Standard 2 – Knowledge of Human Development and Learning Artifact 3 Joely Rogers

Standard 2 – Knowledge of Human Development and Learning

The teacher understands how children and adults learn and develop and can provide
learning opportunities that support their intellectual, social, and personal development.

Artifact III for Standard Two: Knowledge of Human Development and Learning

Name of Artifact: Reflection – Practicum in FL694

Date: Fall 2010

Course: FL694 Practicum

Rationale

In support of Standard 2, Knowledge of Human Development and Learning, I

offer the artifact “Reflection – Practicum in FL694,” it is a summary of the full

practicum, which I recently completed. The practicum required us to perform ten general

and focused (20 total) observations and conduct an extensive self-analysis of ourselves

during two teaching or tutoring episodes. Whereas, the reflection I wrote for my language

learning history relates mainly to my own language learning experiences; this reflection

summarizes the observations that I conducted of the language learning experiences of

other individuals.

I am including this artifact in Standard 2, knowledge of human development and

learning, because the practicum exposed me to all aspects of language in development

and decline including - how an individual’s first language can influence their 2nd

language acquisition, the many varieties of interlanguage, fossilization in 2nd language

speakers of English and how motivation can and does affect 2nd language learning, and it

allowed me to witness the inseparableness of language and culture. This practicum

expanded my knowledge about human language development and learning and boosted

my confidence with regards to becoming a language teacher.

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 Standard 2 – Knowledge of Human Development and Learning Artifact 3 Joely Rogers

Artifact III: Reflection- Practicum in FL694

The FL694 Practicum in Second or Foreign Languages was taught by Dr. Laurel

Abreu. It was an intense semester of classroom observations and profound reflection

about 2nd language learning and teaching. At the beginning of the course, I wrote the

following statement in my pre-practicum self-analysis, “My hope is that this semester’s

observations will provide a practical introduction to the language teaching profession.” I

am not teaching yet, and as such, I have had few opportunities; aside from my own 2nd

language study of French, to observe other language teachers at work in the classroom.

And, aside from the volunteer ESL tutoring I performed at Richland Community College,

I have had zero opportunities try out as a teacher the new knowledge I have learned in the

MATL program. My exposure to language teachers and language learners; however, sky-

rocketed during the practicum where I spent many hours conducting both general and

focused observations in four different classrooms where three different languages

(English, French and Spanish) were taught.

During the general observations, I witnessed first-hand many of the concepts

about second language acquisition that I had studied in my MATL coursework such as:

how an individual’s first language can influence their 2nd language acquisition, the many

varieties of interlanguage, fossilization in 2nd language speakers of English and how

motivation can and does affect 2nd language learning. The focused observations I

conducted for this class were tasks centered on: learner motivation and level, attending to

the learner, whole-learner materials, openings and closures, grammar as lesson content,

task design and evaluation, the learner as a cultural being, and managing classroom

communication and error. These tasks and the reflective questions posed by each helped

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 Standard 2 – Knowledge of Human Development and Learning Artifact 3 Joely Rogers

me gain a deeper understanding of the processes and varieties of experience in the

language classroom. Overall, the observations, which I like to call ‘front-line’

experiences, exposed me to the daily successes and failures that occur in the 2nd

language classroom.

Since I am not teaching, I had initially planned to do an extra five classroom

observations in lieu of the practicum’s self-analysis option. By chance, however, I was

introduced to 65-year old ESL student named Himet who needed literacy help. I decided

to attempt the self-analysis by conducting (2) two-hour tutoring sessions with her. Himet

is originally from Eritrea, a small country located in north-east Africa. Our focus was

reading, specifically learning to read the word forms of numbers. Himet is completely

illiterate in her native language and has just started learning how to read in English. The

reason for choosing word forms was so that she could write checks to pay her bills. It was

incredibly challenging, as my previous volunteer ESL tutoring experiences were with

educated individuals who were literate in their native language. Interestingly enough, it

was a task-based lesson, a modified version of the game BINGO, which stimulated the

most language acquisition by Himet. This experience taught me that I must be open-

minded and flexible in my lesson planning and materials selection. Sometimes a game

can really be the best way to prepare a student for life!

After finishing the practicum, I feel much more confident about my knowledge of

2nd language acquisition, and yet at the same time, more humble than when I began. This

humility came from interacting with the learners I had met and the realization that what is

important is not just how much I know, but also how much I am willing to be

taught. NOW, I am ready to teach and serve.