Seminar Course

Reflection on Pre-service Practices

Seminar Course (Proposal)

This is the advertisement proposed for the Seminar Course "Reflection on Pre-service Practices"

Developed by:

Hans Humberto Oviedo Gómez

Noryda León Córdoba

Marolly Andrea Vargas Parra

Mauro Suárez Delgado

My Intervention Point

Hans Humberto Oviedo Gómez

Reflective Teaching Course

M. A. Edgar Alirio Insuasty

Neiva, October 16^th, 2015

My Intervention Point: Time management

Based on my 4 Journal entries, my intervention point is about “Time Management”. In this sense, my supports are the following:

“…students do not get lost in the activities and the pacing and time will be better handled…” (Journal Entry 1)

“…Students were working hard but unfortunately the time was not enough…” (Journal Entry 2)

“…Students did not have enough time to prepare and develop well organized scripts and there was one group missing to perform…” (Journal Entry 2)

“…In this opportunity, the biggest trouble I had was related to time…” (Journal Entry 2)

“…Time was not enough to develop the complete workshop and students could not develop the comic strip at the end as was expected…” (Journal Entry 4)

My action Plan:

After focusing my attention on my Journal Entries, I think the best way to handle and tackle “Time management” as my intervention point is by:

1.      Being aware that instructions in the activities were clear and understood. In this sense, students would not get lost in the activities and consequently the time would be better handled.

2.      Being aware of the time and provide students with an “extra minute” to organize their performances in a proper way.

3.      Finally, as a general conclusion, I realized the amount of activities were a trouble. I am totally sure, these difficulties could be overcome by trying to take the most important and meaningful activities to guarantee a success in the lessons.

Exploring my Teaching Beliefs

Hans Humberto Oviedo Gómez

Reflective Teaching Course

M. A. Edgar Alirio Insuasty

Neiva, October 4^th, 2015

Exploring my Teaching Beliefs

1.      What beliefs or assumptions about language learning and language teaching have you held throughout your English language development and your teaching career?

During my experience as a teacher and bearing in mind my writings posted (Professional Autobiography, 4 journal entries, teaching metaphor), I have concluded on the following assumptions:

Teaching and learning imply social relationships

“…I realize the importance of being sociable and friendly with my students, peers and in general, with the community I belong to…” (Teaching Metaphor)

“…I was learning from excellent teachers who taught me not only knowledge, but also experiences and values…” (Professional Autobiography)

“…I want to contribute in at least a small portion of a better future for this and the coming childhoods…” (Professional Autobiography)

“…The activities were interesting to them, they liked to perform in spite of the short time for preparing…” (Journal Entry 2)

“…they were very active at participating and giving their ideas by supporting them…” (Journal Entry 2)

“…They had to take a role in a debate by supporting their arguments and they did it in a good way…”  (Journal Entry 3)

“…This is done to improve and enrich the debate session into a more enjoyable and challenging activity…”  (Journal Entry 3)

“…This activity was meaningful because students were active at participating and…” (Journal Entry 4)

“…I was giving some feedback and allowed students to be aware about what they were missing…” (Journal Entry 4)

Wondering about possible improvements makes the difference

“I can conclude this is an ongoing process, full of opportunities to grow” (Teaching Metaphor)

“…Meanwhile, I was also attending to different courses to improve my English…” (Professional Autobiography)

“…during the afternoons I used to go to the school with the people who had weaknesses to improved, but in my case I went to learn about more topics because I thought in the mornings English classes were not enough…” (Professional Autobiography)

“…Although a picture was presented, students were a little bit confused about the topic. Sometimes, the language I used was not understandable for the students. I should look for other words like synonyms in order to avoid misunderstandings in the instructions…” (Journal Entry 1)

“…there are some aspects I have to improve if I teach this lesson in the future. First, selecting a…” (Journal Entry 1)

“…In practice, in this second session instructions were clearer than the first session and I tried to be sure my students understood what I needed them to understand…” (Journal Entry 2)

“…In this opportunity, I tried to correct the things I had to improve from the previous lesson…” (Journal Entry 2)

“…One of the things that could be improved is the pacing of the Debate in last session. Maybe, there were some misunderstandings about what a debate is although they have the definition and instructions included on the workshop…” (Journal Entry 3)

