Final self- and peer reflections (FS18)

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Vazquez on December 6, 2018 at 7:39pm

After watching the teaching slice, one can say it went very well. Although that is the case, lots of improvement needed in my opinion. The students were engaged in the lesson. Some students who were not expected to participate, were very active that day. The binding approach was heavily promoted. According to Lee and VanPatten (2003), this is very important because it will challenge students, and promote explicit teaching. Speaking in the target language was also used in the majority of class time. One can say the students really got a lot of vocabulary doing this. Students worked very well together during group work. This is good especially for differentiated students according to Tomlinson (2001). One can say, english was used a lot when giving directions, and the production part of the lesson could have included a better activity. Those two aspects of the lesson are things that one can say need improvement. A lists of vocabulary words should have also been provided, one can say the lesson relied heavily on the textbook. The students got a lot of vocabulary out of this lesson. They also learned about the difference between the city and country in Mexico. There were no unanticipated consequences, but in a personal note, there was a pause in my speech due to itching throat. One can say it was due to lack of water, but being nervous was not an issue. This students raised their hands to interact with me, and with each other, they simply sat next to each other. Both languages were used when interacting with the students, between the students, one can say it was the same situation. The objectives of the lesson were meant. Students learned a lot of new vocabulary, and were able to distinguish the difference between the city and country life, such as what do we find in those areas, specifically in Mexico. The students learned how to say what is in the city and country in Mexico in the target language which is Spanish. The lesson should begin with grammar the next day. The students will learn the future tense. The reason for this is because today was vocabulary based lesson, now the grammar needs to be applied. The lesson taught was basically, a presentation of what will be learned, and how they will apply this new vocabulary in sentences. One can say that there is a different way of teaching this lesson. For example, a video could have been shown in the presentation part of the lesson, about the city of Mexico and country side. The students could have been given a fill in formative assessment task. Here, the student would have to fill in the blanks with the new vocabulary. At the production part of the lesson, students could have been giving an example of the future tense of a word. One can say labeling could have really helped with the lesson, especially for a differentiated students. (491 Words)

Permalink Reply by Margarita Mejia-Ramos on December 10, 2018 at 7:43am

One noticed the different types of strategies that one wanted to incorporate in the lesson plan. One can say that the lesson plan was well performed, and students were engaged in the activities. One observed the different activities that were used through the lesson plan. This was a great idea because students were not distracted.

            Formative assessment was used throughout the class, and it was well done. However, one might say that the questions used for the presentation phase were very open questions, especially for a level one class. One should perhaps give the students multiple choice questions. Another way that the presentation phase could have been done differently is by doing true and false questions. The question could have been great for the HL, not for the other students.

            One can say that the pacing was great. One had excellent interactions with the students. Students were able to follow the instruction for each activity. One may say that the TL was used about 50 percent of the time; the L1 was used about the same range. One can argue that it is fine to use the students L1 when clarification needs to be made, however when speaking basic grammar, one should use the TL.

            Culture can be seen throughout the whole presentation. This was the best aspect of the lesson. Students were able to “visit” Mexico with the pictures that one provided. One also made connections with the students, as they were able to relate to you. Do you think that the questions were accurate for a level one Spanish class? Do you think that perhaps writing an example of how to answer the presentation phase questions could have helped students? Or do think that giving students options could have motivated them to participate more than one would have liked to? (302 words)

Permalink Reply by Maria Sciortino on December 7, 2018 at 2:10pm

The aspect of the lesson which went well was connected to the students' engagement. They managed to stay engaged from the beginning of the lesson to the end. However, when the teacher, at the beginning of the lesson, asked them to volunteer to read the date of the day from the whiteboard, they acted shyly giving the impression that they were not willing to participate. After that silent moment, all of them participated in a vehement fashion. The aspect of the lesson which did not go well was connected to the source of distraction created by the role teacher and the assistant principal who did not silence their cell phones during the video recording. Furthermore, the role teacher reprimanded students once out-load, needlessly since students were actually loud due to their involvement with the topic. The student-teacher would have been able to restore order on her own. According to Benati and VanPatten (2010), Acquisition occurs because of learner engagement with processing meaningful language in some kind of communicative context, in or out of classroom " (p. 150). The role teacher truncated an energetic lesson during the students' engagement. 

