The Institution:
The private school
"Nuestra Señora de la Misericordia" from Casilda is a respected and
recognized institution with the aim of showing the Divine Kingdom of Mercy. With
this style of education, the institution has 105 years of experience leaving
footprints in the city: in the lives of their students, former students and their
sons.
The institution
is a congregational school of "Las Hijas de Nuestra Señora de la
Misericordia" which belongs to the religious province of Rosario. Its goal
is to promote the full realization of the person according to God's plan.
With regard to
the educational proposal, the school is committed to the ideology of "Nuestra
Señora de la Misericordia", interested in humanizing, predisposed to
continuous updating, open to dialogue with the family, and creative and
innovative.
Since I could not teach in a place which I do not known because I must respect certain rules and ideologies, I tried to know the institution in order to promote learning according to its style of training. This helped me put myself in the place where I will make observations and practices, and to feel part of the teaching team, knowing I am able to contribute with my actions to the students' education.
This is a brief description of the group:
These are my lesson plans for them:
And these are the journals:
Personal evaluation about this period:
With
the intention of gain a deeper understanding of my own practicum, I evaluated
it through thinking about it retrospectively in order to revisit it from a
different perspective.
In
order to do this, I recalled which the original aims were and wonder whether
they were reached or not. I also remembered activities and noticed how
significant they were for the students.
Furthermore,
I tried to be aware not only of other’s points of view but also of my emotions
and feelings about this teaching experience.
What
is more, I though about the future and how this experience could help me to
improve.
All
in all, in this personal evaluation I present doubts, problems, and
other outcomes which appeared during the teaching experience process and how
they were solved (or not).
To
think back about this experience from a different point of view, I asked myself
about the original aim, if the activities and resources used were coherent with
it, and if it was significant for the learners.
To
start with the reflection about my performance, I thought about the materials,
resources, and strategies I used and about how significant they were for the
students. I remember all the children were extremely happy when I presented a
poster with famous characters they loved, and when I asked some of them to hold
some pictures for me as if they were my secretaries. They were also eager to
colour, sing and dance when they were asked to.
Then,
to think forward and to know what aspects would be necessary to change in order
to improve my teaching, I thought about what changes I would make if I had to
develop this practice again. I tried to recall the problems I had to face and I
think they were no so many.
One
of the main problems I had was the little amount of vocabulary and the little
time of exposure to the language these children had because these issues set
limits to my planning ideas. Most of the
resources I would have loved to employ were too difficult for them, so I
preferred giving them speaking practice though singing songs which brought
together all the language done in class (family members, colours). Since they
knew little vocabulary, students often answered in their mother tongue and then
I recasted what they said in English. As well, unless I gave familiar commands
to them, I used English and their mother tongue immediately after so that they
can make a connection between both languages. All in all, I think I could
handle the problem of lack of vocabulary and provide them with valuable input.
Another
problem was presentation of teaching points since I was not able to present
them in a proper context. Although it seems as an easy task to do, introducing
new material it is not always so simple. What I did was able to do was to call
students’ attention with attractive materials and to link the new items to the
already known ones. Consequently, students could manage to understand new items
and also to use them later in the songs or games anyway (production stage).
Therefore,
my future pedagogical decisions should be different as far as presentation of
new items is concerned: I must rethink the whole question of presentation of
new material in context.
When
thinking inward I can say that I had encountered feelings when starting the
period. First, as everything which is new, I was scared. But I was focus only
on me and on my practicum. Little by little I understood that I was not the
only actor in this process because children were also involved: no matter how
much I plan, the response was always a bit out of my control since there were
other people on the other side. After some time I started to get confident, and
at the end I was sad to have come to an end.
Lastly,
thinking outward and reflecting on the world around us, I cannot help remembering the local teacher
viewpoint regarding the use of mother tongue in the classroom. When I did the
observations I could noticed she used mother tongue a lot in instructions, but
always accompanied with the corresponding instruction in English. She explained
to me that she did so because children would not understand in another way and
suggested me to do the same. At first I did because I did not want to upset
her, but then I realized that it was more important to help children to use the
language than not to upset the local teacher, and decided to use that technique
only when it was suitable. This last reflection made me think that it will
always be someone who thinks differently. Therefore, if I am not sure how to
act, I should investigate what the best options are and act as I think it is
best.
In
conclusion, a few problems appeared during my teaching practice: the students’
level of English was lower than I expected and I failed in introducing new
teaching points in context.
Regarding
the first problem, I did a lot of research in order to know what the best activities
and strategies to work with those groups were. As a consequence, I was able to
plan and deliver meaningful lessons in spite of it.
Concerning
the second problem, I decided I should do more research on the topic so as to
improve my skills in this issue. Then, I hope to be better prepared for the
next practicum level.
Finally,
the whole experience was enriching and useful. It allowed me to put into practice and see in action all the
theories I had studied, and it made me aware of which are the aspects I need to
improve in.
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