Week 8 - Extra Entry

Video Reflection

As it has been pointed out many times: there is always room for improvement in the teaching-learning process. In my case after watching the video and seeing myself for the first time teaching, I was surprised and even laughed at seeing myself. In addition, I asked to myself, is that the way I look as I teach?

I hope I can become better in all the points I have to improve. I think I must improve, amongst many points the one of organization, class management, smoothness, variation in activities, etc. It is quite an experience to see myself teaching and to see the students what they actually do when I am not looking at them.

From the theories and hypothesis studied along the English teaching and psychology courses, I get little sometimes when I come face to face to the classroom and the type of students and surroundings. Every community is different, every student population is unique, and thus their needs and approaches sometimes need to be unique as well.

Week 8

Planning a lesson

Every teacher before the lesson takes place should have already a plan or scheme on how the lesson will develop. Every teacher should plan the lesson in a bigger or smaller extent, but it will depend on how experienced the teacher is.

The whole purpose of teaching a lesson is for students to learn. Every single student expects to learn something, so setting the learning goals will help the teacher and the students know what they will learn by the end of the lesson.

Every plan should have a segment in which what was taught is assessed or evaluated. All knowledge will be concrete when it can be applied, so evaluation is a way to prove that the student learned how to master the topic at hand.

I believe that any plan of any lesson and its application thereof is simply a start for the ongoing process of learning. Taking into account the assignments and out of class research it is valid to confirm that any lesson is just the beginning of a bigger learning acquisition afterwards, and this time it will depend mainly on the student.

Week 7 - Extra Entry

SENATE COMMITTEE ON TEACHING AND LEARNING’S GUIDE TO

TEACHING ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION

Remarks

The Guide is very clear in all its points concerning the assessment and evaluation of teaching. However, strictly speaking, how in is it possible to assess and evaluate teaching? Because the answer will depend on a great range of factors beginning with the context, subject, school, teacher, culture, surroundings, beliefs, etc.

As the text goes, “teaching is not right or wrong, good or bad, effective or ineffective in any absolute, fixed or determined sense.”¹ Instructors emphasize different domains of learning (affective, cognitive, psychomotor, etc.) and employ different theories of education and teaching methodologies (anti-racist, constructivist, critical, feminist, humanistic, etc.) (York, 2010). So how is it possible to compile a standard and fixed Guide to assess teaching? I believe that teaching should really be assessed more rigorously when the teacher has passed through the first stages of the profession namely knowledge and experience then after that and a lot of time someone learned may come and attempt to evaluate and assess a teacher.

On the other hand, if we talk about assessing and evaluating teachers with the sole purpose of bettering them through appropriate feedback then we will have a formative purpose in which I believe it to be excellent. Of course, this relates directly with the Practicum that we are doing this term and which its purpose is to practice and be assessed (given feedback upon).

As the article suggests, a dossier is a great way to document the development of a teachers achievements, undergoing through a period of time teaching and it registers systematically, and in depth, the process and papers thought which the facilitator went through.

Bibliography

York. (2010). http://www.yorku.ca. Retrieved 2011, from http://www.yorku.ca: http://www.yorku.ca/univsec/senate/committees/scotl/tevguide.pdf

Week 7

Teaching goals and methods

From The Essentials of Language Teaching

www.nclrc.org/essentials

Remarks

The goal here is the communicative competence, which is the ability to use the language in the right way. As the text goes ``the desired outcome of the language learning process is the ability to communicate competently, not the ability to use the language exactly as a native speaker does`` (NCRLC, 2007). So, anyone who uses the language correctly even if he/she is not a native speaker can be considered as competent. ``Communicative competence is made up of four competence areas: linguistic, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic`` (NCRLC, 2007). All these areas complement each other and make up the general competency of a person.

``Learner-centered instruction encourages students to take responsibility for their own language skill development and helps them gain confidence in their ability to learn and use the language. Teachers support students by devoting some class time to non-traditional activities, including teaching learners how to use learning strategies, how to use available tools and resources, and how to reflect on their own learning`` (NCRLC, 2007). Indeed, every single student should and must take responsibility for his/her own learning and study. I remember when I was starting to learn English I used to study many hours besides the regular lessons that I received in school and I knew that it was what helped me the most because the lesson gotten in school were very poor and scant.