Students absorbed the importance of the grammar and how to use the auxiliary verbs for transitive and intransitive verbs. They learned how to conjugate the present perfect and to conjugate the past participle according to gender and number for intransitive verbs. In this vein, Benati and VanPatten (2010) added, "All syntactic operations are structure dependent" (p. 63). 

Furthermore, students learned how Italians spend their free time during the weekends, and places they go to for leisure. 

One unanticipated consequence was produced by the distractive behaviors created by the other two adults present in the classroom during the lesson, mentioned earlier. Another challenge faced was due to time management. The teacher prepared more material than what could be accomplished in only 50 minutes. She underestimated the amount of time needed to accomplish some tasks, i.e., the production task. 

The object of the lesson was successfully achieved, the four goals, communicative, grammatical, lexical, and cultural, were covered and students were able to learn and practice what was taught. 

The lesson could have been taught differently by adding more realia, visual, or more video clips. The use of visual helps students learn new vocabulary words avoiding translation in L1. As Lee and VanPatten (2010) argued, "Using familiar themes and situations, good instructors allow their learners to process for language alone and do not push them to struggle with the topic itself" (p.34). 

The next lesson should start by teaching students how to conjugate reflexive verbs in the present perfect tense. The teacher should teach them reflexive pronouns. The lesson could be very visual since the reflexive verbs are verbs whose subjects are also their direct objects, e.g., to get dressed, to get washed, etc. 

  Another way the teacher could re-teach the lesson would be by using more visual and auditory cues to differentiate the lesson according to students' styles, or by using differentiation according to readiness or students profile. As stated by Tomlinson (2001), "Differentiation suggests it is feasible to develop classrooms where realities of student variance can be addressed along with curricular realities" (p. VI). (word count 537)

Permalink Reply by Gloria Payne on December 9, 2018 at 9:56pm

Maria, you were able to engage the student and successfully implement your lesson plan.  I was impressed by your ability to use the smart board in your presentation.  This was helpful to provide the students with a visual outlook in which they could understand and better relate to the lesson plan.  You were persistence in seeking student participation, which elicits further engagement between student and teacher in the target language (TL). The objective of the lesson plan was clearly received by the students.

We both encountered a similar issue with the role teacher having too much interaction and visibility within the class.  There was a few more distraction that was out of your control, but overall you were able to recover and continue with your lesson plan. 

 Throughout the lesson, you stayed on point and using several hand gestures to communicate to the students.  This is an important aspect of teaching as you were able to establish a level of interaction, which stimulated an exchange between yourself and the students.  You were also able to touch on culture with your second video which was helpful and established a link to your overall goal. The students could easily relate to the individuals on video and their attires that they wore.  You were able to pull this information from the students.   You also touched on the use of proper verbs and their appropriate use in addressing the masculine and feminine stance. There was a clean transition between the three Ps (Presentation, Practice, and Production).   Once again, Maria, you did an impressive job.

(word count 260)

Permalink Reply by Gloria Payne on December 9, 2018 at 4:43pm

The objective of the lesson plan was for the students to learn vocabulary words associated with everyday household chores and be able to effectively use those words in structured sentences. Additionally, exercises organized using familiar games (e.g.: bingo) encouraged overall class participation and understanding the use of proper grammar. Overall the students were attentive and maintained a level of engagement throughout the lesson. There were opportunities in which the student-teacher could have been more attentive to work with students who were not fully engaged.  The assigned task was appropriate and challenging. Another area of opportunity includes managing time more efficiently to cover all the class activities. There was a slight distraction of student movement in and out of the classroom which could better be managed through further experience. 

The activities build on each other with the objective that student would be able to comprehend the lesson objective in the target language (TL).  This would breed a level a familiarity and comfort with the students so that they will be able to retain what they learned and respond back to probative questions being asked of them. Following the second activity, the student-teacher went over several examples, using the time to clearly define expectation, which was to be followed by breaking up the students into groups for a group exercise. The group activity encourages the sharing of ideas and knowledge between students. This follows Tomlinson (2001) approach on the importance of group activity wherein she states:” This flexibility also keeps students from feeling that they are “pegged” into a given classroom niche “(p. 26) The students successfully completed their assessment exercise exhibiting a clear and overall understanding of the lesson plan.

