University of Puerto Rico at Humacao English Department
Lesson Planning Oral Communication, Written Communication, Reading Comprehension & Technology
Celeste C. Santiago Ruiz Practice Teaching Dr. Nilsa Lugo Col贸n
Oral Communication The plan used for oral communication, I used the lesson for November 18. The students were working on beginning sounds, to improve their pronunciation. This plan in some ways was successful and least effective. This lesson took two day for the students to understand. In the first day, I can honestly say that it was the least effective day. Since we have been studying beginning sounds since the semester started, there was a moment when the students began to drift off and not pay attention. This put a setback in the lesson, and immediately I had to find way to make them speak in class. Students like to be entertained, and for them this topic is already boring. In the beginning, I made a game with the sounds so that the students could practice pronunciation but enjoy themselves at the same time. This method opened the eyes of the students, and they began to communicate. Also, the environment of the classroom didn’t help the students get commutable to communicate. I took in consideration that the homeroom teacher and my practice teacher were not present, and made the students try to talk the most loudly. This made the students more comfortable with the pronunciation and they continued the material without any hesitation. But also we have to see the good side of the lesson. The students have been getting better at their oral communication. By practicing beginning and final sounds, the students are learning to speak and understand better English. They have been getting so much better in the classroom, and I am really proud of their work. Both situations made me see that there could be ups and downs. In both classes, there were successful strategies, and some less successful. But at the end, the students acquired the material and enjoyed new things in the classroom. At the end, the most important thing is that the students worked on their communication.
Written Communication
In the area of written communication, from what you can see in the activity of Friday, December 5, the students had to write sentences that describe the member of the society. I’m using this, as an example as my outstanding and least affective area in the lesson that day. One matter I have to explain, is that my students in particular did practice writing in the classroom, but it was only in the board or sometimes (very distant) in an exam. The reality is that my students lack the basic areas of writing, but when I tried to reinforce them the teacher should tell me give the material copied because you are going to spend the entire class just writing the date. In the activity of December 5, I decided that enough was enough I had to practice writing. That day there high and low expectation, but I can say that the students could surprise. In the area of least affective, two students denied the work and didn’t want to write. For me they were scared and didn’t want to try. There was a negotiation and by going one by one, the students pumped up and started trying to write. Another problem I faced was the lack of time I had that day. Since the periods were much shorter, the homeroom teacher went over and the class was going to shorter. This was a problem, because of course some students, although they were doing the job in question, they needed more time to write. Right then I had to figure out how I could obtain more time for those students that needed to finish the job. Those are just some bumps in the road that you can always find a way to pass smoothly. In the outstanding, the moment I gave the students the booklet and the instructions and sentences, they began to work quickly. Going one by one, the students were being entertained by writing and they also understood what they wrote. They reached a new level of understanding, and they were working on their writing skills. I always believed my students could do the work,
but sometimes people expectation is underneath of what is in front of them. Of course, you will have students that need more time writing than others, but they can do the job. This lesson plan was half and half. Half part was outstanding and the other part was lease effective. But at the end, we can work with both.
Reading Comprehension In the area of reading comprehension, my students worked on it in the same lesson plan as oral communication. The reason that I also worked with reading, is because the students had to learn first the correct pronunciation to then begin to read a simple word. In the case of my students, the new the word that was in front of them but used to tell me: “missi no la se leer.” This showed me that my students were lacking practice in the area of reading. The down side for reading comprehension, and something I learned later, is that the students here in the island don’t want for any reason read anything that is not Spanish. For example, when they would pronounce at the beginning the sounds they would use the pronunciation in Spanish. For reading comprehension is the same, if they don’t understand then they would not read. For this situation, I created games where if they would read the word correctly they would get a sticker. By rewarding them, it was put in their little heads that they had to read the word correctly. If you didn’t read the word, then you would not get a sticker. On the bright side, the moment the rewarding began, the more the students wanted to participate. When you know you will have something if you do the correct thing, it creates happiness within. The participations began to increase, and the students began to want to read the words on the board. Of course, some people may say that I’m going slowly with them, but the reality is that most of the students when school started didn’t know how to read. ive been building the ladder that is going to take them to a higher level in reading comprehension. When you teach you don’t start with the most difficult material first. You begin from the simple to the most complicated, and that is how it should be in reading comprehension.
Integration of Technology From what you can observe from my lesson plans, I tried to integrate technology in all my classes. The reason for this is that the students could understand better when the material was shown to them in videos, songs, or images. The use of my computer, and projector made, my students more excited for the class. The moment I stepped in the classroom with the projector cart, the student knew that it was time to pay attention. This made the class more interactive, and the students enjoyed themselves even more. The moment I started to use technology, the students became more aware of the lessons. I tried to be different from my fellow teachers. I am a person that likes to find new ways to teach, and you’ll be surprised on how much progress can you do with the use of technology. Of course the use of the computer is essential, but the world I found in the internet and the use of presentations is extraordinary. Every topic I gave, I would always find a video or a song that the student could connect to the material. YouTube is an amazing source of endless videos and music. Everything has a definition, cartoon, song; there is no excuse to be able to use them. The moment I would hit play on that video or present different images of the topic, the students would make a quick connection. You could see the excitement of the students, the eagerness to answer all the questions; and the reason for this is because the captured the material. The only bad thing I can mention of the use of technology is that sometimes the school where you are doesn’t have the funding and then you will have to go old school in the teaching. But in the matter of my experience, I didn’t encounter any problems with technology, well the occasional freezing of the videos; but that is inevitable. I only have words of acceptance and approval for the use of technology.