My intervention point is the explanation and sampling that students need for their own personal work
Journal number two: "To be honest, most of them had difficulties to feel the heart beat "
Journal number three: "I started thinking if creating the account was going to be difficult for my students and bring headaches for their parents"
To solve this problem with my students I feel that I would have to challenge myself by using more sources to have a clearer explanation of the content and to show a more illustrative step-by-step guide. Using a PowerPoint presentation to guide students visually with the content that students are going to related with. Some audios attached to the pictures or videos in the presentation would also be useful for my students when they go to do it by themselves. Taking notes might be boring and not really meaningful for them. And, just listening to instructions without doing them might lead students to forget the instructions in the future. That is why, I feel that going further into instructions would motivate students even more to work by themselves on the different assignments planned for the class. In brief, making an online guide that students can follow while doing the actual exercise would be useful and less stressing for students.
viernes, 16 de octubre de 2015
domingo, 4 de octubre de 2015
Exploring my beliefs
First assumption: The teacher needs to play different roles in the workplace
"It is a well known-fact that knowledge transfer is not only about having a specific purpose of teaching in the classroom but all the insights that students can get from us as teachers in a regular school day anywhere." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor
"One of the roles that teachers are related to is the learning facilitator. As the name speaks by itself, the teacher needs to facilitate learning to the students by using the methodologies that are considered to be the most appropriate for the students' needs." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor
"Another role that teachers need to play is the classroom supporter. That means that the teacher needs to continuously observe their students when they are doing in-classroom activities or in any other classroom duty." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor
"Mentor or counsellor is another role that teachers need to assume inside or outside the classroom. Teachers usually forget that they are one of students' first role model in society though." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor
"The teacher also needs to be a society builder. In other words, every single teacher, no matter what the teacher teaches, needs to be pretty aware that we as teachers are preparing our students for society." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor
"Teachers need to take into account a variety of roles in order to prepare their students not only in the subject but in all areas that students need to develop." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor
"I do not follow any specific or strict methodology because all my students will not learn in the same way. Then, a variety of sources need to be used in the classroom." Taken from conceptualising teaching acts
Second assumption: English as a way of communication
"The story of my professional life starts when I got really interested in learning English after listening to some American relatives talking with their children in the mentioned language." Taken from my professional autobiography
"I was about eight years old when I wanted to learn a language different to my mother tongue for communicative purposes." Taken from my professional autobiography
"At that moment, I did not think about being a teacher but just moving to a further step in English learning." Taken from my professional autobiography
"I have always considered English to be very important in people's lives at this moment due to the fact that it is becoming a must to communicate in most countries around the world." Taken from what I think about English
"I have always considered English to be very important in people's lives at this moment due to the fact that it is becoming a must to communicate in most countries around the world." Taken from what I think about English
Third assumption: Teacher as a reflective practitioner
"During the lesson I was checking students' interest on internal organs and thinking what movement activity could be done in order to start explaining the function of the organs. And that was how I started to plan the next session with them." Taken from four reflective journals
"Later that day, I started to think about how I could have given more to my students by going further in the field of the circulatory system and the heart function. With that in mind, I took the decision to make the next activity more motivating for my students and deeper in anatomy." Taken from four reflective journals
"After that, I asked students how it was and interviewed some of them to collect data for my research practice. While doing so, I was reflecting on their answers and taking as suggestions for future activities on Schoology." Taken from four reflective journals
Fourth assumption: Being an English teacher professionally
"Hence, I am taking different courses and reflecting on what I have been taught to be a better-prepared teacher for all the learning difficulties presented in the classrooms of our context." Taken from my professional autobiography
"As teaching is an ongoing process, I as a teacher need to be updated by getting new insights from other teachers. Taken from conceptualising teaching acts."
"I consider those work experiences good because actually I can grow personally and professionally having students with different needs. Taken from conceptualising teaching acts."
"The relationship between theory, research and practice seems to be very integrative due to the fact that they need to be applied in a sequence." Taken from conceptualising teaching acts
Fifth assumption: Teachers need to reflect on students' feelings towards activities
"Teachers also have to be aware of the students' level of English in each targeted skill so that they can use activities, worksheets, videos, books and others that can suit students' level of language knowledge." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor
"Over time, students will start to feel a friendship bond with the teacher and may express more confidential information related to their learning issues that they might be embarrassed to tell at first." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor
"My students could create their account and modify lots of their information. Some of them even messaged me on the Webpage and asked to work more on Schoology the next sessions we were going to have. That motivated a lot to continue working with them what I had thought to do on the webpage on September the 29th." Taken from four reflective journals
"After that, I asked students how it was and interviewed some of them to collect data for my research practice." Taken from four reflective journals
Assumptions were derived from the different sources:
The sources that have played a magnificent role in my way of teaching, behaving professionally and learning are my different own experiences that I could have had with the range of students I have been able to teach to. The different contexts that I had encountered in my short teaching life have been a great source to shape my teaching ideology. Furthermore, journals and research readings have been of great reference to learn from authors and their particular cases. In addition to that, reflecting on people's personal lives has also gave many ideas on the changes that could be done my life, even if it is not directly related to my way of teaching.
