viernes, 17 de junio de 2011

EXPECTING AND GETTING THE BEST FROM OUR STUDENTS


WHY SHOULD WE AS EFFECTIVE ELT PRACTITIONERS HAVE HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR ALL OUR STUDENTS?
It is important for us to have high expectations for all our students because it is a good way to motivate our students. So, we should let our students know our expectation we have for them. In this way, they will have a clear idea about they should do and what we want them to achieve in our subject matter. We should also ask our students what expectations they have for them in order to take them into account when teaching them.

HOW COME WE NEED TO COMMUNICATE THEM TO OUR STUDENTS? HOW DO WE DO THAT?
We should communicate our expectations in a clear and friendly way. We should also communicate them in a positive manner. We need to explain that achieving our expectations is possible if they do their best to achieve them. Likewise, we should guide our students to reach their own expectations in a positive way. This means to explain the importance of English around the world and to make them aware that they are the key in their learning process. We, as teachers, are just a guide and a counselor.

 HOW DO WE SUPPORT THEM TO ACHIEVE THEIR LEARNING EXPECTATIONS?
 First, we should know their learning expectations very well. Then, we can support them to achieve those expectations by encouraging them to do their best. Another way to support them is to demonstrate that we care about their learning by giving feedback and by praising them because of their performance.
Our students will feel more confident if they are aware that we are with them in their learning process. In this way, they will feel more comfortable to reach and achieve their expectations.

 HOW DO WE DEMONSTRATE THAT WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR STUDENTS' LEARNING?
We can demonstrate that we are responsible for our students´ learning in many ways. For example, we can show our real interest in their learning by asking them about their expectations and interests about English. We should let them know our expectations we have for them to achieve. After knowing their expectations and letting them know ours, we should demonstrate we really want to achieve those expectations by doing our best, and helping them as much as we can. We should support and guide them in their learning process. However, we should let them know they are responsible for their own learning, too. Furthermore, we should let them know they are more responsible for their learning than we are. We should let them know they are the principal actors and actresses in the teaching learning process.

HOW BENEFICIAL WAS THIS BOOK TO HAVE A BETTER IDEA ON WHAT TEACHING IS ALL ABOUT?
This book was really helpful for me because I learned a lot about teaching. So, I got a better idea about what teaching is. It shows the reality of the teacher´s role and that gave me all the information I needed to be sure about the profession I have chosen. This book was a really useful source of information which I didn’t know anything about. Now, I know a little bit more about teaching, and I try to put into practice some pieces of advice to organize and manage a classroom, to organize and implement instruction, and to provide feedback to my students. I think that now, I feel more comfortable and confident when teaching because of the information of this book.

 
INCLUDE A DAPA OF ONE YOUR LESSONS.

DAPA
The Broken Telephone (Warm-up)                        1:40 PM to 1:52 PM

Description:
1:40 PM
-       I greeted my students.
-       I told my students about the activity.
-       I explain the steps and rules of the activity.
-       I didn’t explain the purpose of the activity.
-       I didn’t CCQ. I just asked them “Do you understand?”
1:44 PM
-       I asked them to form two lines (Boys and Girls)
-       I asked the last person of each line to read a sentence I had written in some pieces of paper.
-       I asked them to whisper the sentence to the person who was in front of them until the message reach the first person of each line.
-       I asked the first person of each line to write the sentence on the board.
-       The students continued doing the same until there were no more sentences to whisper.
1:50 PM
-       The students and I checked the sentences they had written on the board in order to find mistakes who were the winners.
-       I ended the activity.

 Analysis:
-       According to what I know about Classroom Management, I showed some energy at the beginning of the activity in order to motivate my students to participate in the activity.
-       According to what I know about Giving Instructions, I gave clear steps and rules, but I didn’t CCQ. It was a big mistake.
-       According to what I know about Learning Styles, most of my students are visual and I didn’t use any visual aid.
 
Plan of Action:
-       In the near future, if I use this activity, I will try to give short and simple instructions in order to avoid problems.
-       I will use some visual aids in order to do this activity more interesting and in order to exemplify.
-       I will CCQ by asking my students about the steps and by giving examples.

Questions I am still thinking about:
-       What should I do to give clear and simple instructions?
-       How can I be more energetic?
-       How could I involve all my students?

Advice for Novice Teachers:
-       Whenever you explain an activity, you should CCQ.
-       Keep instructions short and simple in order to avoid vague instructions.
-       You should show self-confidence when guiding an activity.




lunes, 13 de junio de 2011

MONITORING STUDENT PROGRESS AND POTENTIAL

WHAT'S THE RELEVANCE THAT FEEDBACK AND HOMEWORK HAVE FOR EFFECTIVE TEACHERS?
Homework is a useful resource that effective teachers use to assess their students´ progress. So, effective teachers should know how to select and to assign homework because this homework should be suitable and significant for students. Homework has positive effects on student achievement when it is explained and related to the topic studied in class. Besides, effective teachers should know how to deal with homework and students´ responsibility.
Feedback is more than wrong or right. Feedback is an important technique to increase learning in our students. Effective teachers use feedback as a way to provide specific explanations of what students are doing correct or incorrect. Finally, effective teachers use feedback to encourage their students and to let them know that they are important for us.

WHY DOES ASSESSMENT PLAY A CENTRAL ROLE IN TEACHING?
Assessment is very important and it plays a central role in teaching because it is use to evaluate student progress and learning. Besides, it is important to determine the effectiveness of a lesson, and we can determine it through a good assessment. Effective teachers assess their students´ work before giving feedback to them. Besides, we can use assessment to assess and evaluate our own teaching practice in terms of student learning.

WHAT ARE SOME EFFECTIVE WAYS OF MONITORING STUDENT PROGRESS?
We, as teachers, have some effective ways to monitor student progress such as homework and assessment. Homework is a good way to know if our students have understood any topic and to expand our student´s learning. Besides, we can use assessment as a good way of monitoring our student´ progress. Through this assessment we can give useful and suitable feedback to our students.




DAPA
Word Tennis     7:00 AM – 7:11 AM
Description:

  7:00 AM
- She greeted the class.
- She started to ask us about tennis.
- She didn’t say the purpose of the activity.
- She asked us to divide the class into two groups. (Girls and boys)
- She gave us some pieces of paper which had some words.

  7:04 AM
- She asked us to rewrite the words in a different order.

  7:08 AM
- She asked group A to show its first word in order for group B to guess the word.
- She asked group B to show its first word in order for group A to guess the word.
- Both groups continued doing the same routine until there were no more words to guess.

  7:11 AM
- She ended the activity.

Analyzing:
- According to what I know about Warmers, she should have explained the purpose of the activity.
- According to what I know about Classroom Management, she was very confident in order to succeed in the activity.
- According to what I know about CCQing, she gave an example in order to CCQ, but I think it wasn’t enough. 

Plan of Action:
- In the near future, if I use this activity, I am going to explain the purpose of the activity.                
- I am going to give more than two examples in order to CCQ.                     
- I am going to be more energetic because according to what I know about Classroom Management, a good teacher should show energy in order for his students to be motivated.             
- I am going to be mobile during the activity because according to what I know about Classroom Management, a good teacher should be mobile in order to catch his students’ attention.

Questions I am Still Thinking About:
- How can I improve this activity?
- How can I be more energetic?
- Is it enough just to give examples when CCQing?

Advice for Novice Teachers:
- Keep instructions short and simple and CCQ.
- Give clear instructions.