MICROTEACHING EXPERIENCE

MICROTEACHING EXPERIENCE

• What were your reactions to receiving and giving feedback?

It was such a great experience, This kinds of activities help us to grow up as future teachers. In my case, all the things my classmates told me about my perfomance were true. I know that I have to improve many things:

• My energy
• Nervousness
• Voice

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

Basically, the themes were about nervousness and enthusiasm.

I need to learn how to control my nerves because it makes me make mistakes while speaking in front of the students. It is very important because you transmit what you show, and students are like a sponge getting knowledge.

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

My strengths were about topic command, eye contact, excellent visual aids and mobility. To carry out this activity, I tried to do my best in order to be what my students needed.

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

• SHOWING SELF-CONFIDENCE: I  need to smile a little bit more.
• CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT: I must try to involve all my students in the activities.
• VOICE PROJECTION: I must speak a little bit louder.
• NERVOUSNESS: I need to project that I am the teacher.

THE HIDDEN WHOLENESS: PARADOX IN TEACHING AND LEARNING

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?

Based on the book The Courage To Teach by Palmer pag. 72 - 73, as a student teacher I have experienced a lot things; some of them bad, others sad but also good things. I have realized that teaching is not a piece of cake. As a teacher, I must have a lot of patient and interest on it; I have to learn how to treat my students in order to make them feel comfortable in my classes.

But inside of the classroom, many things can happen; as a teacher I have lived bad and good experiences; for example, for these teaching practices; I am in charge of a great group of students. They are very respectful with me; they also work very well, but what I don´t like too much is the fact that they are very talkative. I know that being sociable is a good, but if you are inside of the classroom you must respect the class also the teacher.

Sometimes, I get disappointed because they have some difficulties about learning English and while I am trying to explain the topic, they are talking or joking. I get sad because I am trying to do my best, but with that behavior they make me feel as if I am not doing my job in the correct way.

In those moments, I try to take a deep breath and make them participate in the class in order to catch their attention.

But that behavior makes thing about something: “if they are behaving in that way, it means that I need to improve something in my classes”. So for the next class, I try to catch their attention since the very beginning with a funny and interesting warm up until the end of the class with the wrap up.

That is why before I said that teaching is not a piece of cake; it requires a lot of love for it, a lot passion and patient; as I teacher you never finish learning; you learn from your students every single day.

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?

“Becoming aware of our gifts can help us teach more consistently from our identity and integrity” (The Courage to Teach page 69). In my case, I consider that I have the gift of being patient. At teaching, this strength is pretty important because we as teachers always deal with a variety of students inside of the classroom; for example, some of them are responsible but others don´t; that´s why we as teachers must look for a way to make them work.

Another of my strengths is that I love what I do. I consider this as a very important key at teaching. Because if you don’t love what you do, it is a waste of time what you are doing. Students feel what we transmit; they are like a sponge absorbing everything, for that, showing your love for teaching will make them feel part an important of your life.

Being friendly is another gift that helps while teaching. I have learned that we as teachers can be friendly with the students, but always keeping a limit of respect in the relationship students-teachers and teachers-students. In these High Schools teaching practices, I feel very comfortable working with my group because we have a good student - teacher relationship; despite; they are very talkative; but at the end no matter because when I ask for some volunteers; they raise their hands and participate. That is another thing that I like by their side.

The desire that my students learn is another gift I have. As I told you before, some of my students have some difficulties to learn English. So, one of my goals in every class is to help them as much as I can; what I do in order to achieve it is, when I have already given the tasks; I walk around them and ask if they have some doubts. In that way, I can give personal feedback if it is necessary. At the end I make a general feedback; that helps them a lot.

Since they are very talkative; catching my students´ attention is my big struggle or difficulty while teaching.

I must speak louder, and sometimes it´s kind of difficult for me because I don’t have a strong tone of voice and I almost have to shout in order to catch their attention. But this is not an obstacle for me because my love for teaching goes beyond of all the challenges I have to overcome during this wonderful process named teaching.

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.

I will never forget the second day; I arrived to the classroom. One of my students was talking to me and he said: “Teacher I really love your classes; they are very interesting and funny. I like the way you teach; I feel very comfortable in your classes, and they make me feel more interested about learning the language. And you know what; I want to be an English teacher. 

I have realized that I love English”, and I said to him: congratulations because if you decide to study this major, you will discover a great world at teaching; it is not a easy one, but believe me that you feel a great satisfaction when you know that you are contributing to others´ education.

In that moment, I felt as if I was born to teach because he made think about my job. For me, it meant that I was doing a great job in the classroom.

