I AM A TEACHER is a reflection that opened my eyes and my heart in this lovely profession when I was younger, it was a present from my teacher John Whelan when I studied the teacher´s training at the UNAM. I share this reflection hoping you can enjoy it as much as I do.



CARTA LIBERACIÓN DE SERVICIO SOCIAL

MONTHLY REPORT

MONTHLY REPORT

MONTHLY REPORT

MONTHLY REPORT

Lesson Plan Template

My reflections

After identifying the lack of use of lesson plans in LEEDS SCHOOL where I am surrender my social service, I decide to develop a unit plan where teachers will be able to develop one lesson plan template and use it in next classes or level. The objective is that teachers who are not familiar with lesson plans, the will be able to work on them at the end of this semester. In order to let them know the importance of doing lesson plans and the benefits that they will have as soon as they know how to use them; I arranged some meetings with my colleagues where we discussed and identified the necessities that we have in class, like the use of material, the time, the procedure in the activities and the interaction among students which is of the main goals in each class.

The starting it was not easy, because most of the colleagues were not interested in learning about lesson plans besides that, it was also difficult to arrange proper times for the meetings. However, the few that we worked together, we could develop a lesson plan template, regardless to our necessities pointing out our organization and knowledge about how to work with a lesson plan, the results were reflected in several aspects in our teaching in an effective way.

Working with my colleagues was very rewarding, especially because I did not any of them before to attend my social service and they were very kind with me. Unfortunately, our interaction and meetings were very short because of lack of time. If I had had time, I would have invested in researches regardless to lesson plans, I would like to work a little more about this resource with my current colleagues, I hope that we can arrange our times and work together some day.

 

Bloom´s taxonomy was originally created by Bengamin Bloom for categorizing and classifing levels of intellectual learning that commonly occur in the classroom setting. I presented the bloom´s taxonomy in my unit plan for a helpful resource for teachers who are unsure about how to develop objectives and how to reach  them at the end of a course, class or activity. 

Bloom's taxonomy was originally created Benjamin Bloom for categorizing and classifying levels of intellectual learning that commonly occur in the classroom setting.Read more at http://www.articlealley.com/what-is-blooms-taxonomy-18775.html?ktrack=kcplink



The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF) is the European guideline used internationally to describe the level of fluency achieved by a foreign language learner, suitable for absolute beginners to advanced speakers.

In my action plan, I used the Common European Framework in order to let teachers know about how to use it and how they can follow SS´track and their  progress in each level in a reliable way.

Modelo Educativo Siglo XXI

CARACTERISTICAS DE UN DOCENTE

JOINT PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITY

Developing a communicative class is one of my favorite activities, because I can share with my students ideas and problems where we can offer possible solutions in order to Students lose the fear of speaking English in class and where they can perform the language according to the topics that are relevant in their working area.

This class was designed for pre-intermediate business students and the topic is related to Guest and visitors in their companies, where they will be able to discuss about travelling, explaining the reasons for a business visit, and how to welcome visitors to their place at work. Before to plan this activity, I made sure that the group includes people who regularly travel for business or who have experienced of welcoming visitors to their place of work.  

The activities where developed in this order:

Activity1. -  I arranged the Ss seats in a circle in order to students interact face to face in the activity. I wrote in the board the following sentences that they have to interact providing their own experiences:

·         List the reasons why someone might visit a company.

·         Thinks of way in which you might entertain them in the evening.

·         What are the pros and cons of travel (for business)

·         Tell your partner about your travel experiences.

These sentences were discussed one by one in order to make them interact by themselves, in this activity I could make some questions related to their opinions but I also made them to ask about their experience and at the same time I monitored the activity walking around the circle.

Activity2. -  I provided a short abstract that contains a survey related to travel for business, love it or hate it? After student´s reading the abstract they have to debate about the next questions:

·         Are most business travelers positive or negative about business travel?

·         How close are the views of the travelers in the survey to your own views?

Students have to consider their own experiences and they have to agreeing or disagreeing in this debate; in order to increase their development, I suggested students to ask direct questions to them in order to know their different point of views where they would be able to increase their interaction.

                      Activity 3. - I asked students to discuss some questions in pairs and after that they have to provide a short feedback about their discussion to the class.

• Q1. How often do you have guest or visitor in your company?
• Q2. How do you entertain them?
• Q3. How often do you travel for work?
• Q4. What do you think of the hospitality you receive when you travel for work?
• Q5. Do you prefer being the visitor or the host?

After finishing the class I received good comments about the activities presented from my students, they felt comfortable in class because they talked about a familiar topic where they felt secure in their performance, besides that, students could work either alone or in pairs which is a great challenge for adult students, the experience was very productive at the end.

PROFESSIONAL PARTNER DIALOGUE

After being observed by my partner related to my lesson plan we have figured it out some elements of the unit that were very useful, such as the material used, the organization of the activities which emphasize the correct use of the structures. However, we also found that the general objective contemplates several elements that cannot be covered efficiently in just one session, as a result we consider necessary to chose only one grammar point in order to avoid confusion and achieve a complete understanding of the topic that focus on its production.

Pointing out the advantages and the drawbacks of the unit, it wouldn’t be possible make them without my partner´s help who after observing my performance she helped me to find out my errors which we worked together in the improvements in the unit. For making the upgrading in the unit, we considered necessary to use the five standards for effective pedagogy and learning which helped us to identify the errors in the unit. To tell you the truth, it was not difficult to make an agreement in identifying the errors on it because I already knew my weaknesses and strengths in teaching children.