Nevertheless, before being a teacher one can be mentally-shaped by the surroundings met at the first stages of life. Our parents are the first teachers that we meet and may give us remarkable insights that are going to be conspicuous in our future life. However, some situations presented in our lives changes might forge our way of thinking anytime. Our way of thinking can change from one moment to another. That is why, we as teachers cannot be strict to the point of having a specific pedagogy because we are going to have different population as students throughout our lives.
Challenging my assumptions:
In order to challenge my assumptions, I personally believe that I have to go further as a reflective practitioner. That means that I have to apply what I have reflected from my lessons and what not, add new innovations in the activities done in the classroom. In this way, I will identify the strengths of my assumptions and what can be done to bolster what is not being done at one hundred percent successfully. Another method that would help me to challenge my assumptions is to hear the voices from my students or colleagues in order to receive feedback from their position. Those comments will not only help me to improve my lesson but also to grow greater personally and professionally.
"It is a well known-fact that knowledge transfer is not only about having a specific purpose of teaching in the classroom but all the insights that students can get from us as teachers in a regular school day anywhere." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor
"One of the roles that teachers are related to is the learning facilitator. As the name speaks by itself, the teacher needs to facilitate learning to the students by using the methodologies that are considered to be the most appropriate for the students' needs." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor
"Another role that teachers need to play is the classroom supporter. That means that the teacher needs to continuously observe their students when they are doing in-classroom activities or in any other classroom duty." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor
"Mentor or counsellor is another role that teachers need to assume inside or outside the classroom. Teachers usually forget that they are one of students' first role model in society though." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor
"The teacher also needs to be a society builder. In other words, every single teacher, no matter what the teacher teaches, needs to be pretty aware that we as teachers are preparing our students for society." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor
"Teachers need to take into account a variety of roles in order to prepare their students not only in the subject but in all areas that students need to develop." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor
"I do not follow any specific or strict methodology because all my students will not learn in the same way. Then, a variety of sources need to be used in the classroom." Taken from conceptualising teaching acts
Second assumption: English as a way of communication
"The story of my professional life starts when I got really interested in learning English after listening to some American relatives talking with their children in the mentioned language." Taken from my professional autobiography
"I was about eight years old when I wanted to learn a language different to my mother tongue for communicative purposes." Taken from my professional autobiography
"At that moment, I did not think about being a teacher but just moving to a further step in English learning." Taken from my professional autobiography
"I have always considered English to be very important in people's lives at this moment due to the fact that it is becoming a must to communicate in most countries around the world." Taken from what I think about English
"I have always considered English to be very important in people's lives at this moment due to the fact that it is becoming a must to communicate in most countries around the world." Taken from what I think about English
Third assumption: Teacher as a reflective practitioner
"During the lesson I was checking students' interest on internal organs and thinking what movement activity could be done in order to start explaining the function of the organs. And that was how I started to plan the next session with them." Taken from four reflective journals
"Later that day, I started to think about how I could have given more to my students by going further in the field of the circulatory system and the heart function. With that in mind, I took the decision to make the next activity more motivating for my students and deeper in anatomy." Taken from four reflective journals
"After that, I asked students how it was and interviewed some of them to collect data for my research practice. While doing so, I was reflecting on their answers and taking as suggestions for future activities on Schoology." Taken from four reflective journals
Fourth assumption: Being an English teacher professionally
"Hence, I am taking different courses and reflecting on what I have been taught to be a better-prepared teacher for all the learning difficulties presented in the classrooms of our context." Taken from my professional autobiography
"As teaching is an ongoing process, I as a teacher need to be updated by getting new insights from other teachers. Taken from conceptualising teaching acts."
"I consider those work experiences good because actually I can grow personally and professionally having students with different needs. Taken from conceptualising teaching acts."
