Class Observation

CLASS OBSERVATION ESSAY

COLEGIO: INGENIERO ALEJANDRO QUESADA

NATALIE M RANKIN MONTOYA

   The last week, I did a class observation. This observation was pretty close to my home, in the high school Ing Alejandro Quesada. This experience teaches me a lot about what is going on in the high school system, and also with the students. At the beginning, I felt a little concerned, for the new experience in this big high school. The principal assigned a teacher named Ana Isabel. When I come to the class the teacher and students were on their way to take the annual photo. Then, unexpectedly I had to go for another class with another teacher.

  The next teacher was surprised. The teacher Mayela Vega did not expect me at that moment or any moment. This group is a seventh grade. The first thing that I noticed was that the students come late to the class, more that 5 minutes. The students take their time to get in the class. This group has 26 students. The class was a mess from the beginning. The teacher never had the control of the group. The first instruction was to open the book, but nobody listen to her. Fifteen minutes had elapsed and still no one does anything that were supposed to be doing. The first problem that I noticed immediately was the lack of discipline in class.

   When finally the students opened the book to review the homework, in class had already gone 20 minutes. One by one student wrote the right answers on the board. The objectives for the class never was given verbally or written. The teacher does not give help with text preselected. Furthermore something that really surprised me was that the teacher does not know the students names. 30 minutes had elapsed of the class, and just two questions had been discussed from the book; “What are your name? And “Spell your name”. That is very sad for our educational system. Finally the class of 45 minutes was over. The students, and also the teacher never shows interest or enthusiastic. Moreover the atmosphere of the class was not participative. That was a poor class with poor learning.

  Two days after, I came back again for my interview with an English professor. This time was a different teacher that the occasion before. This time I spoke with the Lic Ana Isabel. She told me about the biggest problems in the public system. She said that probably the most important problem is the overgrowing in high schools. When there are many students in one class, the quality of teaching is poor. Unfortunately, this is a common problem in many schools and high schools. The teacher also mentioned that nowadays teachers are “handcuffed” in many occasions.

  The professor Ana Isabel also mentioned some possible solutions in her opinion. For example, schools need a better infrastructure in their facilities. This will improve the distribution of the students in the classrooms. Also with the small groups is easier the discipline’s control. The public education system is completely saturated. Furthermore the methodology is always the same (communicative approach). There is not any innovation. Most of the teachers feel comfortable with this methodology. That is ok, but not all the time.

 With this project of observing an English class, I learned a lot about all that implied this profession. I believe that I saw the worst of the Costa Rican educational system. But probably I will find something good ahead. It’s important to create an educational climate for learning. Furthermore, we as professors must involve our students in deciding what issues they want to discuss. A teacher is a guide, help, and support of students. It’s a life commitment. It’s a big responsibility not just of the system also of the teachers.

   As a conclusion, we are a new generation of teachers, and may we can’t change all the bad things, but we will try it. This class observation allows me to understand much more about public education, methodology, students and teachers behavior. I know that public system and private system are very different. Sadly the public system is not what we expect or what we want, but it is what it is. This was a great educational experience.

  

 QUESTIONS OF THE INTERVIEW

1-Tell me about the methodology that you used in your class?

2-What kind of rules do you have for your classroom?

3-Which are the problems in our educative system?

4-What can be the solution of those problems?

5-Why did you choose to become a teacher?

Personal Learning Network

                                 Personal Learning Network

   Never in my life had heard about PLN (Personal Learning Network),  until now in my class of Curriculum Design. Then, I saw myself with the need to find out more about the PLN, and also why is important for me as teacher. What most caught my attention was the fact that an important part of learning is to build your own Personal Learning Network. This involves that I must make connections with other people, with the specific intent that some type of learning will occur because of that connection. Building a personal learning network is requires that you not only seek to learn from others, but also that you also help others in the network learn. There is a useful places to start my own PLN, like Discussions on Forums, Blogs and also Conferences online.

    First of all, in discussion forums we can find people with more experience about some topic that us. In a discussion forum you can certainly ask questions and discuss matters related to how to teach or learn English for example. This can be very valuable and you will gain a lot of knowledge. Furthermore, many friends and teachers colleagues have met online. Moreover, an a result of joining in on a discussion forum is that you after a while of receiving valuable advices from others in the group you want to start giving back and helping others that have come along and need some advices or answers too. This is a great feeling and the more active you are in the forum, your PLN become stronger.