“…I think what we could improve is to make emphasis in the main differences between those similar words, not only by telling those differences, but putting those words in context since the beginning…”  (Journal Entry 4)

“…Next time, I am totally sure, these difficulties are going to be overcome, by trying to take the most important and meaningful activities to guarantee a success in the lesson…” (Journal Entry 4)

Teachers should be open-minded

“…I relate myself as an open-minded person, ready to learn and ready to teach…” (Teaching Metaphor)

“…At the beginning of the first session students were shy. This could be improved by stating a better “hook” in the anticipatory set and relating it to their prior knowledge…” (Journal Entry 1)

“…I have to be aware that instructions were clear and understood by students…” (Journal Entry 1)

“…this second session instructions were clearer than the first session and I tried to be sure my students understood what I needed them to understand…”  (Journal Entry 2)

“…Although there are some things and features to improve as mentioned above, this one was a good attempt, the objectives proposed were achieved and students were involved into the activities proposed…” (Journal Entry 3)

“…As Teacher Researcher I realized the importance on planning on students’ possible facilities or difficulties…” (Journal Entry 4)

Teaching is a long trip full of benefits and difficulties

“…my teaching practice during these years has showed me the benefits and consequences of my experience…” (Teaching Metaphor)

“…I had the opportunity to teach Basic English Courses to university students about to graduate…” (Professional Autobiography)

“…I started thinking about this profession seriously, I liked the way I taught and I liked the comments my students made upon my way of teaching…” (Professional Autobiography)

“…I could realize that one of the main facts in the first intervention was that objectives were not as clearer as I wanted…” (Journal Entry 1)

“…Time was one of the points that affect the development of the whole class. Students did not have enough time to prepare and develop well organized scripts and there was one group missing to perform…” (Journal Entry 2)

“…At the beginning of the third session students were also shy. But in this opportunity, they faced this fact easily and broke the ice quickly…” (Journal Entry 3)

“…This first activity was a little bit confused because there were some similar words and students got frustrated…”  (Journal Entry 4)

Experiences build good professional educators

“…These two important people in my life have marked and shaped the conception I had about teaching and about being one of them…” (Professional Autobiography)

“…The curious thing in this fast advance, was the fact that I did an English Exam to be promoted, I did it and I approved it! J, this was one of my first direct contacts with English…” (Professional Autobiography)

“…Well, I learnt many things from different fields…” (Professional Autobiography)

“…Something that marked my childhood was that my aunty Zonia was an English teacher, in vacations she used to teach all our family some basic knowledge about this interesting language…” (Professional Autobiography)

“…At the beginning I did not want to be a teacher but opportunities were coming one by one and I started to love this profession…” (Professional Autobiography)

“…Teaching is the best way to build human beings, and that is my principal desire and proposal in my life…” (Professional Autobiography)

“…What I have to improve if I teach this lesson in the future is being aware of the time and provide them with an “extra minute” to organize their performances in a proper way…” (Journal Entry 2)

“…This teaching lesson was a really good experience…” (Journal Entry 4)

2.      What sources have you derived those beliefs or assumptions from?

Facing the challenge of being teachers has not been an easy task. During these years of experience, I have the opportunity to explore the teaching and learning world. Based on those experiences, my beliefs and assumptions mentioned above have been growing every time. These beliefs are based on my personal experiences as teacher and what I think I have to improve. Bearing in mind author’s ideas about teaching, learning and other specific fields related to both, I realized the importance of having such assumptions. Nuñez & Tellez, Tomlinson, Oxford, Kumaravadivelu along with professors I have had the opportunity to meet have help me to build my teaching philosophy.

3.      How would you challenge some of those beliefs?

I personally think the process of challenging my assumptions and beliefs is by taking them as a cycle. Bearing in mind Peters’ (1994) Date process model, as cited in Hillier (2005), I try to tackle the situations presented by: first, describing the problem/situation; second, by analyzing the nature of what I described; then, based on literature, if needed, try to theorize and frame the problem with a possible solution and; finally, by acting on the situation to improve or achieve better results.

