08 June

My teaching practice 2021 - Self-evaluation #10

Hi!

Welcome to the last entry of the teaching practice 2021 series!

Today I would like to talk to you about my challenges and aims for the future as a teacher as well as some final conclusions after the teaching practice.

In my opinion, I have already gained a lot of knowledge and experience but there are still some areas which can be improved. As a highly sensitive person and an introvert, I made big progress in interpersonal relations. I want to be a more open, enthusiastic, and ready-to-help teacher. I still see a space for improvement here. I can work on giving more clear instructions as well so I will not speak so quietly. For my professional development, I would like to attend a course or training to become a CLIL teacher. Thanks to this practice I had a chance to conduct this kind of lessons and I really liked how they turned out.

Reaching final conclusions I am extremely proud of my CLIL unit about platypuses which I conducted. It went very well and students were happy about it as it tackled their areas of interest. The most rewarding thing was my mentor teacher's message which said that the pupils asked about me coming back to their school and wanted her to continue the topic of platypuses which I started. She also has sent me a few pictures and said that they still remember a lot from my classes! I am sharing a few photos of children's amazing work below. I am very proud of these 3rd graders and thankful for such a great opportunity that will stay with me forever.

The effort and heart that I put into designing those lessons are really worth it.

Zuzanna

THE PRETTIEST PLATYPUSES I HAVE EVER SEEN!



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08 June

My teaching practice 2021 - Self-evaluation #9

Hello!

Welcome back to the teaching practice 2021 series!

In this entry, I would like to continue my self-evaluation after school placement. Personally, I think it is a good opportunity to look at myself from a different point of view.

When I think about my attitude towards pupils I see myself as a very calm and nice person. During my practice, I tried my best to learn the students' names as soon as possible and introduce myself as I am a new person entering their classroom. My mentor teacher helped me a lot by giving children space to ask me a question so we can get to know each other. I have to admit that it is hard for me to maintain strict discipline because of my shy and patient character but when I am teaching I try to establish clear rules for both sides to follow and stick to. I am respectful and kind to every student, parent, and teacher. My assessment is always supported by giving proper feedback. I want to treat my pupils as a group, community but also as individuals to fulfill their needs best. 

When it comes to me as a learner I see huge progress. I like to receive constructive feedback from which I can learn more and improve. Thanks to the abilities gained during my studies I can analyze and reflect on the learning and teaching process. I also learned a lot even from preparing lessons. My personality changed and now I feel more open and ready to explore new approaches to language education like CLIL or PYP.

Along with experience comes confidence but also many challenges and failures. 

Zuzanna

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08 June

My teaching practice 2021 - Self-evaluation #8

Hi!

Welcome back to the teaching practice 2021 series!

I am slowly finishing the teaching practice 2021 series with a few reflection words. In this post, I want to tackle two important aspects of perceiving myself as a teacher.

Firstly, I want to share my thoughts about my potential as a teacher. Right now, after 3 years of my bachelor's studies on early education and teaching English, entering master's studies and a few internships I feel more and more convinced that it is a perfect profession for me. I try to perform competently every time I have a chance to teach and meet with students. In my opinion I am a very creative, flexible and well-organised person. Thanks to teaching practices, I have learned how to deal with difficulties and accept criticism. In my temporary workplace - at the clothing store - I was thought how to work in a fast-paced environment and under pressure but this school placement made me more open to other's needs. Being a teacher I would like to meet my pupils' expectations and create a nice space for them to learn and grow.

Secondly, I would like to talk to you about organisation and implementation of a didactic process. I can surely say that I am able to form appropriate lesson aims and objectives. I think I am aware of students' abilities at a certain level of English and I can adjust my teaching to their needs. While preparing lesson plans I always choose the materials very carefully, select proper methods and forms of children's work. If needed I can easily provide justification for my teaching decisions. I believe in students in my classroom and try to motivate them. In order to do this I also provide pupils' with feedback focused on their good work and give a chance to improve.

