Final Reflections

Reflections: 11th Grade

May 10th: Today was my first class with the 11^th Grade. I was a bit nervous because I thought that things were not going to work. I was able to observe the class for two weeks and I was able to notice that the students did not care about English. Girls were more worried about putting on make-up and boys were more worried about talking to their friends and playing with their cell phones. We did a listening lesson and I was able to manage through the pre and while activities. I can say this class was successful because it could have been a total mess. I was able to engage students and monitor their work. They were used to doing one activity every class, but with me they did around five considering that I also spent time introducing the class rules. These were: no use of bad words, no insults, no more make-up or cell phones in the class and use as much English as you can.

May 14^th: Today we finished the listening lesson and everybody was able to go in front and share with their classmates what they did. I think this is important because students need to develop self-confidence in what they are doing. They need to trust in themselves and believe they can do activities with the language. They need to feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the class and say “We did something amazing in English class. We created a magazine”. Otherwise, they may feel they are wasting their time. The reading lesson was good. Again, I managed to go through the pre and while activities; therefore, I think I need to shorten the activities or plan less. I think students are just adapting to the new style of the class and I should give them time. Otherwise, they will feel overwhelmed and they will not be so willing to participate feeling like that.

May 17^th: Today was not a good day compared to the previous ones. Students were not collaborating in the class and that really made me feel frustrated. I managed to finish the reading post activity which took around 30 minutes and we began working on the listening lesson. When we were doing the pre of the listening lesson, I could see that they were not doing the activities even though I was monitoring them. My first thought was: I should not do any group work. But, it would not be very smart to think that I should stop using group work in class. They needed something else. Therefore, I stood in front and started talking to them about the importance of learning. I also told them that they should be consistent and start complaining about the education here and not in the streets and that they should take advantage of the good teachers they have in the school. I told them they deserve the best education as any other student in the country and that they should demand it from teachers. I think it was a good talk and ever since things improved a 100%.

May 24^th: Today the students created an acrostic so as to finish the first unit. The topic was FRIENDS and they worked with the dictionaries and with the book. This was done in about 40 minutes. I think it was a lot, so maybe I should give them less time to work so that they work under pressure. Later on, we had a Quiz for which I had told them the vocabulary that would help them understand the listening and reading passage. It seems to me that they do not know how to behave in a test. They were constantly talking and making jokes. I think I could have handled them better. At least, I told them to be respectful with the classmates that needed silence in order to concentrate. They started working more quietly.

May 28^th: I gave them the quiz back and quickly review it with them. The grades were not so bad, so I felt happy because I was giving them enough practice in reading and listening comprehension. We had another listening class and I managed to lead them in the pre, while and post activities. It all worked out well.

May 31^st: Today they took a test. The test was created by me and I evaluated reading and listening comprehension as well as language functions such as: reported speech and giving advice. These had all been practiced in class. They were again very noisy and did not behave properly for a test. I told them to be quiet, to be respectful, and I got mad because they were not listening to me. I did not know what to do. I guess it is hard to change their behavior when they are so used to it. Anyway, they took the test and the results were shocking. Not a single above 4 mark. All of them had below 4 marks. I firstly thought the test was too hard, and it was. I also thought about their attitude in class while taking the test. But, I guess there are deeper issues which can be explained as a poor language basis.

June 4^th: Today we worked with the test. I spent the entire class talking about the test. I had several hypotheses, but I needed to know what they had to say. I entered the classroom and asked them to be quiet. I said the results of the test were not good. I told them that their behavior had not been appropriate and that I thought it was amazing that in 11^th grade they behaved like that. I thought it was shocking to see that I had to teach them how to behave in a test if they had been in school for almost 12 years. I asked them if they do the same in every class and the answer was yes. I felt lonely. I thought I will have to do something and teach them that because it is my responsibility. After talking about it, I asked them to look at their tests and tell me what it is they have problems with. This was the best thing I could have done because I gave them the responsibility of their learning. The answers were: “the accent is strange”, “they speak too fast”, “I need more vocabulary” and “I do not know the sounds of the written words”. I thought Bingo! They need to connect the written form and the spoken form of the words. They know the words when they are written but they do not recognize it when it is spoken. I said “we will work with songs”. They also gave me proposals in order to solve their difficulties. They said we should use American English in the listening, we should study more vocabulary and we should practice more. I told them that we could do some changes in class and the rest was up to them. It was a good class and I felt I could teach these kids well.

June 7^th: Today we did a reading lesson. It was the first reading of the second unit. I managed to go through the pre and while activities. Students discussed about preconceptions and culture. Students behave pretty well and I think things are going well. Although I feel alone because the teacher is not in the class, I think it has been an advantage because the students recognize me as the teacher and that has made my job a bit easier.

June 11^th: Today we did the reading post activities that were missing last class. It was an important day because we began the final project: Readers’ theater. They had to form the groups, designate the characters and read for the first time the scripts. They had to answer the following questions about the story: What is the story about? Who are the main characters? Which are their characteristics? And which feelings can you identify with the story and the characters. I could sense students were very excited with the project.

