Autobiography

The Experience of Learning

It is all about uncovering facts, looking for clues, and asking the right questions until the whole mystery makes sense. That is how the learning process can be seen. Learning is a process that involves our whole life, since the moment we were born. We learn to walk, talk, ride a bicycle, read, write, and many more things. Our first teachers then are our parents and family; from them, we learn the essentials of life and then, there are the multiple experiences that we have in an educational institution. I spent my primary and part of my secondary education in Garzon. A very small town in Huila department. People from this town are not from a very upper class. Although a small town, Garzon has different public school buildings the residents can attend. The most popular are Bolivar School, Luis Calixto Leiva School, and Jenaro Diaz Jordan School.

During my primary education, I attended two different schools, Luis Calixto Leiva School and La Gaitana School. The first one of these tends to be a school where children were good at academics, or at least, that was the impression I had at that time. On the other hand, my perception of the second school mentioned was not as good as the one for the other school. However, as time went by, my opinion changed. I consider I did well at my primary education process and I learned a lot from my teachers at both schools. In terms of my classmates, I preferred the ones from La Gaitana School; they seemed to be less cocky than my peers from the other school and somehow, I can say I could learn from them as well. Something I remember from my time in one of those schools is that in first grade, the teacher would organize students in lines according to their performance in school. Therefore, if you were one of “the excellent students”, you would be placed at a line denominated “line number one”; but if your performance was not so good, you would be in “line number two”; and if you were doing really bad at school, you would belong to “line number three”. At that time, I was happy to belong to line number one and I was afraid of having to move to line number two or even number three. Now that I think about it, I consider that was not the right way to organize students since I think that is giving students a label. Labeling students from a very young age just will make students believe they cannot go beyond their limits.

On the other hand, I spent my secondary education in two different schools as well, but this time in two different cities. I carried out the first four years of high school in the Jenaro Diaz Jordan school in Garzon. Different from what my experience in elementary school, here I was one of the regular students with not very high grades. However, when there were only two years left to finish my secondary education, I decided to move to Bogota. My expectations about attending a school in a capital city were high; nevertheless, when I got there, I discovered that things were not so different from the ones at Garzon. Well, something that was completely new for me at that time was the system carried out by the school since they follow a system quite similar to the ones universities follow: semester system. I consider this change of school brought me many benefits. It was a new school in a new city with no friends; therefore, I had to make my place and I consider I did it well since my grades improved a lot and I became one of the top students of my class. Something remarkable of this new school was how teachers carried out their classes. Their teaching methodologies were all different from one another. The school also managed a type of rewarding for good students, which consisted in that these students will not have to present the final test of the courses at the end of the semester.

Over the four years of learning in higher education, I have realized some important aspects of my learning. I learn best when I have the flexibility to take the learning in the direction that I feel is important but that flexibility is tempered by guidance and high expectations. Besides, I have reaffirmed that teaching is not my way to go; however, in the meanwhile, I am trying to learn from the experience because I think there is no worthless knowledge.

Metaphor

Teaching, a concept that can be defined differently depending on who is defining this word. The thing is that we can agree on something: it involves a process. Taking this concept to one more ordinary, we can say it is like a bicycle. How so? Well, just as a bicycle allows us to travel distances and arrive at our destination, teaching is that conveyance that takes us from the darkness of the ignorance to the end of the road: understanding and knowledge. Although contradictory, in this journey, there is no end, but it is a path worth taking. In this sense, the bicycle travels through the road, which is the learning process.

Journal IX

APPENDIX 3: POST OBSERVATION STUDENT

TEACHER’S SELF-EVALUATION FORM (Journal)

Name: _Astrid Yarleth Trujillo Urriago_ Date: _Monday, June 3, 2019 to Friday, June 7, 2019_

Write a reflection about the classes you oriented this week (bear in mind the following aspects: what you planned, what you did, and what you would do differently if you were to teach your lessons again). Give examples and descriptions of those situations that, in your view, are relevant to your learning experience.