I consider important to mention that the unit was designed for a children group that I do not use to work with that type of students,  because most of the times I feel under pressure working with them and out of my comfort area (I usually work with young adults and adults) but I know that for teachers do not have barriers among student´s age which it make me work harder in this area.

The experience was very helpful but a little bit stressing because it was not easy to arrange a proper schedule according to our needs. It this activity, I suggest to include more time in the partner’s conversation due to the fact that we work in different schedules and places. However, in this activity we could consider and found out very important aspects in our teaching practice, especially with the age that the lesson plan was developed for.

SITUATED LEARNING

Situated learning theory proposed that students develop a greater understanding and learn more efficiently where they are engaging in an activity in the applicable to the lesson.  This theory was developing by Jean Leave and Etienne Wegner (1991) who believe that learning normally occurs in a function of the activity, context and culture in which occurs. This theory was also expounded by Brown, Collins and Duguid in the article “Situated cognition and the culture of learning” in 1989 but they were agreed that Jean leave work provided the research base for this theory.

Lave also states (1991) that learning is a function of the activity, context and culture in which it occurs, which contrasts with most classrooms learning which is abstract and out of the context. In the educational part where this theory has been use we can apply two basic principles of situated cognition into classroom practice like: present in authentic context a topic and encourage social interaction and collaboration among students.

Applying this theory seems to be easy to use into the educational context. However, there are several characteristics that we have to bear in mind before to use them into the classroom. According to McLellan (1991) there is a set of six critical factors; apprenticeship, collaboration, reflection, coaching, multiple practice and articulation which show that as students gain more self-confidence and control , they will be able to move into a more autonomous phase of collaborating learning, where they being participate consciously to culture.

Reflecting about McLellan critical factors, I would like to adopt them in order to make students realize about their conceptual knowledge and make meaningful and functional their learning, especially in the L2 context where most of the times my students do not care or they do not know about the importance of learning a second language.

Situated cognition can help me undoubtedly in my social service because I am willing to promote social interaction and cultural communication among my students. Besides that, I would like to develop functional and authentic activities where students will be able to perform in a reflective way and where they will be able to apply all the knowledge that they have learned and being ready to use it outside the classroom walls.

Brown, Collins and Duguid, (1989) they formulate a "cognitive apprenticeship" strategy of instruction, since kills and strategies do not transfer well when they are not learned in situated contexts. I totally agree with them about their statement “something can only be understood through use”. With this strategy, it comes to my mind the importance of teaching grammar point rules and set a communicative and cultural context where students will be able to understand the grammar rules and perform that situation in a real way, where the ideas will stay in a permanent way rather a vague content, the purpose of doing this is that Students will be able to develop the language in a real cultural environment and they will keep the information into their brain in a functional way.

In my social service practice I will provide as many resources as possible related to cultural y social aspects in order to enable student´s participation and collaboration in class. I also would like to promote reflection about the activities done, and I will provide proper assessment in order to promote confidence in their performance of their activities.

Monthly Report

Monthly Report

 

ACTION PLAN

LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE

ACTIVITY 3 

NEEDS ANALYSIS

Leeds United Language School.

I will present my Social Service at Leeds United Language School that is a private school. After following the needs analysis I found out that they teach general English for kids, young and adult people and business English for companies. The makeup of the students is three minimum and seven maximum in the general English and it provides personalized business classes inside or outside the school as well. The school provides technological devices such as Videos, computers, internet, printers and audio books; they organize conversational clubs where students can improve the speaking area.  They use lesson plans provided by the books. After interviewing the teachers I noticed the lack of lesson planes create them by the own teachers, they usually take the lesson plans provided by the books, I consider necessary to implement lesson plans formats for each class create them for the teachers according to their student´s needs using Benjamin´s Bloom taxonomy where teachers can improve the cognitive, affective and psychomotor in their classes and follow a formal track in their performance in class.

According to the school´s coordinator she mentioned that they try to invest time in developing the communicative skills to the students especially for adult students who find difficult to manage the oral skill successfully. 

In my social service I am planning to improve my teaching in all areas for all levels. However, I am also interested in working with my colleges and the coordinator and provide as much information as possible about the importance and benefits of doing lesson plans by teachers and including them in the teacher´s report or the studies program inside of the institution. The use of the material is another point that I would like to improve in my teaching, sometimes teacher do not invest in this area because of the time but it is important to reflect about it in order to provide quality and variety in the teaching practice.

I really hope that all the knowledge that I have received in this BA could help to the institutions where I am doing my social service and I am look forward to sharing my ideas with my colleges in the school.

Activity 1. Identification of Academic Goals

My reflection when I completed the questionnaire was very positive. I did not realize that I have covered a lot of important aspects in my teaching experience. My teaching life has been very constructive not only in my professional life but also in the personal one. I still remember when I was a child and my favorite game was to perform the role of a teacher or a business woman, it sounds funny but both roles I am performing them successfully so far.  

 It is true that there are aspects that I need to improve in the teaching area for example; to figure it out about which materials are suitable for my students and implement more and active techniques in where my students will be able to follow in an easily way their L2 learning . I also would like to implement enjoyable and meaningful classes where my students feel happy about what they have learned, and where they can use the language in a functional way. I am pretty sure that all the aspects that I need to improve in my teaching I am going to complete them pretty soon, meanwhile I am updating and studying so hard in my bachelor in order to reach my professional goal.