The game activity although effective, took time for the students to become fully engaged.  Although visual were used, they might have been more effective if applied from the smart board.  This would have directed the student’s attention to a single point, without the use of handouts. There were students who were not as actively involved in the class, which was a missed opportunity.  The ability to adjust lesson to be inclusive to all is a work in process, as stated by Tomlinson (2001): “some teachers already make frequent adjustments in curriculum and instruction to allow for student differences in their classrooms.” (p. 33)

For the next lesson, students are expected to work well together with each adding their own experience and knowledge to their respective group.  The next assessment would be done using the smart board, proving more visual activities which should further increase student engagement. Following the introduction to irregular verbs describing the appropriate usage between feminine, masculine or both, the student will incorporate in advance lexical grammatical structure. 

The assignment could be improved upon with the use of videos and application of culture in the TL.  This could be as simple as using videos of Latin cultures and the various garments that they wear (e.g.: hat, clothes).  The teacher-student would further benefit as this would improve the student’s sensory and increase knowledge of the TL.  (word count 505)

Permalink Reply by Maria Sciortino on December 9, 2018 at 5:49pm

 Your big success was to use a game to engage students' attention, it worked well to grab their interest. I enjoyed the fact that you would repeat the expressions more than one time, allowing students to comprehend in case they had not understood the first time. As always, you presented your material with lots of enthusiasm. However, looking at the video, the students' body language did not seem to be willing to participate in the tasks. Only a few of them seemed eager to get involved. 

One thing which did not go well was the constant presence of the role teacher making herself visible in the video recording and creating distractions to her own students as she reprimands and gesticulates with the learners. 

I particularly enjoyed the way you enthusiastically walked around the classroom to help your students in specific tasks in which they needed extra help with. You managed to create an environment where the students were able to be at ease with seeking help. A specific piece of advice which I would recommend you, and this advice also works well for me, since I had the same challenge, is to ask the role teacher, before the beginning of class, to sit in the back corner and to enjoy the show without getting into the view of the camera recording. Another challenge we both shared in presenting our lesson to students was also a result of the role teacher who sporadically interfered with trying to help through the lesson which we were already controlling well (word count 255). ]

Permalink Reply by Maria Rodriguez on December 9, 2018 at 6:27pm

During the mini lesson, students were engaged and interested in the topic. Some of the students had knowledge about the topic and contribute during the discussion. However, as always, I had problems with the technology. The projector connected to the smartboard worked for five minutes then went off. So, I did my presentation without a PowerPoint. Students did not have the opportunity to visualize the colorful pictures and get a better understanding of material. I had to improviser with the pictures from the handouts in order to students understand the concept of the material in the TL. Then the person who was recoding my presentation, noticed that my tablet had not space to record the presentation. It was a moment of confusion because the recording person did not know what to do. However, it was amazing how students respond to the situation, they were very cooperated. Many of students offered me their cellphones to videotape my presentation. So, one of my students’ cellphone was used to videotape my presentation. After all the commotion, my videoclip was made of pieces from one minute, seven minutes, two minutes. I see this as a teachable moment event though my videoclip was short, I learn that I can count on the students’ support in a moment of difficulty like my situation.
After all, students were able to engage in a listening activity in which students were exposed to a narrative story in the TL about a typical Day of Dead. Through the activity students were able experienced and obtained information of the different viewpoints of a sociocultural tradition. During the learning phases, the four cognitive skills were implemented. In the first phase of the mini lesson, students engaged in listening and speaking tasks. Students had the opportunity to eat “bread of dead,” tamales, and sure skulls. Students were able to talk about the products. In the last phases of the lesson, students engaged in reading and writing tasks in which they had to identify lexical and verbs forms in the reading passages. Students had to analyze the reading material and write the verbs in the correct tense (past or past form) The objectives of the mini lesson were met because students were able to implement the four cognitive goals. Seely N. (1976) “learning a language in isolation of its cultural roots prevent one from becoming socialized into its contextual use, knowledge of linguistic structure alone does not carry with it any special insight into the political, social, religious, or economic system.” Over all, the purpose of the mini lesson was to create awareness for students on the different cultural festivities in Hispano-American countries and allowed students to advance their sociocultural competence.
In the following mini lesson, I will implement different festivities in which students will be able to select one of their choice. Brant (1998) “Two powerful and related motivation for engagement are students’ interest and students’ choice. If students have a spark of curiosity about a topic, learning is more likely for that students.”
I would like to reteach this mini lesson because I feel that the students missed the first part of the lesson at the beginning. (526 words)

