Final reflections

I would love, at this stage of the carreer and after being done with my "student-teaching", to share with you some final reflections that will tell something of my feelings throughout this experience.

As you know, this was my last year at University and as part of it I had to do teaching practices for a subject named "Organización y Crítica pedagógica" -the last pedagogical subject we have in our carreer.

Before I started this student-teaching I did not have many expectations, as is my usual tendency. In fact, I tend to start and go little by little looking at and enjoying each thing I happen to discover. I try not to create big expectations neither to worry too much about new-born challenges. Also, I tend not to listen what others say about their experiences, either good or bad things. Though bad things tend to be spread more easily among people’s mouths. That’s why I do not pay much attention to comments but try to go about discovering and experiencing things by myself. I cannot deny that, in addition, many say that I am very optimistic. Everything I set up to do, I have the feeling that it will come out fine: problems are natural and they will inevitably arrive but, as everything else in this life, they will leave. “No storm has lasted one hundred years”. Therefore, I cannot say if my expectations were fulfilled because I did not have many. However, I’ve discovered many nice things in the process and experienced great satisfactions in terms of personal achievements and students’ progress.

Well I think that the difficulties I encountered were many and they are described in my previous reflections. But the ones my professor said I improved are:

*I acquiered a stronger position in front of the students and that made them have a more respectful attitude towards me than in my first teaching practices.
*I could include the whole group in my classes without focusing to one area of the class.
*I showed great energy and confidence when giving my classes and that contributed to a more favourable participation from all students.

What really called my attention is the degree of enthusiasm and compromise students can show and acquire when they are properly motivated: no matter what social class, age, interests, ways of behaving they have. When the teacher has found the correct way of motivating his or her students, it is incredible how they answer to that and feel completely involved in the tasks proposed. In this respect, Blas Parera students were so willing to learn and participate just because there was some visual aids and a good attitude from the teacher towards their personal and unique learning processes. When students felt they were able to do it, they just did it and felt deeply satisfied with their achievements.

I think that students are attention-seeking creatures, so, if they perceive they could get some from you, you are very likely to have won them in your favour. Therefore, learning to respect students in their particular abilities and ways of learning, knowing to appreciate multiple intelligences and highlighting the positive contributions of each student are some of the necessary points a teacher must acquire if he or she wants to be successful and grow...GROW not only as a professional but also as a human being willing to plant his or her own seed in the silent but constant labour of many for the creation of a better world.

Last class: Feedback from Miss Elvira.

I would like to publish the feedback Micaela and me received after our last class because I think it illustrates quite well our performance and provides another perspective different from our own.

Here you have it!

Hi Vanesa and Micaela!!
I really liked your class! You were very energetic and I loved the fact that you spoke tons of English!!! And sts understood you!!! And you made yourselves understood!
-I liked the poster as the visual aid you referred to in order to provide some orientation to the sts. Great resource! Just keep in mind that whenever you make a worksheet with pictures, it’s better to number the pics, so that whenever you want to refer back to them you say “number 3”, not “that one, over here”.
-As regards your choice of pictures for the making of sentences exercise, please make sure that the sentences you intend your sts to produce have MEANING, not say items just because. I honestly don’t believe that a sentence like “I like wearing shoes in the hot summer because they are big” is meaningful ----nor true!!!!
-I would like you to have some examples ready before you actually tell the sts to do the exercises. These examples should be similar to, but different sentences from the set of exercises you give the sts (otherwise you’d be depriving them of the oh so necessary practice!). This applies to all the exercises I saw you do today, including the game…
-Micaela: please, please PLEASE practice your handwriting on the board!!! You were very messy in the organisation of the information, and there were problems with size, font, grammar (the chart was difficult to interpret) and even spelling!! (“She liskes”?) . This is not a minor concern, remember that boards are almost surely your main resource when you teach!!!!!!!!!
-When you play jeopardy, or any games, on the board, please do not forget to add some references, especially if you want the sts to choose from a set of giant flashcards like today: you could have divided them into columns (a, b, c, d) and each column have a number (1,2,3) . The way that part of the game was conducted was not very good.

A B C D
1
2
3
4

-I liked that Vanesa decided to use the extra 5 min. to re-review the exercises she saw that didn’t work at the beginning of class. Nevertheless, Vanesa, you should try to make yourself understood using a lot more exemplification, not just repeat the same words over and over, or saying the sentences exactly as they are in the photocopy! Remember you cannot ask your sts to produce something unless you have provided them with a multitude of examples that will illustrate what you want them to do and how! Also, please Vanesa, try not to get too impatient with them. Sts are special at detecting and manipulating teachers!! They’ll love it if you show them impatience, and make you “suffer” more!
I must say that I was really delighted at your class, though! You are very resourceful, and you keep sts busy in engaging activities, encouraging them along the way, and paying attention to them all. I really liked your energy and the way you made sure noone was left out!
Well done, girls! (and btw, Happy Birthday, Vanesa!)
E.

Lessons 6 and 7: Blas Parera school.

Reflections class 6: Wednesday, November 4th.

* Sts have arrived late from the break because there was no electricity in the school and, therefore, no bell.
* However, sts have took considerable advantage of the time working and participating a lot.
* T has felt comfortable and mostly satisfied with sts’ general performance.
* However, there are some points she was made to be aware of that will help her improve her performance greatly: like making sts aware of the rhythm of utterances in real life instead of making them repeat word by word.


Objectives class 7: Thursday, November 5th.

* To revise contents seen so far for the test.
* To continue working in pairs (sts seem to be adapting gradually to these new way of working).
* To make sts pronounce utterances with correct rhythm.
* To continue with the same energy in the class trying to include “all” sts in the class and to achieve a global attention and participation.