   Another great source to find, and share information is in the Blog sites. The number of blog sites is increasing each day. So, we just can imagine how many information is there. This activity helps you develop into a better researcher, because bloggers need to research in order to impart and verify accurate information to visitors and readers. Also, since you are researching about English topics, you unconsciously are expanding your knowledge base. Reading will always give us more information. Moreover, another blogging advantage is the improvement of your writing skills. Blog sites definitely are a big tool in the construction of our PLN.

  Last but not least, the use of conferences online will be very useful. Online web meetings are very effective collaboration tools, allowing professional colleagues to collaborate real-time via internet. Another benefic of the conferences online are that, the Video conferencing uses a blend of audio and visual technologies to offer effective eye-to-eye online meetings, even though its participants are at remote locations. Web conferences are great to get multiple students or trainees in the same room via internet. Participants located at multiple locations can be trained at the same time. The collaborative aspects of web meetings enable students to interact with each other as well as the teacher. In-meeting chat feature allows participants to send questions and comments via instant messages without disrupting the speaker. Conferences online are a low-cost tool, interactive, and a very useful way to improve my PLN.

  It is amazing how much we can learn from many places and from many people. Learners create connections and develop a network that contributes to their professional development and knowledge. The learner does not have to know these people personally or ever meet them in person. We learn every time that we read a book or article, every time that we observe how someone else is doing work similar to my own, every time I ask a question. For all that it’s important to develop a good PLN. The most important is that we can find simple tools that we can use like, Discussions on Forums, Blogs sites and also Conferences online.

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The Importance Of Curriculum Design

   Education prepares students for the real life and real problems. When we talk about education is necessary to take into account that abilities, attitudes, habits and all appreciations, and forms of knowledge are included. Curriculum is the design that allows us to plan academic activities. We will be the future teachers, so we have the obligation to guide our students to obtain all their objectives and goals in life. Curriculum Design is the way to improve our teaching, off course always in benefit of the student. We can find four approaches to curriculum theory and practice. They are curriculum as syllabus, curriculum as product, curriculum as process, and curriculum as praxis.

   Curriculum as syllabus, principally refers to content. But, what is curriculum as syllabus? Curriculum studying embraces syllabus design (the selection and grading of content) and methodology (the selection of learning tasks and activities). Furthermore, curriculum as syllabus includes

a)     The study of the purposes for which a learner needs a language.

b)     The setting of objectives, and the development of a syllabus, teaching methods and materials.

c)      The evaluation of the effects of these procedures on the learner’s language ability.

Definitely, curriculum as syllabus is the best way to educate our students by the most effective methods.

       Second, we have the curriculum as product, which consist in performance specifics activities. For example, I mention at the beginning of the essay that teachers also must be teach about how the students can be prepares for life. This kind of approach helps enormously for specific activities. Moreover, it is important because provide the bases for instructional decisions in classroom. Also, it is necessary provide a clear notion of outcome so that content and method may be organized and the results evaluated. For that, this approach becomes in a useful tool to develop the ability of our students to think critically.

     The two last approaches are curriculum as process, and Curriculum as praxis. First of all, curriculum as process, with this approach the students are treat as subjects not as objects. It is important because, include a high variety in the content that makes the interaction between teacher-student, student-education more efficient. With this approach the idea is that the class becomes in a “laboratory” this means that this process looks into the world of experimentation, with the objective of creating smart proposals rather than just correct to the student. This process involves changes that, some students, teachers, and schools welcome, but that others resist either actively or passively. Last but not least, curriculum as praxis. Curriculum as praxis, promotes the dialogue, the negotiation, and the debate.  This approach provides the opportunity for students and teachers to analyze, discuss, and find solutions together for the different problems in class, and in life. Curriculum as praxis is not  simply a set of plans to be implemented, but rather is constituted through an active process in which planning, acting and evaluating are all reciprocally related and integrated into the process.

   As a conclusion, curriculum is very important for us as future professors because, is the guide for our lessons, and also helps us to keep all the information organized. Moreover a curriculum offers teachers the ideas and strategies for assessing student progress. Without the guidance of a curriculum, teachers cannot be certain that they have supplied the necessary knowledge or the opportunity for student success at the next level. Also a curriculum gives students an understanding of what must be accomplished in order to obtain a degree. Curriculum design is essential for any teacher that wants to perform his job properly and effectively.

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http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/agexed/aee529/Overview%20of%20Curriculum%20Processes%20and%20Products.pd