"The relationship between theory, research and practice seems to be very integrative due to the fact that they need to be applied in a sequence." Taken from conceptualising teaching acts
Fifth assumption: Teachers need to reflect on students' feelings towards activities
"Teachers also have to be aware of the students' level of English in each targeted skill so that they can use activities, worksheets, videos, books and others that can suit students' level of language knowledge." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor
"Over time, students will start to feel a friendship bond with the teacher and may express more confidential information related to their learning issues that they might be embarrassed to tell at first." Taken from knowledge transfer - my teaching metaphor
"My students could create their account and modify lots of their information. Some of them even messaged me on the Webpage and asked to work more on Schoology the next sessions we were going to have. That motivated a lot to continue working with them what I had thought to do on the webpage on September the 29th." Taken from four reflective journals
"After that, I asked students how it was and interviewed some of them to collect data for my research practice." Taken from four reflective journals
Assumptions were derived from the different sources:
The sources that have played a magnificent role in my way of teaching, behaving professionally and learning are my different own experiences that I could have had with the range of students I have been able to teach to. The different contexts that I had encountered in my short teaching life have been a great source to shape my teaching ideology. Furthermore, journals and research readings have been of great reference to learn from authors and their particular cases. In addition to that, reflecting on people's personal lives has also gave many ideas on the changes that could be done my life, even if it is not directly related to my way of teaching.
Nevertheless, before being a teacher one can be mentally-shaped by the surroundings met at the first stages of life. Our parents are the first teachers that we meet and may give us remarkable insights that are going to be conspicuous in our future life. However, some situations presented in our lives changes might forge our way of thinking anytime. Our way of thinking can change from one moment to another. That is why, we as teachers cannot be strict to the point of having a specific pedagogy because we are going to have different population as students throughout our lives.
Challenging my assumptions:
In order to challenge my assumptions, I personally believe that I have to go further as a reflective practitioner. That means that I have to apply what I have reflected from my lessons and what not, add new innovations in the activities done in the classroom. In this way, I will identify the strengths of my assumptions and what can be done to bolster what is not being done at one hundred percent successfully. Another method that would help me to challenge my assumptions is to hear the voices from my students or colleagues in order to receive feedback from their position. Those comments will not only help me to improve my lesson but also to grow greater personally and professionally.
sábado, 3 de octubre de 2015
What I think about English
My beliefs
English
I have always considered English to be very important in people's lives at this moment due to the fact that it is becoming a must to communicate in most countries around the world. One can be acknowledged of a specific subject different than English but still needs to learn English to be able to understand written or spoken information at work. English is not something that people want to learn in order to do business in English spoken countries anymore. Instead, it is something that people need to learn to accomplish better performance in their working and personal life.
Learning
Learning happens all the time in our daily basis. We learn more unconsciously than consciously. Our first source for learning is our parents. They are the teachers of every human. In fact, we need to be taught from the beginning of our lives since we are not able to perform anything. Then, the first adults that we meet in our lives are going to give us the essentials on how to live. After that we are taken into schools to learn more specific subjects, getting a wider vision of the world that surrounds us. We go into an educational process learning from different teachers and professors for great part of our life. But, learning opportunities are shown outside schools and university all the time. We learn from our own actions, people we see, other people's experiences, among others. Indeed, learning is an ongoing process and something inevitable in all human beings.
Teaching
All people can learn but not all can teach. Same as learning, teaching can happen anywhere though. It is not only a process meant to work in a classroom. Teaching others is just the guidance we provide to learn what we already know. As illustrated before in my metaphor, it is the knowledge transfer that happens in the interaction we have with anybody. Nevertheless, a variety of theories and practices need to be taken into account to be able to teach. One may know about the subject but may not know how to teach it to others. That is why it takes time for teachers to prepare on the field, practice and reflect on their process with the experiences the teacher may encounter in their journey.
Language teaching
I strongly agree that before getting their bacherlor's degree in teaching languages, most fresh teachers share similar beliefs about language teaching. However some of those beliefs change when you start facing real contexts, and a few of them do not change much after their practice teaching. Base on my four years of teaching experience and regarding a private school context in Neiva, I believe that the language aptitude exists and our students have the potential to learn English. In fact, English is not a difficulty language that most students can learn to speak well within their primiary and mainly high school levels. I also believe that some skills such as speaking and writing are more difficult than listening and reading. Learning grammar rules is always a hard task for some teenagers, amd vocabulary is a very important support to build language in primary. Talking about translation it has been unnecessay, nowadays its eassier for learners to understand new words and new expressions by using the context itself. Finally, it is important to state that learning the cultural knowledge of the language is a meaningful way to motivate students to learn not only the target language but a new and rich culture as well.
English
I have always considered English to be very important in people's lives at this moment due to the fact that it is becoming a must to communicate in most countries around the world. One can be acknowledged of a specific subject different than English but still needs to learn English to be able to understand written or spoken information at work. English is not something that people want to learn in order to do business in English spoken countries anymore. Instead, it is something that people need to learn to accomplish better performance in their working and personal life.