Based on those ideas, I am sure in the fact that reflecting on our experiences lived in every lesson would contribute not only to the professional educator’s improvement, but to the learners’ environment they belong to.

References

Hillier, Y. (2005). Reflective Teaching in Further and Adult Education. Continuum.

Teaching Acts

Hans Humberto Oviedo Gómez

Reflective Teaching Course

M. A. Edgar Alirio Insuasty

Neiva, September 30^th, 2015

Conceptualizing my Teaching Acts

What do you usually do as a teacher? With what kind of rationale?

The first thing I do to develop my lessons is to plan what I am going to teach. Planning is the first and one of the most important steps in the learning-teaching gear. After planning the activities, based on methodology, activities, policies, along with others, there is a clear important of preparing, design and organizing the class itself. From my perspective, when all the materials and class are ready, the second and most important step and action is being prepared. Teacher should be prepared to face students and face the possible difficulties in the classroom. After developing the class, there is always something to improve, in this sense, there is a clear need to review and re-review the class in terms of reflecting upon the lessons. This reflection has to be done to improve and to empower ourselves in our teaching practices.

What is your mind engagement like in the professional exercise of teaching?

I personally think having the ability to reflect on the experiences is the clue to success. From my view, teachers should be open-minded reflective educators, then flexibility provides us with the necessary tools to be adapted to any circumstance in action. Throughout my personal experience as teacher, I have had the possibility to change and re-shape my way of teaching according to the strengths and difficulties I face in the classroom. In sum, although I did not know it was reflecting teaching I realized about the importance of being reflective, reflecting on my experiences.

How would you characterize your professional, personal and experiential knowledge of teaching?

I am in the process of learning to be a good teacher. Although my experience is not too long, I have had the opportunity to work in different educative fields, from public and private institutions, to university and schools settings. This experience have given me some important characteristics regarding my teaching beliefs. The importance of being sociable and friendly with my students, peers and in general, with the community I belong to. I relate myself as an open-minded person, ready to learn and ready to teach. As mentioned in my teaching metaphor, this profession is one of the most demanding jobs but at the same time one of the most grateful ones. My students are part of my life, each one of them plays a particular role in my life and have shaped the way I am to some extent. These guys, are the basis of my teaching principles and the main actors in my profession.

How do you see the relationship between theory, research and practice?

I think each one of these elements is part of a whole gear. Theory provides us with the specific tools to be used in terms of methodologies, concepts and literature. Meanwhile, thanks to the new vision I have due to the M.A. programme, research is the most important aspect to be applied, then research is the only way in which teachers consciously reflect upon their practices trying to look for improvements in their contexts. Finally, practice is the complement for the last two components. Practice is part of the action, it is where all of us are immersed and whre educators have the power to change the world. To conclude, just with practice from theory and research, the cycle of teaching takes importance.

To what extent is there a cause-effect relationship between teaching and learning?

From my view, there is always a cause-effect in the relationship between teaching and learning. Learning is the process in which learners (no matter the genre or age) acquire information (data or experiences) from different internal or external patterns. While teaching is a process happening in all contexts and with the people around us. Formal teaching is a task trusted on teachers, the filed in which educators are part of. In the same line of thought, I would conclude there is a clear and strong relationship between both concepts, learning and teaching are linked together to guarantee a success in both.

Hans' Beliefs

Hans Humberto Oviedo Gómez

Reflective Teaching Course

M. A. Edgar Alirio Insuasty

Neiva, September 30^th, 2015

Hans’ Beliefs

Hans’ Beliefs about English:

I personally think English is a universal language. This language has provided us with plenty of opportunities not only to communicate, but also to know other cultures, meet people and increase our personal and professional experiences. In this sense, through the English language, people have had the chance to explore the world with no limitations, then English is spoken all around the world.

Hans’ Beliefs about Learning:

Learning

From my personal insights, Learning is the process in which learners (no matter the genre or age) acquire information (data or experiences) from different internal or external patterns. In the same line of thought, learning from ourselves is learning from experiences lived while learning from outside is the input coming to be learnt. Additionally, Learning is an ongoing process, it occurs every second in our life, and is the most meaningful experience a human being can live.