June 14^th: Today we did a listening lesson. The topics were magazines and teenage culture. Students behaved pretty well and we managed to go through the pre, while and part of the post. During the post they were invited to design a magazine on their own where they could decide which sections they wanted to include and how they were going to make it. I like this type of activity because students feel they do something in class instead of only listening to a teacher. Someone said once: “Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”

June 18^th: Today students finished their magazines. They also worked on their autobiography draft. The autobiography is a task where students can see how their writing level is. They, during the last 30 minutes, continued practicing their scripts for the readers’ theater.

June 21^st: Today we did not have class. Football match Chile v/s Switzerland.

June 25^th: Today students answered a small interview. The questions were the following:

1. Do you think this school gives you enough space for giving your opinion regarding any topic?

2. Do you think this school should give you enough space for giving your opinion regarding any topic?

3. Which activities do you think could be used in English classes so that you can give your opinion?

They were also asked to write briefly about my performance and attitude. I wanted full honesty from them; therefore, I told them they were not asked to write their name on the paper. They continued practicing their readers’ theater.

July 2^nd: Today we did a final rehearsal of the readers’ theater. They were doing well, so I was really satisfied. I gave them the entire class to continue practicing and I was monitoring the groups because some of them needed a lot of help with the pronunciation. I also took the tests that were pending.

July 5^th: Today was the last day. Students performed their readers’ theater and I evaluated them. Later on they had schedule a rehearsal for the PSU, so I could not even thank them for what they taught me throughout the semester. They made me remember why I should be a teacher and that is great! I learned with them that I love teaching and that was really important to me.

As a final reflection for my classes with this group, I can say that I am grateful to all of them because they learned many things not only related to English, but to life. They became more respectful to each other and that was an important step. They began to feel more interested in their education. They also acknowledge me as the teacher, and that was a great advantage for me. I can say this experience was very successful.

Reflections: 12th Grade

May 28^th: Today was my first class with the 12^th grade. We did a reading lesson which was the first in the 2 unit. This unit dealt with discrimination. In the past week, I was able to observe that students are not very interested and they do not have much discipline inside the classroom. I was able to lead them through the pre, while and post. However, there is little participation from the students. This is what called my attention the most.

May 31^st: Today we did a listening lesson. Again, we managed to go through pre, while and post activities. I think the reason why I am finishing the lesson is because I shorten the pre and while and put more emphasis on the post activity. Anyhow, there is still little participation from the students. Even though I try to give them food for thought, they do not react. I am shocked by the passivity of these students.

June 4^th: Today we did a second listening which dealt with important heroes for their fight against discrimination. They were more involved today and I think that happened because they knew the people. It was a familiar topic for them. At the end of the class, students had time to prepare their movie presentation. During the last two classes we will watch a film and students need to present a movie so that the entire class can vote for a movie.

June 7^th: Today we did a reading lesson. I do not know why students were so noisy today. They are not very nice and they are always questioning my position as the teacher. They are constantly telling me that the teacher is Claudio and that I have no right to evaluate or grade them. I did not fight or discuss with them. I just told them that I was the teacher now and that if they disagreed they should speak to Claudio. It was a tense moment, but I think I managed to solve it successfully.

June 11^th: Today the class was suspended because of electric problems in the classroom.

June 14^th: Today students took a test. The test I used was not created by me: it was a test from the book. I could also notice that these students had no discipline when they have to take a test. I do not know how students in 12^th grade do not know how to behave. Why do teachers allow this to happen? Probably because they could not care less. At the end of the quiz, students had time to prepare their movies’ presentation which was due next class.

June 18^th & 21: During these classes students presented their movies. This presentation was in groups and students were given the evaluation rubric two classes before. I think the presentations were regular: nothing out of this world. But, I also think this was the first time students spoke in English in front of the class. I could notice they were very nervous. I also think there are problems such as reading in the presentation that should be solved in Spanish class. I guess that is the way they present and nobody teaches them how to do it differently.

June 25^th: Today students only had one hour because they asked me to give them the other hour to prepare for the match between Chile and Switzerland. I agreed because I could manage to use the first hour in a speaking lesson. I handed them different pieces of paper which had different questions on them. They were working in pairs and later in groups of four. They asked each other the question and elaborated on the answers. It was a fun activity and students told me they really liked it. They said that maybe next time we could do it as a class and students could ask another an specific question. I think that is a great idea.

July 2^nd and 5^th: Today students watched the movie. All grades were settled and we had already finished with the second unit.

As a final reflection, I can say that this class was a bit harder on me. I could not be acknowledged as the teacher which was a disadvantage for me. They were constantly questioning my position which made me feel insecure since I had little control over them. Although Claudio was in the classroom, he helped just a little on discipline. Most of the time, he was talking to students while I was teaching. I think I tried to give them plenty of space for discussion, but they were never motivated to participate. It was a real challenge for me, but I also learned very much about my teaching skills and how to deal with difficult classes. Even though this class was more complex than the other, I can also say that this was a successful and enriching experience.