Correccion final assessment report primary practicum revise

FINAL ASSESSMENT REPORT

PRIMARY SCHOOL PRACTICUM

AUGUST 2015

TUTOREE: Cynthia Estebo

PRIMARY PRACTICUM INSTITUTION: ESCUELA PRIMARIA Nº 8 “MANUEL BELGRANO” (Punta Alta)

OBSERVER TEACHER: Natalia Ávalos

TPD- Final Assessment Report - Estebo Página 1

* INTRODUCTION………………………………..………………………....PAGE 3

* DEVELOPMENT…………………………………………………………. PAGE 4

* PERSONAL CONCLUSIONS…………………………………………….PAGE 6

Introduction

During August of 2015 I did my teaching residence in Escuela Primaria nº8 “Manuel Belgrabo” in Punta Alta, province of Buenos Aires. There, I put into practice my background knowledge of the language as well as the subjects studied along the course of studies, especially the concepts learnt in Didactics, Psychology, and Language and in the Teaching Practice subject as well.

I taught a heterogeneous group of 25 10 year-old students who had had English the previous year. The regular teacher´s name was Fabiana and the English teacher was called


Natalia. They both helped me a lot and gave me and advised me about group dynamics, school and classroom regulations and how to deal with some issues that arise in the classroom also shared with me their teaching experience. I have to thank these teachers, the headmistress and the whole school staff for receiving me with their arms wide open and for treating with such love and respect.

The experience allowed me to display my theoretical knowledge and my teaching philosophy into practice. This training period gave me the opportunity to understand this age level and learnt how this age group dynamics work. In the following paper, I will develop and summarize my reflections about my practicum.

Development

I will base my reflections about the teaching experience on the four dimensions of reflective learning.

Thinking Back

The original aim of the teaching practicum is to employ the concepts learnt during the course of studies and put them into practice. As we are going to devote our professional life to


teaching, we must learn to plan lessons and carry them out successfully in the classroom. I based my lesson plans on The Communicative approach and the PPP method; the resources I used were intended for the learners to practice the language accordingly and acquire language in a Communicative and fun way. Flashcards, posters, songs, realia, worksheets, video and games were the foundations to provoke communicative outcomes. Students loved the materials which triggered their interaction in English, so I believe that the lessons were engaging and motivating for them.

In order tohave an effective teaching performance, I used my experience as a student and the theoretical background knowledge to design the classes and to deliver them as well. As my teaching purpose was to develop students’ ´communicative skills, I resorted to the Communicative approach. This group of students was not used neither to have their lessons in English, so my first challenge was to deliver the classes in the second language, nor exposed to other resources other than the book, so I needed to be resourceful. Moreover, this group in particular needed special attention as they were really aggressive among them and a case of Domestic Violence was present as well. I was informed by the teachers since the beginning of the practicum period, I did some research on the subject matter and I used my heart to help him.

This practicum period not only allowed me to see from firsthand experience what teaching in a public school really is, but also challenged me to reflect on the study material and transform it into a real class to be taught to children, bearing in mind when planning the resources missing in the school.

Thinking Forward

Of course, there are some things I would do differently if I had the chance of doing my residence knowing what I have learnt in this period. I would have searched for classroom management tips regarding how to work in class with students’ victims of Domestic Violence beforehand. But I thought I could manage it, but the truth is no teacher is prepared to see students suffer and their families being the cause of their emotional and physical pain. For instance, I would have talked to the children in L1 about respecting each other, before doing the miming game and not afterwards. But I honestly did not know that it would have had such a negative outcome in the sense their competitiveness turned into verbal aggression among them. Next practicum period, I will make a diagnostic evaluation in the group dynamics and their interrelationships before bringing a game or activity that may trigger a negative outcome.