Since that day, I have been analyzing my students, and I can say that they really enjoy my classes. They like to learn by playing; they enjoy a lot the warm ups. I really love to see their faces smiling and having fun in those moments. 

Because of that, I try to implement new techniques in every class; that is helping me a lot. Being creative and dynamic also helps to do our job in an interesting way.

But not everything is a bed of roses at teaching; I remember a class in which we were studying the present perfect tense. They were pretty confused because some days ago, the main teacher had given to them an explanation kind of confused about the topic. I was trying to explain it to them in the clearest way I could. But, at the beginning they didn’t understand, but I kept explaining.

In that moment I thought: “My Gosh help me please. I just want them to understand my explanations!” Finally, I reached my goal; they understood everything.

It made me think that I had not been born to teach.

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 be hospitable and charged

In the classroom all the students are important. In every class, I try to carry out activities in which all my students can participate. I have read that if the teacher takes into account every students´ opinion, they adopt the feeling of being important in the classroom. So, I always make my students participate and share their opinions.

I remember once; we were discussing about the things we like doing the most. I asked them to work in pairs and share their ideas. After some minutes, I started to ask what they had said. I noticed that most of the students wanted to participate and share what they had talked about.

It was an interesting class because they were sharing personal tastes that the others didn’t know.

I think it was a hospitable environment because all the students had the opportunity to talk about themselves, and we did it in a respectful environment.

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.

Yes, I have. I had the opportunity to experiment this. That day, I was very excited because it was Friday, and I had prepared a funny class. But, I got sad when I arrived to the classroom, and I saw the students worried about something else.

 I started the class, but I was angry because another teacher had assigned them a presentation in my hour. Also, the main teacher was very angry because nobody had asked his permission. So, the class was a mess because while I was teaching my class some groups of students were getting out to the classroom.

In that way, I think in that day only half of the paradox was honored because the environment was stressful for the students and teachers. 

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?

I am a person who tends to think about many things in a short period of time. Sometimes, I feel as I won´t be able to reach what I want in life. I will share the question that I always ask myself:

• How can I improve my English?

• What can I do in order to get more vocabulary?

• Am I doing the things in the correct way?

• Am I doing my best?

• Am I helping my students to know a little bit more about this language?

• Am I going to pass all the subjects this semester?

• Am I going to reach my goals in life?

Those are the question that I ask myself every single day. I always try to think in a positive manner because I don’t to get frustrated at this point of my life. I know that I have a big road to travel through in which I will learn little by little.

A CULTURE OF FEAR: EDUCATION AND THE DISCONNECTED LIFE

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?

Fear may occur in response to a specific stimulus happening in the present, or to a future situation, which  is perceived as risk to health or life, status, power, security, or in the case of humans wealth or anything held valuable.

In humans and animals, fear is modulated by the process of cognition and learning. 

Like all emotions, fear can be mild, medium or intense, depending on the situation and the person. A feeling of fear can be brief or it can last longer.

In my personal experience, I have had many fears trough my teaching practices. Since the Kindergarten practice until High School practices. But, I know that I as a teacher have to face a lot of problems every single day of teaching.

Sometimes I feel afraid of saying something in the wrong way. I know that I am learning still, and also I know that everybody makes mistakes. Because of that, for every class; I try to study a lot. This is very important: the fact of being prepared for everything. While you are teaching, many things can happen, for example, the students finish quickly the assignment or the time is not enough, etc. As you can see many things are able to happen inside the classroom.

Another fair is about the fact that the students are very demanding. They like dynamic classes; for instance, I must prepare an interesting and funny class since the Warm- up until the last activity. Something, that is really difficult for me is the fact of transmitting energy and feeling to my students. It means that if I have problems or maybe I´m sick, I have to forget that and enjoy my class in order that my students enjoy it, too. 

Something, that scares me a lot, is the possibility that my students don´t understand my explanation. In every course, there always are students, which learning English becomes a little bit difficult; in this situation what I have to do is being patient. Why? It is because I must find the most suitable ways for them to learn.

At teaching, you will find a big diversity of students. Some of them are very responsible and others not. Sometimes you are going to be in charge of groups in which  pupils are bored and passive in situations calling for actions, and belligerent and destructive in contexts requiring reflection.

In order to deal with those fears I have; I have been very disciplined, also I have tried to apply all the knowledge that my teachers have provided me along these semesters. 

In that way; I have overcome many problems, and I think I am doing a great job!!!

Being a good teacher is not a piece of cake; it´s having passion and love for the students´ learning. It goes beyond to arrive to the classroom, and greeting your students; it´s the fact of knowing how to sow the knowledge and the interest for learning into your students.

