WEEK 1

FUNDACIN UNIVERSITARIA LUIS AMIG PRACTICUM 1 CLASSROOM JOURNAL Students name: Leonardo Caro Dvila Institutions name: Centro Educativo Autnomo CT name: Lina Maria Londoo Metaute DESCRIPTION SELF REFLECTION th th Date: January 20 January 27 Group: 7th Grade During this week the classes were a little bit unusual due to the schedule which was not the official. This week the teacher and the students introduced themselves during the development of activities using English as the means of communication, some students were shy because the teacher was new and they were not very spontaneous. However, at the end of the week they were more opened and they let the teacher identify them. This group of 7th graders is small , there are only 20 people, the students behavior could be considered normal , they followed the authority and the rules. Date: January 20th January 24th Group: 8th Grade During this week the students and the teacher got to know each other, the students were very curious to know the new teacher, so they asked questions all the time, some of them used English to communicate and some other didnt but there was no pressure to speak in English, later in the same week the students were asked to introduce themselves in English in front of the class not all of them wanted to, the main purpose of this activity was to know their level and make a diagnostic. Date: January 27th January 31st Group: 7th grade During this week, the students started the real and academic year, there was a topic for the classes and it was to review last years topics, they participated during the different activities which included games, workshops and homework. The students were surprised because there was a workshop they needed to do and it was quite long, so they thought all the classes were going to be the same. Later on, they realized it was just to check and review previous knowledge. In terms of English the group in general dont stand a full class in English they get lost easily , sometimes Spanish is needed Date: January 27th January 31st Group: 8th grade

TEACHERS FEEDBACK

WEEK 2

As the same in 7th grade, the teacher developed some written workshops in order to review and check previous knowledge. This group is difficult due to the amount of people, there are 37 students in the classroom, so it is hard to keep all of them focused, in this grade a child has special needs and sometimes some of his classmates laugh at him while others try to help him. During this week there were only two classes because of parents meeting. Date: February 3rd February 7th Group: 7th grade During this week the students were motivated towards the class and with a positive response. There were some activities that included group work and I could observe it as a very good idea to work with teenagers, it kept them focused on the task. Other activity developed this week was closely related to literature and it is also a very good tool to keep them motivated, in terms of discipline this group dont have any difficult case and their behavior is good but on Friday the English class is the last one and in account of this they are very anxious. The role of the teacher during this week was active but the center of the class was the students. WEEK 3 Date: February 3rd February 7th Group: 8th grade This 3rd week the last students arrived to the class because some of them were not registered, at this point the group was complete and we met each other. Working with this group is positive , most of the students are motivated and those who are not engaged , the teacher tries to engage them in all the class activities based on what they like and on what they are interested in. this week some activities were fun because the class included some games involving the gross motor skills. The use of the language becomes difficult due to the amount of people hence the teacher tries to make them participate as much as possible through the development of different tasks such as role plays and presentations. Date: February 10th February 14th Group:7th grade This week the teacher started the class checking the homework , some students didnt do it or, after checking the homework the students were arguing about the lamps , some of them wanted to keep them on and the rest of the group wanted them off , so the teacher made a proposal about keeping the lights off half of the class and turned on the other half, here one student was rude with the teacher , at this point it was necessary to write on the students discipline book he didnt wanted to sign but after a short talk he signed. The topic for

How can I make my classes more fun for them? How can I catch the students attention in a very big group? It is very good when we face reality at schools; at this point you realize if it is what you want for life, problem solving and all the situations that a

