MICROTEACHING’S REACTION PAPER ABOUT THE CONSTRUVIST LESSON PLANS OF DIDACTICS ENGLISH I.

TOPIC:

MICROTEACHING’S REACTION PAPER ABOUT THE  CONSTRUVIST LESSON PLANS OF DIDACTICS ENGLISH I. 

GROUP 1 

 What were your reactions to receiving and giving feedback?

I felt comfortable receiving feedback because I realized about the things that I did good even thought they were just a few good things. However, I felt disappointed when I received the areas to improve because I committed a lot of mistakes. For example, my classmates told me that I need to smile more because I looked like really serious, and the Ss may feel afraid of me. I needed to make my Ss feel comfortable in the class. 

 What themes emerged in the feedback about your teaching? Anything surprising?

I felt surprised when the teacher asked me if I really wanted to be a teacher because I enjoy teaching. But it seemed like if I did not like it. 

  What were your strengths? How can you build upon them?

Some of my strengths were that I walked around the classroom to manage so well my class. The Ss participated in my class; they shared their ideas with the whole class. The areas that I will improve are to smile more, to feel more confident, and to be more enthusiastic.

   What are some specific areas for improvement? Take the time to identify 4 specific action steps for addressing these areas.

 What I will do to improve these areas is to observe how other teachers teach and to get more familiar with the techniques for teaching.

By: Oscar Alfredo Caballero Trujillo

TASK 3

UNIVERSITY OF EL SALVADOR

WESTERN MULTIDISCIPLINARY CAMPUS

ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT

DIDACTICS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE III-2014

CHAPTER III THE HIDDEN WHOLENESS: PARADOX IN TEACHING AND LEARNING

(BLOG ENTRY # 3 DUE ON 10/03/2014  AT 11:59 PM)

Palmer writes that we are trained to “think the world apart,” dissecting it into either-ors, but we need to learn to “think the world together,” embracing opposites and appreciating paradoxes. The principle of paradox can guide us in thinking about classroom dynamics—and in designing a teaching and learning space that can hold the community of truth.

1.  In what ways have you experienced “suffering” as a student teacher? Has your suffering had any redemptive quality to it; that is, has it made you heart larger? What would help you deepen the redemptive quality of the suffering your experience in your work?

I suffered last class because I told the students if they had any questions. One student asked me about the topic. I told him to write his questions or sentences on the board. He did it, but both sentences were wrong. I did not know what happen with me, so my mind was in blank. At the end, I told him that both sentences were ok. I felt frustrated because of that thing. My tutor told me that I have given them a wrong answer.

I think that when that situation happened to me, I felt frustrated. But next class I tried to do a better job. I taught another class, and everything was good. I learnt that I have to learn from the bad or good experiences. It is like when we say what does not kill you only make you stronger.

As I said before, it would help me the experiences that I face in every single class because I learn from the bad and good situations.

2.  Name some of your key gifts or strengths as a teacher. Now name a struggle or difficulty you commonly have in teaching.  How do you understand the relation between your profile of giftedness and the kind of trouble you typically get into in the classroom?

If I hope to open my students’ minds, I must open their emotions as well. (Page 63)

I think that I try every single class to do the best so that my students can learn new things from me. I try to get them to keep in track for acquiring knowledge.

The struggle or difficult thing that I have while teaching is that it is sometimes difficult for me to have the students’ attention all the time because I have dealt with big groups and it is difficult to manage all of them at the same time. I have to remain them every 5 minutes to pay attention

Sometimes we have to improvise while teaching because every single class is a different case scenario for us. I mean that we have to use our own skill for dealing with the troubles that we have.

3.  Describe a moment in teaching when things went so well you knew you were “born to teach” and compare it to a moment in which things went so poorly you wished you had never been born! Name the gifts that made this good moment possible—not the techniques you used or the moves you made, but your qualities.

A good moment was when I taught the class and all my students understood the topic, and all of them felt happy because of the class. The moment that I will always remember is when I was teaching kinder garden students. I made them color a picture, so they had to finish it. When they finished coloring the draw, I was going to give them a sponge bob sticker but when the class was about to finish, they made a big mess because all of them wanted to have more than one sponge bob sticker.

