MACRO REFLECTION 1

Macro Reflection

As an English teacher this course exposed me to so many relevant and most important

concepts and theories, and provided me chances to practice the concept and theories in a real

classroom setting. Now this is the time to reflect back on my journey so that it would help me to

critically analyzing and evaluating the whole journey of teaching practicum. The journey went

through a linear process i.e. reading theories, classroom discussion, finding school, classroom

observation, finding topic, planning unit, planning lessons, executing the plans, reflecting on it,

re-planning and so on. Reflection is a process of exploring and examining ourselves, our

perspectives, attributes, experiences and actions / interactions. It helps us gain insight and see

how to move forward (Gillett, Hammond, and Martala, 2013). In this particular reflective paper,

I will shed light on the whole process of teaching practicum in general and critically reflect on

the whole journey in particular. Strengths and areas of improvement of the lesson plans and the

classroom teaching will also be taken into account.

Among many valuable learning, using the perspectives of Process Enneagram in my

teaching practicum was the most important learning. Following the perspectives of process

Enneagram I went for classroom observation to know their identity (students from diverse

background), intention (what they want to learn) and issues related to English language so that I

could plan accordingly. Rapport building or making relationship with the students is a very

useful tool to motivate the students towards learning. Due to my frankness in the class, the

students were open to share their ideas and problems and they were eager to participate in the

class.

I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can

learn (Albert Einstein). I got the real essence of this beautiful quotation after going through the
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course of LS in ELT and the whole process of teaching practicum. The teaching practicum

revealed to me that in language classes, a teacher has to create a condition which encourages the

students to learn communication skills rather teaching through chalk and talk method. In the

process of all three classroom teaching, I tried to use multimodality to teach free writing and

informal letter writing. I used textual, aural, spatial, linguistic and visual resources to make such

a condition in which the students learned and composed the message. To facilitate the learning of

the students, I used semiotic resources i.e. colour charts, white sheets, audio recording, sample

letter, letter format, laptop, speakers white board markers and task sheets etc. This new

experience of using different mode and resources revealed to me that the students take interest

and become eager to learn if they are exposed to different kinds of activities and things to touch,

to listen, to speak, see and to do by themselves. After exposing the students to the different ways

of teaching with variety of resources when I asked them to write informal letter to their friend

they wrote beautifully (see appendix E) adverse to the teachers perception about them. I

observed in my second lesson that too many activities create chaos for the students and they

cannot meet the required objectives. In second lesson, I used more activities as compared to rest

of the two. Resultantly, the students kept asking about the tasks and could not get the tasks

properly.

I realized that learning spaces play an important role in teaching and learning process.

Class room used to be the only learning space to me. But now, after going through the journey of

teaching practicum I realized that learning space is not confined to classroom rather it is only one

of the learning spaces. In my lesson I used ICT, visualization or imagination, groups, pairs and

the students homes as learning spaces which made the teaching and learning process more

interesting and interactive. I used laptop, audio recording and speakers in the class and asked
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them to use computer at their homes to search the home task hence they used their home and

technology as learning space. Visualization and imagination can be used as a leaning space. Due

to visualization the learners go to the real scenario in their imagination and gather relevant and

appropriate ideas. In one of my lessons when I asked the students to visualize the village or city

life and write a text, one of the students said

" . I like the sentence you can eat fruit directly from the trees

because they are very much clean because of the clean environment written by one of the

students in his text about village (see appendix F). Hence, it shows that we can use imagination

and visualization as one of the learning spaces particularly in language classes.

The whole process of teaching practicum revealed to me that without planning and

without preparation, teaching is just wastage of time. When I look back to my teaching before

going through this course, I feel a huge difference between my teaching then and now. I realized

that a teacher should spend more time in preparation and lesson planning. This notion has been

beautifully stated by Abraham Lincoln give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend

the first four sharpening the axe. In this teaching practicum I did the same and I used to prepare

myself for the teaching and used to develop lesson plan to make the teaching and learning

process interactive and fruitful.

This journey revealed to me that variety of activities play an important role in language

teaching however too many activities create chaos and confusion. As in my second lesson I

designed activities more than the requirement, due to which the students could not focus fully on

the activities. The activities, examples and the topics for writing or speaking should appeal to the

students interest. In my first lesson I purposefully selected village and city life for free writing

instead if I had chosen Pakistan China Economic Corridor or Pakistan India strategic relationship
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the students would not have written a text as they have written on the selected topic (see

appendix F).

Due to the facilitation and assistance from the facilitators and the support from the

mentors, and their critical and constructive feedback (see appendix- H) all three lessons went

well. Students and I enjoyed teaching-learning process in the class. The students engagement in

the activities, interaction among themselves, responsiveness and interest in the class deepened

my belief that students take more interest in activities and in the use of multiple modes rather

than going through the same way of teaching every day.

In a nutshell, I would say that I have significantly developed my skills in lesson planning

and teaching through multimodality and semiotic resources. The course and the teaching

practicum revealed to me that Images, colours, gestures, gazes, postures, movements, speeches

and writings have a great contribution in communication and in meaning making (Jewitt, 2008).

As an English teacher this understanding would be useful me to teach communication skills to

my students. After going through the whole process, I believe that a teacher should change and

update his/ her teaching strategies according to the needs of the students and the changing

requirements of the modern arena. As John Dewey says If we teach todays students as we

taught yesterdays, we rob them of tomorrow. Last but not least, I realized that I should not

teach the way I used to teach before going through this course.
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Reference

Gillett, A., Hammond, A., & Martala, M. (2013). Inside track to successful academic writing.

Pearson UK.

Jewitt, C. (2008). Multimodality and literacy in school classrooms. Review of research in

education, 32(1), 241-267.