Hans’ Beliefs about Teaching:

It is generally believed Teaching is a task trusted just on professional educators. However, teaching is a process happening in all contexts and with the people around us. Formal teaching is a task trusted on teachers. Consequently, educators have the great chance and opportunity to change beliefs and lifes through teaching. Going beyond, teaching should carry with a set of tools and strategies to guarantee a success in learners’ learning process.

Hans’ Beliefs about Language Teaching:

When thinking about Language Teaching I directly reflect upon my experience as teacher. Language teaching is a wonderful process, then it entails not only teaching a subject, but teaching experiences, communication, culture, politics, beliefs, along with others. In regards to Language Teaching I would like to conclude that teaching a language is not an easy task, but it brings with plenty of fulfillment personally and professionally speaking.

4th Journal Entry

Hans Humberto Oviedo Gómez

Reflective Teaching Course

M. A. Edgar Alirio Insuasty

Neiva, September 30^th, 2015

Reflecting upon my Intervention # 4

This fourth lesson reflection is part of the interventions I have done for my thesis. This class was developed in three hours. At the beginning of the class I greeted my students and explained that the class was going to be recorded. I reminded students that the purpose of the class was to implement customized EFL materials and pointed out that this situation has been already explained on previous classes and the last semester. The professor pointed the image in the first page and makes questions to the students.

T - There are two countries. What countries?

All S:  answered aloud.

-Colombia and The USA

T: Asked about the image

-What is this image?  (the professor moves his hands imitating a flag to help students to remind the word)

All S: Answer aloud

-Flags

Vocabulary Activity

In this sense, students were engaged and trying to guess what the workshop was about. Then students started to solve the first vocabulary activity by associating words, definition and images. This first activity was a little bit confused because there were some similar words and students got frustrated, Ex. colonies – settlers, pilgrims – separatists. In this specific case, I think what we could improve is to make emphasis in the main differences between those similar words, not only by telling those differences, but putting those words in context since the beginning. After this vocabulary activity, students had the chance to read and use the vocabulary given at the beginning to complete the passages. In this activity there were almost the same troubles, because students did not get the difference between some words clearly. After this reading activity, students were asked to develop and design a mind map by relating the previous concepts and their background knowledge. This poster (mind map) had to be presented to the whole class in terms of a 2 minutes presentation (description). This activity was meaningful because students were active at participating and tried to use the linguistic patterns in a proper way.

Ex.

Mind Map -Sample

Lina: -The colonies arrived (extra effort to pronounce the word correctly) to America and they started to look for… to look for… wealth. Then, they made trade ports and… and... loaded and unloaded trade goods. And later, (asks to clarify the pronunciation of appeared) then appeared the separatists who were a group of persons that wanted to create a new religion. 

Historical Facts

After those presentations there was an explanation about how to write historical facts. Students seemed to have problems with subjects on their facts. Students used pronouns instead of using the name of the person. I was giving some feedback and allowed students to be aware about what they were missing.

These teaching lesson was a really good experience. There were some troubles that have to be overcome. As Teacher Researcher I realized the importance on planning on students’ possible facilities or difficulties. One of the main problems with this intervention was the amount of activities proposed in the workshop. Time was not enough to develop the complete workshop and students could not develop the comic strip at the end as was expected. Next time, I am totally sure, these difficulties are going to be overcome, by trying to take the most important and meaningful activities to guarantee a success in the lesson.

3rd Journal Entry

Hans Humberto Oviedo Gómez

Reflective Teaching Course

M. A. Edgar Alirio Insuasty

Neiva, September 29^th, 2015

Reflecting upon my Lesson Plan Intervention # 3

This third lesson is the last of the three sessions proposed for developing the workshop. As you know, this workshop was designed to be developed in three different but continuum sessions, moving from general concepts and vocabulary related to the topic to the possibility to perform, state positions and argue by giving supports.

Planning supports and arguments

The main goals proposed in the objectives for the third session were to state a position (agree or disagree) according to a statement given and, to assume a role to support a position in favor or against abortion by giving arguments and defending it. These objectives should be accomplished in sequence to the previous ones (last two lessons) to guarantee good and significant results in terms of reflective thinking.