4.  Palmer discusses six paradoxes of pedagogical design (pp.73-83). Choose one to focus on.  Share examples of teaching environments you have experienced where this paradox is honored.  Have you ever been in a classroom where only half of the paradox was honored while the other half was ignored? Describe what that classroom was like.

The space should welcome silence and speech. Words are not the sole medium of exchange in teaching and learning. We educate with silence as well. (Page 77)

It means that silence give the students time to think about what the teacher has explained before. Another example could be when we give practices to the students they focus on the task.

5.  What questions are you living at this stage of your life—from “How can I get up in the morning? To “How can I become a good teacher? Are the questions you are now living the ones you want to live? If not, what questions would you like to be living? How might you hold these questions at the center of your attention?

Sometimes I ask myself these kinds of questions because I have been questioning about the things that I have to improve for the next class. I know that at this stage of my life, it is ok to ask myself this question. But I know that through the experience that I am acquiring, I will improve this questions step by step because practice is what I have to put in practice every time.

**SHOW EVIDENCE OF CHAPTER THREE AND CITE PAGES, PLEASE…REASON YOUR ANSWERS AS WELL!!

                                  TASK 2

UNIVERSITY OF EL SALVADOR

WESTERN MULTIDISCIPLINARY CAMPUS

ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT

DEI III-2014

Blog entry # 2 due on 09/12/2014  at 11:59 pm:    A CULTURE OF FEAR: EDUCATION AND THE DISCONNECTED LIFE

FEAR IS A POWERFUL FEATURE OF BOTH ACADEMIC CULTURE AND OUR INNER LANSCAPE—THE FEAR OF HAVING A LIVE ENCOUNTER WITH “OTHERNESS” IN A STUDENT, A COLLEAGUE, A SUBJECT, OR THE VOICE OF THE INNER TEACHER.

FEAR IS FUNDAMENTAL TO THE HUMAN CONDITION AND TO THE ACADEMIC CULTURE.  WE WILL ALWAYS HAVE OUR FEARS—BUT WE NEED NOT BE OUR FEARS.

I.       What are some of your fears in the classroom? How have you dealt with them? What have you learned about yourself and about fear as a result?

II.     Palmer writes, “Good teaching is an act of hospitality toward the young, and hospitality is always an act that benefits the host even more than the guest” (p. 50). In what specific ways do you think a teacher has to be hospitable to students? In what ways do they treat them as unwelcome guests? How do teachers benefit from practicing hospitality toward students?

III.    Write about a fear, not necessarily related to teaching that once controlled you, but no longer does.  What caused you to confront that fear? What helped you get loose from it? What were the results? What did you learn?

IV.     Evelyn Fox Keller says of Nobel Prize—winner Barbara McClintock that her knowing came from “the highest form of love, love that allows for intimacy without the annihilation of difference” (pp. 55).  Does this kind of love have a place in education? If not, why not? If so, how might it be taught? How might it make a difference if we could teach students to love the world in this way?

What are some of your fears in the classroom? How have you dealt with them? What have you learned about yourself and about fear as a result?

One fear that I have is that one student could have knowledge that I. I would deal with this fear by trying to get knowledge every day and trying to keep in track with the technology because it is an important tool that we must have. I have learnt that I must always keep in track in all the things as I said before and I have never to give about my fears; I always have to face them.

V.        Palmer writes, “Good teaching is an act of hospitality toward the young, and hospitality is always an act that benefits the host even more than the guest” (p. 50). In what specific ways do you think a teacher has to be hospitable to students? In what ways do they treat them as unwelcome guests? How do teachers benefit from practicing hospitality toward students?

In what specific ways do you think a teacher has to be hospitable to students?

In what specific ways do you think a teacher has to be hospitable to students?

The teacher must be hospitable to the Ss when they need help. One example could be when the semester is about to finish, and they need some points for passing the subject. We can help them if they have made a big effort.

Teachers feel so good because when teachers begin to teach. They feel so good to have helped someone. To help someone is like a motivation for teachers.

In what ways do they treat them as unwelcome guests?

We have to treat Ss in a good way because when we are teaching they are our responsibilities. We have to pay special attention to the Ss that are in the back because sometimes they are not concentrated in the topics that we are developing. They get distracted easily that’s why we have to look for many different ways in which we can treat them.

