MY TEACHING ROAD.

Teaching Practice I.
Patricia Carolina Daz.
06/15th/14








Final essay



Patricia Carolina Diaz Mendez.




Teaching practice I.
Elmer Jorge Guardado. MaT
June 15
th
, 2014.






Introduction.
Most of people will consider that teaching is something easy to do and they
get judgmental when a teacher or someone in the area do not perform in the way is
expected, but in teaching involves a long way of activities and planning the, from
the simple element of pass assistances at the beginning of the class to the farewells
words at the end of the day, they have to design the perfect activity that fits in the
group and has to deal with students who do not want to learn, teaching goes
beyond the four wall in schools, and refer to the fact that teachers move lives, help
to build dreams and sometimes change students perceptions making them better
persons.
In that way this paper reflect the progress done in the teaching practice and the
way how things went during the semesters. It is divided in four parts for a better
understanding.
Teaching critical reflection
Systematization of the Teaching Practice Process.
Application of e-portfolio approach
Use of technology in the classroom.



1. Explain and include a Teaching Critical Reflection in what you have been
through in your TP and in the course.
Every activity and performance in our life has a reason to be and a reflection
of it is need it, so as a teacher the practice in the classrooms are not an exception.
Brookfield (Brookfield, 1995) argues that we have to find lenses to help teacher to
highlight the good and bad issues in our practice, and to considered the
improvements we can do, he list for useful lenses in first place he mention : our
autobiographies as learners and teachers (self-review), teachers can have a journal
with all the activities and things that it have done during a semester and then read
the actions and steps that leave them to that point, this will allow to the teacher to
have a different perspective of itself and began to understand why did it act in that
way in first place, also to have a journal will facilitate the solution of problems; the
second lenses that Brookfield suggest is to see the things through our students
eyes (student review) inside of the classroom the actors are teachers and students,
that is why teacher have to listen students reviews and suggestions to improve and
to make a more pleasant class, in that way student feel motivated in the process of
learning. Seeing ourselves from our students perspectives can lead to many
welcome and not so welcome surprises. On third place our colleagues experiences
(peer review) is another lenses useful to become self-reflective in this way our
colleagues can help sharing their experience with other teachers, using this lenses
will allow to see that we are in the same path, in last place the author suggest the
theoretical literature (benchmarking), the well use of literature can help teacher to
understand the practice to use techniques that facilitate the teaching, sometimes a
solution can be found in a book. (Brookfield, 1995)
Brookfield (1988), continue suggesting that if we want a good reflection we
should also focus in the you have to challenge yourself and to speculate to thing
that can happen in the classroom to go forward and to prevent if what you are
doing benefits to your practice and to the students, thinking outside of the box will
be helpful to understand the practice, to revaluate our own belief in order to
assess the impact of our actions, be aware of the context around will also allow to
the teachers to see if it performance is in a good path,
When teacher take some time to reflect what are they are doing and what
steps to follow the performance in it practice will change, once you have
conscience of what you want to be, the teacher that you are and the teacher you
want to become in that point is when the practice will change. In my teaching
practice experience, if I look back to the days I start and try to remember my first
class my me from that time will probably receive a punch or something like that,
because in the way I used to teach is not the one I want it to be, now with a little bit
of experience and with more preparation I realize that what I did before is nothing
compare with the teacher I can become, this leave me to take into consideration my
goals the ones I did at the beginning of my teaching practice and the things I have
accomplish professionally and academically in order to reflect if I still in the path
that I first planned in my beginners days.

This leads me to another question and is to consider how can I know if I am
doing a good job, well in case I think that the first that motivate me to change my
teaching practice and to reflect about it was my students, the attitudes of boring
and confusing in their faces led me to ask myself if my classes did not have the
enough motivation and wake up the interest of the students, take to consider in
what way I was changing their life and how could I to improve for them, when I
finally understood that I need to be more prepared and to modified the way I teach
the faces of my students. Brookfield was right when he said that our colleagues
experiences (peer review) (Brookfield, 1995) is one element that we need to
consider in order to reflect about the teaching practice, in my case my superiors
and my colleagues have been a great factor in the way I teach whereas directly or
indirectly because when I observe my colleagues work and the vocation they
show, gave me reason to stop-think-reinforce my teaching practice, it made me
realize how it was my performance, my superior also motivate me to get the best
of me.

A critical self-reflection is not just to mention the things I do good or bad, is
the fact that I understand and the steps I am doing in order to improve as a teacher
and as a person, Brookfield gave me good tips to follow but it is up to me to use it
in my formation not only at my studies but also in my professional life, the
reflection has to be constant and not to wait when the problems begins, a
continuous reflection will facilitate the teaching practice.


2. Explain step by step how you are going to do a systematization of the Teaching
Practice Process.
The systematization of any process is to order and organize the activities,
tool and artifact in order to facilitate peoples work, this allows to any person to be
prepared in any situation and to know the steps to follow if a situation is
presented; in the same way teachers has to systematize its teaching practice in
order to guide them during a class, a period or a semester, this systematization will
permit to teachers to be aware and to predict different situation that can be
presented in the classroom, and also will allow to teacher to have evidence of it
practice to keep improving.