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?

As Palmer says on his book Courage to teach p. 50, the concept of hospitality arose 

in ancient times when the reciprocity was easier to see. 

He says that, the gift of sustenance for the guest becomes a gift of hope for the host.

It is that way at teaching as well: the teacher´s hospitality to the students results in a 

world more hospitable to the teacher.

In Parker Palmer’s book The Courage to Teach, he develops a very simple but beautiful insight of the teacher’s role in the classroom. He sees the significance of the interrelationship between teachers and their students. The teachers’ daily involvement with their students manifests the teaching profession’s sense of self-fulfillment.  Palmer sanctifies the profession of teaching; he states, “One of the blessings of teaching is the chance it gives us for continuing encounters with the young.”   Palmer sees these continued encounters not as a chore, or the need for a “generative relationship,” but one that builds on the rooted belief of service to the young.

Well, a teacher has to be hospitable to his or her students when students need and ask for help. A good teacher must be available to help their students. For example, when a student does not understand a lesson; it would be polite for the teacher´s side if he or she offers help. In that case the teacher is practicing hospitality.

 Another situation in which a teacher is hospitable is by giving the opportunity to participate in classes. Letting the students share their points of view and ideas about something, and take them into account, but always keeping respect.

Sometimes teachers treat students as unwelcome guests. It happens when the teachers instead of working as facilitators; they work as obstacles, and they don´t let them to participate or contributing to the class development.

Moreover it happens when the teacher feels that he or she is better than the students. For instance, the teacher is not able to learn from the students. And that is a big mistake because a teacher always learns something new from their students every single day at teaching.

Teachers benefit in a big way for being hospitable; if they show that they are responsible; consequently at least some of their students are going to start being in that way.

Also, a great environment of self-confidence is going to grow up because the students are going to feel like in their own house. It means that a good relationship between teacher and students is going to prevail inside of the classroom.

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?

Shyness is usually associated with being quiet, insecure, and/or socially anxious. Being shy is not necessarily bad. We can all feel shy from time to time, so it’s alright to feel a little uncomfortable in new situations and with new people.

Building self-esteem and confidence can often help reduce shyness in some situations. Low self-esteem can influence the way you behave. Sometimes shyness can hold you back from new experiences because you become overly concerned with the possibility of failure or looking clumsy.

There are ways of building your self-esteem like becoming friends with yourself and challenging your self-talk. Focusing on your good qualities helps to build your confidence and self-esteem, learning not to compare yourself to others and realizing that no one is perfect.

Definitely speaking in front of the people is my biggest fear. Whenever I do it; I feel very uncomfortable. My friends have told me that I have to learn how to control my nerves because they make me make mistakes while speaking.

What makes me feel more uncomfortable is when the others realize than I am nervous; consequently forget everything that I learned. I think this problem takes place in my life because I am so shy. That is a big obstacle in my life.

Now, I know that is really necessary to overcome this problem because in a future I´ll be a teacher, and I want to be a good one. So, I need to find the ways to improve this because I don´t want my students complain about my job as a teacher.

But there is something curious in this problem; for example, while I am developing my classes, I don´t feel too much nervous, and I think it is because I already started to work in that aspect. I really enjoy every single class with my students; they make me feel comfortable. 

On page 56-60 Palmer says: “Be not afraid”. Fear is everywhere in our culture, in our institutions, in our students, in ourselves and it cuts us off from everything.  Fear is so fundamental to the human condition that all the great spiritual traditions originate in an effort to overcome its effects on our lives.  With different words, they all proclaim the same core message: “be not afraid”.

It is important to note with care what that core teaching does and does not say. Be not afraid does not say that we should not have fears.

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?

On page 55-56, Palmer states that if we dare to move through our fear, to practice 

knowing as a form of love, we might to abandon our illusions of control and enter a 

partnership with the otherness of the world.

By finding our place in the ecosystem of reality, we might see more clearly which actions are 

life-giving and which are not, and in the process participate more fully in our own destinies, and 

the destiny of the world, than we do in our drive for control.  This relational way of knowing in 

which love takes away fear and co-creation replaces control is a way of knowing that can help 

us reclaim the capacity for connectedness on which good teaching depends. 

Of course, love takes place in education. It happens since you decide to become a teacher. If 

you decide that, you feel like a little spark in your heart to share your knowledge with others.

Being a teacher is inspiring students not only academically but also personally. It´s being able to interact with kids who are mostly good.

Teaching touches lives: The words we speak, and actions we display, can influence  children to make informed and responsible choices in their life.