Permalink Reply by Briana Lopez on December 9, 2018 at 7:28pm

One believes this teaching slice went fairly well in certain aspects; however, one is aware improvement is needed in order to be successful for future lesson plans. The aspects that went well during the lesson was the engagement of one’s student. Students were able to remain focused and engaged throughout the whole lesson by volunteering to share their answers. The second language (L2) learners were also engaged with the lesson since the presentation activity provided a lot of visual’s that caught students attention. As Lee and VanPatten (2003) state drawing, photos, diagrams, gestures, and other visual approaches help students have a better understanding of what is being taught especially when one is teaching vocabulary.

The aspect that did not go well was the usage of the target language (TL). One notice there was translation-based teaching in their lesson. This could have been avoided since students were able to get a clear understanding of the vocabulary words being presented to them with all the visuals being provided. Therefore, one could have limited the usage of the first language (L1). Additionally, there was no Do Now activity, one went straight to introducing the vocabulary without a small hook to catch student’s attention.

Overall, one unanticipated consequence was present during the lesson when students were getting distracted by their fellow classmates that were walking into the classroom late. One also did not manage time appropriately since at the end of the class period one had to rush to finish the last activity.

The objectives of the lesson were achieved. Students were able to get a clear understanding of the vocabulary words relating to the city and understand how to use the words correctly. Students also had the opportunity to interact with their fellow classmates and educator. Here, students were able to practice the usage of the language and exchange ideas. As Geeslin and Long (2014) argued, good material does more than just deliver explanation but give students the chance to interact with the language.  Overall, one's L2 learners were engaged, respectful and willing to participate during the lesson.

The next lesson will start by going over the vocabulary word and introducing the future tense. Students will be able to put into practice the vocabulary acquired in the previous lesson with the new tense being presented. If one had to re-teach the lesson, one would provide a reading or video where the L2 learners would have the opportunity to hear the pronunciation of the words and see the words being used. One would also try to incorporate more culture within the lesson, by adding a video relating to a specific country in Latin America. Overall, for future lessons, one will pay close attention to students learning profiles because as one Tomlinson (2001) claims one must be aware of what works with one's student in order for them to succeed. (475)

 

Permalink Reply by Oscar Bustamante on December 11, 2018 at 2:02pm

Dear Briana,

I can see we share the same impressions about our teaching slices. I liked your visuals and how your students answer the questions about them although their responses are not clearly understood.  You, like me, got  the audio distorted unfortunately. As you said, problems arise when some students come late to class and disturb the others. It looks a quiet class and students behave well but they need to be more engaged through more interaction between they and you and among themselves. Don't you think next time it is better to implement activities in pairs so they can interact more?  Do you think that a video should have been played so the students get hooked with the lesson?  Since your lesson is about cities it could have been interesting to show them a video of a Latin American city where peculiarities such markets or street vendors can be seen (little c). This way you could also have incorporated culture in your teaching slice. You, like me, also spoke English in some parts of the class. I know it is difficult to explain grammar without speaking English. What we do know is that we have to keep the use of L1 as little as possible. I see your classroom is big and the recording device was a little far away from you. It is a pity that the voices of the students are not clearly understood. I had the same problem even though  my classroom is smaller. Let's try to make sure that the audio gets better next time. We are in our road to becoming teachers and probably we are going to deal with more difficulties but we will learn from them.  You did a good job Briana and keep it up!

(292 words)

Permalink Reply by Margarita Mejia-Ramos on December 9, 2018 at 8:00pm

One must always understand the importance of creating a good design lesson plan. One should not just focus on the context that will be present to the class, but also the differentiation one must do for students who have an individualized education program (IEP), are heritage language learners (HL), gifted and talented and so on. After this teaching slice, one has noticed that there are good and bad aspects of the lesson, and how one can improve future lessons.

The primary goal for all foreign language educators is to speak in the target language (TL). However, one spoke in the students' first language (L1) the majority of the class. Cook (2008) highlights, that “an important element in L2 success appears to be how learners are treated: the teaching method they encounter the language they hear and the environment in which they are learning” (2008, p. 162). Students must be exposed to the TL in order to have a comprehension of the language. Educators should also be aware of the classroom and students vary in so many ways. Some students will need accommodations to be able to participate and understand what is going on in the classroom.  

