Phase 5 - Approaches to classroom investigation in teaching.

Phase 5 - Approaches to classroom investigation in teaching.

Course Tutor: Ana Milena Urrea Ahumada Student: Paula Yulipsa Sierra Rojas - Code: 1234788355 Course: Teacher Development - 518021. B.A in Foreign Language Teaching with Emphasis In English. December 6th, 2023.

Evidence of your skills and competency as a language teacher.

-The immersion practice is carried out in the José María Córdoba Educational Institution located in the municipality of Guamal - Meta in the public sector. The educational actors studied in the aforementioned practice are sixth, eighth and ninth grade students. The students are between 13 and 14 years old, belong mostly to the rural sector and must travel for almost an hour to enter the institution during the regular schedule from 6:30 am to 1:00 pm. At the academic level, the students present a series of difficulties in the teaching-learning process as evidenced by their low academic.

Evidence of your skills and competency as a language teacher.

STUDENT EVALUATION.

Some of the evaluations that I designed and applied to the students of the José María Córdoba Educational Institution are: -Diagnostic Evaluation where the topics seen during the three academic periods are reviewed for sixth grade students. -English Test: Clothes, weather and seasons for sixth grade students. -English activity on the topic "Simple Future Tense" was designed for eighth grade students.

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Examples of students’ work.

Some significant works were the brochures created by eighth grade students. For this activity, students had to describe a city (real or invented) where they had to describe the city, talk about the activities that can be carried out and its gastronomy. For this, they had to use the grammatical structure of Simple Future Tense (Will).

Examples of teaching materials

-I designed some flashcards for sixth and eighth grade students about Wh. questions taking into account that students are not clear about their definition.

Examples of teaching materials

Taking into account the needs of the students in the four communication skills, I designed some support images with the basic commands that should be used in the classroom. The above, taking into account that students do not use the foreign language, in this case English to try to communicate. Additionally, I drew its respective image so that the students could easily associate its definition. On the other hand, I created a motivating phrase so that students always find interest in learning English.

Photographs of you teaching your class

Photographs of your classroom with students engaged in a learning activity

Your approach to classroom management and organization

A description of your philosophy

The foreign language is an instrument for the acquisition of knowledge and for broadening the cultural horizon that strengthens the student's possibilities of reaching new goals. The learning of a foreign language is part of the integral formation of an individual; this implies the construction and application of learning strategies that lead to an effective apprehension of the language. Language, as a set of cultural codes, should contribute to the formation of a fair individual who respects different ways of being and thinking; that is to say that, by coming into contact with a second language, the student experiences different ways of seeing life and solving problems that help enrich his or her knowledge and being, respecting cultural differences.

We must always start from the needs of the students, looking for the appropriate methodological strategies so that there is a constant motivation in them, thus obtaining a better learning process. The integral formation of an individual has no barriers other than those imposed by the rights of others; therefore, learning a foreign language is an element of growth of the individual at all levels. Therefore, the implementation of technological resources is proposed with the approval of the teacher Martha Gutiérrez Ortegón, head teacher, for the development of skills to learn to create things, to memorize, to discover other cultures, to reflect about the language, among others, and in the same way, to strengthen the activities proposed in the different competencies in the foreign language.

An account of procedures used for teaching large classes and for using group work

Some of the procedures used were:

-Respond to the need of sixth and eighth grade students to perform the required skills in the second language in a playful and practical way. -Recognize the importance of the integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) in sixth and eighth grade students to improve communication skills in the foreign language. -I design interactive and audiovisual activities to improve reading comprehension through short, simple and illustrated texts on diverse topics. -Encourage the student to participate in small dialogues with clear pronunciation and good intonation. -Give strategies to improve the production of texts, demonstrating through them the knowledge of everyday life.

A description of the most effective activity you developed with the students.

-Today, while I carry out the reflection exercise of my process in educational pedagogical practices, I can say that there are many activities that had significant results but I consider that the most effective activity was in the final stage of a class, where we played a dynamic game called Twister. As a teacher in training, I proposed that they play a game in two groups: group No. 1, the powerful girls, and group No. 2, the Incredibles. The game is called twister, where the students must listen to the indications of how to play. For example: right hand on the red color and left foot on the yellow color. Then they must observe the image that the teacher shows them and say the weather that it indicates (It's sunny).

The purpose of this is to check if they are able to identify the weather and its pronunciation. Also, because it allows the student to understand simple instructions in everyday life such as knowing the colors, the parts of the body, among others. Students who answer correctly will have an extra grade in the fourth academic period. From my point of view, the twister game in the evaluation stage was the one that generated the most curiosity and motivation in the students. Some students managed to develop the activity with some errors that were clarified at the time, however, students were able to identify both the instructions of the game and the words they had to answer about the weather and the seasons.