Ninth Week: Teaching and Testing

During the ninth week of my pedagogical practicum, I implemented two lessons since with the third group a test about the learned topics was carried out. In this sense, for Wednesday’s session, I prepared the questions for the test, which were about comparative and superlative adjectives and modal verbs when being used for making requests. The test was developed during the first moments of the class and after all the students had finished, I was in charge of checking the answers along with the students. I asked different students to read the questions and the corresponding answer for each. Therefore, students know how well they did in this test immediately. I realized that students do not have any problem regarding comparative and superlative adjectives. However, in terms of modal verbs, they got confused about the degree of formality of these. Consequently, I think something I should do differently about this is giving students only two options instead of three so that they can see the difference between these easily and do not get confused.

On Thursday, I had a class with students from the first level. The topic to be taught was “some and any with countable and uncountable nouns”. At the beginning of the class, students worked on the vocabulary of the book by categorizing groups of food according to the group they belong to, for example, dairy products, drinks, and protein. In terms of vocabulary, there were no major problems. Subsequently, I proceeded to explain the countable and uncountable nouns. Even though I provided examples and explained the reasons why some nouns are uncountable, they kept on making sense of the Spanish situation for telling that they can count those nouns. In the end, they understood a little more about the topic and worked on the activities. I explained to them how to make questions and express sentences with both positive and negative meaning. When I asked them to classify the nouns from the first exercise, they could do it without any inconvenience. The listening exercise I planned to do, was successful, students understood the audio track and could answer the questions about it. However, the time passed so fast that it was impossible to carry out the last activity. Then, I thought it was better that students had the topic clear instead of jumping to the other activity. I have to consider the time management and how I address my explanations for me not to take more time than the estimated.

Finally, on Friday, I introduced the modal verbs when used for giving advice. The verbs to be worked for this lesson were “could, should, ought to, must, and have to”. I prepared a reading exercise for introducing the topic and asked students to try to tell me what the letter was about. Students managed to do so. In the beginning, they tried to participate but at the end of the reading exercise, they just stopped doing so. However, I tried to give them the first idea for them to complete it. After that, I told students that in the text there were some specific words that we used when giving advice. I wrote an example of a piece of advice on the board using all the modal verbs and explained to students when we use each one of them. The topic was addressed successfully since students understood right away how and when to use these modal verbs. I also asked them to tell me how they would advise their parents and their little siblings. Afterward, they played a game in which there were some problems or situations to which they had to provide a piece of advice. They played in small groups and at the end; I asked them to read the last situation they advised to and the corresponding piece of advice. At the end of the class, students were given a situation to which they had to provide as many pieces of advice as possible and then, we reviewed all the situations and advice given.

Journal VIII

 APPENDIX 3: POST OBSERVATION STUDENT

TEACHER’S SELF-EVALUATION FORM (Journal)

Name: _Astrid Yarleth Trujillo Urriago_ Date: _Monday, May 27, 2019 to Friday, May 31, 2019_

Write a reflection about the classes you oriented this week (bear in mind the following aspects: what you planned, what you did, and what you would do differently if you were to teach your lessons again). Give examples and descriptions of those situations that, in your view, are relevant to your learning experience.

Eighth Week: Explanations and Clarifications

During this week, I taught superlatives to students from the second level. At the beginning of the class, I showed them some pictures in which there was an obvious difference between the three objects in each picture. For example, I showed them a picture with three buildings and I told them one of them was the highest and another was the shortest pointing to the corresponding building. After I did that, I show them another image and they made sentences in Spanish. Afterward, I explained the grammar. Students got a little confused since the previous topic was comparatives and the rules are almost the same. Then, I had to clarify the difference between these two grammar topics. Later on, students worked on some exercises from the book in which they had to write the corresponding superlative for some nouns and other in which they had to write superlative sentences according to some information provided in a chart. Finally, I prepared a kind of a general knowledge contest for them to play and practice the superlative structure. From this lesson, I think I what would change is the amount of practice I allowed students to do since they are not used to English I had to explain more than once the grammar so they had little practice before making the contest.

Then, I worked with students from the other level II. There was no topic to be taught to them since what my class was based on is in practicing both comparatives and superlatives. At the beginning of the class, I asked students some questions using both of the structures. Some of the students participated but most of the students do not like participating when doing it in this way. As I noticed there were still some problems when expressing a correct sentence, I decided to make a quick review of the topics. However, I did not implement some examples to contextualize students. In spite of that, students remembered the correct use of the structures. After that, I gave a handout in which students had to complete the sentences writing a comparative adjective or a superlative adjective. Most of the students worked on the exercise but some others were just waiting for the activity to finish. I think I have to work more on making these students participate in every activity. Finally, students were divided into two groups and each group will make some questions to the other. The other team had to answer the questions providing the right answer and using the structure correctly. I tried that the students participating were different students from the ones that always participate.

