Week journal 4 (21 February 2014)

Week 4, Period 3
 Learning aim: -Reflect during our first 'intervision' session with Aranka Holtland.
                           -Discuss Roos van Leary

 

Significant Situation

On Thursday, the 20th of February 2014 I asked all sixteen of the 2IGH1 students to take an online survey (Roos van Leary) about the way I teach. All of the students filled it in that day and therefore, I will be discussing the outcome of this 'Roos van Leary' survey in this blog post.

Reflection

The above diagram is my outcome.
The indicators are as follow: leading, friendly, understanding, gives you space, uncertain, dissatisfied, corrective, and lastly strict.

The three dominating aspects are: 1. understanding 2. friendly and 3. leading. 

I really appreciate that the students picked those three aspects, because they are the three that I truly try to show with every and each of my class.
I believe the effect of being understanding and friendly is the fact that they will listen to you, because you cut some time in your schedule to listen to them. This leads up to why they would think I'm leading and in most cases in order to do this positively, students need to give you the room to lead them, which comes easier when students feel that they are being led the right way.
I believe that this class notices that I take some time to talk to them about their lives when I can during my lesson and outside of class and that's fantastic. I will definitely keep on doing that.
This situation is important for me, because I want to let the same group of students take the same survey again before the end of my internship in order to compare and contrast my own progress as a teacher. This will give me valuable insights through the students' perspective.
I value the students' feedback, because it makes me reflect on their answers. It makes me re-think the way I teach or it makes me feel good about the choices I've made.
In conclusion, I am a very understanding, friendly and leading teacher and that's great but I also have two weak points I know all too well and would like to work on. These points for improvement are listed below.

 

Focus: being stricter & correcting the students more.

How:
1. Stating my rules clearly and reinstating them every lesson.
This means that I will tell the students what exactly my rules are. For instance, have your book with you, do your homework, e-mail me when I say so, respect others, do not curse in class. Kicking students out is definitely what I need to be consistent in with regards to being stricter as a teacher.
I tolerate too much during my lessons by letting disorderly behavior slide that the students are not getting the feeling that I can be strict. This year I will focus on being stricter by applying the rules above in every single class.
2. Correcting the students more.
I will do that by addressing students’ behavior by having individual talks regarding what I see or hear during the class. I will pay more attention to their specific behavior during my lessons.
I will do this, have individual talks, because then there will be no distraction from the other students. I think this strongly has to do with stating what you want to see in the class; what your 'desired' behavior looks like. 

I will come back to these learning points in the blog post for March 28 2014. 

Internship Progress

Next week, it's Spring vacation! Have a good one, Reader.
Until the week thereafter!

Week journal 3 (14 February 2014)

Week 3, Period 3
Learning aim: Be more strict and kick students out.

Significant Situation

In week 2, my colleagues told me that I was being way too nice with the students, because the policy was if the students didn't have their books then it was my job to kick them out and register them via Rapid as 'absent'. I wasn't doing this thinking that I was not giving the students a chance to learn in my classroom if I were to kick them out. However, my colleagues stopped this thought immediately by saying that the students weren't in high school anymore. That this was community college (MBO) and that they were old enough to decide to learn or not to learn. Moreover, by proving to me that they wanted to be in my lesson they had to show me by bringing the right materials for each class.
That is exactly what I did at the start of the lesson with the rowdiest class I have. I asked the students if they had their books with them and the ones who didn't, I told them to leave right away and for them to join me another day when they did have their books with them.