List the digital resources you use with the student

2. Educaplay

3. Wordwall

1. YouTube.

4. Quizizz

5. Twinwords Ideas

Documents showing your commitment to professional development

-A report on how you think you have developed since you began teaching

-During my process as a teacher in training I have learned to identify the needs, problems and abilities of the students of the José María Córdoba educational institution based on internal and external factors. To design the work plan and design of class material allowed me to carry out a reflection process on the students individually and in groups, which has helped me understand the strategies and methodologies that I should apply. Another aspect that is important to mention is that being in front of a large group is sometimes complicated because many times students do not want to work and calls for attention are frequent. Some students do not see authority in me as a teacher in training and believe that they can do whatever they want, but with the help of teacher Martha this has been changing. Additionally, my tone of voice is an aspect that I need to improve and this suggestion was made to me by teacher Marta because sometimes the instructions are not heard clearly. Therefore, I should not allow students to crowd around to ask me something because there are other students who take advantage of the space to hide their pens and other things from their classmates.

From all of the above, I believe that these practice spaces are really significant because they allow me to improve every day in my training as a teacher, acquiring theoretical knowledge and management aspects that must be carried out in the classroom because it is such a large group because it is impossible to do individual follow up in such a short time. To conclude, I can affirm that each space or experience of being able to interact with students is enriching in my training process because every day I learn new techniques, strategies and teaching methodologies, which allows me to teach in a better way.

conclusions

-Based on my immersion practice and as a teacher in training, I believe that there are several factors that require restructuring. One of them is that there is no evidence of lesson planning, there is no warm up at the beginning of the class, and there is no structure of phases or stages for the development of a certain activity. In addition, the class is not spoken entirely or mostly in English. The welcome greeting at the beginning of the class is in English, but the instructions, the calls for attention, the class commands, and everything else are given in Spanish so that the students can understand them in their entirety. I consider that the teacher Martha is too flexible in this aspect, because she does not require the students to try to communicate in this foreign language, an example that I have evidenced is that to ask a question and even ask permission to go to the bathroom they do it in Spanish, because they have not been required to do it completely in English. As a teacher in training, a first change is the use of English during class, that is, to turn the classroom into an English-speaking environment and require students to express their interactions or requests in English or at least try to do so.

Some basic examples observed are asking permission to go to the bathroom, I have a question, how to say it, how to pronounce it, among others. I consider that an abysmal error that the great majority of English teachers make starts with themselves when they base their classes on Spanish, from basic levels such as the sixth grade, where it is fundamental to establish a strong link between the student and the English language. As teachers, we are obliged to offer this space to the students, to make it a meaningful encounter for their academic formation and in the not too distant future, for their professional life because as we know, English has become a universal language and it generates countless opportunities to have mastery of it.

I believe that as a teacher in training it is essential to annul the traditional method focused on the theoretical explanation or rationalistic approach, the respective evaluation and otherwise the exclusive use of the board. Strategies should be created that generate a pleasant learning environment for students through various activities such as exploring the context, that is, immersing students in real situations such as leaving the comfort zone through activities of everyday life, directed to oral expression where students learn to introduce themselves to others, ask questions and likewise receive directions, read maps, resolve concerns, buy food, among others. It is also vital to teach through playful activities because they motivate students and achieve a greater predisposition to knowledge. Some playful activities that can be implemented in the classroom are debates on a topic of interest, board games such as Scrabble, karaoke’s, flashcards or learning cards with vocabulary, puzzles, word games, among others.

Congratulations and recommendations

-On this occasion, I would like to mention some positive aspects of the Teacher Development course taught by teacher Ana Milena Urrea Ahumada. It is important to mention that it was characterized by the organization and clarity of the guidelines and evaluation rubrics. -The activities established for the course were developed in compliance with the dates proposed in the course agenda. -Now, for this course to develop properly, it was fundamental the accompaniment of the teacher Ana Milena Urrea because was always attentive to solve the concerns in each of the tasks and the formats corresponding to the pedagogical practice. -Finally, it is important to mention that although the course has different positive aspects, it is also important to mention the time intensity to carry out the pedagogical practices because sometimes students don't have the availability to study only, so we are in the dilemma of choosing whether to study or work.

