of having a good amount of input, and then taking that input to start producing output. But student won´t produce any sort of output if they are shy and if they do not feel secure. Learners have to feel that making mistakes is an important stage of the learning process, and that they are free to make them and what is more important, to learn from them.

In this sense, I decided to talk to those guys who use to laugh every time they heard a mistake. I told them that they were creating a learning environment where students do not like to participate because of them. Additionally, I told them about the implications that making mistakes brings. I let them know that it was not beneficial for none of us, and that I did not want them to keep doing so.  

Regarding to my speech´s speed, I decided to pay attention to it. I noticed that sometimes I tend to speak fast and students did not understand even a general idea about what I was talking about. In this week, I talked slowly and students seem to enjoy more the English class since they can understand what we are talking about. Furthermore, I asked them again to let me know if there was something that they would like me to change about the class development.

Fourth Journal

A Case of Disappointment

In the present week I felt a little bit disappointed. Despite almost everything was going great and I was successfully achieving my goals, I had a regrettable event.  Student were supposed to bring to class a poster that they were going to use for their presentations about a certain topic. It was the same class that my practicum advisor was going to observe the way I was conducting the classes. I started the class normally, greeting students and asking them how their day was going on. Then, I asked students to start their presentations, and surprisingly many students did not bring their homework.

Even if it is not the teacher´s mistake, I felt a little bit embarrassed and I was mad at them. I immediately talk to them about it, and tell them that they have to be responsible if they want to achieve their goals not only in the education field, but in their lives. Students were embarrassed and some of them exposed their point of view. Finally, we reached the agreement of being as responsible as possible because it was beneficial for students and teachers. I felt a little bit sad since my practicum advisor was there, and she evidenced it. Even if it was not my fault, I felt embarrassed. Nevertheless, my practicum advisor made a good report based on the class observation. She pointed out that the teacher´s reaction towards the event was good and that responsibility needs to be encouraged.

Aside from the past event, I felt the classes were active. I feel that I am more secure and this is a good advantage because students can feel when the teacher is shy and insecure. It is never good to let them know that you are not sure about what you are talking because they can take advantage of it and create a rough environment against you. For this reason, it is recommendable to show self-confidence while conducting your classes at any time. Even if you do not know very much about a certain topic, you have to give your speech showing self-confidence.

Regarding the students who seemed to have drugs abuse problems, it is worrying that they did not attend to classes this week. I asked the technician instructor about them, and he told me that he already sent those students an e-mail. I will be attentive to their current situation because it would be terrible that they leave the school so early due to sad issues such us drugs consumption.

On the other hand, it seems that students are getting used to the English sounds. Last week, students told me that they did not understand in some cases when I used to speak a little bit fast. I let them know that they can ask me to speak slowly when they think it is appropriate. From the very beginning, I have tried to integrate the English language as possible. I try to talk in English at all times and as much as possible. In some cases when giving instructions, I can tell that they do not get the main idea of my speech. When I notice it, I try to use different techniques such as body language and gestures. I think it is good to elicit meaning without using the mother tongue.

Third Journal

Respectful Students

In the past third week of my teaching practicum, I felt pretty nice. It seems that I am getting used to their learning styles and to their pace while working with a certain topic. In contrast to last week, I feel more secure and comfortable when I have to start the class and follow the steps suggested on the lesson plans. Now, I feel that students know that they have to show respect towards me. I can tell that they have a good attitude because of the fact that I am respectful too, and they know that my intentions are beneficial for them.

This week, I am starting to feel like a real teacher. To be honest, it felt weird to wear a teacher´s white coat and to hear students calling you teacher or instructor. It is good to feel that I am actually becoming a teacher, since then, I will play correctly the role with all the factors that it implies. I have to take into account that teachers are role models for many students, and that many of them may start having the wish of becoming English teachers too.

It is noticeable that some students have started to maintain a good communication with me. Some of them are asking all the time about cultural and phonetic and grammatical aspects regarding to the English language. Most of the students are really kind and they demonstrate that they like the English class. This is heartwarming to me because I believe I am doing my best in the teaching practicum and all I want is to feel they like the class and that they are improving gradually their communicative skill.

This week, I was worried because I noted that there may be some students with drugs abuse issues. There is a blond-haired woman with a male friend who present weird behaviors. They do not like participating and they are usually too distracted. Most of the times, they talk about different issues during the English class and when I ask them something related to the class, they do not have any answer. They even do not know what to say and what is the specific topic that is being covered. Another reason why I am thinking about this serious problem is that those two students show some signs of drugs abuses such as Bloodshot or glazed eyes and dilated or constricted pupils. The first thing I did, was to let the technical instructor know about the situation. I hope he will talk to them about the possible consequences that they may face. Next week, I will pay close attention specifically to them to see if their conducts are repetitive to take action. Nevertheless, for the time being, I will encourage them to participate. I will ask them continually about basic things, and I will offer them rewards such as positive points that will help them to achieve the goals for the first unit.

I consider this week as a fruitful one. In general, I think I achieved my goals, and some important topics were successfully covered. The students showed good interest for learning more, and they seem to enjoy the activities. I will try to keep a good learning environment doing my best in every class so as to students to remain being active learners.

Second Journal

Following Rules.

This second week was neither rough not easy. I completed successfully all my duties and I did not let my motivation to go down due to the couple of constrains. I am very happy because I can notice that most of students are taking into account the rules that I tried to construct with the students help. Nevertheless there are a couple of students who do not like following rules, and try to confront the teacher arguing that they do not know any English.

The environment where I work on varies a lot. I teach English to two different groups. One group is conformed by learners from unprivileged areas of Campoalegre and Neiva. Students from this first group are very attentive. They show motivation in every activity I carry out with them. Since they are very young, I try to provide them with dynamic activities that actively involve them. The Students from this group are very privileged since it is just three months since they do not study the English language, and they have good basic commands in the language. These students are characterized for being kind, open minded, active and respectful. There are some situations where the teacher is trying to give some explanation or instruction, and if there is someone making noises or talking out of their turns, the rest of the class ask him to be respectful and the remain quiet. I have noticed that sometimes students start to stand up from their chairs to talk and bother to others. They have those type of conducts just when they feel that they already know the topic and when students finish their tasks. I think it is paramount to keep them busy paying attention to the teacher, participating in any activity or helping the teacher to finish a task.

On the second hand, the other group that I work with is conformed by learners who are a little bit older. Unlike the first group, the students from the second group are from unprivileged areas of Neiva city. They come from different social realities. It has passed at least 1 or 3 years since their last learning experience. I try to be very comprehensive, and I implement didactic and basic activities in order for them to find it easy to understand every topic covered. Moreover, I speak slowly and I make good use of gestures and body language to give a clear message in the native language.

Sometimes, students ask me to slow down on my speech and they ask me to explain twice a topic. I really appreciate that students do it, because it is the best way how I confirm that they are paying close attention to the explanation, and that they are willing to learn and to enrich their communicative skill. I think that it is better to start using some techniques in order for me to get all the students attention. Some of them are very distractive when they think I am not looking at them. I will try to involve every students in the activities to catch all their attention. Additionally, I will deliver some responsibilities to the students who finish first. It would work if I want them to be busy. Otherwise, they start to walk around the classroom and they will be another reason why students get distracted.