LEARNING TEACHING

How we can 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.

Students respond to the way you respond to them. If they find you unhelpful or not listening to them, then no amount of jolly games will put back the sparkle.

It is interesting to notice how different teachers make evoke a markedly different response from the same group. Such variation can be particularly noticeable on training courses when maybe two or three teachers teach the same class, one after the other.

Well, in order to increase awareness about the learning process, we have to take into account many aspects, based on the chapter 4 of the book “Learning Teaching” by Jim Scrivener, learning training means “raising student awareness about how they are learning, as a result, helping them to find more effective ways of working, so that they can continue working efficiently and usefully. In other words, it means “working on teaching learning as well as teaching English”.

In that case, learner training; therefore includes:

• ·      Working on study skills, for example the use of dictionaries, workbooks, notebooks and other materials.
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• ·      Student examination of the process of learning and reflection on what is happening, for example, the teaching strategies you use and the reason why you are using them.

 In fact, we as future teachers must be aware that not all the students learn at the same time, also not all of them are in the same level. Because of that, we must look for a way to teach in which all the students feel comfortable inside the classroom, and obviously enjoying the class. Creating a good atmosphere is really important because learners have distinct, individual reasons for being in a class and learning English, even when these are not consciously known or recognised. We can teach better if we know more about these.

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

Speaking has always been one of the most difficult skills for learners to develop because3 it requires them to produce the language which most of the time, spontaneously or without enough time to construct the appropriate and correct utterances.  English language is a process where all aspects of English (listening, reading, writing, speaking, vocabulary and grammar) are interconnected. 

In fact, Chapter 12 of the book “LearningTeaching” by Jim Scrivener, talks about error correction.

In most things, humans learn by trial and error, experimenting to see what works and what doesn´t. it is the same with language learning. Students errors are evidence that progress is being made. Errors show us that a student is experimenting with language, trying out ideas, taking risks, attempting communicate and making progress.

Errors can be of many kinds, for example, sometimes language can be grammatically correct but completely inappropriate in the context in which it is used.  But, you can correct students by doing a simple gesture to indicate that something is wrong.

There are other factors to take into account when deciding if a correction should be made:

Will it help or hinder learning? Am I correcting something they don´t know? What is my intention in correcting?

One strategy used by many teachers in order to correct is to collect a list of mistakes and then correct them by giving a little explanation about it.

What is your take on testing?

According to the book "Learning Teaching" (pag. 290) a teacher could test:

• The students´progress over the course (a progress test).

• Their general level of English, without reference to any course (a proficiency test).

Testing is used in schools to measure student knowledge, skills, aptitude, etc. A test may be administered orally, on paper, on a computer or in a confined area that requires a test taker to physically perform a set of skills.

Three criteria of a good test

• A good test will seem fair and appropriate to the students.

• It will not be too troublesome to mark.

• It will provide clear results that serve the purpose for which it was set.

Traditional "pen-and-paper" tests are usually made up of two types of questions:

• Discrete item tasks.

• Integrative tasks.

What seems to be more difficult teaching teens or teaching large classes?

Working with teenagers is a big challenge because teenagers are often unsure about themselves and how they feel about things.

It´s a difficult period of time; strong emotions of various kinds may be rising and falling and these may alter the workings of techniques and activities. Teenagers get bored quickly.  Discipline can seem to be a problem, motivation may appear to be low, especially if learners feel that they have been forced to do something they don´t want to.

Taking into account all those aspects, we can say that teaching teenagers must be something very creative because they are living a new period in their lives; the teacher might be really patient and smart in order to make students grow up in a suitable environment.

Talking about large classes, in chapter 13 of the book Learning Teaching, (page 331-332), there are some characteristics about large classes which affects the learning process:

• Students can´t move easily.
• You as a teacher can´t move easily.
• The seating arrangement seems to prevent a number of activities.
• There is limited eye contact from you to students.
• Discipline can be a problem.
• People hide away.
• The seats at the back tend to attract people who want to do something other than learn English.
• Interaction tends to be restricted.

So, I can say that both teaching teenagers and large classes are very complex because in both cases the teacher has to pay attention to the students. But, the teacher has to look for a way to solve those problems. For example, in the case of the large classes; the teacher can:

• Rearrange the seating.
• Move to a different classroom.
• Get them to climb over the seats.
• Push the seats against the wall.
• Go outside on the grass.
• Ask other teachers what they do.
• Divide the large group into smaller classes within the class.

As you can see if the teacher wants to make a productive class, he or she needs to look for way in order to overcome those problems.

Teaching teenagers and large classes