Reflection

Honestly, this was tough for me to do because I want the students to stay in the classroom, to try to learn regardless of the fact that they didn't bring their books. Although, I knew my colleagues were 100% right about the students being old enough to choose. I really think I still have the high school ideals (I've interned two years in a row at VMBO), which is apparently an obstacle for me when the book-less students start to misbehave for lack of knowing what to do, boredom, etc.
The effect for kicking students out is that they will take me seriously and if they want to pass English, they will be there for my next class book in tow.
The students that I had to kick out tried making excuses, but I stayed firm and didn't let them back in. I'm sure they were all bewildered that they actually had to bring their books to class, because I'm usually so lenient.
I got as feedback from the other students that it was about time I kicked those guys out (they mostly didn't do anything).
This was a very important situation for me, because it was difficult to do but necessary in order for the students to take my rules and policies seriously.
The values that come to mind for this situation is respect and obedience. What this says about me as a teacher is the fact that I want my students to respect my rules in order to work in a healthy working environment not only for themselves but for all the students.
To sum it all up, kicking students out was hard for me but it's necessary as a teacher to have rules and for the students to know exactly what they are. I should voice my rules in order to ensure no miscommunications between my students and I.
This will continue to be something I work on, because I want to be concise with reinforcing my class rules. I will keep you posted on my progress as the weeks go by. 

Internship Progress

Next week, I'll be having my first 'intervision' session with Ankara Holtland. She is an economics student/teacher who is also interning at Deltion, Zwolle.
 Until next week!

Week journal 2 (7 February 2014)

 

Week 2, Period 3

 Materials:
1.http://busyteacher.org/10193-your-dream-company-business-english-worksheet.html
2. http://busyteacher.org/17981-write-and-present-the-news.html

 

Significant Situation

During my second week at Deltion in Zwolle, I substituted for one of my coach's classes. This class, 1IGH4, is the rowdiest class of the whole IGH first year department. Thankfully, there were barely ten students and they were attentive, creative and even cooperative.
Firstly, we checked the homework together which only took roughly 20 minutes so afterwards I handed them the two speaking handouts. For the first speaking activity, Your Dream Company, I asked the students to write the answers to the questions and then get up from their chairs and tell the rest of the group about their dream company in English. I walked around checking to see whether they understood the activity, they were actually speaking English and I corrected their grammar or pronunciation when necessary.
After two 'switching' rounds I asked them to sit back down and I asked a couple of them about their dream company.
Afterwards during the second speaking activity, Write and Present the News, I made two groups (one of four, the other of five) and assigned them each with a role. One or two (depending on the group) students were the news anchor, one a witness, one a sports anchor, and the last one was the weather man. I told them that they should first write down what they want to say and the structure of their news program (who's going to go first, etc.). Each group had to present for five minutes in front of the class.
Some students did better than others but it was fun to see and hear how creative some students were. I was even shocked by how well one of the 'rowdy' students presented his part in English.

Reflection

I chose to focus on the language skill speaking because it was Friday and these speaking activities were specifically meant for the bodily kinaesthetic inclined students. These activities were meant to be fun but also challenging for their English language skills development.
I was very firm with the students and told them exactly what I expected from them behavior-wise and presentation-wise. I did this by giving them guidelines and rules e.g. you have five minutes, be quiet, write your feedback, you have one minute, speak English, do not laugh at others, etc. The effect of this was that even though it was my first time with these students they understood how I operated as a teacher and what my rules were.
The students themselves told me how much they loved the activities because it got them moving and doing something different. Initially, most students were surprised that the lesson was going to be entirely in English but afterwards they enjoyed speaking English and the ones that weren't comfortable yet spoke to me in Dutch which I told them was okay to do.
As mentioned above, the students were very positive when I asked for their feedback. Some students even asked if I was going to be their new teacher, which was very sweet. It really made my day to hear that.
This feedback was important to me because it's always nice to have positive feedback from students, because it shows I am doing something they enjoy. Also, it tells me they enjoy activities that get them out of their comfort zone (presenting in front of the class in English).
As a teacher, this lesson was valuable because it gives the students an opportunity to practice what they've learned from the grammar chapters. The students need to feel that they are improving in the language acquisition department and that they learn grammar, vocab, etc. for a reason. There's a clear goal and that's being able to communicate in English.
I would focus on the bodily kinaesthetic learning style more often because it fits with MBO students who are mostly stationary during their lessons. I will do this by finding more materials via http://busyteacher.org/ or some other online website. I might also use the Drama Techniques:A resource book of communication activities for language teachers by Alan Maley & Alan Duff.
In conclusion, I've learned to get the students motivated by using ready-made speaking activities that helps students with their English language skills.