How do teachers benefit from practicing hospitality toward students?

Teachers transmit everyday knowledge to the Ss. Transmitting knowledge is an act of hospitable because we teach them new things everyday. So when we teach we tend to feel happy. I mean that when we give something to someone, it is supposed that we are going to receive the same favor from any person. It as the book example that says the food and the shelter we give to a stranger yesterday is the hope and shelter that we are going to receive from a stranger tomorrow.

VI.      Write about a fear, not necessarily related to teaching that once controlled you, but no longer does.  What caused you to confront that fear? What helped you get loose from it? What were the results? What did you learn?

A fear that I had was that I was afraid of being alone all the time. I mean to be without friends or any people that I could talk to.

What caused you to confront that fear?

I think that that happened because almost all the people that I talked used my ignore me.

What helped you get loose from it?

I try to talk with every single person. It did not matter if he or she ignored me. I faced that problem by never giving up.

What were the results? What did you learn?

Now, I am a different person because I am not afraid of taking to any person. I learnt that not all the people are the same.

Evelyn Fox Keller says of Nobel Prize—winner Barbara McClintock that her knowing came from “the highest form of love, love that allows for intimacy without the annihilation of difference” (pp. 55).  Does this kind of love have a place in education? If not, why not? If so, how might it be taught? How might it make a difference if we could teach students to love the world in this way?

We can apply this kind of love in the classroom by allowing Ss to connect to the art of teaching. I mean that they have to be motivated all the time for learning new things every day because the book says that we have to be connected to to the world not disconnected.

                                    TASK 1

READ CHAPTERS 4, 12, AND 13 OF THE BOOK “LEARNING TEACHING  BY JIM SCRIVENER” AND ANSWER THE FOLLOWING PROMPTS ON BLOGGER:
How can we raise student awareness about how students can best learn and help them find more ways of learning English more effectively and productively? Exemplify this through the lens of a student and a prospective ELT practitioner.
Reflections about THE COURAGE TO TEACH BY PALMER /7 ENTRIES ALONG THE SEMESTER
How would you deal with error correction in your classroom (s)? Watch the DVD and see how to work with Errors Teaching Technique. What’s your take on testing?
What seems to be more difficult: Teaching teens or teaching large classes? Reason your answer and think outside the box, please. Create a Venn Diagram as well. 08/29/2014 … (15%)

How can we raise student awareness about how students can best learn and help them find more ways of learning English more effectively and productively?

Well, we have to know our students’ needs because they are our responsibilities when we are teaching them any specific topic. I remember that the first day of class, we discussed about a rock man. The question was about how to deal with him in the classroom. We said that we have to make him feel important, but not every class because we would not focus in the other Ss.

Another important this is that we have to know what our student’s level are. We have to be at the same level that they have because we are not going to teach advanced classes to basic Ss. For knowing their level we have to make them like a diagnostic test.

We can ask them why they want to learn English because if they are in an English class, it’s because they have a purpose. We can assign them a writing activities; for example, to fill the blanks, to answer a questionnaire, to make a written test, or to make a letter. That’s what we can do for helping Ss in their writings. We can also diagnostic what their speaking abilities are. We can do this by interviewing them. It could be alone or in pairs.

One of the important things that we can do is to provide feedback to each student so that they can realize the things that they are doing well and not so good. Providing feedback helps them a lot for improving their different skill that every single student has. So, in this ways we can help them in order to learn English more effectively and productively.

How would you deal with error correction in your classroom (s)? Watch the DVD and see how to work with Errors Teaching Technique. What’s your take on testing?

I have not watched the DVD because I do not have it, but I will try to answer this question in a good way. Well, I think that we as teachers have to correct our students when they are committing errors, but we do not have to give them the right answer to their mistake instead of doing that, we can give them like clues for knowing the right answer. We do not have to intimidate them when we are correcting their mistakes; therefore, we have to do the correction in a good way so that they can feel themselves comfortable. I’m saying this because I had a bad experience with a teacher. The thing is that she used to ask me all the time, and when I answered her in an incorrect way, she always got angry that’s why I could not concentrate in her class. However, I had another teacher, and he always asked me in class. He did it in a good way; he did not intimidate. He helped for getting the right answer.