Investigation Chart

Critical incident

-The critical incident that I will tell you about on this occasion is about a student who uses the cell phone in the classroom while I am teaching the class. For me, this critical incident is significant because the student is disrupting the development of my class, and is disturbing his classmates who want or are interested in paying attention to the class explanation. As usual, when starting class, we always remember the class protocol proposed by teacher Martha Gutiérrez, in addition to rules and regulations that all students must follow during English class. At the moment this behavior begins on the part of the student, I call for attention or observation to control the situation. When calling attention, some students are distracted from the activity they are developing and did not want to pay attention, in other words, I can say that some students ignore the class, however, other students understood and were attentive. During this situation, my reaction was to call the student's attention calmly, but with authority over the situation and indicate that if the situation was repeated, we would follow the school regulations of the institution that is with the coordinator Victoria.

The interpretation is that controlling these situations is really difficult because there are 42 students per classroom. I think it is really difficult and even more so when the other students are paying attention to the class. It is important to mention that the learning strategies analyzed assume that students need to be motivated in class and also as a teacher implement other learning strategies during class with which this behavior changes. As a teacher in training, I consider that I also have errors or attitudes that need to be improved in my way of teaching my class. Some of my qualities are passion for teaching, respect and for this reason I consider that I would not act differently because I always do it with love, respect and authority when necessary. I would look for other ways, strategies and methodologies to make the class different and avoid these situations that affect the development of the class. Finally, I can say that these situations should be more controlled by the José María Córdoba educational institution because one of its rules is that the cell phone is prohibited in the classroom in order to avoid these situations. As teachers, it is important for us to know that it is important to change some rules or regulations with our students because it is better for these critical incidents that are frequent in the classroom.

Case ANalysis

-Context:

The immersion practice is carried out at the José María Córdoba Educational Institution located in the municipality of Guamal - Meta in the public sector. The educational actors studied in this practice are the sixth and eighth grade students, but on this occasion we will refer to the eighth grade students (803) with a total of 42 students. The students in grade (803) are between 13 and 14 years old, belong mostly to the rural sector and must travel almost an hour to enter the institution during the regular schedule from 6:30 am to 1:00 pm. At the academic level, the students present a series of difficulties in the teaching-learning process as evidenced by their low academic performance. Seventy percent of the students do not have the necessary resources such as computers, cell phones, internet network, etc., to take on the challenges brought by technological advances in the 21st century and, therefore, the teacher-student interaction is almost null, notoriously affecting the learning process of the students. During the different classes I could see that the students of grade (803) at the level of the English language present an absence of 90% of mastery in the four communicative skills. As for verbal communication in the second language is null, they lack vocabulary and, therefore, writing is basic.

-Problem/Theme:

The eighth grade (803) is a group with acceptable behavior, that is, in general, the students present behavior in accordance with the context. However, some students are conflictive and generate collective disorder. These students show a lack of interest in acquiring an optimal level of English, and in some cases fear or insecurity generated by making mistakes. There are also some students who take the risk of participating, asking questions about the topics to be learned. In addition to the above, the infrastructure of the institution, which has been under renovation since 2013, means that spaces such as classrooms are not in optimal conditions and are exposed to constant noise due to construction, excessive light, among others, which can affect their concentration and focus and motivation to learn. To date, only 40% of the school has been rebuilt and, for this reason, seventh and ninth grade students have classrooms in optimal conditions. Additionally, the educational institution does not have the relevant technological resources for the implementation of didactic activities of listening, speaking, reading or writing, which allow both teachers and students to strengthen their teaching-learning process according to their needs from the tools offered by the advancement of ICT. It is important to mention that the I.E. does not have a permanent internet network either, so it is really difficult to apply an online activity or evaluation.

Another really alarming factor is the absence in the use of English in the classroom. From my point of view, the teacher Martha is too flexible because she does not make an effort to convert the classroom into an Anglo-Saxon environment. To do this, she must require that students express their interactions or requirements in the second language, in this case English. But in order to demand this change from students, it must first be given by the teacher. For this reason, I consider that a first change should be made by stopping providing all instructions or topics in Spanish, and directing the language according to the area since this corresponds to English. However, not everything is bad, the educational institution José María Córdoba allows the development of practice activities on a continuous basis, the teachers are friendly and are willing to allow the teacher trainee to carry out the immersion process. In addition, they share their knowledge and techniques so that the trainee teacher can appropriate these fundamental factors of the educational context. As for the students, 80% of them are well disposed and behave appropriately to the context.