Internship Progress

In week 3 I will be teaching the usual three classes and focusing on being more stern when students don't have their books and kicking rackety students out.
Until next week!

Week journal 1 (31 January 2014)

Week 1, Period 3

LESSON PLAN FORM

student: Lily C. Henriquez M. coach: Alexandra Andreassen lesson number: 1 date: 27-01-2014   group : 21GH1   number of pupils: 20

BEFORE THE LESSON:

subject of the lesson: location, job-seeking	summary of  the previous lesson with this group: N.A
skills/knowledge pupils need for this lesson: The students need to be able to understand spoken English and need to be able to converse with one another on their own level. The students need to be able to actively participate.	lesson aims – what is it pupils are able to do or / what do they know at the end of the lesson: Unit 7: The students will be able to realize the importance of ‘placement’ when it comes to marketing. Also, the students will be able to learn about Arabia, English collocations, multi-part verbs, making an appointment and the future tense.
anticipated problems in teaching and learning: N.A	anticipated problems in this group: N.A
personal learning aims for this lesson: My personal aims for this lesson are to try to make the students participate during this lesson.

The lesson: 90 minutes

Time	Sub aims	teacher activities	learner activities	lesson organization: - indiv./pair/group work - learning tools and media - special circumstances
15min 10 min    45min 20min	My sub-aim is to try to greet everybody before class starts. My sub-aim is to keep a check on the time that I have left. My sub-aim is to be concise when explaining something.	I will introduce myself to the students.   I will write the topic on the board. I will explain what we are going to be doing during this lesson by going through today’s schedule, which will be on the board. I will write my first notes on the blackboard with the student’s help. I will answer any of the students’ questions. I will go through two exercises of chapter 7 with the students then I will walk around answering any of their questions. I will give turns to some students and correct the students when they make slight mistakes. I will then say good-bye to the students.	The students listen and ask question when necessary. The students raise their hands when they want to answer a question, sit, and listen with open ears. The students can ask questions about the exercises, if they do not understand something. The students will continue working on their unit alone or in pairs. The students will correct themselves and/or give their answers. The students will also listen to their teacher and classmates.	I will write the topic on the blackboard: to be (present simple). I will also write today’s schedule for the class to see before the class starts: 1. Introduction 2. Classwork: Unit 7 3. Correct answers

 Significant Situation

During my first week at Deltion in Zwolle, I taught 2IGH1 first. Before starting with what was on the planner for this week (Unit 7) I asked the students to tell me their names, their hobbies, where they're from and how many languages they speak. It took quite some time to go around the room because some students wanted to tell me more about themselves.

Reflection

I chose to let the students tell me about themselves because getting to know them and them getting to know me is a step in the right direction even if it takes time. Moreover, students will start to get used to me faster, trust me and feel more comfortable in my class if I give them the time to.
Hopefully, the effect of doing this is that the students will feel that I can relate to them, which makes me more approachable.
I think the students enjoyed talking about themselves in English especially the ones who are good at speaking in the target language. I realized for many students this was a new experience. Moreover, none of them refused to speak in English. They all participated quite nicely.
My coach, Mrs. Andreassen told me that I need to talk slower and give the students enough time. She is of course one hundred percent right. I do tend to speak faster because I speak English daily and it is a natural habit. One of my POPs for each internship year is to speak slower and to keep in mind the level of the students in order to adapt my speech accordingly.
I take my time getting to know the students in order to  focus on C2 (pedagogy) to build a safe and pleasant learning environment.
In conclusion, to start off with there should always be a 'meet-and-great' moment where the students get to know you and you get to know the students in order to work on the learning environment.

Internship Progress

In week 2 I will be teaching 3 classes (1IGH3, 1IGH5, 2IGH1) completely alone. Also, I will be substituting for my coach on the 7th of February (1IGH4).
Until next week!