What seems to be more difficult: Teaching teens or teaching large classes? Reason your answer and think outside the box, please. Create a Venn diagram as well.

I have learnt that it depends on the kind of Ss that we have in the classroom, but also there are different kinds of Ss. Not all of them are the same Ss. Let’s say that we have a class where there are around 10 teenagers. So, the teenagers’ group seems small, but teenagers are often rebel. Some of them will always be in disagreement with the teacher because they see him or her like if he or she was one more of them. That’s what I think about dealing with teenagers.

Therefore, if we have larger classes, we can give the class in the better way that we can, but we do not know if all of them have acquired the knowledge because some Ss could be talking at the end of the classroom and we cannot be paying attention all the time to this Ss. It is true that they are our responsibilities when we are their teachers, but they must know that not only is it our responsibilities but also have they to make their best effort because only with hard work, human beings can succeed in life.

UNIVERSITY OF EL SALVADOR

WESTERN MULTIDISCIPLINARY CAMPUS

ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT

DEL3-G1-2014

BLOG ENTRY # 1

I.       Write a personal statement trying to express what is at the heart of your life as a future teacher.  Consider the following questions: Why do I want to become a teacher? What do I stand for as a student teacher?  What do I want my legacy as a teacher to be? What can I do to keep track of myself, to “remember” my own heart? When did you first realize that you wanted to be a teacher? What were the circumstances of this realization? How close are you to those feelings today?

II.      Palmer writes: “ My ability to connect with my students and to connect them with the subject, depends less on the methods I use than on the degree to which I know and trust my selfhood—and I am willing to make it available and vulnerable in the service of learning” (p.10). What does it mean to rely on your selfhood rather than methods?

III.    Reflect on your earliest encounters with teaching.  If you are drawn to teaching, when did you first feel drawn to it? What was it that drew you? What within you was evoked by teaching—its values, its methods, the way it names and frames reality? What does the nature of teaching reveal about who you are? If you aren’t, share a story about one of your favorite teachers.  What do you recall most vividly about that teacher? What was his / her relation to the subject taught? What was the ethos of his/ her classroom?

Jane Tompkins discovered that her goal as a teacher had been to put on “performance,” thus distancing herself from students and subject (pp.28-29).  Do you identify with her self-criticism? If so, do you share Tompkins’s diagnosis of fear as the driving force behind this distancing? In what ways other than “performance” do teachers set themselves apart?

Why do I want to become a teacher?

I want to become a teacher because I like to transmit the knowledge that I have to other people. It is not only to transmit knowledge; it’s to enjoy what I do at school. I like what I do while I’m teaching; therefore, I think that the most important thing is that I teach from my heart because I enjoy teaching. I feel motivated for teaching not because of the money. If the money were my motivation, I would be only one more teacher. I want that the students remember me when some years have gone, and they can say that they learnt something from me even though if it were just a little bit. But I feel good when students learnt new things and I could contribute to those things that they learn.

What do I stand for as a student teacher?

As I said, I want that the students learn new things from me. I want that Ss can go in the right way of their lives; furthermore, I want to be the one that guides to the Ss in the right way. I mean that they can succeed in their lives. I said that because when we are teaching the Ss are our responsibilities, and we have to know what their needs are.  For giving them a good education, I think that when we are teaching them; we become their second parents.

What do I want my legacy as a teacher to be? 

I want that Ss remember me as a good teacher, and that I could contribute to the knowledge that they acquired when I taught them. I feel happy if Ss learnt one new word every day because that’s what a good teacher has to do all the time. Teaching is our philosophy, and also we as teachers learnt every time from the Ss too. The human beings never stop learning new things every day.

What can I do to keep track of myself, to “remember” my own heart?

I have to work hard every time when I am teaching. I mean that I have to pay special attention to the identity and integrity that I have with the Ss because identity and integrity are the main parts of being a good teacher.

When did you first realize that you wanted to be a teacher?