-Solution/Response:

The proposed solution to this problem involves a plan based on the theoretical or rationalistic approaches of TESOL, an integrated action based on the principles of Participatory Action Research (PAR) and a constructivist model with a collaborative approach. Of the theory-based or rationalist approaches in TESOL is Communicative Language Teaching. According to Richards, (2002, p.22) Communicative Language Teaching emerged as a reaction to the grammar-based teaching approaches realized in teaching materials, curricula, and teaching methods in the 1960s. Based on the above, it is evident that eighth grade classes are not designed and executed according to the needs presented in the academic context. From my immersion practice I was able to analyze that student present significant needs in the four communicative skills, the lack of interaction with a speaker of this foreign language is notorious, the absence of technological resources and didactic materials further hinder the teaching-learning process. As for mental models, I think that more work can be done, since they will allow students to visualize, through the use of drawings or diagrams, the interactions between the associated components. In the case of sixth and eighth grade, I think that, for example, images, videos, among others, stimulate students to build knowledge, assumptions and induce mutual learning among educational actors. In other words, mental models focused on images, videos, and so on, encourage students to construct, understand, and acquire new information.

Therefore, I can affirm that the processes have a strong academic and personal influence because the teacher within his functions must establish assertive social relationships between teachers-students and between classmates, which allows learning to be collective where all students benefit. Now, the teacher within their academic duties must be in permanent observation of the skills and weaknesses that arise in the school context, therefore, it is necessary as stated by John Elliott (1991), known for pioneering the participatory action research approach where he supports the structure of continuous reflection. Elliott proposes a process of continuous observation, data collection and stakeholder participation to evaluate and adjust the plan as required. For this reason, there must be continuous observation, data collection, stakeholder involvement and analysis of feedback. In addition to the above, it is necessary to take into account the constructivist model with collaborative approach is a process in which knowledge and experiences are communicated through solidarity and democratic interrelation, allowing to establish a constant and innovative knowledge that promotes freedom and leadership. Some pedagogical experts such as Campus Lucas, Kagan and García Carrasco have achieved significant advances in relation to the integral development of individuals, through the participatory relationship where the individual has the opportunity to relate in the intellectual world, human and personal formation. The collaborative learning approach contributes to the academic, personal and social development of all educational actors, stimulating individual skills and responsibilities.

The constructivist pedagogical model, with collaborative approach, is advanced around the reflection of the individual in relation to the dynamization of his intellectual, social and affective ideals, with competencies in individual and collective progress, in science and technology, so that in this way, he can understand the mind of others and himself, to be part of the social, political and economic interdependence, being fundamental in the construction of a world based on the framework of respect and tolerance, contributing to the fulfillment of common goals. On the other hand, the constructivist pedagogical model with a collaborative approach of the José María Córdoba Educational Institution, takes into account the type of person they wish to educate, the methodological and pedagogical strategies to be used, the respective standards of competencies, knowledge and performance levels, the role of the teacher and the students in the educational process, the execution and appropriate use of ICT's and the formative evaluation process. Consequently, it can be said that the constructivist pedagogical model with a collaborative learning approach allows working with children and adolescents on intellectual skills where an active role is established for students in the teaching-learning process, where they manage to develop in all categories, recognizing the diversity in intellectual abilities, as well as family and socioeconomic contexts. Additionally, the teachers of the educational institution assume pedagogical dispositions referred to the learning theories in order to attend the teaching-learning process with greater efficiency and efficacy.

Unit 3 - Approaches to Professional Development - Contents and Bibliographical References

Case Analysis Richards, J., & Farrell, T. (2005). Case analysis. In Professional Development for Language Teachers: Strategies for Teacher Learning (Cambridge Language Education, pp. 126-142). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://www-cambridge-org.bibliotecavirtual.unad.edu.co/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/E25F5014B3FDBCF0C658345221DDDA72/9780511667237c9_p126-142_CBO.pdf/case_analysis.pdf Teaching portfolios Richards, J., & Farrell, T. (2005). Teaching portfolios. In Professional Development for Language Teachers: Strategies for Teacher Learning (Cambridge Language Education, pp. 98-112). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://www-cambridge-org.bibliotecavirtual.unad.edu.co/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/9BB5FD88D7F6102D39031F6C209AB406/9780511667237c7_p98-112_CBO.pdf/teaching_portfolios.pdf

Approaches to classroom investigation in teaching Richards, J., & Lockhart, C. (1994). Approaches to classroom investigation in teaching. In Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms (Cambridge Language Education, pp. 6-28). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511667169.004.https://www-cambridge-org.bibliotecavirtual.unad.edu.co/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/815624C4FFB19FA55533CCADD58BCBA3/9780511667169c1_p6-28_CBO.pdf/approaches_to_classroom_investigation_in_teaching.pdf Classroom Discipline Ur, P. (1999). Classroom discipline. In A Course in Language Teaching Trainee Book (Cambridge Teacher Training and Development, pp. 120-125). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511732928.020. https://www-cambridge-org.bibliotecavirtual.unad.edu.co/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/68FBCF53DA64DDA02181768B9492ADE1/9780511732928c18_p120-125_CBO.pdf/classroom_discipline.pdf

¡Thank you!