Finally, on Thursday, I taught “should and should not for advice” to students from the first level. I brought a comic to the class and handed it out to students so that everyone had the comic and could read it. I asked them some questions such as “what was happening in the comic” and then we focused on the part in which one of the characters provides a piece of advice. Then, I explained the situation and proceeded to explain the grammar topic. I provided some examples. Students were a little confused about the use of the main verb in the sentences because it is always used in its base form and does not change when referring to the third person. When the grammar was explained, they worked on some exercises in their books for making some practice and then we checked them. Finally, I gave each student a piece of paper with a problem and a chart for writing some advice. They had to ask for advice to solve their problem and then select the best one. Before doing so, I made an example with the whole class so that they did not get confused with the instructions. This time, students were more focused on the class. Regarding something I would change, I think I would slow a little more when explaining because there were some doubts when doing the last exercise more than anything because of the use of the auxiliary verb should and the main verb.

Journal VII

APPENDIX 3: POST OBSERVATION STUDENT

TEACHER’S SELF-EVALUATION FORM (Journal)

Name: _Astrid Yarleth Trujillo Urriago_ Date: _Monday, May 27, 2019 to Friday, May 31, 2019_

Write a reflection about the classes you oriented this week (bear in mind the following aspects: what you planned, what you did, and what you would do differently if you were to teach your lessons again). Give examples and descriptions of those situations that, in your view, are relevant to your learning experience.

Seventh Week: Slowing down

            This week of my pedagogical practicum started by teaching to the students from the second level. The topic assigned for this lesson was comparative adjectives and the vocabulary was related to clothes. For teaching the vocabulary, I prepared a crossword in which I gave them the descriptions of the different pieces of clothes. I helped students to develop this activity by reading the descriptions and reinforcing some words with body language so that they were able to know what the descriptions were referring to and all the answers were written on the board. Students seemed to like this activity since they claimed that this is a practical and entertaining way to learn vocabulary. When I started explaining the grammar topic, students were confused even though I provided them with a small chart with the rules and some examples different from the ones on the book and on the chart. I think that something I have to change regarding this group is the amount of English and Spanish I use in my lessons and probably the speed of my explanations because students do not fully understand them. However, after I explain the rules I always ask them if they have understood but nobody says anything then I do not know if I should move on or explain again, which I sometimes do by providing more examples. After that, I showed some images of clothes and asked students to create comparative sentences for which I started with the first one making an example and I guided them with the other ones. Some students tried to do the exercise and some others were just listening to all the time. Finally, when the topic was a little clearer for students, they organized themselves in groups and we made a kind of contest. For the contest, I allowed them to use the chart I had given them and the book. The participation for this activity was not a problem, but as I had to take more time in the explanation part, we had time just for one round.

            The class with the other second level was quite similar to the first group since the topic was the same and so was the main activity. The major difference between the two groups was that with this one, I did not have to explain the grammar rules since the teacher in charge of the course provided the explanation. Compared to the previous class I had with this group the week before, they participated more and were more focused on the activity since the winning team would get some extra points for the exam. The major problem I have with this group was in terms of discipline since they got very excited about the activity because they wanted to win. Then, they were really noisy and disorganized. One aspect that I noticed is that they tended to use always the same comparative adjectives so the main idea of practicing these was hindered. With this group, I have to look for strategies to control the discipline when making this kind of activities.

            Finally, I taught possessives to the students from the first level. This topic was a little difficult for students to understand so after I made the whole explanation in English and realized they have understood nothing at all; I had to make the whole explanation again using Spanish most of the time and giving some examples in English. When I thought the topic had been understood, I asked students to develop the exercises in their book in order for them to practice, but then again I noticed they still were a little confused, not as much as at the beginning but there were still something to be clarified. Then, I went back and return to my first example, I worked with it all the time in order for students to notice the difference between the possessive adjectives and pronouns. Then, the topic had finally been understood and students could complete the exercises. When the exercises were checked, we still had fifteen minutes, which I used for making a communicative and funny activity. I gave them some cards for them to play in small groups by completing the sentences with the correct possessive form. In the end, I gave some points to the winner of each group.  