To conclude, I am very grateful for this experience. I was not convinced at first to do my practice in the middle of a Covid-19 pandemic lockdown but now I am very happy that I tried. Remote learning mode has shown me a whole different side of teaching and I will be forever thankful for this opportunity.

Zuzanna

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08 June

My teaching practice 2021 - Error management #7

Hello!

Welcome back to the teaching practice 2021 series!

Today I would like to share with you some thoughts about errors and how the pupils react to being corrected. I am also going to write a few words about the teacher's feedback on pupils' errors during the lesson I have observed in the 1st grade. It was mainly about the vocabulary connected to rooms which we can find in the house.

During the lesson, the teacher was showing students cards with the written names of the rooms in the house. Their task was to read the name and answer a few easy questions. Kids were asked to do so one by one. Firstly a girl tried to read "dining room" but she said "diving" instead of "dining". The teacher asked her if she was sure that it was read correctly. She answered she was not sure and her peers read it aloud once again for her. She also repeated the phrase "dining room" and everything seemed to be fine. After a few good readings, another mistake appeared. This time it was a boy who has read "living room" correctly but was not able to answer the teacher's question: "Do you cook in the living room?". My mentor teacher asked the same question to the whole class but no one seemed to know to answer. I think she got angry at this point and decided to show children a card with a written Polish name for "living room" - "salon". They repeated this phrase in English together a few times to remember it better.

In my opinion, the teacher got a bit angry and felt disappointed because they were reading and revising these rooms at the beginning of most of the lessons. At that point, my mentor thought children should remember what do these words mean and how to read them. She used students' first language to correct the error. I think it was not necessary at all. As teachers, we have to be very patient and aware of our students' moods and feelings. A good idea would be to revise the vocabulary once again and elicit it by showing different pictures. I have to add that I really liked peer corrections and help from other kids. It was very nice and "the reader" did not feel disturbed.

Correcting pupils' errors is not an easy task for a teacher. There are situations when students should not be corrected immediately but here the correct version was needed in order to do the task.

What do you think about error corrections? Should they be immediate?

Zuzanna

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26 May

My teaching practice 2021 - Teaching materials #6

Hi!

Welcome back to the teaching practice 2021 series!

In this entry, I would like to share with you some thoughts about the use of teaching materials by the teacher. In my opinion, the choice of teaching materials affects the process of learning and teaching. Picking the proper aids can sometimes decide whether the lesson would be successful or not. Today I will focus on the lesson conducted in 3rd grade and it was mainly practicing listening and reading skills.

In this classroom, the students and the teacher have a coursebook from the "Starkids" series published by Express Publishing. There is a pupil's book and an activity book "Starkids 3" for 3rd graders. The teacher said that this coursebook is not very extra but it is minimum what they need to know. Students seemed to be quite pleased with those books. Another advantage of the coursebook is its online version with interactive tasks which makes the teacher's work a little bit easier with this remote learning and teaching situation.

During the lesson, kids were listening and following the comic story about the childhood of the characters from the book. They had a few tasks to do. One of them was to listen and tick the correct sentence that appeared in the story. Another task was to fill in the gaps and explain - "Who said that?". I think that students really liked the characters and the story. Then children were practicing reading together by roles.

I can say that during this lesson students were effectively practicing reading and listening skills. The teacher also told me that she is required to work more with the coursebook in remote teaching mode because it is easier for parents to help children with homework and keep up with classes. I am sure she would be willing to use more varied teaching aids when it would be no longer distance teaching.

What do you think about coursebooks? Are they good teaching aids?

Zuzanna

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26 May

My teaching practice 2021 - Teacher talk - Student talk #5



Hello!

Welcome back to the teaching practice 2021 series!

Today I would like to tell you a few words about what the teacher says in class and what are students' responses to the teacher talk. This time we are focusing on lessons conducted by my mentor teacher in the 3rd grade.