Debate guidelines - Workshop

In this session, the instructions were also clear and students did what they were asked to do. There was a chance for a missing group from the previous session to perform and it did not affect the time and activities proposed for the current session. The language used was clear for the students and they were very active at participating and giving their ideas by supporting them. The activities were challenging but not difficult. They had to take a role in a debate by supporting their arguments and they did it in a good way.

At the beginning of the third session students were also shy. But in this opportunity, they faced this fact easily and broke the ice quickly. This could be seen because students were in a process in which the topic was known and they were already in contact with the vocabulary. One of the things that could be improved is the pacing of the Debate in last session. Maybe, there were some misunderstandings about what a debate is although they have the definition and instructions included on the workshop. As a consequence, I would be more specific in the role participants and leaders have in a debate in the third session. This is done to improve and enrich the debate session into a more enjoyable and challenging activity.

Debate session

The application of this workshop during these three sessions allowed me to be clear in the importance of Learning Strategies for language learning since they are, as stated by Oxford (1998), tools that foster active, self-directed involvement, which in turn is fundamental to develop communicative competence and language learning. This could be evidenced when you are being explicit about the awareness, use, application and internalization of Learning Strategies along the workshop. What I consider relevant about my intervention was the initial idea of developing content-based instruction towards controversial topics (critical thinking) by targeting the communicative skills. Although there are some things and features to improve as mentioned above, this one was a good attempt, the objectives proposed were achieved and students were involved into the activities proposed.

References

Oxford, R. (1998). Language Learning-Strategies: What every teacher should know. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

2nd Journal Entry

Hans Humberto Oviedo Gómez

Reflective Teaching Course

M. A. Edgar Alirio Insuasty

Neiva, September 30^th, 2015

Reflecting upon my Lesson Plan Intervention # 2

As mentioned in the first journal, this workshop was designed to be developed in three different but continuum sessions, moving from general concepts and vocabulary related to the topic to the possibility to perform, state positions and argue by giving supports.

For the second session, the main goals were to analyze the causes and effects of abortion in relation to real cases and, to perform what would happen in any of the scenes given. These objectives were partially achieved. Students were working hard but unfortunately the time was not enough.

Acting out

In practice, in this second session instructions were clearer than the first session and I tried to be sure my students understood what I needed them to understand. The activities were interesting to them, they liked to perform in spite of the short time for preparing. The language used was clear for the students and they were very active at participating and giving their ideas by supporting them. The activities were challenging but not difficult.

In this opportunity, I tried to correct the things I had to improve from the previous lesson. In the second lesson the language used and the participation increased notably. Time was one of the points that affect the development of the whole class. Students did not have enough time to prepare and develop well organized scripts and there was one group missing to perform.

In this opportunity, the biggest trouble I had was related to time. What I have to improve if I teach this lesson in the future is being aware of the time and provide them with an “extra minute” to organize their performances in a proper way. Students did not have enough time to be prepared and there was one group missing. 

1st Journal Entry

Hans Humberto Oviedo Gómez

Reflective Teaching Course

M. A. Edgar Alirio Insuasty

Neiva, September 29^th, 2015

Reflecting upon my Lesson Plan Intervention # 1

Since the conception of the lesson, the idea about how to design a lesson plan by trying to achieve some patterns became a challenging task. Making emphasis in Learning Strategies throughout a workshop design was my initial concern about what I pretended to reflect in my lessons. The importance of developing materials have become a proposal in my personal interventions and practices. As stated by Nuñez and Tellez (2009), teachers should do their best to develop the most effective, appropriate and flexible materials for their students and their programs. Due to that concern, the effectiveness of materials used for English language teaching depends on how meaningful, relevant and motivating these materials are to the learners. This is done by bearing in mind learners’ needs, interests, attitudes and expectations.

This lesson is the compilation of three divided activities from a workshop designed for a Basic English II course at Universidad de la Amazonia. This first lesson reflects to some extent, the application of a workshop developed to foster content-based instruction towards controversial topics (critical thinking) by targeting the communicative skills in undergraduate students. This Abortion workshop was designed to be developed in three different but continuum sessions, moving from general concepts and vocabulary related to the topic to the possibility to perform, state positions and argue by giving supports.

The main goals proposed in the objectives for the first of the three sessions were to explore vocabulary related to abortion and, to organize ideas with the use of a mind map while reading a general concept about abortion.