The key to master a language is immersion, practice and more practice until you become competent in all its areas and then you keep on practicing to polish it and stabilize it.

Bibliography

NCRLC. (2007). The Essentials of Language Teaching. Retrieved 2011, from The Essentials of Language Teaching: http://www.nclrc.org/essentialsA

Week 6

What language teaching is

There are three situations for new language instructors. They are graduate students who have extensive knowledge of language, literature, and culture, but are not trained as language teachers.

The older model, which is the teacher-centered model, views the teacher as active and the student as fundamentally passive. Wherein the teacher is responsible for transmitting all of the information and the students listen and absorb. In this model, it is important that the students be taught that the subjects makes sense, well presented and have it applied with related exercises.

The newer model is the Language learning which is a process of discovery. Learner develops ability to use the language for specific communication purposes. In this model, both student and teacher are active participants who share responsibility, for the student is learning. Instructor and students work together. The interaction between students and teacher leads to a dynamic classroom environment in which teaching and learning become rewarding and enjoyable.

This topic also pointed out the differences between the two models of teaching. Language instructors who have never experienced learner-centered instruction can find it intimidating in several ways such as that it requires more preparation time, it is mysterious, it feels like it isn’t going to work, it feels chaotic and it sounds like a bad idea.

This final point is an important one. In fact, in an effective learner-centered classroom, the instructor has planned the content of all activities, has set time limits on them, and has set them in the context of instructor-modeled language use. The instructor is not the center of attention, but is still in control of students’ learning activities.

To move from the teacher-centered model to the learner-centered one, new language instructors need to think about what they do and how and why they do it. Every instructor starts with an initial theory of language teaching and learning based on personal experiences as a language learner. In reflective practice, the teacher applies this theory in classroom practice, observes and reflects on the results, and adapts the theory. The theory provides a unifying rationale for the activities that the instructor uses in the classroom classroom observation and reflection enable the instructor to refine the theory and adjust teaching practice. Concepts that the teacher acquires through reading and professional development activities are absorbed into the theory and tested in the reflective practice cycle. In this cycle, practice and reflection continues throughout a teacher’s career, as the teacher evaluates new experiences and tests new or adapted theories against them.

Every instructor has his way of teaching because it is a mixture of methods and experience. Classroom scrutiny and indication allow the instructor to process the assumption and adjust teaching performance. Notions that the teacher gets through reading and proficient development activities are immersed into the theory and experienced in the reflective practice sequence.

Functions of a teaching portfolio are to permit a teacher to follow personal development: to register teaching performance for showing review, to exemplify teaching advance for possible employers, the best way to have a successful teaching experience in any branch, but especially in language is to be prepared. Some aspects to consider getting ready are the following: content, method, students, plan, orientation, relationships, expectation, and guidance. Any teaching experience can be rewarding as long as you use the right tools, common sense and some amount of perseverance.

Week 5

Bridging Classroom Practices to the Professional Development: Let us Video-Coach, Shall We?

BY Meral Guceri and Naime Meltem Bizim

Videotaping for teachers development is an excellent tool to identify strengths and weaknesses in the lesson performance. It has been found that teacher using such toll can identify easily their characteristics of teaching and they are able to receive feedback from other people including other teachers and professionals in the area.

Others can make observation and by the instructor him/herself (self-assessment) so the opportunities to study what was taped are ample, hence the possibilities to improve may increase as well in an overall level.

Videotaping also frees the teacher from anxieties and pressures and launches them into more control over their own professional development.

Through such methodology of observation, teachers become more aware and firm in many factors concerning the teaching process. Through this system, the teachers also gain more perspective on what the whole process of ongoing education is all about.