Journal VI

APPENDIX 3: POST OBSERVATION STUDENT

TEACHER’S SELF-EVALUATION FORM (Journal)

Name: _Astrid Yarleth Trujillo Urriago_ Date: _Monday, May 13, 2019 to Friday, May 17, 2019_

Write a reflection about the classes you oriented this week (bear in mind the following aspects: what you planned, what you did, and what you would do differently if you were to teach your lessons again). Give examples and descriptions of those situations that, in your view, are relevant to your learning experience.

Sixth Week: Taking Some Advice

            During this week, I had the opportunity to teach one lesson since the other two groups I am working with had this week for carrying out the exam. The topic to be taught to these students was modal verbs functioning for making requests. Then, I prepared a PowerPoint presentation with short conversations in which the use of these modal verbs was highlighted in order to lead students into the topic. Talking to my advisor, she told me that something good I could have done in order for me to take advantage of this material was to work more with it, trying to explain each type of conversation so that the differences among the modal verbs were underlined and it was clearer for students. After I introduced the main topic for the lesson, I made an explanation of these modal verbs, telling students the main difference. Regarding this, something my advisor told me was that I could have used some Spanish because some students did not understand the explanation. For the last activity, I prepared a game in which students had to act out or draw in order for their team to guess what the request was. This activity was a little difficult to carry out since some students were not willing to participate. In order for me to not have this kind of problems, my advisor told me to think of some strategies that could make students be more active in terms of participation. In addition, she also told me about some strategies that could work. Additionally, she remarked the importance of catching all the students’ attention by asking them to repeat the answers from the other groups. Summing up, I would change a little the way in which I taught this lesson in terms of being more focused on what all the students were doing and try to catch their attention by trying that everyone participates in the activities being carried out.  

Journal V

APPENDIX 3: POST OBSERVATION STUDENT

TEACHER’S SELF-EVALUATION FORM (Journal)

Name: _Astrid Yarleth Trujillo Urriago_ Date: _Monday, May 6, 2019 to Friday, May 10, 2019_

Write a reflection about the classes you oriented this week (bear in mind the following aspects: what you planned, what you did, and what you would do differently if you were to teach your lessons again). Give examples and descriptions of those situations that, in your view, are relevant to your learning experience.

Fifth Week: Adapting my Lesson Plans

            During this week, which was supposed to be the exam week, I had the opportunity to teach two of the three groups I am working with. For the students from the English I course, the topic to be taught was adverbs of frequency along with some celebrations and festivals. I started the class by asking students some questions that made them think of the grammar topic we were going to use, for example, I asked them “how often do you watch TV?” When I made this question they did not understand what I was asking them, then, I provided students with an example in which I highlighted the adverb of frequency I used for answering. After I did that, students knew and understood what my intention was. Hence, they answered the questions using the most common adverbs of frequency they knew. One of the activities that I carried out with these students was about giving students a set of cards for them to play asking and answering questions within small groups. For this activity, I tried that the verbs and vocabulary being used was familiar for students so that they would not have comprehension problems. In spite of the fact that I explained students the structure for making and answering questions, some of them were still confused about it so I had to approach them and explain again while the others that had understood were working on the activity. This makes me think that something I would change about this lesson is the amount of practice I ask students to do before introducing a communicative activity. I need to make sure they fully understood the topic before moving into the next stage and for doing so; I have to look for interesting activities because they tend to be very restless. Finally, I finished the class with a listening exercise in which students had to check if the statements were true or false. I had to play the audio track three times since the first time was almost impossible to comprehend due to the noise from the air conditioner. In the end, I checked the answers with the students and they did well.

On the other hand, the lesson for students from the English II course was about the difference between the uses of “be going to” and “will”. As students have been studying these structures in previous classes, I did not have to worry about explaining grammar structures. For starting the class, I gave students a piece of paper in which there were three different conversations; the first one was about a conversation using the “be going to” structure, the second one used the “will” structure, and the last one was a combination of both of them. What I intended to do was that students try to explain what the differences among these were; however, they were unable to so. Therefore, I had to read the conversations with them and analyze each situation. Fortunately, they did remember the uses for both structures so when I asked them “what do we use each structure for?” they answered correctly. The main activity I planned for this lesson was about providing students with a set of fortune telling runes for them to work in pairs and construct a dialogue by using the two future forms. In addition, I gave them an example of a conversation between a fortuneteller and a customer for them to be guided. Throughout the activity, some students asked me some vocabulary questions. What I had planned for the last stage of the class was that students perform what they have constructed, but as the time was short, I made the decision that they only deliver the written dialogue instead.