In practice, the development and design of the workshop was meaningful. The topic selected was a success and students were active at participating and very creative when drawing, selecting, and presenting their mind maps in a clear way including what was required in the instructions.

I could realize that one of the main facts in the first intervention was that objectives were not as clearer as I wanted. At the beginning of the first session students were shy. This could be improved by stating a better “hook” in the anticipatory set and relating it to their prior knowledge. Although a picture was presented, students were a little bit confused about the topic. Sometimes, the language I used was not understandable for the students. I should look for other words like synonyms in order to avoid misunderstandings in the instructions.

As mentioned above, there are some aspects I have to improve if I teach this lesson in the future. First, selecting a better way to present the topic, not only by showing a picture, but also, by asking questions that led students to guess the topic. Second, trying to have more language elements available, not in the case of materials or tools, but in the case of most common expressions or vocabulary and clearer language. I have to be aware that instructions were clear and understood by students. In this sense, students do not get lost in the activities and the pacing and time will be better handled.

Vocabulary Activity

References

Nuñez, A. & Téllez, M. (2009). ELT Materials: The key to fostering effective teaching and learning settings. PROFILE Vol. 11, No. 2, 2009.

Autobiography

Hans Humberto Oviedo Gómez

Reflective Teaching Course

M. A. Edgar Alirio Insuasty

Neiva, September 30^th, 2015

My Professional Autobiography

I would like to start my writing by saying my mother and my nearest aunty are teachers. These two important people in my life have marked and shaped the conception I had about teaching and about being one of them. Since my very beginning years I was learning from excellent teachers who taught me not only knowledge, but also experiences and values. When I was around 4 years old I started my First Grade and one of the things my mother was proud about was that I was really good at reading and writing. Then when I was in Third Grade I was the best in my course and I was promoted from 3^rd to 4^th grade. The curious thing in this fast advance, was the fact that I did an English Exam to be promoted, I did it and I approved it! :) this was one of my first direct contacts with English.

Throughout the past of the years my mother and I realized the importance of taking some extra classes. But, what kind of extra activities should I have to do? Well, I learnt many things from different fields. I was attending piano, guitar and trumpet classes in terms of music. I used to do some familiar presentations and public ones in the schools where I studied. I was the musician in the family every Christmas. Regarding sports, I was also attending soccer classes and I had the opportunity to travel around the country with my team many times. I also learnt how to play chess, I was really good at this strategic game, fortunately I got a gold medal in Florencia and a bronze one in the departmental games. Meanwhile, I was also attending to different courses to improve my English. Something that marked my childhood was that my aunty Zonia was an English teacher, in vacations she used to teach all our family some basic knowledge about this interesting language. During these years in which I was a student I realized the importance of teachers, but good teachers, to determine successful learners.

Then I was moved to a private school where I finished my Elementary studies. I graduated from 11^th grade at Colegio Domingo Savio, this school was specialized in English. I remember, during the afternoons I used to go to the school with the people who had weaknesses to improved, but in my case I went to learn about more topics because I thought in the mornings English classes were not enough.

When I was 14 years old I graduated from high-school. I wanted to study in Bogota, but as I was too young my mother thought it was better for me to stay here. I studied “Licenciatura en Inglés” and “Administración de Empresas”. In 2011 I graduated from both careers and I continued with a specialization named “Especialización en Gerencia Estratégica de Mercadeo” (2012).

At the beginning I did not want to be a teacher but opportunities were coming one by one and I started to love this profession. As fast as I finished my careers I entered to work to the university, Universidad de la Amazonia, in the Idioms Center. I had the opportunity to teach Basic English Courses to university students about to graduate and who needed to have an English course certification. I started thinking about this profession seriously, I liked the way I taught and I liked the comments my students made upon my way of teaching. In this sense I started to be in the track of English Teaching rather than Business Management. Then, I started to work at some schools and finally as an English teacher for the Language Teaching Program at this university.

These experiences, since my childhood, have given me the support to say I love this profession and I want to continue working in this field. Teaching is the best way to build human beings, and that is my principal desire and proposal in my life. I want to contribute in at least a small portion of a better future for this and the coming childhoods.