Firstly, I want to talk about a pupil who - as I noticed - was very active during the class, let's call her pupil A. Student A was always willing to answer a question addressed to her by name. She also responded to some questions asked by the teacher to the whole class, she was raising her hand. When the teacher was talking to the entire group or concentrating on someone else's issues pupil A was patiently waiting. She was talking to the teacher and her peers, answering questions, and expressing her opinions on a given topic. Student A's body language was visible as she kept her camera on all the time. I think that she was paying attention to the teacher's talk and sitting still with little excitement movements.

Let's now focus on pupil B who was a bit less active during the class. Student B had a problem with answering questions addressed to him by name. He was also not very willing to answer open questions to the whole group. He for sure needed the teacher's encouragement to say something. Pupil B preferred to sit quietly and not to be too responsive. I was not able to see him as he always decided to keep his camera off.

When it comes to the teacher, she sometimes addressed the students by name. I understand this because it is a lot easier to conduct a lesson in a remote mode this way. She sounded warm and calm when she spoke to pupils. My mentor praised every answer and encouraged students to talk and do more. If any mistake appeared she was reformulating students' statements and said them once again to make them remember the correct version. To get students' attention she used the "1,2,3.." method and kids were aware of it.  

The teacher always kept her camera on which I think was very helpful for students. She used gestures, facial expressions to make her talk more comprehensible. I did not see any errors during these few lessons. My mentor was encouraging kids like pupil B and was positive and energetic for students like pupil A. It is important to remain calm and not to push too hard because this remote learning and teaching was already a challenge. She is a warm and nice person and in my opinion, these characteristics make her a perfect teacher.

Did you notice children like pupils A and B in your classroom?

Zuzanna

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25 May

My teaching practice 2021 - Instructions #4

Hi!

Welcome back to the teaching practice 2021 series!

In this post, I would like to talk to you about different ways of giving instructions and how my mentor teacher was doing it during practice. Today I will answer a few questions to show you what instructions I noticed while observing the 1st grade lesson.

1. Does the teacher take the register? What does she say? 

The teacher looks at the list on the computer and calls students using MS Teams to remind them about the lesson.

2. How do the students reply?

They simply say who is probably missing.

3. How does the teacher signal the beginning of a new activity?

She tells students what is going to happen. She says "Let's start our lesson" and the class begins.

4. What instructions does the teacher give at the beginning of each activity?

The teacher explains what they are going to do and how. She always says what to prepare for the task and then "Put your hands up on Teams if you are ready".

5. How does the teacher stop the activity?

The teacher says that this activity/task is finished and we can move on. Usually, if it is a task - she checks the answers with students. Then she explains a new one.

6. Does the teacher use mime/gesture/demonstration in her instructions? If so, how? What does she say?

The teacher uses facial expressions and does gestures with her hands. It happens when kids are very close to a good answer and she tries to help them come up with the best idea.

7. Are the instructions clear? Does the teacher keep the instruction simple?

The teacher uses simple words to describe the activity/task. She always makes sure that it is clear for the students what do they have to do.

8. Do pupils understand what they have to do?

In my opinion, pupils do understand what the teacher asks them to do. They also ask additional questions if something seems unclear to them.

9. How does the teacher check if pupils understand instructions?

The teacher asks helpful questions to make sure the students understand. She also asks sometimes to put their hands up on Teams if they know what to do. Thanks to this kids who did not put their hands up can receive the teacher's help.

10. How do the pupils respond to the instructions?

They immediately start working or ask questions if they need additional help.

Thanks to those questions you can see how my mentor teacher was giving instructions in her classroom. I think that giving proper instructions can save a lot of time during lesson and make it more effective and beneficial for pupils. The teacher was also asking a lot of helpful questions like "Did we manage to listen?", "Can you tell me what are you supposed to do?". If it is necessary she also says a few words in Polish - it is the 1st grade and they are still adjusting to the new school situation. She has a lot of empathy for her learners and treats them with respect.

Do you give instructions to your students in their first language too?

Zuzanna

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