Being honest, I did not like the idea of being a teacher. I decided to study this major because I wanted to learn more English and speak as a native person does (thing that I haven’t improve yet), but when I took the English Didactics 1 everything changed because I really enjoyed giving the first class. It was a wonderful experience for me because all the children were paying special attention to me in the class. So, I realized that I wanted to be a teacher when I started the second year of my major.

What were the circumstances of this realization?

The circumstances were that I did not want to become a teacher, but when I put in practice what a teacher does I realized that it was not very bad as I thought before. It was a good experience because I learnt that I have not to judge things if I haven’t put into practice yet.

How close are you to those feelings today?

Now, I think differently because 3 years ago I said that I did not want to be a teacher. As I said before, that feeling has changed a lot. Now, that feeling is stronger because I teach from my heart. I mean that is a good experience that other people learn new things from me. That’s what motivates me for becoming a teacher.

II.      Palmer writes: “ My ability to connect with my students and to connect them with the subject, depends less on the methods I use than on the degree to which I know and trust my selfhood—and I am willing to make it available and vulnerable in the service of learning” (p.10). What does it mean to rely on your selfhood rather than methods?

I understand this question that we have to trust in ourselves for giving the class than the methods. It is true that the techniques help us a lot every day in class, but first we have to know who we are. I mean that we know our identity, and we have to have such as a connection between the Ss and the subject for giving excellent classes. Another important thing is that we have to create our environment in the classroom so that the Ss can feel comfortable. Creating a good environment depends a lot from the teacher. I know that we can have the best techniques for applying every class our class could be good; however, if we have a good personality our class could be wonderful. All the different kinds of methods are pretty useful for us, for we have to be aware that not all the methods will work with all the Ss.

III Reflect on your earliest encounters with teaching.  If you are drawn to teaching, when did you first feel drawn to it? What was it that drew you? What within you was evoked by teaching—its values, its methods, the way it names and frames reality? What does the nature of teaching reveal about who you are? If you aren’t, share a story about one of your favorite teachers.  What do you recall most vividly about that teacher? What was his / her relation to the subject taught? What was the ethos of his/ her classroom?

When did you first feel drawn to it?

I felt drawn to teaching 2 years ago when I took English Didactics I. I had to deal with children. It was a good experience because I could teach them different kinds of topics. I remember that I was nervous the first class, but when I started the class, I got in the mood.

What was it that drew you?

It drew me the Ss because they put me attention all the time and we could have a ball in the classroom, and also I liked the idea that they learnt different kinds of topics.

What within you was evoked by teaching—its values, its methods, the way it names and frames reality?

I did not feel evoke by teaching because I thought that the role of a teacher was not interesting. But now I think differently because I have developed the role that a teacher does. Actually, I feel drawn for a style of teaching that a teacher has in the university. I would like to have that style because he is not only wise but also humble.

What does the nature of teaching reveal about who you are?

The nature of teaching revels who am I because when I am teaching, I do not only do put in practice my skills for teaching but also my personality. 

Jane Tompkins discovered that her goal as a teacher had been to put on “performance,” thus distancing herself from students and subject (pp.28-29).  Do you identify with her self-criticism? If so, do you share Tompkins’s diagnosis of fear as the driving force behind this distancing? In what ways other than “performance” do teachers set themselves apart?

Do you identify with her self-criticism?

I do not identify with her because she thinks only in herself. She concentrates on showing how smart she is, knowledgeable she is, and how well she is prepared for the class. She worries about what her Ss would think about herself. That’s why I do not identify with her.

Do you share Tompkins’s diagnosis of fear as the driving force behind this distancing?

I do not share Tompkins’s diagnosis of fear because I do not have the same ideal that she has by teaching.  It is true that a teacher must be prepared for every class, and has so much knowledge about what she is teaching. But first, she has to be aware that she has to share the things that she knows with their Ss.

In what ways other than “performance” do teachers set themselves apart?

It could be when they don’t have a good relationship with their partners because they think that they have more knowledge. For example, a teacher told us in class that he had five mates at work, but one of them told him that she did not want to work with the other 3 anymore because they had graduated from profesorado in English and they 2 know more than them because they are licenciados in English already. So the teacher told him that he was not in agreement with him because they could be profesores, but they have different skills. The teacher told us that actually that man is not his friend anymore because of that comment.