U L A C I T
E D U C A T I O N A L Y
F I E L D
P H S Y C H O LO G
E X P E R I E N C E
R E F L E C T I O N R
P A P E
Professor: Dagoberto Sandoval
Student: Mariel Salas
Year: 2017
For this observation, I decided to choose two courses in my career English Teaching and Translation, one for each sector, Phonetics and Phonology and Theory and practice of English-Spanish translation. So, I did my observations in each course for two weeks, starting in week 12 and ending in week 14. This process was very interesting because I needed to analyze the whole environment in the classroom and also gave me a new perspective of being a good teacher. Now for me being a good teacher is a more than just teaching a subject because if you want to be a good teacher you have to create a connection with your students and transmit to them respect, love, self-confidence, and motivation. I would like to be someone who can change and inspire people lives and not just be an English teacher. Moreover, our mission is promoting education in an effective way as Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” and our students are the future. In the classroom observations, I started with the physical environment and has comfortable surroundings make to a positive climate in which students can learn. For example, classrooms are spacious with good illumination and internet access in the whole classes. In addition, teacher-student rapport in my observations I could analyze how is the teacher’s behavior with students in the classroom. The professors Starling Aguilar and Gina Gatgens were friendly all the time with the students, they interacted with the students and showed enthusiasm in their classes. Both teachers promoted teamwork and participation in class making the most diverse and interesting. Sometimes the professors were kidding with the students but not all the time just for an activity or an example. Thus, interpersonal interactions can make a strong teacher-student relationship that is crucial to success in the classroom. Likewise, student motivation, aptitude, and attitude, in my observations I could see many students using the cellphones or the computer during the professors were explain something or clarifying doubts. For me, this is the worst attitude and aptitude in the classroom I can't tolerate. That’s why I don’t use my cell phone when my professors are talking, I mean we are going to be
teachers and I wouldn’t like that my students prefer to use the cell phone than being in my class. The motivation in the classroom depends on the students because some of them were putting attention in the class but others were boring checking the technological devices. I think that technological devices are a distractor because all the time students have the computers on without use, just being a distractor. I mean students can use the technology o but overseen by the teacher. In my personal opinion students that are studying a career is because they feel passion for teaching, so they should be motivated and not just seeing the cellphone or computer. Also, I noticed that both professors didn’t say anything about it, so that’s why students keep repeating this bad habit. We as future teachers need to promote respect inside and outside the classroom. Then, lesson planning, strategies, activities, and delivery scaffolding, the professors used a syllabus provided by the University and is basically like a guide for teachers and students, so they followed the topics for each week and asked for essential questions according to the topic.
In this case in Phonetics and
Phonology according to the weeks 12-13, the students saw the final four consonants, basic concepts about Phonology and final group presentations. In the other course Theory and practice of English-Spanish translation, the professor explained different terms about legal translation and the ICT#2 (it is a group translation in class). An interesting thing that I observed is that both teachers use cooperative learning and use of technology as a strategy. They promote work in a group but sometimes they decided or create the groups because students never want to work with other people than their friends. Equally important, delivery scaffolding in the classroom, in my first observation with the Phonetics and Phonology I didn’t see a lot of use of scaffolding because the classes were more like explanations and putting in practice the theory studied but he sometimes asked for key points about rules and students gave the answer. In the second observation with the course Theory and practice of English-Spanish translation I could see a lot of Scaffolding, the professor asked for questions or information and the students had to research in their material, she never gave the answer. For example, in the
topic legal translation, she asked for some important points or rules for that but nobody knew anything about it. Then, she said they would look for information according to the topic and then discuss the information with the whole class. Further, both professors provide positive feedback for the students, so the professors knew what were the needs of their students and also students can see what were the things that they need to improve in their learning process. At the same time, both professors were attentive with the learning process of their students, they were monitoring and checking for understanding during the class. For example, in the Phonetics and Phonology course, the professor asked many times for doubts about the topic and he used to ask random questions to the students. I think that method is very helpful because all the students could review the last topic according to the questions and obviously they studied before the class. In Theory and practice of English-Spanish translation, she asked for questions or problems about words or translations that are empiric. She used to ask but in general looking for information and when the students were working in the ICT’s she was monitoring the students all the time. This professor used a timer and she used exactly the time for each activity, so the students knew that they only had ten minutes or more to work in it. Eventually, in the observations, I could see the student engagement that is not good at all because sometimes the students were on their personal staff as using their technological devices. So, some of them weren’t paying attention or following the class. For instance, in Phonetics and Phonology, the professor wondered why some students did not have the book and how some students didn’t take notes about all the things that he explained. Students avoid volunteering as read aloud or go in front of the class. I can say that half of the class was interested but the other half was not. Besides, I think that is not the professor’s fault because I mentioned before that students must be motivated because they are studying something that they love but in this case, is different. Then, I observed the group of Theory and practice of English-Spanish translation and was totally different, the students were
putting attention and they used to ask many questions about the topic. They enjoyed the class and were comfortable and they participate regularly according to the activities. The only thing that I would like to recommend in this course is the classroom environment because when the students were working in groups all the class was a complete mess and looked like a municipal market, so she asked many times for silence but it didn’t work. In addition, in my observations I could see how the teachers use technology in real conditions, for example, in the course of Phonetics and Phonology the professor used videos about vowels and consonants to explain terms of articulation and pronunciation. This to improve student’s pronunciation and learn how to sound like an American. Also, students’ use an IPA dictionary that needs internet access. Then, in the course of Translation, the professor gave questions that students had to research on the internet but she used the internet just for reading articles of translation and teaching tips. Here in this course technology is a crucial point for the students because they need to find information about words or meanings. Some of the strengths that I observed from Gina and Starling were their strategies to teach, how they used scaffolding in the classroom, interaction with the students, leadership ability, self-confidence, and professional behavior. My suggestions for improvement are basically the class environment when students are working in groups because sometimes the class becomes a disaster and don’t allow the use of technological devices without permission because it is a big distraction for students. My overall impression of teaching effectiveness is very good, and these professors know how to teach because they used methods for effective teaching. Also, they were attentive to their students and use the time wisely. For me, the most complicated task of being a teacher is maintaining effective classroom management because you need to teach and control your students all the time. This observation demonstrates me how being a teacher is more like a multi-task
work and how dealing with it because some people think that being a teacher is just teach something but not is more like dedication and passion for your students. In conclusion, this observation was an overview for me because I want to teach in a University or in an Institute because I had the idea that is easier because people are paying money for a course, so they will be interested in learning but thanks to these observations I could see that is a big lie. If someone doesn’t care the subject or course, unfortunately, the professors we cannot create interest or force someone who doesn’t want to learn. Moreover, I observe many things that can assist me as a future educator as given clear instructions (repeat three times), activities that are simple but effective, and use active education in the classroom. In this course, I learned about approaches and methodologies that I can use to create activities more interesting for my future students and not just using photocopies and fill the blanks.
References Santrock, J.W (2010). Educational Phsychology. (5 Ed). New York, USA: Logman