Learning
Learning happens all the time in our daily basis. We learn more unconsciously than consciously. Our first source for learning is our parents. They are the teachers of every human. In fact, we need to be taught from the beginning of our lives since we are not able to perform anything. Then, the first adults that we meet in our lives are going to give us the essentials on how to live. After that we are taken into schools to learn more specific subjects, getting a wider vision of the world that surrounds us. We go into an educational process learning from different teachers and professors for great part of our life. But, learning opportunities are shown outside schools and university all the time. We learn from our own actions, people we see, other people's experiences, among others. Indeed, learning is an ongoing process and something inevitable in all human beings.
Teaching
All people can learn but not all can teach. Same as learning, teaching can happen anywhere though. It is not only a process meant to work in a classroom. Teaching others is just the guidance we provide to learn what we already know. As illustrated before in my metaphor, it is the knowledge transfer that happens in the interaction we have with anybody. Nevertheless, a variety of theories and practices need to be taken into account to be able to teach. One may know about the subject but may not know how to teach it to others. That is why it takes time for teachers to prepare on the field, practice and reflect on their process with the experiences the teacher may encounter in their journey.
Language teaching
I strongly agree that before getting their bacherlor's degree in teaching languages, most fresh teachers share similar beliefs about language teaching. However some of those beliefs change when you start facing real contexts, and a few of them do not change much after their practice teaching. Base on my four years of teaching experience and regarding a private school context in Neiva, I believe that the language aptitude exists and our students have the potential to learn English. In fact, English is not a difficulty language that most students can learn to speak well within their primiary and mainly high school levels. I also believe that some skills such as speaking and writing are more difficult than listening and reading. Learning grammar rules is always a hard task for some teenagers, amd vocabulary is a very important support to build language in primary. Talking about translation it has been unnecessay, nowadays its eassier for learners to understand new words and new expressions by using the context itself. Finally, it is important to state that learning the cultural knowledge of the language is a meaningful way to motivate students to learn not only the target language but a new and rich culture as well.
Four reflective journals
First journal
Aspaen gimnasio la fragua
Second graders
September 28th
As planned at the beginning of the fourth term, the topic for that class was internal organs. So I firstly showed some pictures of organs to my students and then they could locate those organs in their body. That warming-up activity gave my students first thoughts about what we were going to start talking about.
After that, I gave my students correct pronunciation of the new vocabulary they were going to learn. We all pronounced the vocabulary while touching the external part where the internal organ was located. A few students already knew that vocabulary, they felt motivated to say those words aloud. While doing that, we reviewed previous knowledge about parts of the body (external/internal) they could have already known before that lesson.
Next, we opened the learner's book on the unit about organs. Then, students felt ready to read the information of the organs presented by the book. We did reading aloud in the classroom to practice pronunciation and intonation of the new vocabulary. I asked closed and opened questions to my students of the text they read in ball-passing game. Most students wanted to have the ball and answer the questions related to the reading.
To close the lesson, I showed a video from youtube about the importance of our organs on the flat TV screen to my students so they could widen their knowledge on this topic. During the lesson I was checking students' interest on internal organs and thinking what movement activity could be done in order to start explaining the function of the organs. And that was how I started to plan the next session with them.
Second journal
Aspaen gimnasio la fragua
Second graders
September 29th
After having students attention, I asked every single student to put their right hand on their left part of their chest and feel the heart beat. Then I asked them to put their right hand on their neck and feel the heart beat. After that, I asked them to put their hand on their wrist and feel their heart beat. To be honest, most of them had difficulties to feel the heart beat but after helping them, they could feel their blood pumping.
After doing that as a warming-up activity, I asked students to open their notebooks and do the table that I was going to do on the board. That table had one column with different exercises (Walking, jumping and running) and another column with two spaces, one for the student and another one for the student's partner. So they could work in pairs somehow and learn together by feeling the heart beat of each other. Students felt really excited that day; especially those who had no idea how to tell their heart beat.
During the outdoor activity, students identified the main organ of the circulatory system: the heart. After doing the three tasks, students found out that the heart beat increased by doing exercises that required more speed or strength. Also, students realised that their heart beats were all different by comparing their own heart beat with his partner's.
When students were done, we went back to the classroom to share the experience. Students learnt new vocabulary while basically playing with the outdoor activity. Later that day, I started to think about how I could have given more to my students by going further in the field of the circulatory system and the heart function. With that in mind, I took the decision to make the next activity more motivating for my students and deeper in anatomy.
Third journal
Aspaen gimnasio la fragua
Second graders
September 30th
Before going in the classroom, I had really nice expectations for that class because I was going to explain the use of a technological webpage which was going to be like Facebook from now on for students but with academic purposes. And, it is a well-known fact that kids nowadays are very familiar with technological devices and the internet.