Journal IV

APPENDIX 3: POST OBSERVATION STUDENT

TEACHER’S SELF-EVALUATION FORM (Journal)

Name: _Astrid Yarleth Trujillo Urriago_ Date: _Monday, April 29, 2019 to Friday, May 3, 2019_

Write a reflection about the classes you oriented this week (bear in mind the following aspects: what you planned, what you did, and what you would do differently if you were to teach your lessons again). Give examples and descriptions of those situations that, in your view, are relevant to your learning experience.

Fourth Week: Motivating my students

            The fourth week of my teaching practicum started on Monday with the students from English II. For this class, the topic to be taught was future “going to”. I prepared the class including some exercises from the book “World English”, which is the one students from this course are working with. In addition, I thought it was a good opportunity for me to carry out the first intervention of my innovation plan, so I prepared an activity in which I would provide students with some materials based on the real world. Then, I arranged to develop a travel brochure with different cities around the world for students to plan their next vacation. It seemed that students enjoyed the activity and the material since they were focused on working on the task. For developing this task, I gave them some questions for them to follow and make the activity easier. The time invested in the class was good. Students studied the topic in the previous class and although I had to explain the grammar structure again, I managed to carry out all the activities in time. The students’ level of participation in the other activities was low.

The next class I had this week was on Thursday since on Wednesday there was no class owing to the fact that that day was a holiday. The topic for this class was “present simple”. Like the other group, these students had also studied the topic in the previous class. However, I had to remind them about the spelling rules of the third person singular with verbs in the present simple tense. Then, I wrote the rules on the board and provided some examples for students to be clear about the topic. I asked them to do the first activity and since they had the rules clear, they did the task quickly and after that, I checked the answers along with the students. Afterward, I gave students a handout in which they had to find someone who does certain activities. They had to ask questions using the present simple structure. Students got excited about the activity that they wanted to do the task using all the questions in the worksheet; therefore, they did not sit down until they were done with all the questions. As the class started more than ten minutes later, it was impossible for me to carry out the final activity, which consisted of students writing about their daily routine. Hence, I told them to do it as homework. The participation with these students has never been a problem considering that some students participate very actively.       

Journal III

APPENDIX 3: POST OBSERVATION STUDENT

TEACHER’S SELF-EVALUATION FORM (Journal)

Name: _Astrid Yarleth Trujillo Urriago_ Date: _Monday, April 22, 2019 to Friday, April 26, 2019_

Write a reflection about the classes you oriented this week (bear in mind the following aspects: what you planned, what you did, and what you would do differently if you were to teach your lessons again). Give examples and descriptions of those situations that, in your view, are relevant to your learning experience.

Third Week: Learning from the Experience

           

            During the third week of my pedagogical practicum, things worked a little better for me in terms of students’ attention and participation. Firstly, I had a class with the students from the faculty, level II. The topic I was to teach was “the different types of communication”. It was a topic, which students were introduced by learning about the verbs of the senses in previous classes. Therefore, when explaining the topic, students knew what I was talking about. Although the activities went right, students still did not understand some aspects. The students’ participation still is a difficulty I have to deal with. However, when I started using the list to ask students to participate, some of them were willing to do so. On the other hand, some others were still unwilling to participate. I had good time management this time. I carried out all the activities I had planned, explained the topic, and answered and clarified students’ questions and doubts. For the reading exercise, I asked some students to read aloud for everyone to follow the reading, after that, I gave them some reading comprehension questions for them to answer. Students then, read the text again in pairs and I gave some time for them to answer the questions. When the time was up, some students participated by reading the questions and providing the corresponding answer for each one.