Based on this experience, I would definitely work with primary school students again, but now I know what needs and lacks of material and resources public schools have. As regards goals for the next practicum period, this experience gave me the opportunity to understand the interactions that are possible within the classroom. I will plan my classes taking into account the situations that might happen in the classroom. I would like to challenge my teaching skills by using other approaches and methods and use other strategies, or include extensive reading for example, in order to see how this really works in reality.


Thinking Inward

The experience was meaningful in several aspects. During the observation period, the teachers informed me about problems regarding students’ personal issues and school limited resources. I knew it would a challenging experience but I did not know it would be so rewarding. Even though students were not exposed to the language all the time, I felt pleased when they were able to cope with the lessons in English. This encourages me to keep doing research on young learners’ acquisition and dreaming with the possibility of using English no matter their previous experience with the language and their background knowledge. Students made me feel that I was doing something worthy for them and for their future.

In all, I believe that I developed my practicum coherently, putting into practice the concepts learnt throughout the course of studies. I tried to make lively, interesting and funny classes in which, students were able to learn and produce communicative outcomes, as well as enjoy and have fun in the process. The experience showed me that the activities were successful most of the times, even though some of them did not work as I planned because of some interruptions regarding school activities.

Working with young learners in a public school showed me the reality of state education and the lack of resources and help teachers suffer every day. I learnt that even though this overall picture, teachers still are able to teach to students based on their knowledge and passion. Students were great and loving and accepted me, making me feel that I was doing something good for them.

Thinking Outward

As I developed throughout this paper, the experience was enriching and successful to me. Unfortunately, I was exposed to the suffering of a young boy due to his family issues and I needed to be prepared to help him whenever he had a nervous breakdown. The teachers at the institution helped me all the time and offered me their advices based on their experience on how to cope with this situation. It was great for me that they have shared their experience with me. It helped me a lot to understand how to face those issues when coming into the classroom.

These problems gave me experience and made me reflect on some future problems I might find when teaching in public schools. The conclusions I drew from this will lay the foundations for my professional development, as well as my tutor´s guidance and my classmates’ contributions on my blog page and forums. I felt supported by my tutor regarding this difficult but enriching experience.

Personal Conclusions

As an overall picture, I would say that my first practicum period was successful. I was able to design and teach four classes of 60 minutes each for a group of 25 ten-year-old students who have had little experience with English. I was able to propose and carr y out all the activities that I had designed, even though some of them triggered an aggressive outcome among them, which needed a small talk on the subject from my part afterwards. They showed interest in the class, they got involved in the tasks and they enjoyed the English class, what for


me was one of the most important aspects. Also, their communicative outcomes were in English which I found this a great result since they were not exposed to the language in their previous classes.

I received good feedback on the part of the English teacher and the rest of the school staff congratulated me. I felt comfortable teaching there as the whole community was really nice to me and helped me in everything I needed. Feedback on the part of my tutor taught me how to plan effectively even though the issues I experienced on regard the boy with personal problems.

I know that there are still aspects I need to improve and re-read some of the didactics material learned during the course of studies to make my teaching better. Classroom management was especially difficult for me at first because I had never dealt with a student which suffered from nervous breakdowns in class. As regards planning, I need to revisit the bibliography and improve the organization of the task I proposed. Thanks to the teachers at the institution and the advice from my tutors I was able to improve a lot.

Finally, the experience helped me with my teaching development and changed the way I understand children´s learning needs. Also, I learnt how to deal with students who are not used to have classes in English or they are not used to being exposed to resources other than the course book. Now, I can plan better classes knowing how students actually think and behave inside the classroom.

In the last class I taught, I left the institution as a new person and teacher. I learnt a lot about teaching in public schools, how teachers working together can overcome difficulties and how young children still see the teacher as someone they can trust. I was really happy to see the progress of the students as regards comprehension in English, even though they were not used to listening to the language. Now, I have a clear picture of what really happens inside a classroom in a public school and this experience will definitely change me as a teacher and a as a person.


Education

Correccion final assessment report primary practicum revise