Week 4

My philosophy of education

Since centuries ago education has been seen as the act of transmitting certain knowledge, skills and values to other individuals with the purpose to make them better people. Moreover, I believe that education is not an activity that should be segmented and confined into molds, so to say it. I am convinced that education is a huge spectrum that can be run at some extent, bigger or smaller depending not so much on the teachers or parents, but on the students themselves. Therefore, parents and teachers are not that anymore (parents and teachers) but they are facilitators, guides, pointers that help the individuals attain a desire to learn and to keep on learning and researching all their lives. In other words, learning and education is an ongoing process that is as vast as the person is willing to go.

Education should be available to every human being, when I am referring to education I am referring to an integral and holistic view of it. I am in favor of education as a whole, not partial or distorted, biased or prejudiced, but one that has all the facets of the truth. I think strongly that the facilitators in the process of education should present to the student the fact of the matters or truth in its ample and objective way, then with the help of the facilitator the student will decide how to lead his/her life according to it. The sole purpose of education is to better the person, to make the individual a better citizen, and a freer thinker that is able to decide objectively and critically what is the most appropriate solution for any give problem.

In the sense of being more specific, and down to earth regarding education I will mention two authors that I see as the ones considering education as a whole process rather than a part only. First, Howard Gardner and his well known theory stating basically that “we are all able to know the world through language, logical-mathematical analysis, spatial representation, musical thinking, the use of the body to solve problems or to make things, an understanding of other individuals, and an understanding of ourselves. Where individuals differ is in the strength of these intelligences - the so-called profile of intelligences -and in the ways in which such intelligences are invoked and combined to carry out different tasks, solve diverse problems, and progress in various domains." (Gardner, 1983). What he means is that every person is intelligent in some way, his view is so wide that implications for classrooms are vast such as the fact that every student is different and unique, and that as much as possible all types of intelligences should be cultivated. Second, Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy of education that is summarized in the following lines offers a helpful insight regarding integrality on education: “Steiner schools are always co-educational, fully comprehensive and take pupils from 3 to ideally eighteen. They welcome children of all abilities from all faiths and backgrounds. The priority of the Steiner ethos is to provide an unhurried and creative learning environment where children can find the joy in learning and experience the richness of childhood rather than early specialization or academic hot-housing. The curriculum itself is a flexible set of pedagogical guidelines, founded on Steiner's principles that take account of the whole child. It gives equal attention to the physical, emotional, intellectual, cultural and spiritual needs of each pupil and is designed to work in harmony with the different phases of the child's development. The core subjects of the curriculum are taught in thematic blocks and all lessons include a balance of artistic, practical and intellectual content. Whole class, mixed ability teaching is the norm.” (Steiner, 1919). So, the child is seen as an integral and holistic being that can be able to attain intellectual and spiritual freedom through education.

Being a teacher is difficult because the enterprise is filled with many challenges that may discourage anybody, but I am convinced that a well-balanced and profound education can make huge differences in the development of a person, and of a country. All facilitators when faced with such difficulties must have in mind the higher purpose and idealistic view of education itself. As expressed in Plato’s Republic, book seven, where it says the following basically: “Plato sums up his views in an image of ignorant humanity, trapped in the depths and not even aware of its own limited perspective. The rare individual escapes the limitations of that cave and, through a long, tortuous intellectual journey, discovers a higher realm, a true reality, with a final, almost mystical awareness of Goodness as the origin of everything that exists. Then, such a person is the best equipped to govern in society…” (Plato, 1998). Therefore, the facilitators’ task is to help everyone to flee the darkness of ignorance in to the upper world of knowledge and good. Facilitators should be a model example to all pupils because students remember oftentimes more what they see in the facilitator than what the facilitator says or instructs.

In short, I believe that the process of education is a lifetime journey that will be developed to its full potential only if well-equipped facilitators guide well disposed pupils in the way of objective truth and knowledge.

Bibliography

Gardner. (1983). Tecweb.org. Retrieved 2011, from Tecweb.org: http://www.tecweb.org/styles/gardner.html

Plato. (1998). Wsu.edu. Retrieved 2011, from Wsu.edu: http://www.wsu.edu/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_1/plato.html

Steiner, R. (1919). Steinerwaldorf.org.uk. Retrieved 2011, from Steinerwaldorf.org.uk: http://www.steinerwaldorf.org.uk/whatissteinereducation.html