Schoology was the website that my students were going to start working. I guided students and did a tutorial during class for them, solving all doubts and doing all demonstrations students requested. Then I gave them the code for the course students were going to join when creating their accounts at home. We did one example with one student to show all the rest how to do it and how to edit their profiles. The whole lesson was based on instructions for the webpage so students could be all set for the next session using the webpage.
After I left that lesson I started thinking if creating the account was going to be difficult for my students and bring headaches for their parents. The results that I got from my students next day were amazing though. My students could create their account and modify lots of their information. Some of them even messaged me on the Webpage and asked to work more on Schoology the next sessions we were going to have. That motivated a lot to continue working with them what I had thought to do on the webpage on September the 29th.
Fourth journal
Aspaen gimnasio la fragua
Second graders
October 2nd
After knowing that my students performed good on creating their accounts on Schoology and editing their profiles, I proceed to explain how to complete tasks or tests on the webpage. They were really excited to know how they were going to be tested and how the webpage was going to be a tool for them. I showed on the TV screen step by step where they should click and what they should do.
All students could follow me with ease. We listened to a song related to the circulatory system and were able to identify new vocabulary in that song. We followed the lyrics of the song while singing. Then, we continued with the main activity and watched a short video which was going to be the resource for them to answer the questions on the test. The video was fun for them because it was animated, causing them laugh a lot. Next, students completed the test quickly.
After that, I asked students how it was and interviewed some of them to collect data for my research practice. While doing so, I was reflecting on their answers and taking as suggestions for future activities on Schoology. We finished the class sharing the moment we had on the webpage. Before using virtual learning environments as an educational tool, I thought it was going to be a hard assignment for students to accomplish but it was totally uncomplicated for students to manage the webpage.
Aspaen gimnasio la fragua
Second graders
September 28th
As planned at the beginning of the fourth term, the topic for that class was internal organs. So I firstly showed some pictures of organs to my students and then they could locate those organs in their body. That warming-up activity gave my students first thoughts about what we were going to start talking about.
After that, I gave my students correct pronunciation of the new vocabulary they were going to learn. We all pronounced the vocabulary while touching the external part where the internal organ was located. A few students already knew that vocabulary, they felt motivated to say those words aloud. While doing that, we reviewed previous knowledge about parts of the body (external/internal) they could have already known before that lesson.
Next, we opened the learner's book on the unit about organs. Then, students felt ready to read the information of the organs presented by the book. We did reading aloud in the classroom to practice pronunciation and intonation of the new vocabulary. I asked closed and opened questions to my students of the text they read in ball-passing game. Most students wanted to have the ball and answer the questions related to the reading.
To close the lesson, I showed a video from youtube about the importance of our organs on the flat TV screen to my students so they could widen their knowledge on this topic. During the lesson I was checking students' interest on internal organs and thinking what movement activity could be done in order to start explaining the function of the organs. And that was how I started to plan the next session with them.
Second journal
Aspaen gimnasio la fragua
Second graders
September 29th
After having students attention, I asked every single student to put their right hand on their left part of their chest and feel the heart beat. Then I asked them to put their right hand on their neck and feel the heart beat. After that, I asked them to put their hand on their wrist and feel their heart beat. To be honest, most of them had difficulties to feel the heart beat but after helping them, they could feel their blood pumping.
After doing that as a warming-up activity, I asked students to open their notebooks and do the table that I was going to do on the board. That table had one column with different exercises (Walking, jumping and running) and another column with two spaces, one for the student and another one for the student's partner. So they could work in pairs somehow and learn together by feeling the heart beat of each other. Students felt really excited that day; especially those who had no idea how to tell their heart beat.
During the outdoor activity, students identified the main organ of the circulatory system: the heart. After doing the three tasks, students found out that the heart beat increased by doing exercises that required more speed or strength. Also, students realised that their heart beats were all different by comparing their own heart beat with his partner's.
When students were done, we went back to the classroom to share the experience. Students learnt new vocabulary while basically playing with the outdoor activity. Later that day, I started to think about how I could have given more to my students by going further in the field of the circulatory system and the heart function. With that in mind, I took the decision to make the next activity more motivating for my students and deeper in anatomy.
Third journal
Aspaen gimnasio la fragua
Second graders
September 30th
Before going in the classroom, I had really nice expectations for that class because I was going to explain the use of a technological webpage which was going to be like Facebook from now on for students but with academic purposes. And, it is a well-known fact that kids nowadays are very familiar with technological devices and the internet.
Schoology was the website that my students were going to start working. I guided students and did a tutorial during class for them, solving all doubts and doing all demonstrations students requested. Then I gave them the code for the course students were going to join when creating their accounts at home. We did one example with one student to show all the rest how to do it and how to edit their profiles. The whole lesson was based on instructions for the webpage so students could be all set for the next session using the webpage.