Secondly, the next class I had this week was on Wednesday. It was a class with students from the second level as well. For the classes with this course, the time has always been a problem since my teaching practice goes from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., but students tend to leave the classroom early. This time, students were more focused on my explanations, they made more questions, and the participation was better than the one for the previous class. As I was explaining the topic “future tense”, I provided some examples for each form “will, going to, and present progressive” so that students were contextualized with each form. When they did not understand the explanation or the examples I gave them, I tried to give them some related directly to them using them in the sentences. When developing the while-activity, students were also asking questions and working with their friends. After some time, we made the review of the answers and most of the students had all the answers right. However, it was impossible for me to carry out the post-activity since students had to go at 3:50. Perhaps, something I would change about this is the time arrangements. I need to prepare activities that take a little less than the estimated time given for the class. Finally, my week finished with the news that there was a civil strike and therefore, my Thursday class was canceled.

Journal II

APPENDIX 3: POST OBSERVATION STUDENT

TEACHER’S SELF-EVALUATION FORM (Journal)

Name: _Astrid Yarleth Trujillo Urriago_ Date: _Monday, April 8, 2019, to Friday, April 12, 2019_

Write a reflection about the classes you oriented this week (bear in mind the following aspects: what you planned, what you did, and what you would do differently if you were to teach your lessons again). Give examples and descriptions of those situations that, in your view, are relevant to your learning experience.

Second Week: Getting into the Teaching Experience

            During this week, I had the opportunity to carry out the planning and lessons I designed for the three different English courses at Universidad Surcolombiana I am in charge of. Firstly, I implemented the lesson plan for the English II students, who are from the Education Faculty. For these students, the topic to be taught was “past simple”. I had prepared all the materials I was going to need: I booked the video beam, printed the worksheets, studied the topic, and prepared the short video for the class. However, when I got to the university that Monday morning, I had to wait for almost 15 minutes until the professor in charge of the library arrives because I needed the video beam from the program in order to carry out the first exercise of my class. Then, I had to start the class 15 minutes late. In spite of that problem, I was able to accomplish all the stages established on my lesson plan since I made the adjustment of time so that the activities take a little shorter. The students from this group tend to be a little late for class; then, that was another problem, which I had to deal with. At the beginning of the class, students were a little shy but as time went by, some of them started to participate using some English. Overall, I consider this class was good.

            Secondly, the next class I had this week was the one with the other students from English level II, which are from different bachelor degrees. The lesson plan for this class was quite similar to the one I had implemented with the other students because the topic was practically the same. I used the same video for introducing the topic and then I made the explanation. I perceived that it was almost impossible that students pay attention to what I was saying or make them participate. When I handed in the worksheet to them and explained what the exercise was about, in the beginning, they have not understood the instructions I gave them, but then, I repeated the instructions and they seemed to have understood this time. At the end of the class, it was impossible to carry out the post activity because there was no time left and students started to go 15 minutes before the class ended.

            Finally, the last class I had to carry out was with the students from English level I. This class took place on Thursday at eight in the morning. I had to start this class five minutes later since the teacher that had class in that classroom earlier took so long to leave the classroom. The students from this group were quiet at the beginning of the class and they did not want to participate but when I gave them some examples, they wanted to participate. One good aspect of this group is that every time a student participated, they tried to do so using the target language. The class was good, students understood the topic right away and when they do not, they asked me some questions. In addition, the job carried out by these students was of great quality and they did it on time. I had no major problems with these students, but I consider that the classroom is a little small for thirty students and the noise from the air conditioner sometimes suggests a problem for the communication practices.         

What makes a good teacher?

What Makes a Good Teacher?

Very often in our life we talk about our teachers, what we like about them and what we do not, what we think is good about them and what is not. In this sense, we discuss from our, sometimes inexperienced, conception the factors that make a good teacher. The thing is that now that I am becoming a teacher, I have to think about this aspect as something not only for evaluating someone else’s behaviors, practices, and methods; but also mine. In this regard, some elements that make a good teacher are a willingness to be good; the ability to develop a good rapport with students; a patient, caring, and kind personality; knowledge of learners; an engaging personality and teaching style; and passion for teaching. First things first, in regards to the first element, I think a good teacher is someone who is always searching for improvement and no matter what can go wrong is willing to take a risk if it is what they think may be good. Secondly, good teachers are the ones who can construct a friendly but firm environment and relationship with their students. Therefore, good teachers should not limit themselves just to go and teach a lesson, but they should have the ability to build trusting relationships that make students feel comfortable in order to create a safe, positive, and productive learning environment. Thirdly, some aspects more related to the teacher's personality are characteristics related to being compassionate and sensitive to students’ differences. Another aspect has to do with knowing the students. A good teacher is someone who acknowledges each one of their students, their differences, strengths, weaknesses, needs, and interests and makes of that the base for their planning. Something else is the teaching style, which involves engaging students in the learning process and holds their attention in a way that they enjoy the process. Last but not least, the passion for teaching. I think this is one of the most important factors since when you are passionate about something; you enjoy what you do and do not see it as a thing you must do, but as something that brings you happiness. Besides, since the teacher is one of the responsible factors in the learning process, a passionate teacher will make students feel a good environment. In addition, aspects such as organization, knowledge about the subject matters, and good classroom management skills are other aspects that contribute to making a good teacher but that are not enough.    