WEEK 4

this week was present progressive, the students worked on a crossword puzzle and then they made sentences according to the verbs. However , they wanted to play and it was quite difficult to play due to the lack of understanding of the topic that is why it was necessary to explain some aspects in Spanish and use a lot grammar examples and practice. Date: February 10th February 14th Group:8th grade During this week the classes were about food , the teacher used a story in English in order to engage the students in the literacy process , they enjoyed the reading very much because it was related to our culture, so they were not lost with the language and the pictures were helping them to construct vocabulary , after watching the story they worked on a crossword puzzle and after finishing it they had to write a recipe and a short story using the vocabulary worked in class , in order to change the pace of the classes and make them more interesting the last class was about a song , they had to organize the song while they were listening to it, it was a contest and they were very motivated. Date: February 17th February 21st Group:7th grade During this week the teacher delivered the exam and those who failed the exam had the chance to correct it, the teacher also explained the topic again and in order to check the understanding of the topic, the students were asked to act out the verbs (each student had a different verb to act) and then say and write the actions that their classmates were doing, the students enjoyed this activity because there was no pressure. However, there are discipline problems in the classroom that sometimes are quite difficult to handle and the strategies are difficult to find. The class on Friday is difficult due to the hour which is the last hour and the students are anxious about going home, so, it is necessary to create activities for them to relax, the whole classroom played with a ball and the ball was passed from one student to the other in order to practice the topic for the following week which is numbers and they were asked to say a number and then pass the ball and the other students needed to continue counting. Date: February 17th February 21st Group:8th grade This week the teacher delivered the workshop made at the beginning of the week which was about creating a picture dictionary with the topic of food, the evaluation included a rubric with a space for self-evaluation because some of the students did the activity just as something required for the class

teacher has to cope with makes the practicum a space for reflection because sometimes it is difficult to keep calm when a group is out of our control.

How can I improve the strategies in classroom management? What is the correct process to handle discipline problems? It is difficult to handle a classroom with discipline problems due to the negative influence of some students; I am worried because I dont know how to proceed in those situations.

WEEK 5

Is it okay to include a selfevaluation part with high school students?

and not for learning, in the self-evaluation they were very honest and reflected about the activity. Then, the students worked on the module designed to reinforce the learning process and after that we worked on a song, they liked the song because it was funny. However, it is not easy to motivate all the students. Date: February 24th February 28th Group: 7th Grade During this week the teacher started the class explaining the hours and practicing the numbers (eliciting previous knowledge), the students paid attention most of the time, those who had questions were free to ask, most of the students had the topic clear and then they got in groups in order to develop an activity proposed by the teacher (a workshop) this activity took the rest of the classes. However, the last class of the week was quite difficult in terms of discipline, in consequence the teacher started to count the minutes the students took to listen to the teacher and when the bell rang they paid the minutes. Date: February 24th February 28th Group: 8th Grade This week the classes were basically writing (due to a teachers meeting and school requirements), the teacher started explaining the topics which were in the module designed by the school, and most of the students were responsible for the task assigned. Later, the teacher collected and checked the activities assigned. However, there are special cases related to lack of motivation. Afterwards, the students were required to bring a newspaper for the prensa escuela activity, this activity is a requirement; the activities proposed by the teacher were: working with vocabulary and then creating a mind map or concept map in order to organize information. In this group there are students with emotional problems, so the teacher had to face one situation that is why the closing part was just collecting the newspaper activity. Date: March 3rd March 7th Group:7th grade This week there was no English class due to the schools representative debate and the international womens day preparation. However, the teacher had to be with the group at the same hours in order to keep the discipline controlled.

I dont know if the idea of counting the minutes they took to be quiet and organize the classroom and then pay those minutes staying in the classroom is okay but I really didnt know how to handle the discipline and it was one strategy I found appropriate for them.

WEEK 6

When you get to know your students you start to identify their personalities. In terms of emotions, this week was hard due to one student depression , his attitudes and the way he talked to me really touched my feelings, he needed to be listened and it was the first time that I was emotionally involved with a learner feelings. I hope I helped a little bit, now he has an appointment with the social worker .I want him to be okay and solve all the problems he is facing.

