Javiera Bravo // Laura Espinoza

I.

INSTRUCTIONAL DECISION MAKING

MDD Standard 4 - 5
The teacher candidate makes adjustments to the lesson plans based on assessment
data and pupils engagement, communicating the analysis and conclusions regarding
the impact of instruction.
3.1 Student Response to Lesson 1: As we could observe, students responded
positively to lesson 1, they correctly repplied to the ICQs provided, and all of them
carried out the activities shown by the teacher. They responded better than I had
predicted, since in the presentation stage, for example, everybody repeated after
me the words I was teaching. However, we noticed that in the first activity, one
group of students got confused even though they had correctly answered the ICQs
Are you going to write adjectives or verbs?, Is it related to weather?, and they
had to confirm if the adjectives I was asking for were related to the current
weather in Concepcin or weather in general.
3.2 Adjustments for Lesson 1: According to the first session, we concluded that a
good adjustment for the next lesson was a expanded use of ICQs, since students,
even though they correctly repplied to the ICQs given in lesson 1, still had little
doubts that affected their performance during the activity. For instance, as it is
shown before, ICQs for the first activity were: Are you going to write adjectives
or verbs?, Is it related to weather?. In this case, students asnwered this ICQs
as I had predicted; however, at the moment of splitting them into to groups and
starting the contest, one of the groups began to work raightaway, meanwhile the
other group remained still for a while until one student asked me is it related to
the weather of today?. Then, I realized that I had not specifed that the
adjectives could be related to weather in general, and that confused some of the
students. On the other hand, antoher adjustment we concluded it was good gor
next lesson, was the use of physical material that students could work with. In
our first lesson, all the activities were shown in a power point presentation, due
to which students barely wrote in their notebooks. Consequently, we decided to
bring new material for them to work with. Evidence of their work is attached in a
gallery of photographs on the E-portfolio.
3.3 Analysis of Learning Results
3.3.1 Whole Class:
Since we worked as tutors in a reduced number of sessions, we did not have the
opportunity to carry out tests or other types of evaluations; nevertheless, we do have
evidence of their work during the activities they performed. For the first session,
however, there is no physical evidence to support our lesson other than students
behaviour towards our teachings. In the presentation stage, new vocabulary was
taught through images, but still students had questions about the meaning of some
words like drizzling (which was the most confusing and new word for them) so one of
the students asked what is drizzling, and many other nodded with their heads
showing that they were paying attention but they had that doubt.
3.3.2 Individuals:

Javiera Bravo // Laura Espinoza

3.3.2.1 Student 1, Julio Galn: This student has a high level of proficiency regarding
English, so it can be said that the tasks we brought in the first lesson were relatively
easy for him, since he quickly and successfully completed them. However, I must point
out that at the beginning of lesson 1, Julio did not know how to reply to the question
Whats the weather like today, for he just said hot, horrible, tropical but he was not
able to come up with the target language of the lesson, or with a complete sentence;
he just named some adjectives. At the end of the lesson though, in the production
stage, he successfully accomplished the learning goals, since he stated: Summer days
are hot in Santiago, so I prefet to travel in Autumn.
3.3.2.2 Student 2, Paulina Alarcn: This student has a low level of proficiency, and
that affected her performance during the first lesson, since she stayed silent for most
of it, until I made her speak by asking her about the asnwers for some activities. In
the production stage, I can say that she did not accomplish the learning goal, because
even though she could express what the weather was like, she was not able to use the
target language; instead, she started getting off the subject with the following answer:
we were talking about go to the south in summer, because it is warm but not too
much, and we would like to go to a farm because the weather is fresh.
3.4 Impact of your instruction on Student Learning
3.4.1 As I said before, lesson 1 had a lack of ICQs that affected students
understanding; however, a good strategy we used was to have the instructions
written in each activity, so students would not forget about what he had to do.
Furthermore since they were only 8 students in that lesson I could monitor them
easily and see if they understood what they had to do.
3.4.2 At the beginning, I assume my explanations were not enough, because one
student asked for confirmation regarding the first activity instruction. Yet, the
lesson went on smoothly since students carried out each activity as we had
predicted, and in a correct way. To make sure any doubts could still rise among
them, I model each activity so they could do the same as I did. Furthermore, we
arranged the chairs in a semi circle at the front of the classroom, so all of them
could be facing me. During the production stage, I sat in a chair that was in the
middle of the semicircle, for I wanted to draw their attention to someone near
them while explaining their outcomes. The problem was that, since it was 5 in the
afternoon, students were a bit dull or spiritless, and the darkness of the room
due to its location in the first floor of Juan Bosco, complemented the attitude of
the students. But even though they were not as participative as we expected,
most of them accomplished the learning goal.
Repeat same sequence of prompts for Lesson 2
3.1 Student response to Lesson 2:
For lesson 2, students responded in the way that we planned before the class. Even
though students were playing a passive role at the beginning, they started to
participate more on the tasks provided. Moreover, students answered ICQs correctly
and their disposition for participate on the activities were positive for the sake of the
lesson. I would said that motivation is the key element for you lessons in order to
make them more enjoyable for students. However, students were more passive in their
learning process that it was difficult for me (teacher) to make them participate in the
class.
The level of complexity of the tasks were easier for them on the controlled practice
stage in order to help them to feel more comfortable with the new information