Journal I

APPENDIX 3: POST OBSERVATION STUDENT

TEACHER’S SELF-EVALUATION FORM (Journal)

 

Name: _Astrid Yarleth Trujillo Urriago____ Date: _Monday, April 1, 2019 to Friday, April 5, 2019_

Write a reflection about the classes you oriented this week (bear in mind the following aspects: what you planned, what you did, and what you would do differently if you were to teach your lessons again). Give examples and descriptions of those situations that, in your view, are relevant to your learning experience.

           

First Week: Observation

In the first week of my practicum, I carried out the observations of the three groups I am in charge of teaching. It was impossible for me to do this process the first week of the semester since the Interlingua groups were still a little messy. The first group I observed is an English level II, which students are from the Education Faculty, more specifically from the BA Natural Sciences Education Program. I could observe this class in two occasions. The first time, the teacher told students about what book they were going to be working on, they made a short presentation about themselves, and they worked in groups in order to carry out an activity, which final product was a short role-play. I could identify that this group is tidy and quiet, which means it will not represent major problems about the group management. The students from this group seem to understand the target language most of the time since the teacher always speaks in English. However, students seem to have some problems in terms of the pronunciation, vocabulary, and the tense they are using to communicate. The second time I observed this group, I could notice it takes students a lot of time to complete the tasks they are asked to do since they do not understand what they have been asked to carry out; then, students have to ask their classmates in order to achieve the goals. In addition, they seem to forget some basic aspects about the target language such as how to tell the time or which possessive adjective use with the pronouns. Students from this group tend to be a little distracted. They are interested in having a good pronunciation so they asked many questions about how to pronounce a word. Since this is a homogeneous group, I think it will be interesting to implement my innovation plan with these students and because they seem to enjoy activities that means doing things different from the traditional ones.

            The second group I will be working with is also a lever II. This is a heterogeneous and large group, which means it may be difficult to manage. Students expressed they would like to develop the course through the implementation of different activities such as worksheets, dynamic activities, conversations, and vocabulary exercises. They also said they feel their English level is too low. From this class, only some of the students participate and most of the students do not follow the instructions given. Some students are very talkative and noisy, besides they are most of the time using their cellphones. At the beginning, they seemed to be a little confused about the verb “be”, but after some examples and explanations, they remembered about it and it turned out they do know the structures for present simple. However, when they are referring to the third person, they do not use the verb in the correct form. The teacher uses some motivation strategies such giving extra points to the students who participate in class and they like it. They lack of vocabulary and need to be provided with many clarifications for them to understand. Furthermore, students from this group do not like activities in which they have to work on their own. They like to move from their places and make communicative activities. These students also ask many questions.

            Finally, the last group I observed was English level I. Most of the students from this group seem to have good command of the target language. However, they are very noisy and talkative. There are some moments in which students are focused on what the teacher is saying and they like to participate when the activities are about something that is different in their perception. This is not a very large group, but the classroom is a little small for them to feel comfortable and for the development of the class implementing some activities that require movement. The majority of these students are from the BA Natural Sciences Education Program. Sometimes it is difficult to get students’ attention since they are noisy and messy. The implementation of good classroom management activities and strategies will be necessary for working with this group. It is important to keep students busy since after some time working in the same exercise, students get messy and noisy again.

            To sum up, I could observe that for making a successful job with these three groups, many interactive and dynamic activities will be necessary. It will be easier to work with the smallest groups. Students like activities that mean doing something different to what is usually done, but because of these activities, they also get messy. For the groups, which are level II, I will have to give them more time in the completion of the activities since they seem to work at a very slow pace. Finally, with the level I, I will have to implement activities that involve working in groups or at least in pairs and control the time carefully in order to avoid chaos.