At the beginning of my teaching practice I present myself to the class
without any guidance, I depend only of my book and the 45 minutes that I had to
develop my class, but I face with the fact that sometime I did have anything else to
do, sometimes I ran out of ideas and I started to improvise activities that has
nothing to do with the topic of the class, in other occasion the problem was that I
run out of time and at the end of the semester there is still some topics that I could
not reach to teach, but why this happened to me? It was because I never had a
guide to give me the direction that I needed it, I just follow the flow without any
control, on this way the necessity of be more organize and to systematize my work
born.
The systematization that I use was going from the macro to the micro files that I
need it to organize my practice, I try to follow first the framework that minister of
education use for the public and private system, each one of the artifacts are the
antecessor and precursor of each other, one give the path to follow and at the end
all the artifact work together in order to develop my teaching practice. I followed
this order to facilitate the systematization.
Program
Syllabus
Outline
Planning
Lesson plan.
Each one of this artifact are important to develop my teaching practice, in this
way I could plan the activities per class, in the lesson plan, allowing me to
remember what I have to do in the specific time and to achieve the goals for that
specific class, the planning helped me to plan all the topic in the specific time of the
period in that way I could never miss a topic or repeat a topic already discussed.
The outline was made to put all the activities in the correct order to happen, the
syllabus also and important plan because allow me to see the big picture and the
reach that the topics have, and the program this is the one presented for mined
where all the ideas come from, without it all the topics approaches and
methodology use in my teaching practice would not had the same effect.

3. Explain and describe how you are going to apply the e-portfolio approach
including the new learning environment in the ELT.

Is not strange that the world is changing and it is in the same way that
education have change to, in the last decades the way how teachers develop it class
was trough the board and markers, and the classes was only presence so if you did
not assist to school you miss all the classes and you have to wait to the next day to
try to update. Nowadays, everything has change, the school has transform to fit in
the new economic system and to compete in the globalize world, and as I say
before the way of teaching have change, even the way how the seat in the
classroom have chance, universities like MIT have change to studio based model to
develop classes.
That is way the new learning environment present a wide open opportunity
to teachers to improve their teaching practice, how come? Well, the activities that
teachers in the past used to do are no longer interesting for kids in these days,
nowadays teachers can use a lot of medias to communicate with students, and
students as well have a wide branch of resources and technology for self-
education, so do not assist to class is no longer an excuse for not to learn.
In my teaching practice I use former tools to teach, the use of internet and
other pages like social media network help me to be in touch with my students and
to understand the context of them in that way I can prepare my classes on topics
that are meaningful for them, the use of game- based learning are inner in my
classes because I believe that if education is entertained wont be something hard
to process, on the contraire this types of approaches will facilitate students
learning.

4. Explain how you are going to deal if you want to use technology in a school or
place of work but there is not Tech in the classroom. What are you going to do?
How are you going to solve the problem? Provide resources that you will use and
the procedures
It is very common for teachers to feel frustrated because of the fact that
some activities like showing slides or the simple presentation of a song cannot be
done, the situation of some school of the country are really precarious and in some
cases the energy service is inexistence, in this way teachers get block because they
are no use to deal with this type of situations, the teachers came from a different
environment where all the artifact needed to the class are in the classroom, as a
consequence the quality of its teaching practice starts to fail and teachers become in
a simple instrument of the system, just reproducing and not producing what they
have set, but how can we change the fact this? Well, teachers must think outside of
the box and not be closed to a window of opportunity they have in front, it is true
that electronic appliance make easier the teachers labor but are not the only way to
do it.
When someone mention the word technology we related to the use of
electronic appliance that facility humans work, like computers, cellphones tablets,
etc.; but in fact the correct definition of it is given by The Merriam-Webster
dictionary which define technology as the application of knowledge to the
practical aims of human life or to changing and manipulating the human
environment. Technology includes the use of materials, tools, techniques, and
sources of power to make life easier or more pleasant and work more productive.
Whereas science is concerned with how and why things happen, technology
focuses on making things happen. Technology began to influence human as soon
as people began using tools. (merriam-webster, 2014) In this way when we talk
about technology is not necessary a computer or any electronic artifact, any tool
that useful for us to accomplish something could be considered as technology. So
what happens if in the school there is no technology? Well the technology can be
made by ourselves, it is being said that teacher are artist and they have the talent to
build with the material and tools they have in their hands, it is in this way that
teachers can build a world in the air, any object in the classroom can be used to
accomplish a goal.

How can teacher solve this problem? If technology as we know it is missing
the first thing is not to panic and close to the world of possibilities that teachers can
opt in order to achieve the goal of the class, then I would determinate the object
and tools around me which can facilitate my class, when all the materials are ready
the next steps is to use the creativity, also as teacher the good planning of activities
will allows us to be ready and predict different situations in the case we cannot use
technology. The constructivist claims that the environment is the perfect place to
create learning, in this way a small trip to the backyard of the school or any other
place can be as meaningful as a slide on the projector. Teachers not only have to
work with what they have but also have to improve that tools and make the best in
order to achieve its goals. The resources that teachers can use is realia for me this is
an excellent tool because allows to students to learn using thing meaningful and
real for them, the teachers body itself is a good tool for students to learn, we have
to remember that technology is application of knowledge to the practical aims of
human life in order to facilitate, so do not complicate it, the principal technology
that teachers have is their own mind.
As a conclusion being a teacher is not a simple profession, requires of
commitments, the person who decide to start in the world of education has to be
will prepared to expect the unexpected and to deal with different types of issues
that will reinforce it practice, eventhough the rewards are not monetary the
satisfaction of doing something good, to make students change in become in better
person that is priceless and no job in the world will change that, I know that I am
still starting this journey but when I remember how I used to be at the beginning is
nothing compare with who I am now, and with the teacher I want to be.





Referencias
Brookfield, S. (1995). Becoming a critically reflective teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
merriam-webster. (14 de june de 2014). Merriam-webster. Obtenido de http://www.merriam-
webster.com/