WEEK 7

Date: March 3rd March 7th I dont know if it is possible to Group:8th grade This week the teacher started the class explaining the uses of have all the students motivated, likes and dislikes and its corresponding expressions, the I have been trying different

students asked the questions they had and they related the expressions with their previous knowledge. After that, the teacher explained a speaking activity which was about a survey to the classmates using the expressions for likes and dislikes, at this point the group was very organized and enjoyed the activity , after interviewing each one of the classmates they had to choose one of them because the following activity was about designing a poster of this person likes and dislikes, the teacher gave the instructions for the next class and then they had to have all the material ready for the proper development of the activity , most of the students worked motivated though other students were not motivated at all. At the end of this activity the teacher collected all the posters and the students were required to present what they draw , painted and wrote the next week. Date: March 10th March 14th Group: 7th grade This week the class started with a review of the topics studied during the last two weeks due to an exam that was designed for that class, then, the teacher gave the exam and explained what the students needed to do, when they finished they wanted the grade but the teacher decided to follow the lesson plan for the class. The topic for the class was about daily routines, the students watched two videos, one of a man and a girl, then the teacher explained the routines and they related it with their real life. After the explanation, the students worked in groups writing their friends daily routines. As homework, the teacher asked them to bring materials to do some posters. WEEK 8

activities in order to know each one of my students personalities and learning styles. However, some students seem unmotivated towards language learning. I would really like to engage them all but it is quite arduous.

WEEK 9

It feels good when as teachers we can show the students that the foreign language is not isolated, showing them the video was very useful because they could see that people from other countries do the same we do. They made comments and I explained them that there are some differences but we are just one world and the culture we study through English is not isolated. I could also observe that group work has many benefits for them. However, Date: March 10th March 14th th discipline has to be quite Group: 8 grade During the week there were different activities, first the controlled. students had to present the posters they designed, they were active and exited to present and most of the students did a very good job where the teacher can observe the motivation towards I dont know how good it is the subject. Then, the students had an exam; it was a about checking the exams after the likes and dislikes, the exam had a reading comprehension part students finished, they were and another part for writing, the teacher checked the exam very anxious, I consider it is right after they finished, in terms of evaluation they did it very better to deliver the exam the good and it can be seen that they have a good level of reading next class and then correct it comprehension. together. Is it good to check and deliver the exams in the same class? th st Sometimes it is necessary to Date: March 17 - March 21 have a plan B or even a plan Group:7th grade

During this week the students had to work on the school project related to the newspaper, some students brought the newspaper but some others didnt; so the teacher had to work on a plan B and the students worked on some books that the school has available for English classes. The activity for the group was: to identify unknown words, to find the words in the dictionary, to create a word search puzzle with these words and as final product they had to make a mind map. For closing, the teacher told them some suggestions for the next time they will have to work on this activity.

C.When teaching, it is important to keep in mind what would happen if some students dont follow the requirements in terms of homework, in these cases the learners and the teacher wont be without doing anything and with the reflection of brining the homework for the next time.

WEEK 10

Date: March 17th- March 21st Group:8th grade For this week the activities were different, the school had an even about presenting the new schools representative after that the classes continued as usual. The teacher asked students to take out the newspapers in order to work with prensa escuela most of the students didnt bring the press so the teacher started giving a speech about responsibility, the teacher had to find a strategy due to the activities planned for the class, there was something planned and then it totally changed. The student had to read one chapter of a book, after that they had to summarize it in a graphic organizer and draw a comic about some scenes on the chapter, most of the learners did it with committed while some others just worked at the end of the class. Finally, the teacher told them to be more responsible for next time. Date: March 24th March 28th Group: 7th grade This week the class started as usual, the teacher explained the topic and they had to a workshop; the workshop was about all the topics studied during the academic period because it was the last week of it. The teacher decided to apply the workshop in order to help some students; there are learners with some difficulties in the subject. Most of the students did the proposed activity while others just didnt care about it. The teacher also delivered some previous activities, when the class finished the teacher collected the workshop and told them to be ready for the qualitative evaluation. The qualitative evaluation consisted on self-evaluation, co-evaluation (evaluating a classmate) and the evaluation the teacher gave to each student according their behavior and commitment with the class. Date: March 24th March 28th Group: 8th grade

When we are teaching, we need to give speeches to the students because we are not only teaching the subject, we are also teaching life skills, these life skills include how to make students realize about their mistakes and how to improve academically. It is pretty frustrating to see when students dont bring the material needed for the class. That is why, it is very beneficial when the school has material for the teachers use in extreme cases.