After I left that lesson I started thinking if creating the account was going to be difficult for my students and bring headaches for their parents. The results that I got from my students next day were amazing though. My students could create their account and modify lots of their information. Some of them even messaged me on the Webpage and asked to work more on Schoology the next sessions we were going to have. That motivated a lot to continue working with them what I had thought to do on the webpage on September the 29th.
Fourth journal
Aspaen gimnasio la fragua
Second graders
October 2nd
After knowing that my students performed good on creating their accounts on Schoology and editing their profiles, I proceed to explain how to complete tasks or tests on the webpage. They were really excited to know how they were going to be tested and how the webpage was going to be a tool for them. I showed on the TV screen step by step where they should click and what they should do.
All students could follow me with ease. We listened to a song related to the circulatory system and were able to identify new vocabulary in that song. We followed the lyrics of the song while singing. Then, we continued with the main activity and watched a short video which was going to be the resource for them to answer the questions on the test. The video was fun for them because it was animated, causing them laugh a lot. Next, students completed the test quickly.
After that, I asked students how it was and interviewed some of them to collect data for my research practice. While doing so, I was reflecting on their answers and taking as suggestions for future activities on Schoology. We finished the class sharing the moment we had on the webpage. Before using virtual learning environments as an educational tool, I thought it was going to be a hard assignment for students to accomplish but it was totally uncomplicated for students to manage the webpage.
jueves, 1 de octubre de 2015
Conceptualising teaching acts
1. What do you usually do as a teacher? With what kind of rationale?
I consider myself to be a teacher that looks for the best option that can fit in the students' needs taking into account the learning styles that my students may feel better with. Actually I do not follow any specific or strict methodology because all my students will not learn in the same way. Then, a variety of sources need to be used in the classroom. In view of Kumaravadivelu (2003), I see myself as a reflective practitioner who is all the time thinking what went wrong during my lesson, how my students felt and what can be improved for future sessions. That way of thinking makes me have different activities using different methodologies to teach and to practice the content that I am teaching.
2. What is your mind engagement like in the professional exercise of teaching?
As a professional, I need to be well-prepared for all the difficulties that might be presented in my daily basis as a teacher. That means I need to be able to solve my students' learning problems by giving strategies and giving them constant feedback on their processes. As teaching is an ongoing process, I as a teacher need to be updated by getting new insights from other teachers. Once you become a teacher, you become a learner too.
3. How would you characterise your professional, personal and experiential knowledge of teaching?
Regarding professionalism, I feel that I need to learn more and get more experience as a teacher. That is the reason why I am studying a master in English didactics. Regarding personal knowledge, I feel that I have learnt the basics by the age of 23 but I need to learn a lot more related to my job and life itself. Regarding experiential knowledge, I believe that I have had the opportunity to work in different situations (amount of students, type of school, social and cultural context, among others). I consider those work experiences good because actually I can grow personally and professionally having students with different needs.
4. How do you see the relationship between theory, research and practice?
The relationship between theory, research and practice seems to be very integrative due to the fact that they need to be applied in a sequence. Theory is important to know what experts have established from their studies. Then, we can take it from theory to research. However, we need to place theories in our context when doing research. And last but not least, practice comes to play a role, in which, we as teachers need to highlight in order to become better prepared teachers. All of the three have to be joined with the same purpose.
5. To what extent is there a cause-effect relationship between teaching and learning?
Certainly there is a cause-effect relationship between teaching and learning because my students' output will be based on what I taught them and how I taught them. Basically my own work will be reflected on my students' final results. In fact, the methodologies that I used to teach needs to be related to the way I will assess my students.
I consider myself to be a teacher that looks for the best option that can fit in the students' needs taking into account the learning styles that my students may feel better with. Actually I do not follow any specific or strict methodology because all my students will not learn in the same way. Then, a variety of sources need to be used in the classroom. In view of Kumaravadivelu (2003), I see myself as a reflective practitioner who is all the time thinking what went wrong during my lesson, how my students felt and what can be improved for future sessions. That way of thinking makes me have different activities using different methodologies to teach and to practice the content that I am teaching.
2. What is your mind engagement like in the professional exercise of teaching?
As a professional, I need to be well-prepared for all the difficulties that might be presented in my daily basis as a teacher. That means I need to be able to solve my students' learning problems by giving strategies and giving them constant feedback on their processes. As teaching is an ongoing process, I as a teacher need to be updated by getting new insights from other teachers. Once you become a teacher, you become a learner too.