Javiera Bravo // Laura Espinoza

provided on the presentation stage. As we moved on, the activities were more complex
than the previous ones until we reached the production stage. The instructions were
provided on the board for students in order to make the activity cleared for them. ICQs
were also asked and it confirmed me that the task was clear for them.
3.2 Adjustments for Lesson 2:
After lesson 2, we concluded that an assertive adjustment for the next lesson was
more dynamic activities for students to participate more because, even though
students were willing to participate on tasks and they did what the teacher asked them
to do, I feel that was not enough for them to fulfill the purpose of the lesson. The main
goal for the next lesson is to make students the protagonists of the class and to
motivate them to participate on mostly of the activities by their own. I realized that
most of the students were more comfortable by working in pairs or groups than
working by their own. Consequently, I think that the results of the lesson would be
more positive if the classrooms atmosphere is favorable for students to make them
feel confident and comfortable.
Another adjustment for the next lesson was the material that students can work with.
On lesson 2, all the activities were presented on the power point and they have to
answer them on their notebooks. We decided to bring them new types of material in
order to change the course of the typical lesson that students are used to. The
evidence of their work is attached in a gallery of photographs on the e-portfolio.

3.3 Analysis of Learning Results.

3.3.1 Whole class:
As a general analysis of the whole class, we can only speak from a limited point of view
since we did not have the opportunity to carry through test or other types of
assessments. However, we can analyse the performance of students inside the
classroom, such as their behavior and abilities in the language. Even though the stages
of the lessons were accomplished successfully, students still had some questions about
the use of the target language during the presentation stage. Unfortunately, only one
of the students made most of the questions and the rest of them remained in silence.
Nevertheless, during the practice stage, most of them worked on the tasks without any
problem or doubt about the procedure.
3.3.2 Individuals:
Student 1, Nicole Flores: This student has a low level of proficiency and, even
though her level is affecting her performance in the language, Nicole has the
motivation and will for learning from her mistakes. She was the one who always asked
questions from the class and asked for feedback after she finished the task. Nicole had
some problems understanding the use of going to and I will because she could not
differentiate one from another. From what I could observe, I can say that Nicole
achieve the learning goal with some difficulties in the process, because she still need
some improvement in her speaking and writing skills. Moreover, her receptive skills are
the ones that helps her to understand better through listening and reading.
Student 2, Julio Galn: This student has a high level of proficiency on English, so in
general, all the activities that we provided on the lesson for the class were relatively
easy for him to complete. However, Julios speaking skills need some improvement
since he only answered most of the questions with isolated words and not with a
complete answered. Moreover, his pronunciation needs improvement as well but he

Javiera Bravo // Laura Espinoza

was able to receive and deliver the message successfully. At the production stage, Julio
managed to give me a full answer about his partners future plans. Even though he still
gave me some isolated words, his answers was acceptable.
3.4 Impact of your instruction on Student Learning
3.4.1 Even though we took advantage from the use of ICQs in order to ask students
what they have to do in each task, it was not enough to clarify the tasks. That is why
we provided the instructions on the board in order to make the activities more clearer
for students to understand them. I think the combination with the ICQs and the
instructions on the board helped students to complete the tasks successfully.
3.4.2 From my perspective, I think my explanations were not enough for my students
since one of them asked for a deeper explanation during the presentation stage. Even
though it was only one student who had some doubts, I thought that my explanation
was not enough for the rest of the class. In order to compensate that, I tried to
explained them with some examples written on the board or asking them to make their
own examples according to the definitions shown on the power point. In addition to
that, it was somehow difficult for me to drawn their full attention since it was a class
scheduled on the afternoon and most of the students were a bit tired or lost in their
minds. Consequently, I tried to make them participate the most on the classroom by
giving examples for the differents situations or reading out loud their answer of the
tasks.
4.1
One of the aspects that we will do differently in our next lessons it would be the
activities that we are going to provide to our students. Even though our main goal of
the class is to help them to improve in their competence of English, we concluded that
the activities were very traditional and tedious for the time of the day that our classes
are scheduled, and probably the learning outcome from students will be not
fructiferous enough in the future. In my opinion, I think that the activities and tasks
could be more dynamic for them and to promote the collaborative work among
students.
The another aspects that it will be different in our next lessons it could be a
prioritization of the practice and production stage among the others. Since most of the
students are not use to talk and write on English during their classes, our activities
would give more importance to the productive skills rather than the receptive skills.
The main aim of this purpose is to motivate students to use their second language in
order to communicate inside the classroom with their classmates and the teacher
properly without using isolated words. We concluded that the best way for them to
achieve that level of proficiency in the language is to give them the opportunities to
use English for communication.