Extended Reflection 2

I have to say that in this course I have definitely learned a lot, and among those
things Ive learned Id like to point out students learning. Before taking this
course I used to teach a class in a traditional way where the teacher explains and
the student just receives the new information and tries to learn it. However
something very important that I have noticed throughout this course is that students
are the center of attention. Now I have had the chance to explore more deeply my
students in the teaching practice and Ive seen the way they learn, which has
definitely changed my traditional way of teaching because now my lesson plan is
totally different, now it is based on students learning styles. Its nice that youve
seen the way they learn, because so much of the learning in this class is based
our developing the ability to see, observing and noticing.
I have planned a variety of activities in class for auditory, kinesthetic, tactile and
visual learners such as: pictures, identifying correct and incorrect answers, blink
poker, fill-in-the-blanks, mingle activities, etc in order to fit their learning styles
and have them feel comfortable while learning , as a result of that I have had a lot
better results in class. I feel good to see my students learning that way.
On the other hand, I believe that is a very strong connection between learning and
teaching and its great to observe and explore how students learn so that we can
improve as teachers and not only that, but we also teach a student-centered class.
Its funny to say that I had to take this course and be a learner in order to know,
understand and apply a successful and meaningful student-centered class. I had to
have an experience as a learner first in order to know how students learn best. Yes,
you really have been in the learners position frequently in this course. I hope you
will always remember your learner experiences; remembering will always keep
you mindful of your students challenges.
In addition, knowing your students better and knowing their learning styles is the
only way to teach them effectively, so I couldnt agree more with the title of this
reflection Learners and their learning tell us how to teach.

This week I had to teach an upper-intermediate class where students had to use the
habitual past used to in order to talk about their childhood in a mingle activity.
At the beginning when I started teaching I felt worried because I noticed that some
of the students didnt like the topic and some of them were reluctant to participate
at first, but then as the class was going through I noticed that their faces completely
changed, they were fascinated with the topic once they were the ones talking about
it. This is a profound statement! Once you made it learner-centered, you saw
evidence that they were fully engaged in something that hadnt seemed to interest
them moments before. MAGIC happens when you focus on the learner.
I felt really good in that class because most of my students were happy about the
topic I was working with and I had the chance to learn the names of two more
students. I am pleased to see that you remember being able to learn two more
names. It shows how learner-focused youve become. I enjoyed the class because I
saw students engaged in the topic and best of all was that they used the target
language. Something else I liked about that class was that I used the inductive
method and it worked successfully because students were the ones in charge of
their learning, I just took the words out of them and helped them whenever was
necessary, but it was totally a student-centered class. This is a new definition of
teaching: you facilitated students the ability to co-teach and self-teach, so you
could take the words out of them.
Besides all of that, I think the objective was totally achieved because students used
the target language and at first they explained me the use of it. They had to talk
about their childhood and they all used the target language. I remember one student
who said When I was a child I used to play Nintendo a lot, but now I dont have
time to play.
On the other hand, I noticed that when the other teachers where teaching most of
them were paying as much attention to their class as they were paying in mine,
except for one student who is very shy that didnt participate much in none of the
classes. Previous experience with you and your peers effective teaching practices
sets an expectation of learning, so Ss begin attentive and engaged, and they remain
that way if the environment remains conducive to S-centered learning.

I have noticed that some students dont like to mingle with other students in the
class, I dont know why because they all seem to get along, but I have also learned
that when we teach a diversified class fitting the students learning styles,
everything in the class turns to be more achievable and more successful. Its
always worth reflecting on this challenge. How can you get them to mingle,
despite their initial resistance? Maybe concentric circles out in the hallway, so that
each one is face to face with a partner?
Moreover, I have learned to observe more, now I know that I have to pay more
attention to students in general, how they feel, what theyre doing, how they learn
in order to create an environment where they feel safe, comfortable and good
enough in order to produce more and give more of themselves, that way they will
effectively learn anything we teach them.
In summary, Id like to say that if you want to become a successful teacher, first
you have to become a learner, you have to watch learners and then you will
eventually become better and better in teaching, because the way students learn is
actually the way that tells us how to teach.

Second DAPA
Description
I remember last Wednesday class where I had to teach the Passive voice in 30
minutes, so I asked my students a few questions to inductively get some answers
about the use of the passive and wrote an active sentence on the board so that they
had to change it into passive and they successfully did it and told me the use of it. I
also brought some handouts cut in two pieces with me, I divided the class in 6
groups of 4 and then I handed them the handouts where they had to match one part
of a sentence with the other in order to make a complete sentence. When I gave
them the two sets of slips of paper I noticed that some of them got surprised and
kind of overwhelmed because they had to match 20 sentences. In one side of the
sentence, they had an invention and on the other side they had a doer of the action
or the place it was invented e.g.: Paper was invented in China nearly 2000 years

ago. By the end of the class I had them talk about facts they found interesting and
didnt know about. Something else I remember is that I didnt change the groups
since the first activity due to the limited time and the cramped classroom they were
in. However; the class was very funny and interesting to them because I remember
that by the very end of the class when I said Times up guys, they all said aw,
thats too bad, so I understood they really enjoyed the class and me too because
they all used the target language.

Analyze
Interpret

Plan Action

Generalize

Something I noticed
helped my students was
the prior knowledge they
had about the passive
since they could easily
change an active
sentence into passive and
even explain me the use
of it. I just asked them
some CCQs and they did
the rest. They almost
explain the class. I just
monitored when it was
needed.

Based on what I observed

I think that its a good
idea to use the inductive
method to review with
students because they
were able to answer
correctly because they
had seen it before and
they had an idea about it.
Also by using the
inductive method
students feel more
empowered.
YES! Empowerment
comes from letting SS
work it out themselves.
Something else I noticed I believe that providing
helped my students was new and general
the new information they information of facts such
learned when matching as Pasta and ice cream
the sentences, they
were first made in China
learned some facts,
can be really interesting
which made it interesting to students and will keep
to them.
them engaged and
motivated in class.
It was interesting to me,

So in the future, I will continue

using the inductive method
whenever possible, but not on
all classes.
I'm curious how you will
determine when to use or not
use the inductive method?

The next time I teach this

lesson I will give my students
some kind of general and
interesting information like this
in order to keep them engaged,
having fun and using the target
language.

too! It didnt feel like a

grammar lesson.
Something I think
hindered my students
learning was the amount
of sentences they had to
match, because when I
gave them to them some
of them seemed very
worried.

I think students generally

feel worried or
overwhelmed when they
have to complete a long
task in class in a short
time.

In future lessons I will not give

them a very long task to
complete. I gave them 20
sentences to match, next time
Ill give them ten. I will
definitely reduce the amount of
sentences.
This is a specific, SMARTA
action plan!

Something else that I

noticed hindered my
students was the little
time given in the fluency
activity. That was the
moment where they were
having the most fun and
talking freely using the
target language.

Based on what I
observed, I think students
generally feel kind of
disappointed when they
are having fun and have
little time to express
themselves freely.

So in the future, I will

definitely give students more
time to express themselves
when theyre performing a
fluency activity, since this is
the main reason of the lesson,
get students to talk freely by
using the target language.
Bravo!

JM,
I really enjoyed reading about your experiences seeing student learning!
You have empowered your students, and youve been empowered by
your awareness of it!
LM