3. How would you characterise your professional, personal and experiential knowledge of teaching?
Regarding professionalism, I feel that I need to learn more and get more experience as a teacher. That is the reason why I am studying a master in English didactics. Regarding personal knowledge, I feel that I have learnt the basics by the age of 23 but I need to learn a lot more related to my job and life itself. Regarding experiential knowledge, I believe that I have had the opportunity to work in different situations (amount of students, type of school, social and cultural context, among others). I consider those work experiences good because actually I can grow personally and professionally having students with different needs.
4. How do you see the relationship between theory, research and practice?
The relationship between theory, research and practice seems to be very integrative due to the fact that they need to be applied in a sequence. Theory is important to know what experts have established from their studies. Then, we can take it from theory to research. However, we need to place theories in our context when doing research. And last but not least, practice comes to play a role, in which, we as teachers need to highlight in order to become better prepared teachers. All of the three have to be joined with the same purpose.
5. To what extent is there a cause-effect relationship between teaching and learning?
Certainly there is a cause-effect relationship between teaching and learning because my students' output will be based on what I taught them and how I taught them. Basically my own work will be reflected on my students' final results. In fact, the methodologies that I used to teach needs to be related to the way I will assess my students.
My professional autobiography
Hello there! My name is Arthur Tovar Cruz. I am a 23 years old teacher who has been teaching English as a foreign language since 2012.
The story of my professional life starts when I got really interested in learning English after listening to some American relatives talking with their children in the mentioned language. I was about eight years old when I wanted to learn a language different to my mother tongue for communicative purposes. So I started to play games in English and translate the English words that I saw into Spanish using a dictionary. What I did could be considered a little dumb but I was a child having fun with what I liked.
Some years passed and my English had improved by all the teachers who had taught me in primary school and high school. When I was in tenth grade I felt like I was not learning a lot in school so I asked my dad to subscribe me in an institute where I could meet other people and learn more. I studied in a public school in Ibagué so I was definitely having a slow learning process since there were no many English sessions during the week and sometimes there was not even school. Fortunately, my dad subscribed me in a language institute called 'Coruniversitaria' which was the institute of the university of Ibagué. I was tested and interviewed by a Canadian teacher in order for me to join the appropriate level.
I felt a bit embarrassed when I saw all my new classmates from different schools using English to ask for needs and provide information because I was probably going to pronounce wrong. It is true that I loved English and I knew some words and phrases of the language but I did not speak English all the time when I was in my English classes at school. That situation made me really shy at the beginning of the first level I took in the institute. After some period, my language skills had improved and I felt confident enough to express ideas, ask questions and talk aloud in classes at the institute.
I finished the eight levels successfully by the time I graduated from high school. After that, it was the time for me to choose what I was going to study professionally. I told my parents that I just wanted to learn more English and get a diploma that showed so. My dad told me that I needed to be aware that I could end up being a teacher and that job needed more skills than just knowing a subject. At that moment, I did not think about being a teacher but just moving to a further step in English learning.
In view of my decision, I moved to Neiva in 2009 and started studying English as a foreign language teaching in Surcolombia university. In the middle of the process, I had the opportunity to travel abroad and have real contact with the language while working as a camp counsellor in the country. I believe it is one of the experiences that most opened my mind because I stopped using Spanish for a long time. It was quite hard at the beginning to listen to different English accents around the world including native speakers and non-native speakers but then my brain started to work in English by thinking and doing processes in English. I only spent three months in the USA because I did not want to fail the chance to study the coming semester. I got my bachelor's degree on February the twenty-second, 2014.
Immediately after I graduated as an English as a foreign language teacher, I wanted to take further studies. So I started looking information of masters' studies offered by different universities in the country. I was about to go for an interview in the University of Manizales but then Surcolombiana University announced a new master's program in the field of English teaching didactics for the second semester of 2014. Hence, I am taking different courses and reflecting on what I have been taught to be a better-prepared teacher for all the learning difficulties presented in the classrooms of our context.
The story of my professional life starts when I got really interested in learning English after listening to some American relatives talking with their children in the mentioned language. I was about eight years old when I wanted to learn a language different to my mother tongue for communicative purposes. So I started to play games in English and translate the English words that I saw into Spanish using a dictionary. What I did could be considered a little dumb but I was a child having fun with what I liked.
Some years passed and my English had improved by all the teachers who had taught me in primary school and high school. When I was in tenth grade I felt like I was not learning a lot in school so I asked my dad to subscribe me in an institute where I could meet other people and learn more. I studied in a public school in Ibagué so I was definitely having a slow learning process since there were no many English sessions during the week and sometimes there was not even school. Fortunately, my dad subscribed me in a language institute called 'Coruniversitaria' which was the institute of the university of Ibagué. I was tested and interviewed by a Canadian teacher in order for me to join the appropriate level.