 One noticed that doing accommodations for all students was a great success. In the presentation phase, students had been presented to new vocabulary words. Lee and VanPatten (2003) argue that “input activities require visualizations” (2003, p. 43), therefore in the practice phase, one was able to create an activity for students who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), were able to move around the classroom. Students were asked to label the objects in the classroom since the unit is to learn about the objects in the classroom. Although not all students have ADHD, it is essential to create activities where students can visually, have physical descriptions, or physical items to have a good input based on vocabulary.

One must be able to have good time management. Unfortunately, one had created an activity for each phase; however, the activities were to brief. Brandl (2008) points out that, “pacing and timing constitute important aspects of planning a lesson, and they may influence the effectiveness of a lesson.” (2008, p. 48).  Educators must be careful with their timing when creating a lesson plan. One must always create a backup plan, in case the pacing and timing do not go as one had planned. Fortunately, one was able to ask students to create a bingo chart and utilize the vocabulary words that they have been given in the presentation phase. One was able to use this idea and students continue to participate.

 The objectives of the lesson were achieved, Students were able to comprehend new vocabulary and utilize it during the activities, one was able to do formative assessments for each activity, and challenge students who had a better input based on the lesson content. Brandl (2008), argues teachers need to utilize materials (e.g., videos, audiotapes, reading text) and create a learning task that will engage students learning process. 

 In the next class, in the presentation phase, students should review the vocabulary from the previous day. As for the practice phase, students should learn about indirect and direct pronouns. Although they have been implicitly thought in the previous activity, it is essential for students to have a better comprehension. There are many things one will like to do differently, such as using the L1 less frequently and utilize the TL more often.

(574 words)

Permalink Reply by David Vazquez on December 9, 2018 at 8:07pm

Hello Margarita,
One can say you did a great job in your teaching slice. Your had all the 3 P’s in your slice. Even though you finished early, I congratulate you because you thought of a plan on the spot. It was an unexpected consequence that you managed using a game. It was a smart game too, because one can say it was a vocabulary game. You spoke loud and clear. The activities were great for what you were trying to teach. Your pacing was excellent in my opinion. Based on your last teaching slice, your pacing is something that one can say doesn't need any work. You speak very slow, and that is a good thing. I really like how you used the class objects to show students what you were talking about. That is a great way to promote binding. There is just a couple of things that need a little work. A couple of your students were not paying attention, so it is important you address that. There was little culture mentioned in your classroom. Other than that, the only suggestion I can give you is to speak up a little more, and to time yourself a little better. Maybe you could have wasted more time on the activity that was hard. Here are just a couple of questions to consider based on your teaching slice: Did my activities promote culture? Could I have taught vocabulary words from outside the classroom? Did the students understand my instructions that were said in Spanish? (253 Words)

Permalink Reply by Maria Rodriguez on December 9, 2018 at 9:41pm

Hola, Xochitl,
Through the mini-lesson, you used the TL during instruction and students were able to answer in the TL. The vocabulary and material were at the students’ level because some students were able to participate during the discussion of the material. You were able to differentiate your mini lesson by implementing pictures, a video clip, worksheet and mimic during instruction. These materials are very helpful for visual learners because it promotes a better understanding of the new input in the TL. During the learning segment, some of the students were able to implement writing, listening, speaking skills which are the objectives of the lesson. I like the friendly and positive interaction between you and the students. Tomlinson (1993) “it is important to address students’ own readiness levels, interests, and learning modes. By offering variations on well-deigned products with core commonalities, teacher encourage all students to draw on their personal interest and strengths. In this way all students can grow from appropriate challenges.”
However, I would suggest that in the future, you could implement cooperative and communicate learning activities, in which students could exchange their interpersonal ideas about the topic in the TL. You could use the same task implemented in the mini-lesson. Students could work in groups or pairs and put in practice the new input in the TL. This could give you the opportunity to assess their oral skills while they are engaging in a communicative activity. Also, you could use a Hispanic restaurant to introduce culture in your mini lesson. Over all, I like how you manage the lesson because It reflect a positive environment. (266 words)

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