IMPLEMENTATION: Results & evaluation
Here you have a video which summarizes the results of the implementations of the teaching unit!!
This ten minutes’ video contains some of the strengths and weaknesses of my performance as a teacher for these last teaching practices. It gathers videos from different days and moments of the implementation of the teaching unit.
On the other hand, I would like to highlight that was totally determined to improve at least one of my practicum IV weaknesses: to include pupils reluctant to participate. So, you will see some examples that refer to this objective.
On the other hand, I would like to highlight that was totally determined to improve at least one of my practicum IV weaknesses: to include pupils reluctant to participate. So, you will see some examples that refer to this objective.
STRENGTHS
One of the most important aspects was to have strategies to get pupils' attention and to motivate them for the teaching unit, in the minute 00:09 you can see one of the most used tactic which was to say Holy moly and pupils had to answer back saying guacamole and then be in silence. Moreover, in the minute 00:34 I when I asked them if they were ready the reply was very weak…so I encouraged them to answer with more energy!
|
It was also very important the inclusion of scaffolding in the explanation such as mimics so that pupils could easily understand some key words from the teaching unit that were unknown for them such as thief, minute 00:42 and minute 01:45. We also used peer scaffolding through spelling the difficult words with all the class. Moreover, it was a great opportunity to make the reluctant students to participate with easy letters, minute 02:11.
|
In this practicum V, I gave more importance to motivate reluctant students to participate rather than being strict with the time management that I had planned. Although I had an amount of time for each of the activities I used the unexpected learning opportunities to encourage them to answer even if that it leaded to devote extra time and to adapt the timing. There is a clear example in the minute 03:31, in which I ask a pupil who I knew in advance, that he did not know the answer and who usually do not volunteer. What is more, in the minutes 05:01 and 05:29 I choose a girl who is also reluctant to participate and the boy with obsessive-compulsive disorder who were not asking to participate.
|
When I introduced them the term of types of building, I did not expect that they did not know how to translate this word into Catalan. After some fail trials, I decided to use vocabulary that they already knew to guide them to the meaning of this new concepts, minute 04:21. I also used a visual strategy, thumbs up-thumbs down, not only to know if pupils where understanding but also to foster their participation while we were checking the results with the whole group, minute 05:52.
|
I used an interactive poster to review the parts of the house, moreover I wrote the name on the blackboard of each of the rooms that we were discovering so that all pupils could see them, minute 06:14. In the session that I repeated with the other class, I made the pupils write the names instead of me so that they could practice their writing skills.
|
WEAKNESSES
We used two different samples of the listening comprehension so that pupils avoided cheating. However, this leaded me to the handicap not going through the questions, checking that they understood all the words, out loud so that they not discover that fact. Which could have ended up with some doubts, minute 07:31. After the implementation, I think that it is more important to check their comprehension rather than the fact that they know that they have different samples.
|
Sometimes, when you do a group activity in which you have to supervise and control different activities simultaneously, it ends up with some pupils that are not participating as much as their classmates and with you not even realizing that this is happening. In the minute 07:51 I went to a group who had doubts but it is clear that the boy in white is not participating. This same boy, now in orange, in the minute 07:59, remains in his sit alone and clearly distracted. I could have told them that it was necessary to give the answers with all the group or that all of the members had to discover one of the parts to ensure more participation.
|
Furthermore, doing this kind of dynamic activities sometimes lead in a lack of attention of the pupils when you are giving the instructions because they are already thinking or wanting to start. Although I told them to move out of the tables, some of them where not even listening. In the minute 09:17 some pupils already started to stand up not paying attention anymore. Instead of keeping on going with the instructions, I should have stopped until all of them were not paying attention.
|
In the last part of the session 5, when we were discovering where was the treasure, I did not choose the best way to show results because as they were saying the result simultaneously while they were holding the 6 suspicious and, to do so, I used 12 pupils as volunteers, as you can see in the minute 09:41, some kids where not even seeing their classmates. So, I changed it in the session that I carried out with the other class, discarding the suspicious buildings one by one until we just had the two last ones.
|
All in all, I think that as strong point of my performance as a teacher in this practicum V, is that I tried to ensure the participation of all the pupils, especially the ones reluctant to participate. In addition, I put a lot of emphasis in gesturing, paraphrasing and using vocabulary that they already knew. But as a drawback, I should have controlled better the team work, ensuring the participation of all and I should have been stricter when giving important instructions. I still tend to remain at the front of the class when I am explaining things.