I felt a bit embarrassed when I saw all my new classmates from different schools using English to ask for needs and provide information because I was probably going to pronounce wrong. It is true that I loved English and I knew some words and phrases of the language but I did not speak English all the time when I was in my English classes at school. That situation made me really shy at the beginning of the first level I took in the institute. After some period, my language skills had improved and I felt confident enough to express ideas, ask questions and talk aloud in classes at the institute.
I finished the eight levels successfully by the time I graduated from high school. After that, it was the time for me to choose what I was going to study professionally. I told my parents that I just wanted to learn more English and get a diploma that showed so. My dad told me that I needed to be aware that I could end up being a teacher and that job needed more skills than just knowing a subject. At that moment, I did not think about being a teacher but just moving to a further step in English learning.
In view of my decision, I moved to Neiva in 2009 and started studying English as a foreign language teaching in Surcolombia university. In the middle of the process, I had the opportunity to travel abroad and have real contact with the language while working as a camp counsellor in the country. I believe it is one of the experiences that most opened my mind because I stopped using Spanish for a long time. It was quite hard at the beginning to listen to different English accents around the world including native speakers and non-native speakers but then my brain started to work in English by thinking and doing processes in English. I only spent three months in the USA because I did not want to fail the chance to study the coming semester. I got my bachelor's degree on February the twenty-second, 2014.
Immediately after I graduated as an English as a foreign language teacher, I wanted to take further studies. So I started looking information of masters' studies offered by different universities in the country. I was about to go for an interview in the University of Manizales but then Surcolombiana University announced a new master's program in the field of English teaching didactics for the second semester of 2014. Hence, I am taking different courses and reflecting on what I have been taught to be a better-prepared teacher for all the learning difficulties presented in the classrooms of our context.
sábado, 26 de septiembre de 2015
Knowledge transfer - My teaching metaphor
Knowledge transfer
My teaching metaphor refers to the knowledge transfer which usually happens in our classes or in the student-teacher interaction we have in the schools where we work at. It is a well known-fact that knowledge transfer is not only about having a specific purpose of teaching in the classroom but all the insights that students can get from us as teachers in a regular school day anywhere.
In the picture above, you can see a colourful ladder that teacher and student are stepping on. That colourful ladder is basically the ongoing process that students go through for a long period until they have learnt enough from us and may go beyond 'success' to start a new stage in their lives. The colours mean the different life-fields that students need to approach in order to be all set for future challenges in their lives such as university. What I mean by 'life-fields' are the values, life-skills, intelligence, danger-awareness, passion, integrity, relationships and the ideology that students need to combine to be an effective student.
Taking into account what has been said, teachers need to play different roles inside and outside the classroom. It depends on the teacher to play different roles in the school though. There are many teachers' roles mentioned by different authors but not all of them are going to be mentioned here. One of the roles that teachers are related to is the learning facilitator. As the name speaks by itself, the teacher needs to facilitate learning to the students by using the methodologies that are considered to be the most appropriate for the students' needs. This takes the teacher to study each student and realise that each of them is different with their own personal life difficulties, which, make students have a particular learning style. Besides that, teachers also have to be aware of the students' level of English in each targeted skill so that they can use activities, worksheets, videos, books and others that can suit students' level of language knowledge.
Another role that teachers need to play is the classroom supporter. That means that the teacher needs to continuously observe their students when they are doing in-classroom activities or in any other classroom duty. Therefore, the teacher needs to provide new ideas if students are stuck in their learning or give feedback when it is necessary. Over time, students will start to feel a friendship bond with the teacher and may express more confidential information related to their learning issues that they might be embarrassed to tell at first.
Mentor or counsellor is another role that teachers need to assume inside or outside the classroom. Teachers usually forget that they are one of students' first role model in society though. Nevertheless, by being the role model of the students, teachers' job is to advise students with problems that can be school-related or not. Sometimes students do not have good parents' support at home and they are not heard at home. That is the time when teachers may give instruction to their students in any life-fields. It is pretty well-known that children and teenagers are surrounded by different issues that become obstacles in their learning process. That improves teacher-student relationship, too.
Last but not least, the teacher also needs to be a society builder. In other words, every single teacher, no matter what the teacher teaches, needs to be pretty aware that we as teachers are preparing our students for society. That is to say, students will someday apply the knowledge and the values we taught in the school for their own wellness. This makes our job very important. That is why the teacher can not just assume that lessons are supposed to be given passively and that there is nothing else to be done in the school. As mentioned throughout this text, teachers need to take into account a variety of roles in order to prepare their students not only in the subject but in all areas that students need to develop.
Additionally, to finish my teaching metaphor I would like to share this quote with you who are reading this:
"If a lawyer, doctor or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble and the doctor, lawyer or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job"
-Donald D. Quinn
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