UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School
Reflection #1 February 2-6 Week As the first official week now behind me, I can only hope the best is yet to come. Hopefully not the opposite. That would really suck. As far as the first week went, overall, it was fine. I got my foot in the water & started to taste a little bit of what 7-3 group is like. I know it's the first week & I have only seen a fourth of what I'll eventually see as they start opening up. Thats both great & not so great. Opening up means that they'll feel more comfortable around me to either, annoy the hell out of me or use the best efforts to engage in class. I've began to encounter the typical “pero mister habla en español”. This might sound remarkably funny & nonsensical given the fact that we are in English class. One of the first who so elegantly pronounced such typical & expected phrase was this small kid who turns out has a similar illness to former 70s/80s child star- Gary Coleman. This student is particularly small as Gary Coleman was. Observing him & how he engages with his classmates- I reckon he could make an interesting Case Study. So we'll see. Informative type essays is definitely not something the students seem to be interested in. As of the first week I didn't really utllize the projector or my computer. This will definitely change as of next week. I think I'll have to use videos, photographs, comic strips & all I can get my hands on to make the class a bit more colorful & engaging. So far the only engaging reactions I've seen from my class comes from 2-4 students. Always the same students. They've been present during most days of the week. Still I haven't met/seen the class as a whole. It's only a 19 student enrollment, so I'm surprised I haven't met them all just yet. I know its just the first week so I can't make blanket interpretations & generalize to the rest of the semester. I have a slight idea of what students are like. I can see which students are most likely going to be the easy ones & I can also sense which students are bound to be the most challenging ones. Only been here for a week, but observing their behaviour & how they relate with one another- I'm getting an official glimpse. I'm still somewhat anxious to see what the rest of the semester will entail. Anyways, so far, in comparison to the other two groups I'm observing, this group, judging from its size it'll most likely be way more manageable than the rest & I'll be able to construct lessons more effectively.