For this week, I am going to do the reflection part for both of the groups together, on account of the similarity of the activities developed with the groups. Evaluation becomes necessary in a teaching and learning process, especially with language when teachers evaluate the students progress. During the week the evaluation part was not only academic but also the qualitative part; for me it was great to see how conscious the students are about this part of the evaluation. I could see that all of them were very honest with themselves,

General feedback: - Good job teacher. - You have been a very committed student, being very responsibility with all the things you do at the school and at Funlam; also with the delivery of the different practicum one products. - Now, its time to start thinking and preparing the FIFTH DELIVERY PRODUCT: - The Courses Final Product: MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCES FROM

WEEK 11

This week the teacher made a workshop, it was about the most relevant topics of the academic period with the intention of helping student with bad grades and poor academic process, this group was grateful because it was going to help them with the final grade. Then the teacher asked for an activity that they had to deliver. However, just few students handed over the activity, it can be seen that the learners are not motivated towards the PRENSA ESCUELA activity so it will become necessary to implement new strategies to work with it. The class finished with the teacher checking the workshops and with the students evaluation part such as co-evaluation, selfevaluation and the teachers evaluation. Date: March 31st April 4th Group: 8th grade During this week the teacher gave the final grade to each one of the students, they were very happy because none of them flunked the subject. After giving final grades, the teacher wrote second academic term and the most relevant topics that they are going to study. Then, the teacher explained the topic of countable and uncountable nouns with different example and using realia which are the real object available in the classroom, they asked questions about it and the topic seemed to be clear so far; the practice activity was about categorizing countable and uncountable from the list that was given. The last hour of class was an activity with a song, the students made groups of three or four people and they were very excited to work with the song, the first activity was listening to the song and writing down the words they understood their attitude was very competitive and it was totally helpful due to the hour of the class(last class) the second activity was fill in the blanks Date: March 31st April 4th Group: 7th grade As in the other class, the teacher started giving the final grades, the students were very happy because of the good outcomes in the class and the final exams. The topic of this class was past continuous, the teacher explained the topic and pointed out the difference between this topic and present continuous, he gave them a lot of examples and then the class moved to the TV room in order to watch a movie; the movie was Phineas and Pherb, the teacher designed a worksheet which included the topic studied during the class, there were some pictures on the worksheet and the students needed to write what the characters were doing.

their classmates and the teacher. As a teacher I had to grade them too, at first sight it is easy but deep in the moment you realize it is difficult because you start to see their progress, commitment, behavior , attitude, motivation which are all the processes carried out during the academic period including the content part of the subject. In this reflection I am going to focus not on the class itself but on the activities; I have observed that most of the leaners in this classroom (8th grade) are musical or auditory, they really enjoy when the activities include songs, and it is visible in their motivation. However, there are some others who dont enjoy the music because they feel blocked with the language, but the teacher tries to encourage them with positive thoughts. This class is small in number of students; despite this, it is quite difficult because of disciple problems and their attitude towards the language class, they are not always motivated. When the movie was about to start they were complaining about it, they said it is for children they argued a little bit but the teacher played the movie without paying attention to the comments and they started to watch it. It was very funny because the majority of the learners were totally engaged in the activity, they were enjoying the movie, and they were

THE PRACTICUM Presentation date: during the 3rd group meeting (May 12 17) Guidelines: prepare a short but organized and appealing presentation (2-3 mins. only because of the amount of ppl) about your experiences during practicum one. You can include pictures (asking for pervious permission), moments, experiences lived, activities done, etc.

making comments and predictions. In my opinion, as teachers we must select carefully the material carefully, they are still very young but different circumstances make them feel older, they need this kind of activities which remind them that they can watch cartoons, enjoy and learn from this stuff that they consider for children. Date: Group: Date: WEEK 13 Group: Date: WEEK 14 Group: Date: WEEK 15 Group: This final space is for you: to find yourself and to look backward through the multiple experiences lived at the school in your practicum one this semester, both, from personal and PRACTICUM academic points of view. Here you will write a reflection of the most significant moments or ONE experiences (positive, negative or to be improved) that happened to you during this process and Final which have helped you grow as a person, student and professional. Reflection This final reflection should be sent at the same time with your CJ week number 15 to be able to read it and give you the proper feedback: before MAY 20th WEEK 12

CJ Quantitative feedback: